Valentines Drive II (17 Feb 2002)

Found a few MX5s in the car park at South Mimms and presumed they must be the others on the drive. Either that, or MX5 drivers like to park next to other MX5s - which I know is true as I do it all the time! Met up with everyone in the services and was introduced to some new people.

A couple of the drivers needed a bit of bullying to put the roofs down and as it was quite cold and grey, I was not surprised. We rushed to put ours down, hey if everyone is going to look a ninny then why not! Amazingly, the sun came out after about 10 minutes of having the roof down - now that's the art of suggestion!

This was our first participation in a drive and we were a bit worried about losing the driver in front or the driver behind so for the first 10 minutes of the drive I kept badgering Phil (my husband) to check the people behind were still there.

I have to admit that I can't remember half of the places we went through but as soon as we started on the country roads, we really relaxed. We drove through some fantastic villages. Bob was up front, leading like a natural. Following Bob was Jonathan, then Emma (no way we were going to lose her... or so I thought!), then Gary (and crikey that exhaust is loud when the roof is down!), then us, followed by Graham & Tal and Rob & Lucy.

We stopped in an incredibly bumpy layby at one point to regroup following an unpleasant right turn on a very busy road. Nobody wanted to stop to let out 7 MX5s! Phil took this chance to swap cars and off he went with Gary as he has a windbreaker and we don't! Hmmph, charming.

After a hairy trip through Dunstable (traffic lights, roundabouts etc), we got back into the country and some lovely long windy narrow roads built, I am sure, just for little roadster type cars! Turning right at one point where the oncoming traffic was quite busy, a little convoy of Lotus cars stopped and waved us across - how civilised.

Enjoying the drive immensely but feeling a little hungry (it was about 1.45 by now), Bob stopped in the middle of nowhere and we all lined up dutifully behind our master. He wanted to let us know that he hadn't seen any pubs that looked appropriate for some time so the next one we found was going to be the one. Anyway, fortunately the next pub we found in Cublington (The Unicorn) turned out to be perfect. Two big tables in the bar, food served for another half an hour after we got there AND steak and kidney pie on the menu!

About 3pm we set off again and after a while I started to recognise the roads because they were roads I used to take a lot before the M40 was built (past Oxford, that is!). Just coming into Thame we lost Emma and Gary at a roundabout. With Gary being quite an experienced guide, it wasn't long before they caught up, but then the order had changed and so we had a change of back end to look at! The day was starting to draw in by then and it was getting colder. We drove into Henley, the end of our journey, parked up at Waitrose and most of us went for a much appreciated cup of hot coffee in the Slug & Lettuce.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable day and we will definitely be coming to others! Thanks Bob!!

Report by Lorna Saum, with pictures by Phil Saum.