Wednesday, October 20, 2010

MG80 Part One – 16 October 2010

All around the world this weekend, local branches of the MG Car Club celebrated the 80th birthday of the Club. Today we joined with the SE Centre Club, who chose a celebration based around the theme of the Greenwich Meridian Line, as it is an international event and the SE Centre is one of only three Centres that the Meridian crosses. The venue they choose to celebrate in was the Bluebell Railway, as the Meridian Line crosses through the Sheffield Park Station, at the start of the 19 mile steam train line.

As the railway is next door to the Sheffield Park Gardens, we left London early enough, to enjoy a stroll around the gardens. These are very popular in the autumn, when the red and golds of the foliage contrasts beautifully with the blues of the sky and lakes.

Once we had finished enjoying the gardens, we moved on to the Bluebell Railway for the MG event. After admiring the MG's in the car park, we took a ride on the 1pm steam train, and enjoyed our table for two, in a spacious uncrowded carriage. At Horsted Keynes, we decided to explore the town, before the 2pm train came through to continue our journey. Unfortunately, this was a bad move, as the town turned out to be 1.5 miles from the station, and when the 2pm train arrived, it was chockka full, with the unexpectedly high numbers of MG enthusiasts. We were rather fortunate to actually find a seat.

On our return we formed a small convoy for a scenic trip back through the narrow country lanes to the M25.

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