Our friends in the north, a Backwater Classic Car Tour

E-type Club member Adrian Ridpath reports from the Backwater Classic Car Tours trip to Teesdale and Beamish

We set off from Lincolnshire to Headlam Hall on a lovely sunny day, travelling mainly up the A1 with the top down in our Bronze Series 1 3.8-litre E-type roadster. This was to be our first long trip in the car after the fitting of the new Jaguar five-speed gearbox.

The journey was about 150 miles to Headlam Hall, with the last few miles through lovely country roads to the hotel. We made one pit stop en route close to the hotel to top up the car with fuel for the next day’s touring and arrived at the impressive venue around 3:45pm. On arrival, we were greeted by Tom Brimblecombe from Backwater Tours, who directed us

to park in the reserve parking in front of Headlam Hall.

In total, there were 16 cars on the tour: eight E-types, five XKs, one Daimler V8, an Aston Martin DB12 and an XKR. The XKs included three 150s, a 140, and one 120. The E-types covered a range of models including roadsters, a fixed-head, and a brace of Plus 2 models.

After unpacking our luggage into our lovely period bedroom, we decided to have a bottle of fizz on the terrace to celebrate my birthday with our friends Bob and Julie, who we had met on the Backwater Suffolk Tour last year.

Before the 7pm dinner, we joined Tom in the Stable Room of the hotel and the other 30 members of the tour for a welcome speech from Tom and a drink of fizz before enjoying a lovely three-course dinner consisting of prawn cocktail, roast beef and cheesecake.

After a rested night and a good hearty breakfast, we set off on yet another sunny day for the first day of the tour at around 9:15am. A country drive to the Aysgarth Falls Hotel for coffee and cake, and then on to the Bowes Museum – a return journey of about 80 miles in total.

The route from our hotel went via country roads to Richmond, calling at the Aysgarth Falls Hotel, and then on across Melbecks and Kexwith Moors, and then on to Barnard Castle and The Bowes Museum. We arrived at the Bowes Museum at around 1pm and the cars were arranged in front of the house on the gravel drive. A most impressive display for visitors to the museum to see.

The museum tour started at 2pm with a demonstration of the famous and magical 18th century mechanical and musical silver swan. Then we had a guided tour of the museum around the various galleries, seeing a variety of pictures from different artists, as well as fabric and clothes from different periods in history up to the 1970s.

We returned to the hotel at 3pm and enjoyed the spa before another lovely dinner and then retiring for the night.

Day two of the tour was to drive about 35 miles to spend a day at the Beamish Living Museum. This is an open-air museum consisting of a coal-pit village and mine, 1913 town, 1940s and 1950s farms, an 1820 old hall and associated buildings including a Drovers Inn serving 1820 ale. There is also a railway station with a Puffing Billy replica train. The 1913 town has a selection of trams and old buses that take you around the various sites.

We arrived at the museum around 10:30am and the cars were arranged inside the site near the period fun fair. Once the cars were parked up for display on the lawn, we were free to wander around the various sites using the period transport, visiting the houses and shops, trying the chips cooked in lard, buying sweets at the old-fashioned sweet shop, and trying an

1820 recipe ale.

We set off again at around 3pm, taking the scenic country route back to the hotel. In the evening, we enjoyed the use of the hotel spa and a lovely evening meal with other members of the tour.

Day three, blessed as another lovely warm sunny day, was a tour of the Pennines with a coffee stop at the High Force Hotel. The route was about 110 miles in total across the Pennines, with a coffee break at the High Force Hotel to see the impressive waterfalls there, which are a short but steep walk from the hotel and well worth the visit.

After the coffee stop and a visit to the waterfalls, we proceeded on pretty country roads through the Pennines, enjoying the hairpin corners and stunning scenery whilst avoiding the walkers, cyclists and many sheep en route. We stopped at Hexham for lunch with our friends Bob and Julie, and enjoyed an authentic Mexican meal at a local restaurant in Hexham.

One slight issue was the aggressive speedbumps in the public car parks in Hexham. The only answer to this was to temporarily unload the ladies to allow us to get over them in the low E-types. This amused the other members over dinner later that day.

After lunch, we left Hexham and returned to the hotel via lovely country roads. The journey

was delayed slightly due to a road closure, but the diversion allowed us all to pass a garage and refuel for the next day.

Unfortunately, Bob experienced overheating problems with his E-type on this journey. We

suspected a stickly thermostat. So, when we returned to the hotel several members helped remove the thermostat after visit to a local Halfords for some gasket material. This cured the overheating problem for his trip home the next day.

After the excitement of the car repairs in the hotel car park, we all enjoyed a last-night dinner. After the meal, we all went to the bar and had a night cap, with all recounting the adventures we’d had over the past few days, which included the exceptional sunny weather, glorious road trips, the spa and hotel, and lovely meals. All said they enjoyed the ‘hotel kippers’ and fun they had.