This weekend was the long-awaited Mini club organised Torquay run and thankfully, after some slightly worrying weather forecasts, the weather was superb and we had a really great time. We stayed in a 4-diamond B&B a couple of minutes away from Torquay’s seafront who’s owners are friendly with our Mini club since they used to live in the Portsmouth area. We got a nice discount from them and a fully booked-out B&B just for us which was awesome.
We arranged to meet up at the Rownhams service station, West-bound M27 at 2.30pm. After finishing work at 1.00pm I swiftly left my house along with Graham and Amey (Graham in his own car; Amey’s my girlfriend for those of you who don’t know!) and headed on down there. We arrived at the service station at just past 2.00pm and waited for the rest of the club to meet us there.
Graham’s and my Fiesta’s at the car park.
The rest of the club arrived soon after and Collin had problems already - fan belt snapped!
No major worries and 10 minutes later it was fixed with a replacement fan belt from Adam and the convoy got moving. We kept at a steady 50-60mph the whole way down and stopped a couple of times near Ringwood, and again at Honiton and arrived at Torquay some 153 miles later at about 7.45pm. Everyone neatly parked the Mini’s up in front of The Westgate Hotel and the cameras came out.
Everyone had a stretch, a pee and got unpacked. Most of the club’s members decided it was time for the booze (especially Bev!), but us-lot decided to take a walk down to the seafront and to the town of Torquay. Stupidly, I forgot to take my camera, but we had fish and chips, a few drinks and came back to the hotel for a fairly early nights sleep!
It was impossible to notice how beautiful Torquay looked at night, with the creative lighting and hot-spots of natural beauty. I promised myself that the next night I’d bring my camera along!
Everyone woke early for the full-English breakfast and coffee (especially myself!) and it was really nice, I most defiantly could have had another plateful!
Our Mini club had arranged to meet-up with the local Mini club of the area, the West England Mini Owners Club, for a cruise out to Dartmoor Forest for a spot of food and a sightseeing adventure. Not that I knew, but the organised route was some 120-odd miles long! We all met up and parked the Mini’s in a nearby car park for 10 minutes to exchange handshakes and camera time!
And off the Mini’s went. This is where I really began to miss driving my Mini – but at least I was there! After a good 30-40 minutes we stopped at a natural beauty spot where there was a Dam and a waterfall. I’ve always-always wanted to photograph a waterfall, but unfortunately the convoy didn’t stay that long for me to get properly set-up with my tripod, camera, etc, for any decent shots. I got a couple, though…
Then Mike went for a wee!…
And off we went again. After another half-hour or more, we stopped on top of a hill somewhere in the middle of Dartmoor Forest. The view was spectacular and breathtaking (literally – it was pretty windy!) Out came the cameras again to capture this awesome sight.
We left again and after a further half-hours driving or more, we stopped in a small village for a spot of lunch. Graham got stuck into a pair of scones and tea!
And then everyone parked their Mini’s around the back of a pub in a large car park for another photo shoot. It was quite impressive from this shot how many of us there were.
And off we went again. After another hour or so we stopped in a seaside-harbour-type place and I was asked to go on ahead to the Ferry and cross it before the Mini’s to get some good shots of the Mini’s coming across. Awesome. I powered on ahead of the Mini’s and arrived at the Ferry a couple of minutes later.
I can’t remember where exactly this was, but it was beautiful. Yet more stunning views from the Devon seaside, as expected.
There was even a steam railway, although we couldn’t spot an engine!
Not long after, I spotted the Mini’s boarding the small car Ferry across the shore. I snapped away, and thanks to my rather large lens, I got it! I think Collin must have asked everyone to wave at this moment, and luckily I was watching!
Not long after, we arrived back at the hotel, joined with the West England Mini Owners Club. Naturally, more camera-taking time!
A meal was planned at a nearby carvery for everyone which was nice and then we all came back to the hotel later in the evening. Since I promised myself that I’d go out again with my camera at night, tonight was it. Collin decided to join us, as did Graham and Amey and we strolled toward the seafront. There are two spots in Torquay (from what I’ve found so far) where there are these tree’s lit-up by Green, Purple and Pink lights and they look fantastic. I’m not sure who, or why, its set-up, but it really does bring Torquay to life!
The reflections from the small lake were stunning as well…
We then headed off down onto the seafront itself. Luckily the tide was out again, so I walked out toward the waters edge to capture the night life of Torquay in the reflections. Again, just beautiful.
This place really is lush. A nice warm, calm, night on Torquay seafront. So relaxing.
We got back to the hotel after a while and played some cards. I’m not the greatest fan of playing cards in the world, but after a while I got the swing of things. Scott, Adam, Collin, Graham, Amey and myself were playing. Adam eventually won!
The next morning saw yet another excellent full English breakfast (and lots of coffee for me!). Some of us decided to leave early, and some mid morning. A few of us decided to take a walk around the town centre of Torquay in daylight and to visit the shops. I didn’t get much chance to walk around the harbour much, but as expected, it was as nice as the rest of this lovely town. Here’s a photo looking across the Bay and harbour
Amey, Mike and myself decided to take a trip to the nearby town, Babbacombe to look at its famous model village, while the others left to either go home or to spend more time at other various attractions. The model village was within a minutes drive from Torquay itself which was nice, and it was surprisingly very well signposted! When we got there, I soon realised the model village was a perfect opportunity for happy-snapping photography! I took literally hundreds of photos and here’s some of my favourites!
A topless woman!
Loads of funny signs and names. Attention to detail was great.
The town centre of this model village. The depth was easy to grab with my camera.
We found Wally in the Where’s Wally hunt!
Brilliant. Two hours of fun, even for us 20-year-old big-kids!
Amey hadn’t bought her parents or friends any gifts yet, so we had to go to another seaside resort of some kind. Instead of going back to Torquay, we followed signs for Paignton – famous for its peir and sandy beaches. Unfortunately I didn’t grab any good shots of this place, and to be honest I was getting a bit tired and wanted home anyway – the heat was killer!
We eventually left Paignton and the Torquay area half hour later and headed home. The traffic was quite heavy and the sun was scorching so we stopped a few times and arrived back home at about 8.30pm. A really great weekend, and if you’ve read this far down, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading and I didn’t bore you too much!
PS: By far my longest blog post yet!
An awesome write up and great photos. Nice job!
Sure looks like you guys had a great time. The photos are amazing! especially the night time beach ones.
Nice work Daze.
[...] Torquay with the Mini Club for the weekend. Daze has a fantastic write-up about the event so I will point you in his direction and just let you ogle at a couple of crappy photos from the [...]