NORTH LONDON MG CLUB TOUR 2026 – DORSET
For this year’s tour, Gail and Brian found a 7 bedroom house in Langton Maltravers, near Swanage. The house was located in a rural setting with sea views and was well-equipped with vast quantities of crockery, glasses and cutlery. The weather was very good for the time of year, with not a drop of rain falling on our precious classic motors and plenty of sunshine although one or two days were rather breezy. As is usual with these trips, there were a few car issues, but that is all part of the fun isn’t it? We had 14 of us lined up for the trip, but unfortunately, Jim and Jan had to pull out just beforehand due to a problem with Jim’s arm. So we were down to 12. Also John S was scheduled to arrive on Sunday (the booking was from Friday) and Malcolm on Monday, while myself and Elaine planned to depart on Thursday. The House
Friday
I really should know better. Every time I have the car serviced, it breaks down immediately afterwards. I had a service and MOT the week before departure and used the car a couple of times during the week with no problems. So, I set off with confidence just after rush hour. I got a few hundred yards before stalling round the corner from where I live. It was quite a chilly morning which can be a problem for MGs. However, this time, it refused to restart – the battery seemed a bit laboured which I put down to having forgotten to put it on charge overnight. I walked back home and brought my Skoda round thinking to jump start. Forgot about the hazards of starting a 6 volt car with a 12 volt battery and soon gave up on that idea. So I called out my breakdown service. I had noticed when looking at jump starting that there was a lot of copper sulphate round the positive battery terminals. I scraped some of this away with a screwdriver and on the off chance tried to start it. It did start although a bit laboured again, so I limped back home and called off the breakdown. Cleaned up and greased the terminals and put the battery on charge. It was fully charged by mid afternoon and checking voltage revealed a healthy level, so I took the car out for a short test drive and all seemed OK. By now it was too late to set off so I resolved to depart early on Saturday morning. In the meantime, Elaine had travelled down to Dorset by train and bus as pre-planned. Wisely she had decided a long journey in the MG was not a good idea. So there were only 9 for the first evening, when the group ventured to the local pub for a meal.
Saturday
It was very cold early morning, so I postponed leaving until about 7.45. I decided to avoid the M25 as I regard smart motorways as a potential death trap in a classic car, which meant it took about 2 ½ hours to reach Fleet services where I stopped for a coffee. When I came out to resume my journey, guess what – it wouldn’t start again. The battery was fine, it just wouldn’t fire. Found there was no spark at all so down to an ignition problem. Called out breakdown again who arrived reasonably promptly, but with electronic ignition there was not a lot they could do, so it was down to recovery back home. Eventually after spending over 5 hours at Fleet, I was on my way back!
Meanwhile some of the other cars were also having problems. Ken’s MGA was emitting puffs of white smoke when going uphill and Brian had starting problems which he attributed to the coil after fitting the coil from John P’s car. He then drove into Poole to pick up a new coil. Our MGs
Sunday
Third time lucky, I set off at 6.15 in my Skoda and actually made it. Only issue was my stupid satnav calculating that the fastest route entailed taking a ferry from Poole to Swanage. Fortunately, I realised what it was up to in time and reset the options to avoid ferries. On entering the road, there were four MGs at the entrance but ominously, the bonnet of Brian’s car was up. Turned out that the new coil hadn’t cured the problem, so he was changing the condenser. Fortunately this proved successful and so four of the five planned MGs were able to set off for the Swanage classic car festival, with Elaine and I following on by bus.
The classic car show was held in the main car park with a good attendance and selection of cars. When we arrived, the loudspeaker was playing ‘Shake, Rattle and Roll’ which seemed appropriate. Visiting a show that is not local, means that you get to see a different set of cars than at our usual events, which made for an interesting change. Among the exhibits were a 100 year old Bentley in magnificent condition and an MGB GT converted into a pickup truck! By the time we got back to the house, John S had arrived in his MG and we sat out in the garden consuming tea and cake before most of the group headed into Corfe to visit a local hostelry for dinner. Swanage Car Show
Monday
Although the house had very creaky floorboards, the likely cause of being woken up in the morning proved to be the smell of burnt toast. John S and I decided that porridge would be a safer bet. A pleasant sunny day and we all set off in the direction of the Jurassic coast, 3 MGs in convoy and the rest individually. One of the roads was closed due to activity at the Lulworth Army firing range, so navigation proved a bit tricky. Elaine and I visited a garden at Hulme and then went on to Lulworth Castle. The latter proved very interesting as the castle had suffered a major fire back in the 1920’s but the exterior had been restored with only minor repairs done indoors and a wide range of exhibits and photos relating to the original state of the home. We then went on to Lulworth Cove, where we found Richard and Jenny and John S. So all 3 of the individual cars ended up in the same place which had earlier been visited by everyone else, who had also participated in some fossil hunting at Kimmeridge beach. Meanwhile Malcolm had arrived in his MGF so we were up to 12. 10 of us visited a pub in a nearby village for dinner, travelling in 2 Skodas ironically. A peculiar old (and listed) building where the service was a bit slow, not helped by everyone ordering something different. The food and beer were quite good though. Jurassic Coast
Tuesday
A bit windy and cloudier today. Most of the group followed in our footsteps of the previous day, visiting the gardens and castle. We went to Brownsea Island near Poole involving a short ferry ride. We didn’t see any red squirrels unfortunately but there was some excellent bird watching from a couple of hides near the water and some peaceful walking through different flora and fauna including an arboretum. In the evening 11 of us went to the local pub again with 7 of us walking. The house literature claimed a 15 minute walk which was about right going there as it was downhill. A bit longer coming back though. Excellent value for money with beer the same price as at the club. Brownsea Island
Wednesday
Warm and windy. Eight of us started the day at a local cider farm. It was a good time of year to visit as the extensive orchard was covered in blossom making for good photo opportunities. There were also a number of lambs in one field housing young apple trees. Flora and Fauna
After that, it became a Lawrence of Arabia tour, with options to visit his house (very interesting and informative); the church which hosted his funeral (unusual engraved windows); his grave; and a church in Wareham (over 1000 years old) containing an effigy of him. We have since been inspired to watch the 1962 film (all 3 hours 47 minutes of it)! On returning to the house, Malcolm ominously had a wheel off his car. A wheel bearing was making odd noises. It proved impossible to achieve any sort of running repairs, so he would have to try and limp home and hope for the best. Lawrence
We had decided to eat in that night and Brian and Gail had been to Lidl for supplies. It was an indoor BBQ using the ovens for meat and roasted vegetables, accompanied by a range of salads and other dishes. The cooking was done by the men – you just have to tell us it’s a BBQ! We ate in a basement dining room which proved a good environment with a large table seating 12 of us and a couple of other tables to put food dishes on. A fair bit of red wine, beer and cider was consumed and we finished up with a bottle of port.
Thursday
Considering the previous night, almost everyone had got up surprisingly early. As well as ourselves, Malcolm had decided to leave for home a day early just in case he had problems on the way. We stopped at gardens near Hook on the way back for lunch and to stretch our legs. I had no desire to see another motorway service station for a while. A warm day – we had to use the air conditioning in the absence of a soft top. Meanwhile the remainder of the group ventured a little further afield to Weymouth and Portland or closer to home at Worth Matravers. Judging from the photos, some of them were reliving their childhood a bit. Well they say men never grow up and owning an MG in our later years probably proves it. Rogues’ Gallery
Friday
Everyone got back without incident amazingly. Some cars stopped off at places of interest on the way e.g. Shaftesbury, Salisbury, Dorchester and Bridport. Those who used the M25 somehow avoided overheating in the usual Friday afternoon queues. John P avoided all this by stopping off at a friend’s on Friday night and had no trouble on Saturday afternoon. Overall we didn’t do a lot of driving whole in Dorset because there was a lot to see and do within easy reach. Recorded mileage for the week was generally in the 500-600 range
Postscript
Malcolm got home safely and is working on his wheel bearing. Ken suspects head gasket problems and is posting pictures of his car and parts on What’s App. Wouldn’t you just know it - my car started first time when I got home? Leads me to suspect an overheated coil might have been the cause as I had never previously driven the car for that long before. Trouble is if I change the coil I will not know for sure I have fixed the problem until I next do a long run, which brings us to next year. East Anglia or the Cotswolds seem to be on the agenda which at least means avoiding the M25.