…Or what do you do when own a 100e and are unable to go on your pre-covid booked trip?
We had originally booked a trip to Vienna but the airline started to move the flights around for a second time and this made the trip impractical. We, therefore, worked on Plan B. This new plan would see us stay in several places in Wales. So hotels were looked at and booked and a resemblance of a plan started to appear which would cover about 320 miles. A big part of the plan was we would do it in Lizzie!
The key locations of the plan were Brecon, Aberystwyth, Pembroke, and Builth Wells, although the Pembroke hotel canceled on us so we rebooked into a hotel near Saundersfoot.
Day one saw us head north from home to Brecon via Usk, Abergavenny, Pontrilas, and Hay on Wye. A stop was made at Hay on Wye so us humans could refuel with a cuppa in one of the local cafes before heading to the first nights stay at the Brecon Castle Hotel. The mileage for day one was 68 miles.
After parking up and checking into the hotel we had a nice walk around Brecon and picked up a nice bottle of Chocolate Orange Gin (Penderyn’s Brecon Gin) from one of the local shops (this was sampled after the trip and is thoroughly recommended).
The plan for day two was to end up in Aberystwyth. The journey saw us head from Brecon to Builth Wells (via the Sennybridge Ranges) and on to Rhayader, the Elan Valley to Devils Bridge and on to Aberystwyth. The total mileage for day two was 78 miles
The journey through the Elan Valley was well worth it, even in the damp Welsh weather. Devils Bridge was a little underwhelming with nowhere to get tea/coffee. Luckily we had stopped at the Elan Valley Visitors Centre earlier in the day. Aberystwyth was somewhat wet and windy and left Lizzie covered in sand and salt, despite being parked a few streets back from the promenade.
The hotel we stayed in was in the center of Aberystwyth. The Four Seasons did have a car park but you could not guarantee a space. We were lucky and took the only remain space at the time of our arrival but had to wait a short time for another car to move when we left on day three.
Day three saw us leave Aberystwyth and head south to New Quay, Cardigan, St David’s, Haverford West, to near Saundersfoot. A total of 119 miles making this the highest mileage day of the trip.
The day saw us make a couple of stop-offs during the day at New Quay, Cardigan, and St Davids for tea and coffee with a quick stop-off at Haverford West being made to grab some supplies.
Day four saw us depart the Woodridge Inn Hotel and head back to the north via, St Clears to Newcastle Emlyn and Lampeter before heading off to Llandovery, Llanwrtyd Wells to end up in Builth Wells. A total of 108 miles.
The weather was not that great so we took no decent photos on this day either.
We made a couple of stop-offs today, in Newcastle Emlyn, Llandovery, and Llanwrytd Wells. Accommodation for this night was The Owls B&B in the center of Builth Wells.
Day five would bring us back home, from Builth Wells we headed to Kington then on to Talgarth, Llangorse Lake (for a brew), Abergavenny, Usk, and home, a total of 94 miles.
In total, we covered 460 miles on this trip, a bit in excess of what we originally calculated but some rerouting was made when we saw that there was plenty of time before we were due at the next stop.
Before we left, a ‘go bag’ of essential spares was put together with the hope that they would not be needed. A bottle of water and a tin of engine oil was also present in the boot. As it turned out the only thing from the ‘go bag’ that was needed was a split pin. A squeal when braking developed on Wednesday so the wheel was whipped off and any brake dust cleared out followed by some adjustment of the shoes. This had a positive effect although it did not cure the squeal completely so further work to do over the next week or so*. As with every journey we take in her, vital fluids were checked and topped up every day, this (as well as the spots of oil on the ground) shows she is losing a little oil, another thing for the job list.
[*on investigation it looks like a brake cylinder was ceasing up, this has now been changed out for a new one]
It was a pleasure to drive Lizzie around the highways and byways of South/Mid/West Wales although those stuck behind us on some of the steeper sections may disagree. Whilst we did our best to avoid steep sections of road, there were occasions where this was not possible so slow and steady wins the race. We received many waves and smiles from people we passed by and when stopped people came over to us to ask about Lizzie and talk about their memories of cars from this era.
One of the great things about the trip was the slower pace of the drive. This gave us more time to look at the beauty of Wales in all its glory, even with the mist and rain. Doing this same trip in one of our modern cars would have been boring by comparison and probably over in half the time.
Would we do this again? Absolutely! As we were driving home we were talking about where the next trip would take us. The Cotswolds is supposed to be nice…
