MGAs Go to the Emerald Isle Part 1: Essex to Ulster
Once upon a time a young Englishman with an MGA heard an Irish folk song that touched his heart with its romantic lyrics and haunting guitar. That young man was me and the song was “Sligo Fair” by Jonathon Kelly. I vowed then that one day I would visit Sligo in the north-west of the Emerald Isle, but I never imagined I would do it in that same MGA.
Fast forward forty years and I not only discovered that Mary, the wife of nearby MGA owner Mike Maze, had family in Sligo but also that Mike was prepared to organise an MGA tour of the area. We chose 2013 for our trip, as the Ulster MG Car Club Centre was running an event in Northern Ireland that we could take in along the way. Ulster was an ancient nine-county province of Ireland, six of which now comprise Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom, and three are part of the Republic of Ireland.
And quite a way it would be as the Mazes and I live in southeast England, about as far away as you can get in Britain from northwest Ireland. We would have to cross England and Wales, take a ferry across the Irish Sea to Dublin, drive up the east coast of the Republic of Ireland to Northern Ireland, and then traverse westward to Sligo. Furthermore, to make the return journey different, we planned to take a ferry back across the Irish Sea to Scotland and then drive the length of England home. Four other MGAs signed up for the trip, as did Australian MGA owners (and NAMGAR members) Gary and Anita Lock in an MG6 hire car. Game on!
My only preparation was to change the oil, fit new air filter elements, and in deference to Irish weather, replace the soft-top. What could possibly go wrong? The sun shone as we drove across England and on to Caernarvon in Wales via the scenic Llanberis Pass. Our only problem was the hotel that Mike had chosen had no guest parking, but he swiftly negotiated our access to the secure staff parking area. My MGA was misfiring slightly as we queued for the ferry to Dublin, so I declined a seaman’s request to drive up a steep ramp to an upper deck for the voyage. As the car had not missed a beat in recent months, I suspected the new air filter elements had enriched the mixture and, sure enough, the spark plugs were very sooty when we checked them after driving off the ferry. I quickly removed the air-filters whilst son Tom changed the plugs and the engine didn’t miss a beat thereafter.
Most small boys love sports cars and Irish lads are no different, as we discovered as we fueled up near Dublin. Two youngsters cycled up to admire our cars and one asked if he could sit in the driver’s seat. His face was a picture of happiness as he revved the engine and watched the tachometer needle dance around the dial. Tom and I detoured to take in the Mourne Mountains and the Ards Peninsula in Ulster, being impressed to learn of an 8th century tidal water mill at the site of the Nendrum Monastery on the banks of Strangford Lough. Thirteen hundred years later, a modern tidal turbine now generates electricity at the mouth of this same sea lough.
The next day we signed on for the start of the MGCC Ulster Tour. Here we joined a mix of MGs ranging from two lovely 1930s J2s, through MGBs, and Midgets to the Lock’s 2013 MG6 and, of course, MGAs, three of which would join us for the whole tour. The route first took us over the misty Sperrin Mountains, past the almost 5000 year old Neolithic Beaghmore stone circles, then on to our base near the Antrim Coast. Despite the light traffic, we soon learned not to assume that the road ahead was clear. On a number of occasions we rounded a bend to find the road filled with sheep or riders on horseback.
The second day’s itinerary started with a visit to the famous Bushmills Distillery, where we sampled the Irish Whisky despite it being before lunch! Then on we drove to the scenic Giants Causeway, where millennia ago cooling lava formed multisided columns of rock that have since been eroded to look like a paved walkway into the sea. Next we tested our nerves on the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge that Ulster fisherman historically used to reach a small island where they could hoist their boats in and out of the North Atlantic Ocean. Shortly afterwards, a spectacular low-level sea mist rolled in to the foot of the cliffs, making it look exactly like the ocean had frozen into an ice-shelf. This mostly sunny day finished with us driving flowering fuchsia-hedged lanes and taking in a water-splash where the road and a stream occupy the same space in the Ballypatrick Forest Drive.
Our cars were rested the following morning as we took a guided walk around the ancient city walls of Derry. The shapely Peace Bridge over the River Foyle might be an expression of hope, but it was both sad and moving to look down upon the suburbs of this Northern Ireland city, which still express unionist versus republican sectarian tension. The Protestant enclave is bedecked with the British colours of red, white, and blue whilst in the nearby Bogside, the Catholic republicans defiantly fly the orange, white, and green Irish tri-colour and have painted ‘IRA’ on building roofs. I was warned not to drive my MGA in such a republican area as its Union flag sticker might be viewed as provocative.
Irish rain hit us in the afternoon, the only heavy rain of our trip, just as we arrived at the restored hilltop stone ring-fort of Grianan of Aileach, one of the royal sites of Gaelic Ireland. We braved the weather to scale the 16 foot high ramparts, getting soaked in the process, but of the views we saw nothing. Not to worry, we had the new MGA soft-top to keep us dry so up it went. Two problems: 1) I had not fitted the optional seal under the header rail so at any speed, we had a mini-waterfall from the top of the windshield and 2) the lip on the new top was longer than original, which caused the wiper blades to get stuck at the top of the sweep. I quickly switched them off, but a strong smell of electrical burning alerted me to the wiper motor still trying to achieve the park position! So we had the choice of either keeping slightly less wet with the top up or getting soaked but being able to see where were going with it down. Oh, the fun of old cars.
We then had to decide if we were to complete the afternoon’s route to the most northerly tip of Ireland in the wet or head straight back to a nice warm and dry hotel. Well, MGA owners aren’t put off by being cold and wet are they? So off we went to Malin Head. There, we knew we had reached ‘the end of Ireland as someone had thoughtfully painted a white line across the end of the road marked ‘FINISH,’ as well as ‘START’ for those commencing end-to-end journeys there. We were conscious that this headland would have been the last sighting of Ireland for the men, women, and children who emigrated to America in the 18th and 19th centuries. Happily, the rain soon stopped and our day’s drive ended via a scenic ferry crossing across the River Foyle.
Our last day on the Ulster tour took us along the famous beech tree-lined ‘Dark Hedges’ section of the Bregagh Road and on to Belfast to visit the new Titanic Exhibition on the dock where the famous White Star Line ship was constructed. We noticed how subdued visitors became in the gallery portraying the sinking, but it was good to see that the ship’s famous shipbuilder Harland and Wolf are still in business on an adjacent dockside. The Ulster event ended with an excellent evening hog-roast, hosted by MGCC Ulster Chairman Mike Armstrong and his family. Not only did the rain hold off, but it seemed particularly appropriate that our drinks were served in his garage, where we were surrounded by MG parts ranging from pre-WW2 chassis to MGA parts and accessories.
And so ended our MGCC Ulster tour, where our five MGAs were joined by the sixth car that would complete the group for our trip to Sligo and the wild west of Donegal – this story coming soon.
Photos by Roger Martin and Tom Martin
