This year's Classic Harvest Tour had a wonderful family feel to it, with most of the marshalling crews and no less than 31 of the 44 entries consisting of family teams. This was probably one of the reasons why everyone was in such good humour and that, in turn, made the whole day enjoyable, not only for the entrants but also for the marshals and organisers.

After the usual vehicle checks and some bacon butties, crews set out from the start near Reading on a gentle run which roughly followed the course of the Kennet and Avon canal. This section mainly used open roads, and gave crews plenty of opportunity to learn how to follow the detailed Harvest Tour road book. Like the previous three Tours the road book had been designed to try to ensure that it would be very difficult to get lost and even the very young navigators on the event soon got used to it.

The last section set off westwards from Newbury before skirting around the north of the town and then using most of the roads between the A4 and the M4 on the way back to the start/finish venue. Again navigational handouts were made available for those who wished to try them, this time using compass directions and map references as well as another straight line diagram, presented as a picture of a Sunbeam Rapier.

By 4 o'clock crews were making there way back into the start/finish hotel to swap tales of daring do over afternoon tea. They were then all presented with a souvenir award and were soon on their way home grateful of an early start on what for many was a very long journey.

The organising team were delighted to receive a number of positive comments from entrants and would like to thank the many marshals who helped to make the event such a success.

My first Historic event was the 1992 Highland Fling Rally, a five day event based in Aviemore. The previous autumn a friend of mine suggested we take up the sport in his 1958 MGA Twin Cam. He had driven on UK night rallies during the 80's in a Midget and I had some experience of night rallying in Germany in the early 70's in an Austin Maxi. It seemed a good idea.

I undertook a correspondence course in rally navigation and encouraged by my performance felt that the rest of the cobwebs would be cleared away during some genuine competition. However, there remained some serious doubts with regard to the aspect of timing and particularly with regard to something called regularity. No one we knew could tell us anything about it, but by reading various articles we felt we would manage alright with our stop watches provided we purchased a Halda trip meter. However by the start of the first event it was quite clear that we were still in the dark.

If only there had been a 1991 Classic Harvest Tour!

My present rally car, a 1962 Riley 1.5, has competed in many events in the past, but now rests in semi-retirement for one reason or another; so it seemed a good idea to get back to basics via some non-competitive motoring on some of England's pleasant country roads.

The final instructions arrived and we were both pleased to see that there were a number of stops for tea and coffee, and even bacon butties on offer prior to the start. Things were really looking up. Scrutineering on the day was performed efficiently without the normal zeal of some event scrutineers and we managed to find parking outside the Comfort Hotel, which was the start and finish venue. Luckily I had some newspaper to catch the oil which the engine thinks it doesn't need.

Starting at car 31 we noted the departure direction of car 30 and figured that he was correct in going left. The first 36 mile morning section took us west to Crofton Pumping Station housed in a Grade 1 listed building by the Kennet and Avon Canal roughly 6 miles SW of Hungerford. The pumping station provides the power to pump water to the summit of the canal, some miles away, where it provides a continuous supply to assist the passage of boats. Apparently, every time the lock gates open, 73,000 gallons of water disappears downstream.

All was going well on the first section until a forked tulip was mis-read and we headed off to Greenham Common! On regaining our composure, we found ourselves baulked by two later cars. Hee-ho, at least the tea at Crofton was refreshing. The car park attendant there was up to his job checking we all paid, but cannot have witnessed so many cars in his car park before!

The next 35 mile section to the lunch halt at Newbury took us first onto the Chute Causeway, a first for the crew of Car 31. The instructions told us to enjoy the experience of the stunning views from this Roman road - and we certainly did. The instructions failed to mention however that we were soon to be in the land of the Personal Challenge. These were not of Roman origin, but were little tests of our lateral thinking, and once attempted, would take us on slightly different routes at certain junctions, giving us cause to record different code boards, thereby giving proof to having met the Challenge.

We paused to examine the first handout and the Navigator decided she didn't want any more personal challenges that day other than to follow the road book; so we forged upwards and onwards to Café One on Newbury Town Square for lunch; but not before the route took us past every signpost that was ever made to direct people to Faccombe, a lovely village.

Lunch over it was time to collect the oil-stained paper again and head back to the finish via the Pang Valley where a cunning alternative route for those who chose not to swim the River Pang was provided with an instruction to approach the post-Pang junction from the SW. At that point, the sun disappeared and the compass-less Riley managed to achieve a wrong approach. I was on the point of letting off steam when I was reminded that it was just good fun and that I should have seen the Marshall facing the other direction of approach! Remembering the old adage of 'Navigators tell Drivers where to go', we pressed on towards the finish via the spectacular avenue of oak trees at Bucklebury, the only part of the route which was familiar to us.

After much quenching of thirsts, we were read the Riot Act by Terry (sorry, given the results), and the finishers medals were presented to us by Helen. Terry and Pip Secker, our hosts for the weekend, had secured a long overdue best personal score, having met all the challenges, and with our approach of just enjoying the scenery we had finished just where we were seeded.

A very well managed event over some truly outstanding countryside. The Marshalling was comprehensive and for those who tried the navigational challenges, the results were quickly and expertly handled. We really enjoyed our first experience of the Harvest and will be back for another personal challenge next year. This is indeed a superb introduction to Historic rallying and should be on the 'Things to do' list of anyone with a classic car and a sense of adventure.

Cliff & Julie Doe

We actually only wrong-slotted once, early on, when heading for Greenham Common runway. That was a shame really, for it was about the only time that I was late enough to avoid being early into the manned control, one of many on this years tour, thanks to the army of much needed volunteers.

June had decided as soon as I mentioned it that she was NOT going to do any timing - so I drove and operated the stop watch whilst she wrestled with the sometimes devious, always entertaining tulip roadbook. I was secretly looking over at her pages so I would be familiar with the junctions and this seemed to have the effect that I was always at least a few secs early at the controls, rather than dawdling and getting there on time. Having NOT read the final instructions, I had forgotten that lateness was acceptable, but being early was frowned upon as it meant I was going too fast!