We decided to go the night before as we didn’t fancy 5am and a 70 mile drive on a Sunday Morning. Mr Forté Bear had promised us a room and HUY had passed his MOT at the first attempt just that day. It was 7:30 and HUY was loaded; just a light load today, one large bag between the four of us. The bears were excited. I had said that only one could come, but when we loaded HUY Spike, Biggles and Spikelet appeared. The Pink Elephants were jealous, but we explained that it was a bears’ event and anyway they had an appointment outside the pub at closing time.

As we were about to go I looked at the sky. For some days I had been viewing the weather with trepidation. Michael Fish Bear had said Sunshine and Showers which sounded OK, but then he had said "some of those showers could be heavy" and added "with these light winds if you do get a shower it could hang around for some time". Would this be a Biblical Flood to match his Hurricane? Just to the South was a large black thing sort of cloud shaped and looming. So I said to Richard "We had better put the roof up now so that we don’t have to stop two minutes down the road". "Right" was the usually monosyllabic reply.

Richard is in 2 minds about the roof. He is almost 15 and about 5 foot 10. Not huge, but have you ever sat in the back of a Morgan? With the roof off he is well above the windscreen and at any temperature below 25^oC freezes. With the roof up he has to sit bent forward. He dreams, somewhat un-gallantly, of the day when the seat belt won’t fit any longer and he can persuade his Mother to sit in the back. Methinks he has rather too much faith in his powers of persuasion.

He and I managed to fit the roof reasonably quickly. He is strong enough now to stretch the "lift-the-dots" over the front as long as the roof is warm. Ann and John arrived; John climbed into the back and Ann assumed her place in the front. That left just Richard and me. Eventually we found a way to get him in, it certainly wasn’t that hard last year!! So now I have a rather more intimate relationship with the steering wheel than before. What’s an inch or so to a small Dad?

Off we set...... 2 minutes later down it came. Not too bad, at least it was staying outside. Then as we went down the dip there was a stream across the road and traffic coming the other way. For a moment forward visibility went as far as the windscreen. Those of you familiar with the anatomy of a Morgan’s weather equipment will know that if you point a hose upwards at the screen most of the water goes inside. This is more or less what had happened to HUY. "I am getting wet here" came the comment from the navigator, followed shortly later and with feeling "We must be b****y nuts". (rude comments about the usual mental state of Morgan owners are not welcome here). Fortunately the deluge was a small one and if you wipe it away it stops so we continued south and around the ring road.

55 was achievable. Not because going faster lifts the hood over the screen and lets water in, but because any faster and I would not have been able to see anything at all. I decided the Motorway was not a good idea so we went up the Hill and crossed it at the next Junction. A large puddle in Hatch covered half the road and gave some warning of what was to come, we went round it. As we approached Farnham there was a glow ahead. "Looks like we have nearly driven through it", I said somewhat too optimistically, while I reduced speed slightly to give the windscreen wipers a fighting chance.

It was then we realised that we had no money. "It’s OK there’s a machine in Farnham". We turned off into the centre of Farnham. The clouds noticed and put in a spurt to catch us up. Why is it that whenever you stop just to nip out for a minute you stop just where you have to step in a deep puddle to get out? For once we had some luck, the cash machine was inside. When I returned to HUY 3 large breathers and 3 small bear breathers, but mostly the large ones, had made sure that the visibility was limited. I turned on the blower, but left the heater off as its action is somewhat binary and I didn’t fancy being steamed as well as soaked. (Yes they do fit heaters these days) After an age with the rain hammering on the roof, not that we could hear that above the heater fan, I could almost see the end of the bonnet. So we made to move off. Not easy as I had driven into the space marked "Taxis Reserved" and with a bag on the back of a four seater the only way you can see backwards is through the door mirrors.

This was where our gallant navigator took on her main duty. Wiping the inside of the windscreen where the nice people in Malvern failed to fit windscreen wipers. I believe that this is so that when you press your nose to the windscreen to see out in the rain it isn’t chopped off.

Climbing onto the Hog’s Back we could almost make 35 miles an hour. Nothing to do with available power you understand, especially as water injection is supposed to offer an improvement. Then as we rose to the top on the new wider faster road the water thinned and at last we were able to pick up some speed. I had decided not to go through Guildford so we turned off south again and headed for Shalford, you never know John Barnard may have a spare dry car. Do Ferrari do 4 seater Formula One cars? Just around the bend was a sign warning us that the police are slow. I didn’t really believe that, as one had just passed us going much faster than I would have liked to. I was right, the sign was there to stop us drowning in a flood a foot deep. There was one forlorn workman attempting to clear a drain with a spade.

We went through Shalford to Blackheath and turned right onto the road to Horsham. That should fool it!! No: once again the cloud had seen us move and was on our trail. In Branley the water was a veritable river several inches deep right down the middle of the street and forward progress was limited to 10 miles an hour or less, in first gear in places to keep the engine revs up and the water out of the exhaust. When your ground clearance is less than 5 inches and the floor is board wedged between the chassis rails you get concerned for the safety of your socks. Have you noticed that no matter how bright the lights on your car, in heavy rain they have no affect at all.

We crept along the road and slowly as we went further south the horizon brightened and our speed picked up. Before long HUY was straining at the leash and longing, as were we all, to get to his overnight resting place, hardly even balked by the thought of a marauding Gatso Camera.

We arrived tired but in good heart, and tipped the water out of our luggage, celebrating our forethought and the use of supplementary plastic bags. So when you are offered a black 1992 Morgan +4 called HUY (MOT and bar) with only 20 dry miles on the clock for a stunningly reasonable price (we might consider £30,000 if you offer a very good home) ask how many wet ones it has done.

The object of our journey was the Sporting Bears Tour to the Valence School for the Deaf just outside Sevenoaks. Sunday dawned to a clear, though cool day and HUY shed his roof and sidescreens in order to enter more fully into the event. This caused some amazement in some of the onlookers as the small car seemed stacked with people. Especially as there were now eight of us, the last being a new bear sat on the rear view mirror support. There was some debate about the name of the newcomer, one side said Cuddles, while the others wanted Baldrick. In the end we settled on Jonathan Miller, owing to the shape of his nose.

As is usual the tour was excellent and well worth the tribulations of the day before. The catering was superb and it was well rounded off by the Sevenoaks Motor Club’s Hill Climb held on the School driveway!! HUY was disappointed that he missed the Solitary Morgan entry which had been there the day before, but the Scimitars, the Minis and the Historic entry made up for it. 59 cars and one motor bike took part in the Tour and the organisers are to be both thanked and congratulated for an enjoyable event which also raised so much for the "Friends of the Young Deaf".

NB this was published in both the Bear’s Magazine "The Bear Facts" and the MSCC magazine, "Miscellany".

Dave Vodden. Bear no. 465 MSCC no. 6838.