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GRAND TOUR 2008 ITINERARY - Monday 25th August
8-00am Westward Ho! Opens
11-00am The Mayor cuts the ribbon follow the band through Westward Ho!
11-06am Haywards roundabout over the new Bridge and down the slip road.
11-10am Instow
11-15am Turn off main road by Fremington shops and through housing estate
11-20am Arrive at Little Bridge House.
11-25am Cedars roundabout.
11-35am Arrive Bishops Tawton roundabout. Use unclassified roads to Landkey.
11-45am Arrive Landkey Use Bridge to cross over 361 and unclassified roads to Snapper.
12-25pm Arrive Snapper
12-35pm Bratton Fleming
12-40pm Crossroads with the A399
12-45pm Blackmore Gate
1-05pm Barbrook
1-15pm Lynton
1-25pm Lee Abbey Car Park
2-15pm Depart Car Park SHARP With a bit of luck
2-45pm Arrive Combe Martin
3-00pm Arrive IIfracombe.
3-30pm Prize giving & raffle etc.
So what makes the Grand Tour so Legendary?
It could be the mini owners who raise so much money and keep coming back year after year? Maybe it is the thousands of people who go out into the streets of North Devon to watch us drive by. They really do fill Lay byes and they stand or sit on the side of the roads just waiting to give the minis a wave. Wherever we go, we get a welcome that is hard to beat.
It could be the 50 or 60 motorbike marshals that give us so much help and the event wouldn’t really be the same without them. It might be the 8 car parks we use over the weekend and lets face it some of them are spectacular and they all look fantastic when we put 300 minis into them.
It is all these things plus a lot, lot more but there is one other very special ingredient that must top the list for making this event legendary and that is Little Bridge House. No other motoring event in the country will fill you with so many different emotions.
If anyone thinks we just drive in and out very quietly without a sound how very wrong they are, if they think we see nothing but the buildings and flower beds how little they know.
When we go into Little Bridge House it is so full of life, the special children, their brothers and sisters and their mums and dads, the carers, the cooks and everyone else is there to greet us.
The cheering and the flag waving from everyone in the grounds is a picture that will remain with most of us forever. All of the families at Little Bridge House have asked to be there that weekend because of the minis. We see a side of Little Bridge House that few people ever get to see. We see so many smiles and a lot of happiness, we see joy and excitement and we see a lot of people just having fun. If only everyone could see what we see.
Sometimes it is hard to remember that Little Bridge House is still a place where get well cards do not work and no matter how many hugs you give the special children, you can never kiss them better and all the magic in the world cannot change their diagnosis.
Those mini owners who do the Legendary Grand Tour really do feel humble and privileged because for a short time they have been part of the children’s lives and in that short time they made them smile and laugh and that is worth more money than we could ever raise.
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