Zoom in to find all the little details to this GPS logged route. (scroll down for the complete story in pictures)
The location for this year's main Austin A30-A35 event was the buzzing little city of Chesterfield, at the edge of the peak district. It's the end of May again, Rally time! I remember thinking, "that's a bit early to be leaving," when my father suggested we meet with the Austins at 1 p.m. Little did I know that we would really need that time. As always, the last Monday in May is off in the United Kingdom (Spring bank holiday) and all kinds of things are being organized there this weekend. This year was no exception, think of museums with special events, a music festival, a market, but also a meeting of all sub-regions of the Austin A30-A35 owners club. This meeting is better known as the International Rally.
We gathered at my father's house with the three Austins in which the six of us would make the trip. After loading a few last trunks into the Austins, it was time to drive to the ferry. A drive of at least 1 hour on a busy stretch of highway, so it often takes up to 20 minutes. Fortunately, this was not the case and we soon found ourselves in the P&O ferries parking lot. We always stopped there to stretch our legs, but quickly moved on to check-in. When I got into the car, Theo (my co-driver for the trip) said "give me your passport in advance" and that's when the alarm bells went off for me. FORGOTTEN PASSPORT, how could I be so stupid. We immediately started thinking of solutions to get to the boat on time. If someone could get the document halfway done, that would of course make a difference! After calling, I found my wife willing to do that. So, on to a point halfway along the route where the transfer took place. In the end we got back to the boat in time. Along the way we came across a very familiar car and caravan. It was Henk and Marchien.
Along the way we came across a very familiar car and caravan. It was Henk and Marchien.
Austin A30 - A35 on the ferry
Cheers! It is the beginning of the trip, and we made it!
Captain Hop!
Sailing into the sunset
The engine noise is what kept some people awake, as it seemed to hit the resonant frequency of the ship at times.
Henk and Marchien Joined us
Ok, last picture of the sunset, I promise
The next day a route of 140 km was planned. It would of course be nice if there was something to do along the way to break up the journey a bit. However, I had already looked on the internet, and it turned out to be on the way. 
We didn't find anything where we could spend an hour and we ended up having a cookie on the side of the road before continuing on the road. Arriving at Chesterfield Rugby Club, the tent was up quickly despite the strong wind. The position of the tent had been carefully chosen to minimize wind impact, but the wind would quickly weaken and not return for the entire weekend.
The "Dutch Camp" all set up
indeed, we represented the club
Before setting off to the peak Districkt. I wanted to make sure that I had done everything I can to reduce the clutch slipping
Working safely with a spare tire under the wheel
There was not yet a full program from the rally organization on Friday. However, a ride through the beautiful Peak District was planned. This was also our plan, but on our own and not as part of the entire procession. But we did use a route description provided by the club. This took us past beautiful parts of the nature reserve and also a "Surprise View", which was very spectacular.
Stop to take in the scenery
The scenery
More rediculously beautiful views
Not starting great, turned out that the timing I had adjusted back home with the stroboscope was to early... the fuel these days requires different settings than the manual from the 50's advise.
From the parkinlot of the local supermarket we got to explore a litte stretch of canal (Tesco, Bridgemont, Whaley Bridge, High Peak SK23 7PD, UK)
Taken from a pedestrian bridge crossing the canal
One last view of the Rolling Hills
A panoramic overview photo of the Austin A30-A35 Rally Field
Lighting up the foldable barbecue
Some drive here, some Austin A30 or A35's arrive on trailers. Those RV's look comfy, although camping has its charms!
Popular choice these types of flags!
Look at that pretty car!
Austin Spares had purchased the molds of an Austin owner that had made them specifically to create glassfiber parts for his car. They are now looking into the applications for these molds.
Molds for fiberglass front valance,
Molds for fiberglass front wings
Molds for fiberglass bonnet and boot lid
Mold for fiberglass sun visor!
The backing of the mold.
Child??
The next day started with lots of sunshine. There was the possibility to buy parts, during the entire event there were several traders present who largely sold parts for our cars. If you need something for your A30/A35 (or you thought you didn't need anything) then this is the place for you. There was also an outing planned by the club to "The Great British Car Journey", this is a car museum with examples that were important to the British car industry. However, we decided to go to the center of the town ourselves. (Let's see if the spire was really crooked) It turned out to be a very nice center, with a market that could be found there on many days of the week. After this short visit we continued to the Barrow Hill Roundhouse. This museum is set up around a train turntable. This turntable was previously used to store locomotives in a shed. A very interesting museum, where locomotives were also restored.
Selling some Austin A30-A35 Polyurethane Mud Flaps from the back of my A30
Austin A30-A35 Lineup on the Field 2024
Blue skies!
The A35 saloons
We found our way to the Chesterfield center of town Market
The iconic Spire
Barrow Hill Roundhouse
Lunch is very important, some nice pies!
The Switch points are controlled here
British Rail Class 45 cab you can sit in 
The engine of the Class 45 was a marine-type, slow-revving diesel, a Sulzer 12LDA28B with a bore of 280 mm and a stroke of 360 mm. This gave 22 litres per cylinder, or 264 litres (16,100 cu in) for the whole engine. The unit was turbocharged and intercooled and gave 2,500 hp. The engine was of the double bank type with two parallel banks of 6 cylinders, geared together to a single output shaft. A lot more power than from my A30....
Dinner
Cheers
Sunday was a very rainy day, with clear skies in the afternoon. The weather was good enough for outdoor activities with the necessary protective clothing or an umbrella. I decided to see if I could sell some of my homemade rubber parts and I also wanted to film something for my report on YouTube. (search for "Hopping" on YouTube) others decided to walk to a lock for the canal network. As you may know, the narrowboat network is very extensive, dating back to before the train was invented. These waterways are still used by holidaymakers and residents on these very narrow boats. The locks in Chesterfield appeared to be completely built in by modern buildings, which made it very difficult to get to the lock. It resulted in a long walk, but it was nice to get out for a while.
All noses in the right direction
The modified class
The Pickup class
My Merchendise
Impressive Clouds
Austin A35 pickup green with steel lid on the back.
On Monday it was time to go. We decided to stop at the Paplewick Pumping Station. This pumping station, just above Nottingham, was built to pump drinking water for this city. As I said before, during the long weekends you will often find fun activities at museums, and this was also a great experience. All steam-powered machines were also in operation. There was also a very nice market where artistic objects were sold. (Think of wooden birdhouses, jewelry, knitting and other home crafts) Also only during these types of weekends, it was a short tractor ride to the reservoir on top of the hill. This, now empty, reservoir was used as a buffer for the pumping station. It could hold a full day's supply of water. (5.4 million liters of water) Once we descended into the brick structure, an impressive surprise awaited us. It looked somewhat like a church with the vaulted ceiling and numerous pillars. I wouldn't have wanted to miss this, what an experience. The pumping station itself was also the most beautiful piece of Victorian timber framing I have seen yet. It is a building that is decorated down to the last detail. There was apparently some budget left over at the time, because this kind of lavish, sometimes even pompous, decorated industrial machinery is truly from another era.
Entrance building at the side of the road. "Visitors this way!"
The rear with some stalls in front
One of the artisans, he was working on Cyanotype Photography. A very interesting process indeed!
This was his homebuilt camera
The shaper images where aquired by taking the negative of a regular photo and lighting the Cyanotype Photograph using the negative as a mask 
We paid extra to go to the resevoir. Well worth the extra ticket! They had old tractors take people up the road, as it was quite a way up the hill
Imagine 5.4 million liters of water here! It has not been used in decades because it leaks. The volunteers had emptied out the rubble that used to block the entrance. They probably did this back in the day to keep people out. 
This is the mount of dirt on top of the second (in use) resevoir. The little building provides entrance to the stairs.
Back around the pumping station itself, we explored the other steamengines that dotted the property. This was a steamengine used in a coal mine to get material and people in and out the shaft.
Having lunch with Paplewick pumping station in the background
The pumping station was ornately decorated!
Decorated steel structural beams, they don't make them like they used to.
Steam tube covered in wooden slats
Guages to monitor the pressures at the operators station
Just the sheer amount of decoration!Mean looking birds at the top of the decorated steal columns
Some people had Radio controlled boats on the cooling pond! Very nice.
After an otherwise trouble-free ride back to Hull, it was time for a final night on the gently rocking ship. After a lot of fun in the tent, traditional English dishes (Steak Pie in the museum, Fish and Chips in the tent), beautiful views and tall stories, our trip was over. In addition to this English food, there were meals from Theo. It's not easy, cooking for six adult men on a camping stove, but we still managed to create something healthy. Of course Chris' meatballs are also very nice and very tasty on the first day.
To make a long story short, I enjoyed this years trip and I can highly recommend a visit to the International Rally of the Austin A30 - A35 owners club.