GQA And The Autoraise Real Rally 2019

Day 1 Tuesday 25th June

It’s 06.30, barely light and here I am sat waiting, maybe too excitedly, to be picked up and start a week of ‘interesting’ proportions. It’s supposedly the height of the British Summer time, but it’s pouring with rain and we’re about to start our journey from Rotherham up to Durham, to be joined by over 70 other vehicles, with the majority of them sourced, repaired and refurbished by Apprentices under the watchful eyes of their in-company mentors.

Yes, it’s day one of the Autoraise Real Rally 2019. The start line in Durham will see all participants in fancy dress and I’ll be dressed as a Buddhist Monk for the grand depart under the watchful eyes of the local BBC cameras. The finish line is in Peebles on Thursday, by which time we’ll have undertaken a series of directions from the organisers that will take in Edinburgh and Loch Lomond, finishing with the opportunity to take part in a specially arranged highland games!

Whilst the event is completely new to me as a participant, my co-driver Craig is an old hand at this so I’m sure we’ll have no issues following the instructions, and over the next few days I’ll provide updates on the progress of the GQA/Building Our Skills sponsored VW Beetle and my own performance as Monk and co-driver/navigator.

Good luck to all the teams – over 70 in total – and congratulations to them all for the fantastic amount of money they have raised for charity.

Here we go…next stop Durham

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