The early bird catches the cars

Every year since 1927 a veteran car run has been held in England, running from Hyde Park in London to Brighton, a distance of 60 miles. The cars gather at 6 a.m. with many of the drivers and passengers dressed in period costume. The run was founded to commemorate the Emancipation Run of 1896. The original run celebrated the repeal of the Red Flag Act . Under this act all cars had to have a man with a red flag walk in front of them when they were being driven. The repeal of the Act abolished the need for the red flag and raised the speed limit to 14 miles an hour. On the open roads now the only time our cars go that slowly is in a traffic jam! The event is the world's longest running motoring event and this year there were more than 400 pre 1905 cars entered. Until last year there was only one route the cars followed through London but last year, to help reduce traffic issues the London section was split into two routes and one of them brings the cars fairly close to where I live. This morning I was up early and armed with my camera and accompanied by Scamp I went to watch the cars go past. If you don't like cars or old stuff feel free to skip this post.

The two guys above had to stop a little further down the road to do some running repairs. There's hardly anything in the engine compartment. With my car it's rammed full of engine and washer bottles and other 'stuff'

It was difficult to get good clear pictures as the cars were definitely travelling at more that 14 mph.

These two above  had already raided the picnic basket for a warm drink

Warm hats and blankets were needed as the temperature was only 6 degrees Celsius
.

There was a lot of laughter and everyone waved as they passed us.

The driver of this car is going to wish he had a hat by the time they reach Brighton

I wasn't sure who was driving the car below. It was coming towards me but the guy at the front was facing backwards.

The cars are all start at separate times  so mostly there were gaps between them but sometimes there was a run of several cars together.

The run takes place early so that there is less traffic on the roads and what traffic there is tends to be very respectful and careful of the veteran cars and their passengers, however seconds after I took this photo a double decker bus went down the inside of the car below and terrified the ladies on the back seat.

One or two people who were out and about were like me, there because we wanted to see the cars but many were very confused as to what was going on. I had to keep explaining it to people and several folks from other countries responded with 'ahh the crazy British again' when they learned what it was about. It was a fun way to start the day.

I'll be back  later f some Slow Sunday Stitching. For now I need to take Scamp for a longer walk. He wasn't very impressed with the cars and prefers a trip to the common.

Lyndsey