Sunday the 18th July saw the 38 intrepid drivers and co-drivers brave the searing heat of a typical Derbyshire summers day, to embark on the second Peaks & Dales Grand Tour. The tour, organised by High Peak Lodge 1952 in aid of the Derbyshire 2025 Festival, ran for the first time in 2019 but was unable to run last year because of the pandemic.
This year’s start was from the picturesque Buxton Cricket Club. Our Worshipful Master, Gareth Stratford, was on hand from 08:00 to greet the participants as they arrived to register. W Bro Gareth Flanagan, Tour Director, was once again wielding the frying pan and kettle and serving up bacon butties and tea or coffee.
The tour is open all types of car or motorbike and we were certainly treated to a fabulous array this year. The oldest was a 1947 Ford Prefect which the owner described as his ‘new’ car as he had only taken delivery the week before. The newest was a 2020 Honda HR-V and looked positively space aged next to the Ford!
We had a couple of Jaguars, a beautiful maroon E Type and an immaculate XK Convertible. We also had some Grand Tourers in the guise of an Aston Martin DB9 and a Bentley Continental GT V8S. Other interesting cars were a bright red 1960 Daimler SP250 and a very nice Porsche 911 Carrera 4.
We had just one motorbike this year, a fantastic Harley Davidson Street Glide CVO with an engine bigger than a lot of the cars!
The run was planned to be 97.8 miles although many of us had to admit to covering more than 100 and some a lot less! As we climbed out of Buxton, we were treated to spectacular views of the Cheshire plain and the rolling hills of North Staffordshire.
Picnics were the order of the day and the group of Tercentenary Masters managed to converge on the car park at Monsal Head where they enjoyed their fare under the shade of the trees. From there we continued along mainly B roads and eventually we finished at Chapel-en-le Frith golf club where certificates were presented to all who made it.
We have yet to do the final totting up but we hope to have raised in excess of £300 for the 2025 Festival. Many thanks to all who took part.
Based on the success of this year’s event we hope to be running it again next year, so watch this space.
