Saturday and Sunday 8 and 9 August 2026 - Brueton parkrun and Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb

Shelsley Hill Climb was one of Sue's father's favourite outings and has featured on these pages in the past (here). So Sue and har mother chose this occasion to scatter a few of Richard's ashes. If weather and opportunities permit, we may come in the future, but Richard's membership, over a period of 30 years, has not been renewed.

The day before, 8 August, Sue and I had traveled to Solihull to visit her mother and take part in the 5km Brueton parkrun.

Our respective aspirations can be gleaned from the next two pictures.

With over 500 participants, getting to the start within 30 seconds of the starting gun was quite an achievement.

Results are here. I took a leisurely 42:30 in position 481 out of 516 finishers, and Sue took 25:06 in position 131. Well done!

And so to Sunday 9 August, and a perfect day at the hill climb, albeit our luxurious picnic lunch was taken crouched in the shade of the car. My camera battery expired early on so most of the photos below are Sue's. No commentary is really necessary, though we thought we spotted Sir Hugh in a blue and orange Fiesta. Or was he in the single seater that crashed?**

Try clicking on any image to access a slideshow

A view from the top of the hill

Sue took a fancy to this old three wheeled Morgan

Views towards the parched landscape

On the way up to the finish, huge speeds are reached.

After waiting in a holding paddock the vehicles free wheel back down the hill

It was hot.

The nearby church has some lovely stained glass windows.

** Neither. It turns out that Sir Hugh had chosen to visit the heights of the Yorkshire Dales rather than the depths of Worcestershire. However, he has provided evidence for his hill climbing skills in a Ford Anglia 1200 105E at Harewood Hill in ~ 1964: Brilliant!

Sunday 2 July 2023 - Yet Another Visit to Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb

Today it's a 'Vintage' day, with much slower cars than last time's.

Soon after we arrived, the brakes of a little red car failed as it was descending back down the hill. It crashed into a silver car before nearly rolling over. That would have been painful for the lady driver..

After removal of the debris, the cars continued their descent, including this little yellow car.

I took a few photos in the car park. Without my decent camera, these were easier to get into focus than the pictures taken on the hill.

Many more pictures were taken, all slightly or more out of focus.

We had a good look around the paddock.

Then it was back past the car park for a final view from the hill.

This is just a selection of the photos taken. The rest are in a Dropbox file here.

Sunday 4 June 2023 - Another Visit to Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb

Shelsley Walsh is the oldest motorsport venue in the world still to run events on the original course and is older than Indianapolis, Le Mans or Monza.

Sunday was the perfect day for a visit. Sue's mum and dad joined us, travelling in the MG pictured above. If I'd still had my 1972 Ford Capri, I'd have come in that. It was a rather better version than the yellow object in the photo - mine was bright blue with a black vinyl roof, pictured below on a trip to Istanbul. Happy Days!

Back in the Shelsley paddock, a selection of vehicles was preparing to storm up the hill, whilst we enjoyed breakfast in the sunshine.

Visitors' vehicles were duly admired. My first car was a green version of the Mini pictured below.

Sue and I went up the hill to watch from a selection of vantage points. It's steeper than it looks!

At the top there are good views across Worcestershire from a lovely buttercup meadow.

The commentators have an encyclopaedic knowledge of everyone and their cars who are competing, from cleverly placed boxes on the course.

Buzzards circled continuously overhead.

We settled down to watch from a few spots on the hill.

This tatty Austin Seven took pride of place amongst the visiting Jaguars and Ferraris. Our friend Barry had one of these for a while. He only just fitted into it. It had a roof.

After our alfresco lunch we pottered off, back up the hill.

The next picture is for Conrad (Sir Hugh) - albeit I know it's not quite the model of company car in which he used to go racing.

There were some very powerful motors on show - these get up the hill in as fast as 23 seconds, whereas the slower racers take over 40 seconds.

That was a lovely day out.

Sadly we missed Mike Dunne's Memorial Run at Wythenshawe (see previous blog entry), but he was in our thoughts as Sue and I completed a virtual 5km up and down the hilly course, taking over an hour.