RTG Carrera Iberia The Daily Dispatch - all days - Flipbook - Page 8
Day 3: Alcaniz - Cuenca, 10 October 2019
Photos: gerardbrown.co.uk
Bertie and Charlotte Van Houtte, 1925 Bentley 3-4 1/2
Charles and Nicola Stuart-Menteth, 1962 MGA MK2
Sadly as the engine had thrown a valve they’ll be
continuing in a hire car and for a Roy, this is his first DNF
in 27 rallies!
Roadworks, which had been our friend this morning,
proved to be our undoing this afternoon with a long
section of the original route designated impassible. But,
thanks to the good offices and expert attention, of Dick
Appleton and Paul Heal in the advance car, John Spiller
was able to produce a workaround and still deliver two
amazing Regularities as per the schedule.
Sholto Gilbertson and Caspar Killick survived a minor
scare in a fuel station right at the end of the Regularity
when their (usually) faithful family Jaguar E Type failed to
start and had to be pushed into life for the final furlong.
We were out of the woods though and onto the main
roads by this time, so the crossing into the region of
Castilla LaMancha, at the 1302m Puerto de Hontonar,
presented few problems for anyone, so long as you kept
the engine running.
A Passage Control in the village of Salvacenete gave the
crews a short break before the final push into the Parador
de Cuenca and another well deserved night halt in what
has been described as one of Spain’s “most gravity-defying
hill towns”.
Cuenca clings to steep limestone cliffs above two
ravines and the UNESCO town still has a medieval Moorish
character,
Dinner was another grand affair in another ‘great hall’
and it was good to see Edmund Peel and Sara MacDonald,
who joined us for dinner this evening and will also be
joining us in Africa next year. Suffice to say we’re all
looking forward to it.
Geradus Mercator, Dispatch reporter
www.rallytheglobe.com
