After a welcome rest on Monday night at Spa in Belgium it was just over an hour’s drive to the Nurburgring in Germany on Tuesday. The torrential downpour put paid to any sightseeing!

Wednesday morning we set off early for the long drive to Munich … An eight hour slog on motorways that had the longest roadworks ever. Peach leaks! The carpet in the footwells is soaking wet and underneath is a small lake. Ho hum, the joys of owning a classic Mini.

Thursday morning saw more torrential rain as we negotiated our way out of Munich en route for Trento in Northern Italy. Hah! That was nothing. We’d been warned that there was snow up on the mountain roads after Innsbruck. Well, we drove into blizzard conditions! I was trying not to worry that our track day tyres (effectively cut slicks) would not be up to the job but we survived a couple of hairy moments and the longest traffic jam over the Brenner Pass. But as soon as we drove into Italy the sun shone, magic!

The city of Trento was very welcoming … People waved as we drove into the Piazza Dante for scrutineering and a children’s choir sang to us. We’ve had our briefing for the rally … Hmmm, everyone says it’s just a bit of fun and not to to take it too seriously. We’ll see … Watch this space.

Snow and lorry on the Brenner Pass. Brrrr it was cold.

The road book for the rally. Easy peasy? We’ll see…