I first spotted a post about a possible meet in the Matlock/Chesterfield area, and expressed my interest as a meet would likely be only an hours run away from me. After a month, nobody had firmed up any plans, so I decided to suggest some plans of my own. With the possibility of some great scenery and driving roads on the edge of the Peak District and the Derbyshire Dales available, I found a good starting point was Carsington Water, just north of Ashbourne.

By this point, a drive out was received well by nearly all potential attendees, so I spent any spare time I had the next few weeks on google maps, and google streetview. I finally settled on a route that took in 50 miles of quiet B-Roads that would be relatively traffic free, with only a couple of places where we would get separated.

The first scheduled date for the meet was snowed off, but a postponed date to later in the month rewarded us with glorious sunshine, and the warmest day of the year so far!

I met with a few members from the West Midlands for the hours convoy up to the meet point. We got there early for a nosey around the lake, but started to get a little anxious as the meet time was fast approaching and still no sign of any MR2's! After a good walk around the carparks I eventually stumbled on a group of MR2's - we had parked in the wrong car park! Good start!

After some introductions and a nosey around the other cars, the attendees soon stopped in their tracks at the sight and sound of a yellow F355 entering the car park. The tell tale wing mirrors, soon confirmed our suspicions, but the noise was something that I recognised - there had to be a V6 in there! Indeed there was, a 2GR-FE! We had been joined by a few people from Two Brutal who had shown interest on their forum that I was unaware of. A welcome addition though! I got to have my V6 fix again.

We started out for Tissington Hall, but lost a couple of 'guest' BMW's when we got separated by slow traffic, and my Tom-Tom threw an immediate wobbler, but from google streetview I could remember visually where we had to apart from one junction. Once parked up a quick call and a postcode had them en-route to us again. Then, we headed off for our next stopping point of Hartington, about an hour away and the longest leg of the drive. This is where my Tom-Tom threw another wobbler and had us all turning around in a field! Oops!

The drive took us over the edge of the Peak District through Froghall and Ipstones on some fabulous straights, long sweeping bends, tight winding hairpin bends and some pretty steep hills. Once in Hartington for our next stop, we abandoned the cars where we could (it was extremely busy!) and convened on the edge of the duck pond. A few that got separated, finally managed to arrive safely, and we gained another TB member with a 2GR-FE in a MK1!

We then set out for the final meet point which was the Old Poets Corner public house in Ashover where I had booked us in for lunch. This 45 minute leg saw the straights get straighter, the hills got steeper, the bends sharper, and the scenery more stunning.

We finally all arrived at the end point in glorious sunshine in the narrow streets of Ashover, the exhaust noises bouncing off the stone buildings that lined the streets of the picturesque village set in a small valley. The pub car park was not quite as big as expected, but we managed to find parking on the road (well abandonment again!).

Fantastic day out, and will be repeated for sure. Thanks to all that attended.