Lancia Ireland Annual Rally 2012 - Co.Cork 27-29 April

[LanciAlan]

Greetings

This year's Irish rally tour will return to County Cork and the same general area as last year's rally but will be run over a new course. Thanks to the several UK LMC crews who have already expressed a keen interest in joining us.

Once again, the base for the weekend will be the Oriel Hotel, Ballincollig http://www.orielhousehotelcork.com where 20 rooms have been reserved at the special weekend rate of €99 per person sharing to include 2 nights B&B and the Saturday evening meal. There is a €25 supplement for single occupancy. Other meals are not included in the rally fee which will be €30 per car to cover organisation costs.

Accommodation can be arranged directly by telephone with the hotel on 00 353 21 4208400 quoting reference "Lancia Group 27-29 April" or contact the rally organisers below. You may also wish to consider asking the hotel about a third night on the Sunday which is often available at a good rate, whether with or without dinner. Day visitors are also welcome to join the tours on Saturday or Sunday.

For weekend participants, arrival will be on Friday afternoon and we will meet for an informal dinner later that evening. The main rally tour will be run on Saturday with coffee and lunch along the way before returning to the Hotel for dinner. On Sunday a shorter tour will take us to lunch before departures.

This is a preliminary notice and further details will follow in the coming months.

Here is a link to last year's rally and pictures: http://www.lancia.myzen.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=3766.0 Also at this link are last year's approach details for Ballincollig and information about ferry access points to Ireland from the UK.

For further details as they become available please see notices posted in Viva Lancia, on the events section of the LMC website http://www.lancia.myzen.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=4689.0 and on the new Lancia Ireland web forum http://lanciaireland.freeforums.org/post151.html#p151 or contact David Mirolo (david.mirolo@gmail.com tel +353 86 2327696) or Alan Murphy (lancialan@gmail.com tel +353 87 6691695).

With best wishes

David Mirolo, Chairman

[LanciAlan]

A quick tutorial on ferries from the UK to Oireland - there are 3 main operators:

P&O do an 8-hour crossing from Liverpool to Dublin 2 to 3 times daily (typically 9am and 9pm) which is quite civilised (compulsory cabin accommodation) at night but a waste of time by day.

http://www.poferries.com/tourist/content/pages/template/routes_dublin_-_liverpool_routes_-_Liverpool_to_Dublin.htm

Stena and Irish Ferries cover Holyhead to Dublin and Holyhead to DunLaoghaire (5 miles from Dublin) and they also cover Fishguard/Pembroke to Rosslare. They generally sail within 15mins of each other but Stena has more daily crossings in season. There is also a Stena Scotland to Northern Ireland route with which I am less familiar.

http://www.stenaline.co.uk/ferry/

http://www.irishferries.com/gb/index.asp

Either the Dublin or the Rosslare route is a suitable approach to Cork with ferry crossing times of about 3.5 hours and a drive of 2 to 3 hours (all motorway from Dublin to Cork) or you could come one way and return by the other with the same operator on the same booking.

Both operators also run a shorter (90 minute) fast craft crossing on both routes in the busier seasons for a few dollars more.

I prefer Stena and they can have some quite decent offers for short trips, midweek travel and the like - I have found their combined accommodation and ferry packages VERY reasonable (but going the other way!) so you might want to look into that though the on-line system is currently being updated for 2012. I have just noticed that Irish Ferries also do similar offers -  the Oriel Hotel in Ballincollig is not one of their destinations but there are plenty to choose from in the Cork area (hotels listed in Kinsale and Blarney not too far away) from £60pppn including ferry.  

Also, Stena offer a "flexi" rate that allows cancellation or changes right up to nearly the day before you sail. I never bother with premium rates or comfort lounges myself and rarely travel by night as you barely get 2 hrs sleep.

Anyhow, feel free to check with me before you book if you have any questions. The slower ferries are almost never full so there is certainly no panic or rush to book them.

Alan

lancialan@gmail.com

[LanciAlan]

Lancia Ireland – Lee Valley Tour 27-29 April 2012

On behalf of the Lancia Motor Club of Ireland I am delighted to invite our international Lancia friends to join us in County Cork for the annual Irish Lancia weekend rally and driving tour.

The theme and route of his year’s tour will be the valley of the River Lee - from its rising at Gougane Barra in the Shehy Mountains to its entry to the Atlantic Ocean at Cork Harbour.

Our base for the weekend will be the Oriel House Hotel in Ballincollig (www.orielhousehotel.ie) where rooms have been reserved at the weekend rate of €99 per person sharing (weekend single supplement €25) to include B&B accommodation on Friday and Saturday  nights and dinner on Saturday night. Please make your bookings directly by telephone or e-mail with the Hotel (Tel +353 21 4208400, e-Mail info@orielhousehotel.ie) quoting reference “Lancia Motor Club Weekend”. Non resident day-trip participants  may also attend for the Saturday night dinner by arrangement on the day.

The rally fee will be €30 per car (payable on the day) to cover organisation costs. Meals and refreshments along the driving routes are not included but a wide range of food and beverage choices, including children’s menus, will be available at the chosen lunchtime destinations.

The outline programme for the weekend is as follows:

Friday 27 April
3pm      Weekend arrivals and tour registration at Oriel House Hotel
7pm      Optional evening dinner at Lee Valley Golf Club
10pm      Return to Oriel House Hotel Bar

Saturday 28 April
9am      Day arrivals and tour registration at Oriel House Hotel
10am      Lee Valley Tour Departure from hotel carpark to Gougane Barra
1.30pm   Lunch at the Mills Inn, Ballyvourney
3pm      Lee Valley Tour continues
5pm      Return to Oriel House Hotel
7.30pm   Dinner in Oriel House Hotel restaurant

Sunday 29 April
10am      Checkout and departure from hotel to Cork Harbour via Kinsale
2pm      Optional lunch at Midleton Whiskey Distillery   
3-4pm      Farewells and departures.

Further details, including ferry options for travel to Ireland, are available on the events pages of the Ireland and UK Lancia web forums at  www.lanciaireland.com and www.lancia.myzen.co.uk. If you have any query, please feel free to contact myself (details below) or Club Secretary Alan Murphy (eMail: lancialan@gmail.com Tel: 00 353 87 6691695).

We look forward to welcoming you to Cork in April!

David Mirolo
President
Lancia Motor Club Ireland

eMail: David.Mirolo@gmail.com
Tel: 00 353 87 2327696

[HF_Dave]

Hello, Everyone, here is an update of what we are going to be spending our weekend at. Hopefully like last year the weather willl be superb. Last year we had a great days driving on the saturday, I though I knew all the roads in Ireland But with the Local Knowledge of one of our members we drove some spectacular Roads. This year the tour will be a bit shorter to allow a few more stops along the way to take in the great Irish hospitality. I am looking forward to seeing you all in Cork. Kind regards, David Mirolo, president , Lancia Motor Club, Ireland.

[LanciAlan]

Dear All

I know that some of you have already booked using Tesco vouchers but, for those who haven't, please see below regarding the group ferry rates and times we have been offered for the Lancia Ireland Rally by 360 Sports Logistics (e-mail creena@360sl.ie).

These are simply indicative dates and times that I asked about as I thought they would suit from a comfort perspective - they would require you to find 2 extra nights accommodation - one either side of the rally itself. You can vary the times and dates by arrangement with Creena but some sailings are a bit (€10-€20) dearer. I can advise re accommodation in Rosslare or Dublin if required.

I would draw attention to the significant fact that, although the prices are not massively less than the Stena advertised basic rates, there seems to be greater flexibility in terms of changing your plans.

Feel free to contact Creena directly with your requirements quoting reference "Lancia Ireland Rally"

Regards

Alan

[Jamo12t]

Thanks to all who organised and attended this event, had a great time with great Irish hospitality.

Special thanks to Alan, David & Andrew for organising us all so well.

Few pictures of the event uploaded:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamo12t/sets/72157629578102454/

Thanks

James

[JohnMillham]

Thanks to all who organised and attended this event, had a great time with great Irish hospitality.

Special thanks to Alan, David & Andrew for organising us all so well.

Few pictures of the event uploaded:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamo12t/sets/72157629578102454/

Thanks

James

Hear, Hear. Mike and Cyn Wheeler, Roland Grazebrook and I all had a great time. We were lucky that the weather was better the day we returned to the U.K., as on the previous day the ferry didn't run, due to bad weather. We had an uneventful (but pleasant) return journey and got home about 6.30 PM (Mike and Cyn) and 7.15 (me, after dropping off Roland). We stopped for a meal somewhere in Wales and both Augustas went well, but I now have a bit of a rattle in the motor, so will be inspecting it in the next day or so. Now I'd better start thinking about a diet! Regards, John

[LanciAlan]

Thanks for your kind remarks. You can be sure that we enjoyed it even more than you did.

More pictures are on the way but meanwhile there are a few emerging on our forum here .....

Gallery: http://lanciaireland.freeforums.org/cork-annual-run-2012-t87.html

Discussion Thread: http://lanciaireland.freeforums.org/lancia-ireland-annual-rally-2012-co-cork-27-29-april-t44-30.html

Also here (we made the front page): http://allitalia.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=meetsitalian&action=display&thread=3358 (WARNING - annoying flashing images)

Alan

[HF_Dave]

Hi
Here's a link to some more photos of our Cork run.
I have to thank Bob Lambert for these photos

https://plus.google.com/photos/103668795130984460680/albums/5738418864412063233

Regards
David :-)

[David Bieda]

Many congratulations to David Mirolo, Andrew Mulqueen and Alan Murphy for a very enjoyable weekend in the Lee Valley. Their programme booklet was full of interesting detail and the whole thing was very well organised with excellent food and a very good hotel. Quite a few attendees from the UK and one hopes the same will happen next year.

I was persuaded to go by Paul Bishop and got the train up to Abergele and enjoyed Paul and Val's hospitality in their interesting house overlooking a wonderful valley with a river in the garden. I think 5 Lancias but only two horses. We travelled in Paul's turbo-charged Thema station wagon with Val and her best friend Pauline gossiping 24/7 in the back.

Thank you Alan for giving me a tour of Leinster House and surrounds (the Irish Parliament where Alan is Assistant Clerk).

A lot of hard went into organising this event and very good that so many people turned up. My first visit to Ireland and very pleased I went.

David Bieda

[LanciAlan]

Glad you enjoyed it David Bieda.

I will follow up on promised info re headlights, etc. when I get my stuff together (currently in 3 different cars across 2 counties).

Meanwhile here is a further link to a set of pictures that is not yet quite viewable by all (but see other links already posted above/below).

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.181756301946433.36356.100003361945029&type=3 - this link not working properly yet

I do like this group photo - and not a Lancia in sight ... almost!



Alan

[HF_Dave]

I would jut like to thank everyone for attending our Lancia Rally 2012, espically everyone for travelling from the Uk, for the wondreful Agustas , Flavia, Grale, ect. Great company and a great weekend and  a welcome addition to our rally. Thank you all again. David Mirolo.