The November sun shone brightly for Cornish Times competition winner Janet Allende when she took to the seat of a l902 Wolseley as a passenger in the London to Brighton veteran car run.
Janet - who sent in the winning entry for the Cornish Times seat in the Tindle Newspapers organised contest - was a passenger in the Wolseley driven by Graeme Bennett in the November 7 run. Her husband, Carlos, was among a number of others who followed behind in a special London bus.
Neither had attended the run before, but both were impressed by the whole of the annual spectacle. Janet said she was amazed by the number of spectators lining the route, and enjoying pic-nics as they watched the cars bowl by. She said: 'They were all waving, and we waved back. It made me feel like royalty.'
She said she also felt quite emotional when, at Brighton, every veteran car was given a huge cheer as it passed the finishing point.
Janet and her husband also enjoyed the run-up to the event. They watched the film Genevieve, which made the London to Brighton run even more famous than it already was, and also saw a video made by their friends Nick and Shirley Collings who had been the Cornish Times winners some years previously.
In London they visited Harrods and enjoyed the sights on the Saturday - and were woken around 5.30am on the Sunday to the sound of the veteran cars passing their hotel, the Kensington Palace, on their way to the starting point in Hyde Park. Janet, who was well wrapped up against the elements, was joined in the passenger seat by Jean Brown, the Cornish and Devon Post winner. Near the end of the run a third passenger hopped in - Graeme's three-year-old son, who enjoyed the final miles into Brighton.
Janet explained: 'At times I felt as I was in Wind in the Willows, because it reminded me so much of Toad's car, as it was quite speedy at times. Graeme was a very kind and capable man, and near the end we stopped and he opened a bottle of champagne for us.' She added that as the day progressed the Wolseley became more and more of a character in her own right. She said: 'We could tell by the change in engine noise how she was feeling.'
They left London about 8am, and arrived in Brighton around 3pm. Janet said she was grateful for interruptions to repair valve springs, because it meant she could savour the occasion. She said: 'It was an unforgettable experience.'
Janet and Carlos, originally of Mexico City, met in Australia. Carlos, who has just about adapted to Cornish weather, moved to Cornwall with his wife about ten years ago. His grandfather was born in Spain, and emigrated to Mexico at the time of the civil war. Carlos now has many relatives over there, and he and Janet returned their two years ago, when he visited his mother. One thing, he said, that Mexico does not have, apart from Cornish rain, is a race such as the London to Brighton.
The annual rally is sponsored by Tindle Newspapers, of which the Cornish Times is part.