With increasing numbers of the M-Lite on the road, and ever more people taking delivery it seemed that is was time to put together a meet with the aim of getting a few together in the same place to act geeky, compare cars, options, mpg figures and so on (as well as have a bit of a drive).
So organised primarily by TMP, and some collaborative route planning we took on the welsh valleys last weekend.
With a few late additions and drop-outs we managed to assemble a total of seven cars, 5 F20 M135is, and one each F21 M135i and E82 135i. In an unlikely coincidence that resulted in 2 Estoril Blue, 2 Glacier Silver, 2 Artic White and a single Space Grey. Interestingly only the E82 was a manual, all of the M135is being autos.
Given that North Wales was the target a hit list of places to visit soon emerged and the routes were planned to take on the Evo Triangle, Mach Loop and Llanberis pass. The BMW navigation system came into its own with the ability to plan the route in the BMW portal and then email to all of the participants to upload into the car before arrival.
The weather didn’t quite listen to the plan, and through the day (as the images show) we experienced a variety of conditions, from bright blue skies and fluffy white clouds, through torrential rain, to thunder and lighting, hail that coated the road in ice… and finally a rainbow to close out the day!
The Jekyll and Hyde nature of the cars was certainly to be seen, with everyone arriving with tales of nigh on 40mpg being achieved on the motorway runs to the meeting point on the English-Welsh border. After a spirited 200 miles through the back roads and valleys of north Wales the radios were filled more with talk of remaining miles than how good the car sounded on full chat through the lanes, having dropped to a more respectable 22mpg or so.
The scenery was stunning, the food excellent, the company and the cars without reproach and the locals with a couple of exceptions friendly and welcoming. The exception was the gentleman (?) who arrived to put £5 of fuel in his little car and found all of the pumps taken by thirsty M135is.
Anyway, enough talk and a few pictures (with more to follow I am sure):
and some driving shots....
Rain:
Hail:
