The New England Region of the Austin-Healey Club of America is inviting our Cobra friends along for a rallye-brewery tour of the Cape Ann area on Saturday, August 6th with a rain date of the 7th,
We'll meet at the Beverly, Massachusetts Service Plaza on Rte. 128 Northbound (Just past Exit 19) starting at 9:00 and we'll start sending cars out as soon as you register and get your route instructions. The Plaza has Shell fuel facilities, rest rooms, convenience store, a Burger King and Dunkin' Donuts to fortify oneself for the day's activities. The Rallye will cover approximately 50 miles and take 4 hours to complete. Built into that time is an hour for rallyists to pick one of the many sights along the way and have a look around and perhaps take a tour. If you think you'll want to stop at one of the local attractions, get there closer to 9:00 a.m. and you'll have plenty of time to make a sightseeing stop or two. If you just want to run the rallye and meet for lunch and the brewery tour, we'll stay until 10:30 to send you out.
For those who've never been on a rallye before, don't worry about it. This is designed to be a guided tour with easy to follow directions and to satisfy those with a competitive vent, some fun questions to answer along the way. Nothing tricky. You should be able to answer all the clues while driving along taking in the North Shore. No looking back over your shoulder, no stopping to get out of the car to read a tiny sign, or requiring an advanced degree in English literature to figure out the clues.
Much of our route (except when we take you to the "secret" parts) willfollow the Essex Coastal Scenic Byway and if you decide to make a weekend of it, this link will lead you to places to stay as well as a good overview of the area:
Essex Coastal Scenic Byway | Cape Ann, Massachusetts
Our first stop will be Hammond Castle:
Hammond Castle This medieval–style mansion built between 1926-9 by John Hays Hammond, Jr., a prolific inventor, offers breathtaking ocean views and fascinating self-guided tours. Well worth a look.
As we travel north to Gloucester, the rallye route will take you through Boston's "Gold Coast", where Boston Brahmins escaped the summer heat of the city. You'll pass through locations with outstanding Atlantic views that most North Shore tourists never get to see unless they've got a local guide or know a gardener to the Cabots and the Lodges.
Gloucester is a working port and for fans of Discovery Channel's tuna fishing show, "Wicked Tuna", home of the Bluefin fleet. We'll pass by some great harbor views and if you're interested the local merchants will be holding their Sidewalk Bazar, if that's where you'd like to spend your fre:
http://capeannvacations.com/event-ca...k-bazaar-2016/
Next up is Rockport, home of local artists and Motif #1, the iconic symbol of Cape Ann. Unfortunately, in mid-summer, parking here is extremely tricky and you may want to take the option of parking in the free Blue Gate parking area and taking the trolley to downtown:
Getting Around | Rockport Transportation | Inns of Rockport
From Rockport, we travel through Annisquam, with some wonderful ocean views as well as the granite quarries that supplied so many public buildings and monuments throughout New England. From there, we'll head to Essex, home of New England wooden boat building history and the magic of succulent fried clams. Take a tour of the Essex Shipbuilding Museum :
Essex Shipbuilding Museum, Essex MA and see how these masters of the sea were built.
Next, we'll head along "Clam Alley" to "Clam Town", Ipswich, MA. You'll need to veer off the rallye route a bit, to get to Crane Beach and the Crane Estate. The beach is gorgeous, but parking will be $30 if you'd like to look around or spend some time hanging out:
Crane Beach on the Crane Estate | North Shore Beach, Ipswich, MA | The Trustees Or you could tour another castle, the Crane Estate:
Castle Hill | The Crane Estate | The Trustees of Reservations another amazing summer home that will make you wish you were a member of one of America's wealthiest familes.
From there, we'll go on to Rowley, with a great photo-op to see your British car in front of a London telephone box, then back to Ipswich for lunch at "The Brewers Table" at the Ipswich Ale Brewery where we'll choose from their local menu at 2:00 pm and take a brewery tour at 3:00:
IPSWICH ALE BREWERY
This is a free event. Bring a navigator, some writing instruments, a clipboard or such to write on, sunglasses, hat, sunscreen and DON'T FORGET YOUR CAMERA!
If you're interested in joining us, please PM me and I'll fill you in on the rest of the details.
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