September 8th Bridgend to Dover

Every single petrol-engined Fiesta in Europe is fitted with an engine from Bridgend (diesel engines come from Ford’s Dagenham engine plant). The plant builds Ford’s state of the art Duratech engine family in its equally state of the art facility.

You’d miss the factory if you didn’t know where to find it. You expect a factory producing something as mechanical as an engine would belch fire and smoke, but there’s no noise or drama as you drive past the local Ford dealership and come to the factory itself.

It’s a large local employer and a key part of the community. It must have been a tremendous boost to the area when it opened in 1980, just a few years beforet the local coal industry collapsed.

There’s a pride in the workforce that’s easy spot. But if you want another sign that the people at Bridgend love the blue oval than have a look in the staff park. There are Focus ST dotted about and a few lime green Focus RS as well as loads of hot Fiestas.

After meeting a few of the workers it’s a short hop to the M4 to cross the Severn into England. As is becoming usual on this leg of the world tour, we’re dodging the ominous clouds and heavy rain squalls. London seems to be bathed in sunshine.

We’re opposite the houses of parliament with our two Fiestas and Mark Prisk MP, minister for business and finance. Prisk is a big flag waver for British manufacturing and getting the message across that contrary to popular opinion Britain is makes a lot of stuff. In fact, he tells us, Britain is the sixth largest manufacturing base in the world. Outside his department in nearby Victoria St there’s a JCB digger painted in Union Jack colours – indicating that this machine is totally British. Ironically, its engine is also made in Bridgend.

After a swift trundle around the block by Mr Prisk in one of the Fiestas we head down to Inc’s new office in Godalming, Surrey to collect carnets for the Middle East. Inc’s office was built long before any building we saw in USA was built. Soon, however, we’ll be seeing ancient buildings in the Middle East that will make a 400 year-old barn look like it was built yesterday.

We’re now on our last leg in the UK, driving from Inc HQ in Godalming to Dover. It’s an overnight stay on the side of Dover’s historic docks and marina before catching an early P&O ferry to Calais.

Tomorrow we’ve a six or seven hour drive to Cologne through Belgium on not the world’s most exciting roads. Mind you, we have been rather spoilt by our drive through Wales on some of Europe’s most dramatic driving roads. Never mind, soon we’ll be in the Alps and better still, the Stelvio pass.