Salt-water drives in the Morgan 4/4

Follow me down this favourite scenic route due south from my Devonshire home. A side road near Aveton Gifford floats on the mud bank of the river Avon, edged with guide poles so that driving into the sticky stuff is less likely.

Along the way is the lower Dartmouth ferry, Blackpool Sands and Slapton Ley.

For those who might not have heard of the Dartmouth lower ferry: Two vessels are coupled together with two stout ropes. The ferry itself just a flat box shape with a hinged ramp at each end for vehicles to drive on and then off again at the other side of the estuary. The ticket man collects your fare in his leather pouch. No engine for propulsion is on this floating box, just hydraulic gear to raise and lower the ramps. Attached along one side is the little tug which is not exactly fixed, but loosely tethered about its bows by the two ropes already mentioned. The ferrymaster pilot pulls, pushes, shoves and heaves the ferry by seamanship alone. 

Not only does he get to the other side, he also manages to avoid a second identical ferry as it alternates back and forth, in all wind and weather.

Morgan is the last British car maker on this planet because it’s a resilient little beast and so very fit for purpose. A perfect example of survival of the fittest. Driving down memory lane it dawned on me that Darwin’s theory of evolution may be applied not only to the Morgan; but also to the animal, vegetable and mineral of it's constituent parts, even to the entire cosmos.

One binary star a few thousand light years away in the constellation Sagittarius is overdue to expel its heap of charged particles and electrical energy in our direction. The axis of spin happens to be perfectly aligned with planet earth.  If the cosmic spotlight comes tomorrow my Morgan could be stripped down to its last cog and sprocket before I get my chance to wear it out.  The Morgan projected onto the face of the moon - a shadow of its former self, grey tinted Molib Denim.