Our First Trial Tour: A Journey of Discovery and Adventure

As we set out on our first trial tour, I couldn't help but feel a mix of excitement and nerves. We had been planning this trip for months, and finally, the day had arrived. Our destination was Portugal, a country known for its stunning landscapes, rich culture, and delicious cuisine. We had packed our bags, loaded up our cars, and were ready to hit the road.

As we drove through the Portuguese countryside, the scenery was nothing short of breathtaking. Rolling hills, sparkling lakes, and picturesque villages passed by in a blur as we made our way towards Porto. The roads were winding and challenging, but our cars were up to the task, handling the twists and turns with ease. We took our time, enjoying the scenery and each other's company, and stopped frequently to stretch our legs and take in the views.

One of the highlights of the trip was a visit to a sandwich shop up the hill, where we feasted on delicious sandwiches and salads. The owner was friendly and welcoming, and we chatted with him for a while about his business and the local area. It was moments like these that reminded us why we loved driving: the freedom, the adventure, and the chance to meet new people.

As we continued our journey, we found ourselves at a Gathering supercars event in Porto, where over 300 cars were on display. It was an incredible sight, with cars of all shapes and sizes vying for attention. We spent hours browsing the stalls, admiring the vehicles and talking to the owners. It was clear that this was more than just a car show – it was a community, a gathering of like-minded people who shared a passion for driving.

As we explored Porto, we were struck by its beauty and charm. The city is steeped in history and culture, with ancient architecture, lively streets, and delicious food. We spent our evenings wandering the streets, taking in the sights and sounds, and enjoying each other's company.

The best part of the trip was the people. We had brought a group of friends along for the ride, and from very early on, we knew that this was going to be a special trip. The chemistry between us was instant, and we quickly settled into a comfortable routine. We shared stories, laughed together, and supported each other through thick and thin.

As the days passed, our bond grew stronger. We began to share memories, inside jokes, and secrets with each other. It was clear that we had formed something special – a group of friends who would stay in touch long after the trip was over.

Fast forward to the present day, and I can still feel the excitement and camaraderie of our first trial tour. It's hard to believe it's been just a few days since we returned home. As I look back on the memories we made, I'm filled with a sense of gratitude and wonder. This trip was more than just a driving adventure – it was an experience that brought people together, created lifelong friendships, and reminded us why we love driving in the first place.

One thing is for sure: this wasn't our last trial tour. In fact, we're already planning our next adventure, which will take us to Europe in 2025 and beyond. We'll be announcing the details soon, so stay tuned to the podcast and our main channel for more information. If you're thinking of joining us on a future trip, don't hesitate – we can't wait to welcome you to the group.

For now, I'm just going to cherish the memories of our first trial tour. It was an experience that will stay with me forever, a reminder of the power of friendship and adventure to bring people together in the most unexpected ways.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello one and all welcome to seeing through glass welcome to Portugal welcome to the first ever seen through glass SL behindth glass driving tour for nearly 10 years on this channel I've tried to sort of virtually bring all of you along with me on various adventures and then over on the podcast Tony and I regularly talk about Adventures we be on together so it kind of felt only right that at some point we try and do an adventure that some of you can join us on so a couple of months ago we quietly announced this event over on the podcast and sold 10 spaces for some of you to come on an epic week away with us this is a trial this is something that Tony and I are doing for the very first time we hope to do more but today I did want to bring you along with us to give you a teaser for what we're thinking of doing and also showcase this unbelievable week cuz we have loads of amazing cars most of them Porsches incredible destinations amazing scenery and a ton of fun to beh have so so come with us on our first trial seen through glass SLB theeg glass driving tour here in Portugal that first morning is just full of expectation and excitement we'd all met each other the day before we'd actually been go-karting had an amazing s of Welcome drink and dinner but this was the first time we were seeing each other's cars getting prepped getting ready and just wanting to hit the road so the plan for day one is that Sam would lead the group I would be at the back we keep everyone together and we'd have a nice steady Drive probably at least until lunch and then we'd evaluate the situation then that was what was in the memo unfortunately Sam didn't read the memo and basically well s It Off yeah I got a little over excited I was just so happy to be out in my car on beautiful Portuguese roads I was excited for the week ahead and I was just like slowly ramping up the pace and if I looked at my rear view mirror there was always one or two of the gang with me so I was like okay cool like this is great we're going to it's going to be a fast week but then we ended up on this long straight and I looked in my mirror there was like one car with me and no one else I was like Oh no I got on the walkie-talkie everyone was out of range I had to pull over I called Tony I was like where are you he's like where are you and then it dawned on me that yeah maybe i' maybe I'd gone a little too fast too quickly so yeah look I was having a good time I was enjoying myself forgetting that I was supposed to be leading a convoy of 10 paying guests oops so yes for this trip I've bought my GT3 uh firstly because as I was just alluding to this is inadvertently become a Porsche tour I mean we did not hope or expect for everyone to turn up in Porsches but think like nine out of the 12 cars that are here are porches and most of them GT Department porches it's it's quite outrageous I would have liked a little variety but you know hopefully we'll save that for the next time but anyway I'm definitely fitting in in this car but it's not the only reason I bought it haven't driven this thing in Anger for like 6 months not since Tony and I took both of our gt3s down to the Red Bull Ring in Austria so I missed driving this thing I mean I have been using it in the UK but just not doing anything that exciting got just over 10,000 Mi on the clock now it's not enough in my mind you know I always bought this car with the aim of taking it on Big Adventures on doing road trips like this is why I S of spect it in this touring esque specification so I'm very happy to be out on dve Sunny Road in Mainland Europe but also let's not forget I've got a role to play this week I'm not just here to have fun I'm going to be leading the Convoy times I'm going to be following the combo times I'm going to be in the middle of the pack and the GT3 is perfectly positioned to well do all of those roles I'll keep up with the pace I can control the pace Tony's been giving me a bit of a hard time regarding the manual gearbox it's not out a character for Tony to give be a hard time about the manual gear box but he's like look you're going to have to get on the walkietalkie every now and again you're going have to be keeping an eye on the rout sometimes you're going to have to stop and call hotels or restaurants even on the move you might have to call hotels and restaurants you're going have to also be then changing gears man that's a lot of work but he only says that cuz he he can't really drive so I also decided to bring a Porsche on this trip a 718 spider it's a pdk what I would consider a beautiful spec black- on black some yellow details ceramic brakes semi slick tires so ticks all the boxes it come to stock so I thought oh you know what I'm going to take that on the trip get the roof down I'm in Portugal beautiful sunshine I was going to bring the wagon I was going to bring the M3 but I'm super glad of my choice now now because of my slightly overe excited spirited dve driving and Me by the time we got to the first coffee stop we felt like most of the guests were looking around being like is this really the pace that we're going to be going at for the rest of the week so we thought it was important to kind of calm everyone down chill them out treat them all to some nice coffees and pastries so look we're all about genuinely giving maximum value maximum return on investment to our customers for this trip we're trying to look after them in the best way possible make them feel special make them feel special we just stopped our coffe guys this is on us we got this guys have whatever you want have a pastel Donata have 16 coffees we got this have an aqua bill came in and told like what's that cost us and I was like we've just spent 13 euros I'm not joking on like 58 coffees that's what it felt like I thought I was like maybe maybe we shouldn't have done that but we should have been like one coffee each maybe we just blown out the whole thing why do I live in the that's one flat white where I live there was there was it was definitely 25 drinks 100% some people have two drinks have Waters lemonades I team I'm still going to pretend like it was oh yeah remember guys we got you those coffees earlier this morning don't forget that nice spot put it on the bill next time so after that extortionate coffee stop we decided to split the group rather than traveling as one pack we thought we would half the cars Tony would lead one half I would lead the other and it was the best decision we made because from that point forward it was so much easier for us to manage the groups manage the pace I think everyone enjoyed the driving a lot more everyone started to really find their feet and as we headed on towards the coffee stop and into the afternoon things just felt like they were getting better and better there was one little hiccup though when only one well might be more than one mate there's more than one that I can think on well I'm particularly talking about the time you decided to to stop for a Wii well yeah I mean I I mean I got to go we know but you forgot to tell anyone well I was at the back well clearly I suddenly get a call from one of our gu saying were we supposed to turn right at that roundabout about 3 hours ago yeah I was like no it was left aren't you following Tony like we haven't seen Tony for about an hour and a half I look in my mirror you're the back of our pack well that's what really got me because I went for a little little Comfort break Comfort break that's the went for a little Comfort break and I thought I'll catch them up like won't be long and I was driving like really quite fast for about 15 minutes and I thought oh and then I saw your car in the distance I come over a hill and and I thought oh that's like half the group not where have they gone cuz I've not I've driven on Route apart from that moment though do you not feel that at that point we were starting to find our flow find our feet it felt like the group were kind of figuring out the Dynamics like people were starting to enjoy their cars a bit like it it felt like we were starting to really be a convoy well don't forget mate as well is that a lot of the people that come on the trip one they'd never done the tour before and secondly it's the first time driving their cars they D not driven their car before L they bought their car like weeks before and never driven it yeah yeah so it makes sense that it took a little bit of time to get up speed but I I do think yeah after that lunch stop as we were up and running it was like okay we're we're doing this it's actually happening this is a all we will surviv one no one crashed no one died no one died can you believe it no I did nearly have head on you nearly died nearly died mate in uh not my fault yeah you would say that no no no uh Renault black Renault Cleo was completely on my side of the road on a main road just overtaking someone no no no no I was just driving down the road and it and it literally dis AED on he must been on he must SC P come out yeah wer funny we better a lovely after we had afternoon did you I like my group I yeah well we had a great time we had such a nice time we took in the views got some y you got some y yeah I think we it took us half a day to figure out I think we now know which how to split it you can take them lot in the morning we'll just cruise we we'll Cruise along I've got the Y your group's got blue blood yeah I've got the gentleman yeah and then Alex got the shot mate I got lots of shot mate if you want to give up the uh day job St of so I'm going to try and give you a little bit of a behind the scenes look at what is going on today we're kicking things off with a group photo we haven't had a chance yet to really kind of stage the cars and have them all together in front of a a beautiful location and I thought today was a pretty good way pretty good time to do it thing is the cars are filthy and while Ben our photographer is taking quite a bit of time he's currently trying to get up there to the Tower and everyone was like come on B I know it'll be worth it for the shot cuz I really like Ben's work but yeah everyone's quite Keen to get going so this is always the hard thing of juggling content and then actual driving it's good anyway here all the cars stage up ready to go and at some point Ben will pop up there he is popped up at the top of the tower get the shot and then we'll better get out of the way I guess now is a good time to kind of run through all the cars that were on the tour cuz we haven't actually done that yet obviously touched on the fact that I was there in the GT3 you were there in the 718 spider uh but we had also a 997.2 GT3 RS yeah I obsessed over that you know what actually as the week went on I started to gain some more respect for it as well because obviously as some of you will know unless it's like 2022 I'm not interested doesn't like an older car and you can barely call a 97.2 gc3 an old car in turn his mind it's a dinosaur yeah um the GT4 RS yeah that was wild uh delivered with about 500 Miles as well so that was essentially a brand new car pretty much uh we had the 991.1 GT3 RS the ultra the purple car great car still looked I mean that looked bang up today didn't it did the uh front it fell off on the uh well that happened to me on my car as well it was I think the Portugal Sun heating up the glue the stickers they were just falling off and we just couldn't find them um looked amazing without the plate though I have to say God I wish we could get away with it more often the Aston Martin db2 which was very interesting for me because I always like sometimes harshly poo poo Aston Martins regularly but it was unloaded off the truck and I and I literally said I'm taking that cuz I wanted to have a look and I got in it I was very pleasantly surprised me lovely interior very nice yeah and then later on in the trip I did have a little drive it not a big drive it it's still not me it's a big front engine car so it's still not my remit essentially but I can see why it it's it's a lovely car now absolutely it's a proper kit and really held its own amongst a group of Porsches and so to continue the Porsche thing that stunning GTS red 718 GT4 it's that color was in the sun was unbelievable 912 turbo tur s t s Tu s lovely no Sports exhaust no Sports exhaust this is a running joke looked good though the 997.2 GTS manual that is right up my street right up your stre straight and again kept up all weight mate that car being hustled that car yeah never never was dropped back or you know credit to the driver credit to the driver and also goes to prove that regular podcast listeners as well will know this is that anything 400 horsepower or just over is more than fast enough for the road am I missing anything if I then move on to the 296 the Ferrari 296 GTB I would argue the heavy hitter of the group proper proper bit of Kit yeah equipped with carbon fiber Wheels yeah I mean expensive they're about 20 grand I think for the set and impossible to repair so if we'd accidentally curved any of those I say we if the driver accidentally cured those big trouble yeah and then finally Jaguar F Type yeah I mean one of my personal I mean initially I was a little like oh it's all a load of Porsches but actually if I look at my either of my channels it was only ever going to be either Porsches Ferraris or F types yeah and essentially a db2 managed to stick in there just sneak in yeah so I was ecstatically the F Type and the stunning it was called fire blue a color I'd never seen before um I actually fiddled with the col well you broke it well no I didn't break it I broke purpose yeah I ripped the uh exhaust the switchable exhaust fuse out just to make it sound a little bit better for any uh ftype owners out there with a new era ftype if you want a secret trick to unleash a bit of sound you got to get in here which is going to be the fuse board but we're going to take all of these out um thank you so much P that very gently off there and there is said fuse board so that bit comes up and we are looking for number 15 oh yes it is number 15 but I don't think that's quite right hold on a sec I want to triple check this now did you have your handbook on the glove box yeah go keep that one very safe let's start the car just to make sure I haven't pulled out the brakes or something before we cover it all up should be immediately noticeable okay if you just where is your exhaust but yeah push it it should flashing I hope the fuse went back in yeah say yeah he's like I'm not it you had such a great time you put it back yeah but it was a wicked group I say if you think about it yes it was very Porsche but a huge variety of Porsches and then this little these little droppings of other amazing cards and all together I think in front of that Tower they look pretty nice yeah now whilst I was looking forward to every single day of the tour and the route for the entire week there was a particular part which I thought would be my personal highlight if you watch this channel regularly you know a lot of my solo drives up up mountains or at least big Hills if I can't find mountains or volcanoes i' just like to get some altitude uh and Portugal's highest point is in a national park the sah de Estella national park I think I've nailed that pronunciation probably not but anyway it is full of incredible Mountain Roads snaking up the sides of these various mountains and I just my GT3 a group of incredible cars I hoped it was going to be special um boy oh boy when we got there it did not let me down we have to we have to we have to offer for people to go to the hotel now cuz it's 5:00 p.m. and hotel 30 minutes away or we can do the hour and a half Loop that keeps going up and I feel like we pretend we don't want to go home we don't want to go home we want do the big loop so we're like oh guys there's a road closure so we have to keep going to go the long way you think we can get that yep we did actually manage to convince all of the group to follow us up and over the mountain but then at dinner that night we were all talking about how amazing it was I managed to convince two or three of them to wake up early with me the next morning and go back up into the national park once again it wasn't actually part of our originally planned route but it was only going to add like 45 or 50 minutes and there are a few roads which we didn't do the night before so I was like come on this if I was here alone this is what I'd be doing so come with me some of them agreed and I think they are very happy they did so because this is what I'm all about early morning drives up empty Mountain Roads superb so meanwhile I'd been left with group group two essentially so we had a little bit more of a chilled morning I'd left the hotel a little bit later had some extra Quant nice latte which I love to drink so we left about Quast 9 45 minutes before group one essentially which was my group um we thought we'd be having a nice steady drive cuz what I thought obviously is that I had fast group and Samad slowly group but turned out it wasn't quite like that and when we stumbled across some what I can describe unbelievable roads well it turned out it was probably one of the highlights of the whole trip in total the roads were absolutely fantastic and do you know what I think the Box the spider really come into its own they were nice sort of midsection flowy roow but with a bit of technical in them as well and I think I really started to Jael with a car at that point and you know what everyone behind I think they were having a lovely time too met all the morning honestly we were we were flat out this morning it's the first time I've driven with the fast boys this trip cuz I I I like cruising i' stick with the fast boys this anyway lovely ice cream in a very very no very soggy cornetta it hit the spot what about yeah everything in here but there's like the lads have walked up to a sandwich shop up the hill got options for days the day continued to be absolutely Sensational as we rolled our way towards Porto which definitely wasn't the end of our trip it was the end of our sort of dedicated driving days when we got there we joined on to the incredible Gathering supercars event which was wilder than even I expected or imagine some 300 odd supercars taking over Porto it turned out to be a perfect way to celebrate our first kind of trial tour so I guess the only way to wrap things up is to well I guess ask you your takeaway from the trip we did highlights over on the podcast but this was us having a go right yeah seeing if this is something that we could do something more with maybe build into a business how are you feeling now a few days later looking back at it are you missing it um that's a no no no no no no no there there's a few things that I miss I I I miss being not in this country I I I wish I was in Portugal still in the beautiful hot sunshine and like we said on the on the podcast we were surrounded by 15 really lovely people that like any trip is always made by people and this trip was made because of them essentially and the bonus was we had some amazing roads some beautiful cars are you all right mate getting emotion is there an get ambulance I'm gen a little bit of a sore throat um you're right though I I put up a Cheesy post on Instagram saying you know it's the cars that bring us together but it's the people that make it special yeah and for me that's the best way to sum up this trip true it's the thing I didn't really expect I sort of thought we'd get cool cars I knew we'd have great driving roads amazing stops you never know the people you thought we was going to hate the people no I didn't think that but I I I had no clue and then we were just treated to this fantastic group and from very early on this kind of great chemistry between us all everyone seemed to enjoy each other's company it meant all the driving experiences all the post driving experiences we're just fantastic I I miss the people me too you know of course I miss driving my car on Sunny roads because it's back to you 7° even though it's basically May so love this place um but yeah that whole vibe is what I miss and there's a WhatsApp group and it's still going it's still King off three or four days after the toy popping off every day and it's kind of nice to see it feels like real friendships have been made absolutely yeah that definitely encourages me to go on and do it all again yeah right yeah absolutely so watch this space as I say this has just been a little little teaser as to what we got up to there was so much more which we couldn't film we didn't film felt like we couldn't share but also we didn't want to because I think a whole part of trips that we do in the future right what goes on tour stays on tour it's got to be special for the people that are attending whilst I'll always try and share it with all of you I do want to keep some of it back and it feels like some of the real special memories are are going to be up here or in that WhatsApp group and that's what I kind of love but and obviously if you really want to know what goes on you better come well there we go he's a professional nowy i' trained him up well he done me well stay tuned because yes we are going to be announcing our second Tri event again in Europe which will be happening a little bit later this year so keep a close eye on the podcast and here on the main channel in a few weeks time we'll be telling you the details of how to apply for a space on that second trial event and look if that goes as well as this one has 2025 and onwards watch out we are coming to you we're bringing a group and it's going to be Larry really am I hope you've enjoyed the video give it a thumbs up if you have stay subscribed for plenty more videos to come oh\n"