Thames Valley UK Chapter Harley Owners Group

A swift internal debate took place at 07:15 on the Sunday morning after realising I had missed the Wamdsad depart but could just make Chieveley, if I hurried, resulted in a swift blatt down the M4 to get to the depart point at 08:30, and to be greeted by a great turnout of our TVHOG members joined by a load of other bikes that did not have the “Harley” logo! Glad I got up!

The cold must have enhanced awareness on the trip down as I spotted the river Thames smooth as a table top with two rowing fours leaving perfect circles where the oars had just left the water, trees changing colours to that wonderful red colour, a “pack” of hot air balloons making their early morning flights and a group of old buses going somewhere for a rally I guess. All this with the sunrise in my rear view mirrors. Exhilarating!

Arrived rather chilly due to not enough layers on in my haste to get away and not thinking like a Michelin man (only 2 “t-shirts” and jacket – more than the hardy bikers who ride bare arms in the winter!!) and gloves that let the wind-chill factor in even through the grips on setting 6. A coffee with Casper who arrived at about the same time and the purchase of a £2.99 pair of extra gloves solved all that and off the pack went led by Don, and tailed by Fred and Colin, with the non Harley guys in the middle.

A great ride down the M4 to the Severn View services in stagger (well the TVHOG guys did) and we were joined by others swelling the pack well beyond the original 40 to be greeted by an ocean of bikes of all shapes, makes and colours. The queue for the loos would have made the entry to a cup final dwindle into insignificance.

The temperature rose to being very pleasant and hot dogs, burgers and coffees were on tap for those in need. The views over the river Severn and the bridges were spectacular. See above.

11:00 came and it took quite a while to get all out of the car parks. A short wait on the approach road where Don collected the rest of the pack was followed by a meander through the lanes and villages round Chepstow with all the locals lining the roads waving and clapping with some youngsters looking for “high fives from the roadside! The 2 second rule soon got forgotten as any gap left was filled by bikes coming in from all directions and the safety bubble training was soon dispersed with a vengeance. The long, slow approach into Chepstow left quite a few bikes overheated and clutches got very slippy! Some bikes needed the rescue services before the end of the trip.

Good parking facilities in Chepstow meant the group soon got reunited followed by a wander round the town centre collecting goody bags and seeing the wares on sale from the stalls. Phil and Sally were there but did not have enough time to catch up on life in the south west.

A very good lunch preceded the A40 lot leaving at ca 16:00 for a short ride down the M4 to J18 and then onto Cirencester, a wonderful road to Burford (A4425 I think), onto Oxford and a short motorway trip back to respective drop off points. A hot shower soon restored the body temperatures!

A great day and lots of donations for charity made the day a great success. Roll on HTB 11.