Last ride - 2009
Thames Valley Hog
2009 - The last ride
Pat and Barry suggested / offered a repeat of last year where all met at Chieveley and then the ladies / men split up and rode somewhere north to meet up for a lunch. What a great idea and there were very few refusals - see below!!!
So with a good weather forecast following a poor Saturday; an impressive number of bikes and trike (around 20, but I did not count – fine please!!!) assembled at Wamdsad, all on time, with the clocks going back and the time of depart 30 mins later than originally planned(!) to allow those who needed it a few more moments asleep! A swift briefing followed a good quick run down the motorway; the pack and back markers coping very capably with the weight of traffic and the Sunday driving by the cage dwellers. Twenty or so bikes at ca 65mph, keeping the 2 second rule, within a stagger formation, does make for quite a long line of bikes!
We pulled into the services to be greeted by another large bunch of bikes. A coffee etc. break got the pack assembled for the briefings and the two offs; the ladies left a few minutes before the men who had a really spectacular ride over the Marlborough downs and a memorable sight of the surrounding countryside from the view point with the road snaking down the hill with just a stream of bikes to be seen on the road below!
A swift trip up one junction of the M4 to avoid Swindon, great call Barry!, then past Honda to set us on the road up to our destination. The roads were looking very wet and a couple of stops to stretch legs and get waterproofs on the for the last few miles got us to Burford just as the rain started, to find the ladies very comfortably settled in the coffee shop waiting for us.
A coach party I believe had beaten us to the hotel in Burford, so a few (were) volunteered to seek another watering hole. Fortuitously, Don W was just leaving the high street and gave us his parking place ( the rain was quite heavy at the time). The first pub we tried, the Cotswolds Arms, had a function room with gallery, open beams and great atmosphere, just coming free where we could all chill out and relax. A swift call to those up the road, (unfortunately too late for those who had already got their food) the rain stopping, saw maybe half of the pack re congregating and tucking into some really good food. The usual banter over who would have puddings resulted in some partaking. No names!! The pub is certainly worth keeping on the list for a visit to Burford for next year.
Quite a few joined for the swift (bit boring) ride back down the A40 / M40 so we could get into our respective homes before the evening got too cold post sunset. In hindsight, if we could have left earlier we could have taken in a cup of tea at “h’s” on the way back and made the ride more interesting! Maybe the last ride the week before the clocks go back could be an idea?
Lots of miles for the day, a great ride out, thanks to Barry and Pat for leading us, the road crews on the various sectors. Hopefully the weather will come good and we have the opportunity for a few more unofficial rides before the winter wraps go on (some / most? of)the bikes!