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EoSM : yet another report (long)
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This island of ours is truly a Great Britain.
I had packed appropriately for a typical August in England, sandals,
shorts and T shirt. You can imagine my surpise after leaving Edinburgh
in glorious sunshine to find that all this talk of drought in England
was not true. It appeared that England had misappriated the Scottish
weather and was keeping it in Newcastle and Derbyshire.
Riding down the east coast of Scotland was most enjoyable, beautiful
sunshine, warm wind and spectacular views out to sea. After crossing the
border it all changed, entering the conurbation of Newcastle I was
confronted with a veritable sea of water, I swear there was almost two
inches of standing water on the motorway. Fortunately it was confined
just to Newcastle and exiting the city the beautiful sunshine and warm
winds returned.
I had carefully memorised my route so felt confident that I'd get to
Hulland Ward without mishap. Imagine my surprise when junction 28 of the
M1 just didn't appear, I was at 290 miles so it should be there. I
spotted an A6 o something and knew that I must be close. I stopped to
refuel and realised that the A606 wasn't quite the same as A6 and A1
wasn't quite the same as M1. Grantham was definitely not listed on my
route plan.
Fortunately the filling station had a special offer, if I bought a Mars
bar I could get a road atlas for £1.99 . It wasn't quite a handy bike
size but I could just squeeze it inside my jacket and it kept me quite
warm for the next part of the route.
New route planned and I set off into what can only be described as
British weather at it's best. My trusty voyager jacket was sadly beaten
into submission by Derbyshires wall of rain.
Arrived at Hulland Ward just an hour later than planned so hadn't missed
too much. Fortunately there was plenty of food available and as luck
would have it, a single slice of the most delicious chocolate gateaux
had survived to set me up nicely for the evening. That and a bottle of
red wine.
The rain held off just long enough to put the tent up and then it was
back to finishing off the wine.
It was nice to see everyone again.
Disco landlord was very entertaining. I now know why everyone always
wants to blow their own trumpet.
The after pub closing party round at dodgers place was particularly well
catered for this year. I can't quite remember what was available but
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Why does this always seem to kick off *after* I've gone to bed?
Oh. Ah. Thank you.
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there was definitely a vodka with some sort of fruit in it, a plastic
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"Sloe vodka" - Burnt was with us in spirit.
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Heh.
I've still got about five litres of that and seven of Gin from 2004...
plus a couple from 2003. Didn't make any in 2005, 2006 looks like it
may be a reasonable year.
I do wonder why I make so much though when I give more away than I
drink.
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bottle with some liquid in it and a hand written label. I stuck to the
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"Andrea's Mum's firewater" IIRC, courtesy of Boots Blakeley a couple of
years ago. We put it in the freezer once and it stayed determinedly
liquid...
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bottle of Scottish gin because it had "botanicals" in it. I'd just like
to thank platy for allowing us to witness a teenage drinking binge up
close. I can't remember the ones I had a teenager so it was nice to be
reminded. I think the phrase he used was "it's better she learns her
lesson whilst I can keep an eye on her" or words to that effect, my
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Heh. Something like that.
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Was she suitably chastened?
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She took a little while to get up to speed.
There was also a certain amount of nodding-off on the M5.
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memory may have been impaired by alcohol. She's a sweet girl and was
remarkably coherent considering how late it was.
You can't beat a decent English cooked breakfast and the Black Horse
once again excelled itself.
Had a shot of the 1200 Honda Goldwing and all I can say it's very
different from a supersports 600. Not sure if I'm ready for one yet. The
Moto Guzzi was lovely, a nice noise, and for those of you who
wondered why I didn't twist the throttle all the way, the answer is, I
was scared. Actually come to think of it I was scared of the Goldwing too !
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A morbid and unnatural fear of black motorcycles, then.
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Next time I'll imagine they're red.
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The journey home was pretty much uneventful, leaving Derbyshire left the
overcast weather behind, nice warm and dry until I hit Newcastle which
hadn't got rid of the rain storm.
Played acceleration games with a Mercedes sports car once I got over the
border. The last hundred miles just shot past.
Arrived home with aching shoulders and I could hardly turn my neck. A
nice hot bath and some sleep soon sorted it.
The bike is now 600 miles overdue for it's official first service.
Thanks to Lozzo for organising this event and good luck to Jackie when
organising the next one.
Roll on the next OSM.
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