EoSM : yet another report (long)

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 there was definitely a vodka with some sort of fruit in it, a plastic bottle with some liquid in it and a hand written label. I stuck to the 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 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 !

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.

--
Donald
CBR600RR5
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Borderlands AC or DC? was Re: wrexham & shropshire to run
    ... Wales except through England. ... It's the mountains that preclude the N-S route, ... seems best, then on to Cardiff. ...
    (uk.railway)
  • Re: Owen craves Reds return:SKY TV
    ... > Michael Owen has confirmed he will look to head back to England if he is ... > not guaranteed a start at Real Madrid, ... > Newcastle and Liverpool leading the pursuit. ...
    (uk.sport.football.clubs.liverpool)
  • St James would be best for Owen - Robson
    ... FORMER Newcastle manager Sir Bobby Robson believes England striker Michael ... claims he had approached them about Owen, leaving it to club officials to ...
    (uk.sport.football.clubs.liverpool)
  • Re: Worcester v Newcastle
    ... distribution and bossing of the game was better than anything I've ever ... England have suffered recently from trying to gel combinations in the ... do a lot worse than transferring Wilkinson, ... The three Newcastle backs would be a good bet for England, it would be even better if Newcastle would win a few games though.... ...
    (rec.sport.rugby.union)
  • Decision delights Eriksson as Souness revels in finest hour
    ... SVEN-GORAN Eriksson backed Michael Owen to be a Newcastle goalscoring legend ... James' Park could give England an extra edge ahead of the World Cup finals. ...
    (uk.sport.football.clubs.liverpool)
Loading