For some time I’d hankered on exploring North of the Water, so we formed a plan and a route, simplicty itself: Meet a few SKCC’ers at Lakeside and head to Maldon to play on the remnants of an old airstrip ( long straight unused road) and then head Northwards to pick up Alan – an Essex Tiger owner who fancied joining us for a days travels……here’s what happend.

No sooner had we set off from the initial meet than I got a call from Tony who had missed the Green Traffic Light ‘ err we’ll be about 10 minutes or so, Rob’s wheel has fallen off”. Lucky i got the call just before jumping onto the M25, so i headed back down the other slip road and found them parked up and already working away to solve the issue.
A bit of brute force and use of Chris’s tools/jack and the problem was solved ( these Elise’s do have their good points – storage!)

Right, set off Mark 2.
Up the 25 and across country to Maldon and out the back. Murphys Law followed a bus, car lorry combo for about 9 miles manging a heady 32mph at one stage, pity as that road is quite a good one. Arrived at the old airstrip and the fun commenced. A few attempts at drifting ( seems those R1r’s are pretty sticky) and then a home made version of 60-0 to see how fast our chariots could stop in the event of an emergency – and finally a loosely timed (sort of 1/4 mile).

The phone rang – Big Al ( an Essex Tiger owner ) was due to meet us at a nearby Cafe and we hadnt even left. A quick run and the 1st U turn of the day saw us hook up at a little Cafe ( yep that’ll be 6 Full Englishs please)…From there ( albeit a tad later than envisaged ) we headed North. The route was shall we saw ‘awesome’, fantastic B roads, many reminding me of some that we’d sampled in France – a mix of fast sweepers, twistys and short straights ( enough to pass if needed, which to be fair we didnt as it was pretty quiet). By now Bryan had swapped Rob’s passenger seat for mine ( no idea why??) and r

epeated glances in the mirrors revealed a rather empty and desolate road behind us. So we settled down to a nice cruising speed – a flash of lights, a toot of a horn indicated that Rob had caught up and wanted us to stop.
Good job we did as a check on why his steering felt a bit off revealed 4 loose wheel nuts. ” Chris – where’s that socket set again”

The next section i think were some of the best roads i’ve driven for a while, and Bryan and I pulled up at the 1st (intended ) stop. the others following us in and parking up. After the usual banter Paul enquired why we;’d stopped in the middle of nowhere – clearly failing the schoolboy test of using his eyes ( the Lotus Factory Sign seemed to be visible to all )…..Yep we’d brought the Elise back to its spiritual home and our 7’esque cars as well.

A run across country heading East took us to Oulton Broad, just shy of Lowestoft. The odd dark cloud now replaced with some sunshine as we sat and had a nibble on a sarnie and a well deserved backside break.
The banter flowed nicely, driving as we often do may be about finding new roads, or enjoying old favorites, but it would be flat and empty with good banter. At this point Rob showed his versatility, swapping from Court Jester to Naturalist…. there’s a chance that i may have used the wrong word: to be clear he didnt get his kit off – but instead drew our attention to a Cormorant that had dived on the Broad. Of course such seriousness couldnt last as he lapsed into Bill Oddie mode.

A look at the watch showed that the timing had gone to pot, so off we set again….this time heading South, trying to hug the B roads that had looked so appealing when planning that leg of the route. FAIL. Seems that in addition the the world and his wife now being on the roads that the councils up there have a love of sticking 30-40mph restrictions anywhere ( irrespective of whether there’s a village or dwelling anywhere near). I guess its fair to say those roads were fine, it was the traffic and restrictions that weren’t! Especially when we ended up in a queue of atleast 10 cars behind a blloming great bit of farm machinery for mile after mile. Taking Tonys cue we hopped up the column eventually ( after miles ) freeing ourselves of those chains, only to find yet more dawdlers. A quick conflab at the next services led to us deciding to cut the day/route short and head for home down the somewhat boring A12 ( the sat nav telling us that noot doing so would result in 2 divorces and 2 severe ‘humps’ ). So Chris and I said our goodbyes to teh Uckfield Possy ( Big Al having already split himself from the group at an appropriate juncture or should that be junction).