SKCC UK Road Trip 2012
Well where to start? 5 days and many miles to be summed up and for those that were there I suspect like me a few words don’t do this sort of trip justice.
Before I make an attempt at conveying some of the highlights I’d like to say a few words about the club and the camaraderie.
Some are aware that I had car issues ahead of the trip, I was humbled and appreciative of the words of wisdom, the offers of support and indeed other offers that went far beyond that – all in an effort to help me take part. This Club is wealthy in terms of the quality of those associated with it, to those that perhaps sometimes read about activities – get involved, you’ll find I’m sure a warm welcome and the prospect of fun and friendship.
OK to the main event.
The trip was labeled Bitzkrieg – 20 counties 1350+ miles in 5 days, like any campaign however well prepared for there will always be a casualties, for those guys that couldn’t complete the trip, our thoughts were with you, and to the ‘readers’ – don’t be put off, sometimes Sods Law takes over irrespective of planning.
Reveille sounded around the South East at differing times, the common goal to make the 2 start points on time. The majority starting from Thurrock, coffee and smiles of anticipation were abundant and the scene was set for Blitzkrieg 2012. In formation we headed to the brekkie rendez vous to meet the stragglers and with a hearty feast set off to knock off a mere remaining 1250 miles……clouds filled the sky, but after providing an offering to the Gods we were optimistic of kindly weather. Optimism that proved well founded.
Groups were formed by natural selection, traffic separating the more adventurous as we rolled through the flat landscape of the fens, the views changing as we edged toward northern Lincolnshire and then into Yorkshire, the roads becoming ever more interesting. Bridlington was our first overnight – a seaside Town sleepy inspite of the upcoming Bank Holiday. A tour of the Town yielded a cracking curry house and the first serious banter started – with the advance party of 20 being outsmarted by a cheeky ‘bribe’ to the owner to make sure that us 4 latecomers were served first, given that the others had been there for about 45 minutes it was rather amusing. Snippets could be heard ‘ hey how come they have their food’, God I’m hungry where’s our grub’…..sorry chaps, snooze and lose!
The banter was tinged with sad news, Graham had suffered ( well his car had ) from a cooling issue forcing early retirement and no triage could overcome such an issue, so the next morn we waved goodbye to our pal and wished him well on his trip back South.
Bridlington, Matt found an open topped car to join in with !
For the rest this was the beginning of roads and scenery that would have us wrestling with our steering wheels and adjectives to do said scenery justice.. We climbed through the Moors before heading inland to the heart of the north, slicing through the countryside as we headed to Alnwick. The roads up in Northumberland would take some beating, and being empty we’d made excellent progress and our group decided to go ‘off piste’ – cracking on to Holy Island where we snuck down to the castle and took a liberty or two in getting close for some piccies.
The Hotel was welcoming, to the point where may decided to take the option of fish n chips takeaway whilst a smaller group went for the tried and tested ‘ beer and a burger’, no matter everyone was satisfied – save for Bryan who had noticed a naughty little crack in his chassis and had decided to call it a day, setting off for the long walk home ( well he drove actually).
Holy Island, Lindisfarne……
At this point I should add that I had mentioned to Neil about keeping a diary to make this report easy on my return, in reality I needed a tape recorder to make sure I’d capture all the funny snippets, sadly I didn’t have one…….don’t for one moment think that these trips are all about driving and nothing more. That couldn’t be farther from the truth – these runs are about having a giggle, giving and taking banter whilst exploring parts of the country that are begging to be appreciated. Every little drama being relived over a beer or a ciggie, smiles breaking out as someone cracked a funny…….anyway I digress……..
Day 3 saw us start what I personally thought would be the best leg – Northumberland and the Dales. I wasn’t disappointed, stunning, simply stunning. The roads were a joy and all around were breathtaking vistas. By now we definitely had a spearhead with James, Paul, Tony leading the way and others running in smaller groups somewhere behind. Unfortunately we had a shower or two which made the roads a little greasy, but nothing to really dampen the spirits. The ‘long’ option covering the main ‘must do’s’ such as Buttertubs Pass and the Ribblehead viaduct. One by one we rocked into Blackpool only for the ‘texts of woe’ to arrive – Siezed brake caliper being recovered – Nigel, ‘sump needed welding see ya later – Ash, not to mention repaired throttle cables and another sump welded en-route!
A group hug around a table in the Weatherspoons put the world to rights and silently we toasted our pals, wishing they were with us.
Wales – yeah baby. We had to knock off a bunch of boring miles and we managed to do just that, albeit with a degree of frustration at the many traffic lights and slow progress – until we sighted the ‘ghdyfjxdjhsb’ roughly translated ‘ welcome to Wales – fill ya boots boys’. So we did! Evo triangle, yep done that, Bala, yep done that, Mach, yep done that and finally down to the Elan Valley – after a lunch stop which saw everyone pitch up at varying intervals, all happy to have an hours respite in a fine restaurant overlooking a reservoir. We were running late and all had the option of the short or long route – with the sky clear the advance party made that a no brainer
‘ gotta be the long one’. And so 4 of us set out on an epic adventure, was there one highlight? Well possibly the Irfan Forest – average speed about 20 mph ( if that ) driving challenging roads and living the stunning landscape……awesome. In fact it was the Irfan that tipped the balance for me, til then I’d reckoned I’d take the Dales over Wales any day, but nope – I’m now a Wales convert.
But more bad news was to filter through……a naughty sheep had played with Linda’s wheel arch and had run off with a big chunk of it – well it would have run off if it could still have run!…..and Tony H had fallen in love with the scenery and had decided to take a bit home with him, a day early.
somewhere in Mid Wales, Kenton and I caught up the advance party.
Still bather levels were high as the ‘circle of love’ was formed in the bar and talk centered on the miles of smiles we’d found that day helped by a liberal splash of amber nectar!
We said goodbye to a few of the runners next morn as they headed direct to Stoneleigh, the rest heading East, yet still intent on cramming a few more corking roads into the route……joined by a local informant who had kindly helped sanity check and improve the Welsh legs. (cheers Jo)….her reward ( is it a reward?) passengering in the Caterham for a few miles with ‘Skid’……I suspect that Jo is slightly barmy, must be as she reckoned it was ‘ a bloody hoot’…..think that’s what she said?
And so the miles were counting down toward the end of our Tour, I could see the miles disappearing from the Sat Nav route and I realized that others felt the same as me, it had gone so fast and it was with a heavy heart that we bade each other ‘goodbye’ and set out for home. To try to put the quality of the roads we drove into some perspective…….the final leg after coffee to lunch included a chunk of the Costwolds, Tony B and I agreed that on any normal Sunday run those roads alone would have made a fantastic route, one that we’d have drooled over – yet in comparison to those that we’d driven in Wales/ Dales etc they didn’t come close, not by a long long way!
I had promised myself that in writing this I’d capture the fun of such a Tour and I realize that this is impossible, it really is a case of ‘you had to be there’, don’t read anything negative into the few failures, in fact take them as positives. We use our cars, yes they are nicely presented and looked after, but they get driven and there will occasionally be the odd ‘issue’………I guess one comment that was perhaps the most heartening was from Paul, Lee G’s Dad – ‘cracking bunch of members, all so welcoming and friendly’…..he’s spot on! Do a trip like that on your own and yes it would be an achievement, do it with likeminded friends and its another dimension