London Bound
Lee writes…
ok small report from today’s little blat round London.
Met Dave and Paul at Canary Wharf outside one of the large banks and no sooner had I pulled up a traffic warden / security guy came over and said you can park there “I replied I’m having engine trouble” and fiddled with some wires for 15 minutes until the guys turned up…
reasonably quiet to start with but the first hurdle was the fact the main road into London had been closed due to maintenance work in the tunnel…so a quick knock off of 2/3 waypoints soon got us back on track but the traffic had already built up from this diversion..
We completed an ITN this morning that saw us blat over most bridges and round chelsea, knightsbridge, westminster, battersea park, past harrods, some of kensington, london bridge, white hall, nelsons column. MI6 Building. big ben. sloane square.
The weather was kind to us and there were a few people milling about waving and smiling at the cars. For me the traffic was very calm compared to normal but if we really want a good london run then I would start earlier and deffo on a Sunday as saturday seems to be classed as a working day by the looks of things…
In hindsight we should have had a stop half way through the morning to stretch legs and backs but hey ho, you live and learn…we probably cracked around 30/35 miles looking at my satnav from start to finish..which took us in the region of 2 and a bit hrs..
After parking up outside the flat we walked up to the main street to the cafe for a decent fry up and a Loo…
Had a great breakfast and a good chinwag before paul and dave cracked on home and i decided to go for another little blat round London bridge on my own before putting the motor in my garage..
Hope you two got home safe and sound and the indicator issue didnt cause any concern dave?
Thanks Crunchie for the breakfast very kind of you to cover the bill…
David wrote…..
its days like today when i force myself out of bed! meet a few mates for a sensible drive in the cars!! that I really appreciate what the club brings to me…
thanks guys for coming today and look forward to seeing you sometime when I return from work.
although it makes a change to drive round the city at a slow pace, my heart deffo lies with foot to the floor country road blating!!
The best bits:
Cruising into London in the early morning sun with next to no traffic
The many bridge crossings, strangely absent of traffic
Full English (cheers Paul)
Usual kit car banter and idle man chat
The worst bits:
The London drivers – following far too close while you are changing lanes and navigating the roundabouts, etc. Would definitely be better on a Sunday.
The crawl from Elephant and Castle to Heston on the M4.
The traffic jam around Ascot – how did we overlook that?
Anyway, thanks both for a great run out this morning. Would like to do it again some time, on a Sunday, but I’m afraid not as soon as tomorrow. I racked up over 150 miles in all. I hope some of you get lucky with the weather tomorrow and manage to get out.
Paul wrote;
How good was it today meeting David at j3 on the M3 at 06.00 I like David but that is too early for me. So the blat needs to be good
I had a ball. Not only did was the trip to meet Lee in canary wharf very traffic free; if not camera free it was a good visit to London. I only made a few mistakes on navigation and finally got through security at canary wharf; David did not choose to follow me to the barrier. As a result I found Lee 5 minutes earlier and had another interview with security.
Things deteriorated at this point as passerbys already thought that David and Lees’ cars where the boll****ks and my Vauxhall did not meet muster At least David and Lee did not give me grief for turning up in a yellow non descript car Thanks guys, I am just a wimp after all
The itn Lee set out was great and he also made sure there where plenty of fit female joggers on the route The problem with this is that I am looking at where I want to go not where the itn was taking us
Watching the attention that the Tigers got on the route was fun. Seeing the tourist attractions by car was unique for me as I only go to London by train and walk.
I have to chastise Lee as when we got to his place, just by Bough Market, he did not give me time to buy pork pie, wild boar sausages and a rabbit from Bough Market. We were in 25 yds of the Market
At the cafe we spoke about track days. It seems there is some apatite for them in the club
I will try to put a program together for next year. (check out Jotland Ring).
On leaving Lee in London I messed up again ASCOT. Really bad traffic. David clearly lost confidence in my routes just when I got it right I got home from split in about 15 minutes.
Lessons I learnt is that I think we need to organise the fit joggers for our more rural blats and not to get p*ssed off when I cannot compete with the great sounds in the tunnels I just sound like an Astra Van. David and Lee sounded great I guess that is the problem with driving a Vauxhall.
Roll on the next Blatt.
Pics to follow.
Crunchie