Down to the Coast with Brekkie at Yalding
Well it seemed that we were up at the sparrows f4rt, handy as i’d had one of those sleepless nights that menat about 3 hours kip……still the skies seemed clear enough so off i set for Maidstone Services the 1st of 2 meet points. Typical….the rain started about 1/4 of a mile away from the Services…..Neil and Richard were alreayd on site ( and being a gent Neil had ordered me up a ‘strong Java’ )….. Nigel rolled in and we were ready – except no one had told the weather Gods. It was phissing, more a constant drizzle…..
In fairness 3 of us cheated on the wat to the 2nd meet – with no sat navs we sniffed out a path to join Tony and Kenton waiting for us at Sissinghurst before setting off on a cheeky 55 miler.
By now the drizzle had stopped – luckily the banter wasn’t about to dry up……..
Tony out in front decided to risk a public display order with his urge to relieve himself within sight of a row of houses – yep well thought out mate! Kenton and I took control and we rocked on for another couple of miles stopping in the heart of East Sussex – where by chance we had a lovely photo opp…..guys where’s the piccies. A cig and a natter and Richard rolled in to complete our sextet. Lesson learned, never tell a story about grinders at that time of day – the buggers just took the mickey!
With 19 miles to go it was time to head for a healthy full english at what has to rate as a 7/10 cafe – the food is good, the staff ‘variable’ and the outlook not too shabby……..i can’t recall all the daft stories and jokes – a sign that many were flowing!! A cheeky refill on the liquid front, yet more laughter and then it was time to head our seperate ways.
Given that Tony ( as well as Richard ) were about to help with the first part of the R6’s stransformation i ought not take the michael……but how’s this for ‘helpful’…..
‘so Tony i need to try and set the speedo, when we get to the top of the hill i’ll pull over and stop – then i need you to mark out a mile – wave when we’ve hit the mile’
‘Err T – STOP – i need to turn the car off to start the calibration’
after what seemd like a long way i got various hand signals – pulling alongside T proudly told me that we’d travelled at a steady 40mph – ‘ yeah, but i dont give a monkeys about the speed as long as its constant – have we completed a mile/’ – oh yes, yes we did , some way back’ –
great – thats fooked the calibration – shall we try again? wave when we hit the mile mark’…….
quite some distance went by – and i mean SOME distance – ‘err T, a mile ?’ – oh bugger i forgot to tell you didnt i? – err yeah.
So we get to my lane.
Right T – from here it’s close to a mile to my place, let me know when we reach that mile point ………err why are we turning into my driveweay? – oh i thought you said it was close to a mile – didnt realise it was that important…….
Soooo….before the run my speedo was out a ‘bit’ – by the end it was out by a country mile…( no pun)….i overtook T at one point after the 1st 2 abortive attempts – i must have been doing 60 ‘ish – speedo reckoned not, just 25!
so — if you have something really important to check…..i suggest someone with more memory than a goldfish 