So far this year there has perhaps been too little coverage of the good works done by Janneane and Barry Drew in organising a full program of runs throughout the summer. We have had Popham (rained out through no fault of their own), Chatham Dockyard (for the rather scooter-centric 60's show), Dedham, Arundle Castle (someone promised me a write up about this - not mentioning any names, "TK") and this was the first one I was able to go on myself.
The destination was familiar and the route equally so - or that was what I thought. It was only the lively discussion prior to departure that alerted me to the facts that: I hadn't read the map properly the night before and spotted the best route, there are two better routes and in previous years I must have followed the leader on auto-pilot as I could not remember for the life of me which one I had been on before. Still a route was agreed on and off we went, numbering about six or eight bikes.
Unfortunately by the time we had got through the Dartford Tunnel some had dropped back, myself included, and couldn't remember which order the turn-offs were in, so some of us ended up taking one too soon and going on the A13 rather than the A127 but it wasn't a problem as we were at least going in the right direction.
A few miles, a few turns and we were on the approach to Battlesbridge. Then it was just a case of remembering where the entrance was... Having paid our money, we strolled in and made a customary beeline for the refreshments. One cuppa later we split into smaller groups to look around the show, my first priority being to find someone in the auto jumble selling batteries having discovered that both sets of rechargeables for my digital camera were strangely flat! While on my search I encountered Gary who had come up on his own for a flying visit, as well as bumping into some of the others of course.
The show was the usual mixture of the great, the gaudy and the grubby. There was a familiar purple T150 that did not look like it had been cleaned since last year, plus some finer examples of Meriden workmanship, as well as pristine examples of Matchless, Norton, Vincent, Ariel and of course Milwaukee workmanship. Oh, and a couple of guys on wacky American custom pedal cycles handing out business cards for their Southend-based import business.
Later on we spontaneously congregated near the bar and by half past two - or was it half past one? - we were making a move in the general direction of home, or the Pied Bull, whichever suited. A few spells of cloudy weather did not give any rain until most were safely at home and the rest were safely in the Pied Bull, at least for a while.
Thanks then to Janneane and Barry for taking the lead in setting this run up.