Britbike forum Forums General discussion The Rod and Tappet This Weekend....

Was the weekend where the time changes, no we didn't go back to 1958 or anything good, just wound the clock back an hour, so now we'll have jet lag for a few days till we get used to it. BUT and that's a big Ole but there y'all will notice, when them clocks change it means the Guzzi lot have a camp so.....

Time to load up the Commuter and head out into the rain that was forecast, Friday early morn saw me hitting the kickstart button and out into the beginning of the rush hour madness, hooking up with the Hairy Mong the Accent and the Prospect. Then out once more into the heavy traffic to do a spot of 'Filtering' or Lane Splitting, all motorway stuff but what ya gonna do, the camp is held in the West. And all the nice roads would simply suck the time, so motorways it was. The rain was coming down heavy, and the spray from the cars & trucks was making sure everything was damp, but we got to our breakfast stop and had a bit of nosebag...

A bit more wiggling around and then out into the lanes of Gloucestershire, arriving at the Lower Lode Inn....





The Sun having a bit of a show as I pulled up alongside the river Seven and erected the canvas hovel....








Time for a brew I had me a few of these.....








Then once we were suitably *Sensible* out came the Hairy Mong's travel BBQ, he had a waxed log that was only for burning on a decorative outside fire, you can get these at a garden centre and posh people have them in their fancy gardens just for show. Don't think you're supposed to cook sausages with them, but due to beer and Rum and some Jack Daniels, the Mong was ready for a midnight feast so.....







And lovely they were too, had a good night's kip only waking to the Biblical rain that was hitting the canvas, fortunately it had mostly stopped the next morning, so time for a quick mooch....


The Prospect's Himmy, what a fantastic little machine this is....







Son in law and Daughter of Geoff & Sara came on the trusty Ural outfit with the BMW engine, sadly it didn't make it home at the end of the weekend....









And what I love about the Guzzi lot, as you can already see, is they let ANY make of bike into their events, even this.....






There were Guzzi's there don't worry....












Even a BSA lad on his lovely Spada, now this lad was the lad that told me about the Commuter, and he helped me work for two hours digging out from the back of the garage it was buried in when I bought it....






After me mooching it was breakfast time in the pub, as long as you drink their beer and eat some food, the camping is FREE. And what a fine breakfast it was too, we decided on having a ride up the top of the Malvern Hills so see the view. Sadly as we got going the morning mist rolled in, and so nothing to see, but a fine ride around the lanes it was, and being out for a few hours along with that drying mist, saw us finding a lovely pub.....






So a quick Snifter and a sit out in their beer garden which backs onto the river Severn....





And by now the Sun was out not only that but it was getting warm, by the time we got back to the tents it was actually HOT...! I kid you not, end of October and there we were getting a Sun tan, strange old times but lovely sitting there watching a bloke on the other side of the river pulling fish out, a proper relaxing time. Then back into the Pub for a night's worth of fun, where the Prospect and a couple of others got a Birthday surprise, yes my little boy is now FORTY how on Earth did THAT happen, they'd got a very special meat pie made in the tiny village butchers at a place called Fladbury, course the little sod didn't share none with his Old Dad.....


But a great night and next morning we awoke to a Dry day, so breakfast, pack up say our goodbyes till next time, and off we set. Along the motorway and about 2hrs into our ride, the Hairy Mong's Hardly broke it's Rubber band....





He said he'd only fitted it along with new pulley wheels 8000 miles ago, looked to me he's got another massive job to do now, that's not a 5 minute thing is it....


Well that's another camp in the memory banks, a mighty fine weekend it was too, just a couple more months left before we start again, I've only gone and said I'd do a winter camp in January and that was when I was Sober....

Nice.