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Flying visit


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Whoohoo.  Looks like I'm coming to sunny old England in early October.  I have to be in Paris by the 9th, but I'm hoping to fly into Heathrow on the 6th, then magically (ok trains, busses, and probably hoofing it|) transport myself down to Devon to meet Nick, and have a squid at the RBRR runners while he's marshalling at Bournemouth on the 7th, then shoot of to Paris somehow or other - it's a very loose plan so far.  

Would love to meet up with any other Sideways alumni while I'm there.

GT6Steve - feel like a visit to England?

 

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1 hour ago, yorkshire_spam said:

but will probably be zombified by the time we get that far round!

Depends alot on the weather........ I was a zombie by that point on the 2008 run as weather was poor generally and terrible both nights especially.  Having done this checkpoint 4 times since as a marshal (intentionally, to remind myself why I'm not doing the run!), it is noticeable that the condition of entrants is directly related to the weather they've had to travel through.  2016 the the weather had been quite good and they were all surprisingly chipper. 2010 (I think, or maybe 2012) the weather was so bad we were competing with the River Dart itself for the car park and there was a group of white water canoeists launching from the car park too.  The RBRR crews were hanging..... :hot:

Craig will have been doing some serious travelling too, as well as having a body clock 10 hours out of whack...... he'll fit right in! :biggrin:

Nick

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On 4/11/2018 at 1:22 AM, JohnD said:

Bit far south for me, Steve, for a flying visit, but hope you have good weather!

John

 

19 hours ago, yorkshire_spam said:

Not wanting to hi-jack Steve's thread, but by that point in 2014 we were just focused on getting back to the Plough. Stop, toilet, drink, book signed, back on the road.

Jeeze, it's 8 years to the day since I joined here.  Attractive and talented as Steve may be, my name's Craig!

And it's official, I'm booked and headed to England for my first real visit in 30 years (19 hours sitting in a chair in Heathrow in 2001 doesn't count!)

C.

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4 hours ago, GT6MK3 said:

 

Jeeze, it's 8 years to the day since I joined here.  Attractive and talented as Steve may be, my name's Craig!

And it's official, I'm booked and headed to England for my first real visit in 30 years (19 hours sitting in a chair in Heathrow in 2001 doesn't count!)

C.

Humble apologies.... Im just a noob who hasn't figured out who's whom yet. 

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  • 3 years later...

Wow,

Three years today since a very jetlagged version of me caught a train from London to Crewkerne, where I was whisked away to Jones Estate in Lopen, to be feted with around 1/2 a pig and all the trimmings, then ferried in skip style to Dartmeet, where I got to see more Triumphs and Truimph drivers than an Antipode would in 10 years, including some of our members (including, I count myself lucky, meeting OldTuckUnder), followed by a guided tour of Plymouth, and a Vitesse transfer to my Channel Ferry. 

Sideways is the gift that keeps giving, I've met members here in Australia, in the US, and in the UK, and the generosity of all is probably what strikes me most about this site and its people.

IMG_0075.jpeg

A very jetlagged webmaster at the lookout on the way to Nick's house.

 

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Really hope we can do it again some time.........

Was on the fence as to whether it should be the Skip or the GT6 right up until I stepped out of the door on Sunday morning.  The balance was tipped by the weather apparently being good enough for "top down" not to be completely insane, and the memories.  Tradition if you like.  This time I was alone though, Craig plugging away keeping people's data moving in Melbourne lockdown and Chris making his own way there from his place.

To begin with it was warm enough as the sun was out.  Past Exeter the sun went in and it got chilly.  The view ahead got darker and darker and eventually I chickened out, stopped and put the lid up.  Good call.  It rained. Big rain.

Arrived at Dartmeet way too early having left early in anticipation of having trouble finding fuel when in fact it was not a problem.  It's impossible to predict how things will go at the Badgers Holt stop.  It varies from half the field arriving before the control opens and all wanting to move straight on to nobody at all turning up until 10 minutes after opening time.  I passed time talking to a very pleasant TR 250 owning gent on holiday from the USA who had spotted the event on the web somewhere and found his way to the control - don't think he could quite believe his luck.  Chris arrives.  We put up banners - sort off Badgers Holt is a (very) rural stop - no bling here.....  This time the cafe/hotel management have cordoned their part of the car park.  The very pleasant young lady minding the cafe knew it was for some sort of charity event, but thought bikes.....:blink:  Turned out to be us though :smile:

This time around people started showing up pretty early and by opening time the trickle had become a flood.  This leaves no time for social sadly.  Or for taking pictures.  Next time I shall have to get a little more organised with some helpers.... and maybe even a gazebo to stop my checklist from getting drowned....  It was rather damp.  Luckily though the real rain waited until everyone was through and we had headed back up the hill to send our report.  Then it rained.  BIG rain.  Hardly see the front of the car rain....  At one point, rolling slowly through the downpour with Chris following on behind, we passed a cyclist, stood astrideh is bike in the road, with the flow of water on the road so great it was coursing over his shoes and splashing up his shins.  He was struggling into a water-proof..... I have no idea why....... he was already about the wettest he could get.

Passed Dave Picton in a layby not long after joining the A38, but in the rain we didn't spot him soon enough to stop in that layby so had to settle for the next, where I saw on WhatsApp that his diff has cried enough.  Can't do much about that..... so press on.  Don't see any more stragglers, which is good.

Good day out.  Nice to be part of the event without having to suffer the very considerable pain of actually doing it :biggrin:

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Yup, I echo sentiments of both John and Nick above, always space available in Scotland if you make it that far!

Anyway @GT6MK3, we need to get you a driving spot when things calm down enough! I am still (somewhat vainly I suspect) hoping to at least have my saloon drivable for next year's 10CR, and finished for future RBRR's. The saloons have space for three drivers comfortably? Team S-T?

Phil

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