The Oasthouse Run 
The Oasthouse Run
9:05 am and 11 of the usual suspects (and some not so usual!) set out from our alternative meeting point of McDonalds at Petersfield for an entertaining ride starting in the South Downs and progressing generally eastward (with quite a bit of north and south!) into the Garden of England. Weather was dry with only a small threat of a shower which didn’t materialise. Sorry Panos! The rain dance seems to have lost its potency. Two rides on the trot now with lovely dry roads.
First part of the ride was a marathon 2 ½ hour session where I was beginning to think it would be me giving in and calling a halt for a desperately needed comfort break but in the end the HP2 had to be watered, stopping for fuel at Famingham (near the M20 / M25 interchange) after 92 miles– Ah bliss! We followed this with quick 25 minute run down to our scheduled lunch stop at Ye Olde Anchor besides the river Medway which turned out to be an excellent choice. Fun and frolics were had in the car park deciding on who had the nicest rear end which was won by Mark (the GSXR’s rear end, not yours Mark!) I had certainly enjoyed the view as he worked his way back to the front after marking a couple of junctions.
After lunch the run south into Rye was most enjoyable with the clear straights into fast double bends typical of this area. A quick stop in Rye for a cuppa with a very tight squeeze into the car park where I miss-judged the clearance needed for an FJR with panniers fitted! Lots of polishing is now called for to get rid of the evidence!
Minor panic as we started out from Rye because Jo and Mikey departed in a different direction and Baldrick and I hadn’t noticed! A quick count and we were two bikes short! Panos soon put us right and after a rapid re-fuel we hit some rather tasty roads towards Tumbridge Wells and then looped south to join our old faithful the A272. An extra cuppa was called for in McDonalds when clsed road from an earlier accident forced an unscheduled stop at Cowford besides the A24 while the rescue services cleared the debris of the accident off the A272 for us.
From cowford it was a steady run in the bank holiday traffic back to Petersfield with most of the group heading north up the A3 and Gemma, Panos and myself following like sheep and missing our turning! Quick turn around at Liss and then back to the A272 to The Meon Hut and Home.
Thanks to everyone for making this a fun ride and many thanks to Tim for all his hard work preparing an interesting and varied route. I had an great ride at the tail, watching all the overtaking antics and routing Gemma and Panos back to the group when a marker went missing. My apologies for my push to talk switch not working properly although most people didn’t notice! I was just talking to myself all the time!
Until the next time