SUNNY YELLOW SUBMARINE RUN
Sunday 6th November 2005

So as usual, meeting time arranged was for 9.00am with a 9.30 start from the Tesco car park at Winnall Trading Estate outside Winchester. The weather was just the ticket, dark and overcast, raining heavily and very windy. At this point I seriously considered staying at home, having a lay in, watching the final round of MotoGP or generally doing what "normal" people do on Sundays. But then I thought of Panos, or Slim if you like, having put all the work into working out the route for us all as well as all the other "usual suspects" who regardless of weather would undoudtedly turn up for the monthly social ride.

Well, after waiting until 9.45am for any late arrivals, the grand total of takers for the day's action packed adventure was 3, not including of course 3 other people huddled in the trolley shelter of the carpark trying to avoid nature's finest. Although counting Slim for 2 would have beefed up the numbers! Sooo, Panos on the Sunny Yellow GS, Paul on the blue TDM and Baldrick on the silver 1200RT set off for the Avebury Stone Circle.

After a while riding in such "lovely" conditions our ears were ringing to the sounds of a piercing whistle, a close call as to what was preferable. A high pitched sound or the constant chatter endured during the last ride, a tough choice! Water has found its way into Paul's radio connections and that seemed to be the reason for the sound effects. With one radio down, we continued our ride at a pace appropriate for the conditions.

We rode to Andover and across Salisbury Plain through some very wild and hostile conditions, through numerous patches of standing water covering the entire road to finally arrive at the Red Lion Pub for lunch. We might have been windswept and thoroughly soaked but there is nothing like it, riding through such adverse conditions is fantastic practice for keeping the concentration going.

After a very enjoyable lunch, Paul rode north towards Swindon in order to make an late afternoon engagement leaving Slim & Baldrick to make their way back to Stockbridge in even stronger rain.

After two stops to wipe the water from inside our helmets on account of auto-pilot not functioning, we arrived at out destination but decided to give tea & cakes the rain check. The owners would have probably appreciated our gesture as I'm sure they did not need two very wet bikers to their usual lot. The route would have been challenging enough in the dry, but the day's conditions made for an even more demanding ride, excellent fun. I can honestly say that it did not stop chucking it down ALL day. Sadly, I will not be able to make the December ride on account of an unavoidable engagement, despite that my gear would have dried out by then...

Baldrick on the silver 1200RT