South Downs Jolly 
South Downs Jolly
It was great to see so many of the usual suspects again and in particular the 2 new faces of Graham and Marco.
The South Downs has so much to offer in terms of biking roads and scenery and it’s right on our doorstep. So with the weather slightly overcast, sunny periods- not to hot – not too cold, we had the perfect recipe for a great day out. 14 bikers on 13 machines including a Moto Guzzi departed Winnall to enjoy the splendour of the southern countryside.
Our leader Slim, on the Sunny Yellow 1150GS, had gone to great lengths to expand and improve our previous “South Downs” route ensuring a good mix of challenging new and old roads, whilst carefully avoiding high volume traffic routes and in particular the Goodwood Revival weekend traffic jams. And so we meandered the Downs at a respectable pace, as far South as Chichester, East as Petworth, and North as Haslemere. The Hungry Horse at Liphook, once again provided our lunch time refreshments – the portions are still pretty huge and just as enjoyable as before.
For the afternoon session we retuned westward sweeping Hampshire’s best biking roads until we reached our destination at Kingsclere and Nelsons Diner. Along the way various individuals departed the convoy at points convenient to them. Also sadly we have to admit that a lapse in the marker system at Stockbridge meant that we lost Graham - Sorry Graham. We did establish before continuing, by phone, that he was ok and he made his own way home.
So a great day was had by all. I clocked 226 miles. As back marker I can report that most riders displayed a reasonable degree of Skill and Ability.
Steve still needs to get his rear brake light fixed as it still flickers on/off most of the time!! 
A big thank you to Slim for a fantastic day, see you all in October for a return to the West Country.