I’ll just say it was a bit damp. Went off on Friday to Techenders but not quite as early as I’d have liked as I’d been at an old friends funeral. However went there to the crematorium all packed up and ready to roll. So left Westerleigh just outside if Bristol just after three and it had been raining non stop for the last couple of hours. I drove North towards Cirencester to pick up the Old Fosse Way which will take you right to the door of Techenders at Victoria Farm in Lutterworth. Nice steady run into Tetbury which is the perfect place to fill up with fuel at their local self serve Tesco but only E10, bugger, then just as steady into Cirencester and until Cirencester the traffic was fairly light as the weather was getting increasingly soggy. As we’re going around the outside of the town we suddenly hit traffic and roadworks and two lanes into one then we really slowed as we are trying to sidestep a massive puddle about a quarter the size of a football pitch so as you can imagine peeps were gingerly driving through. Finally got through and the rain was pounding on the roof of the van and it’s the first time I can remember needing to use the faster speed of the wipers. Every dip in the road now had huge puddles mostly straddling the whole road and in places there was a queue of cars from each direction taking it in turns to drive through the water. Really needed to concentrate as sometimes you couldn’t quite see them because of them hiding naturally in dips. Two places I was right up and probably over my brake drums, the worst one was going under a bridge where the road narrowed and luckily there was a Range Rover came through the opposite way that gave me an idea that I’d be able to get through. The rain got heavier and there were people parking up on the sides of the road and some were actually just stopped on the road as they couldn’t see because they’d steamed up in their cars, I didn’t have any of this, possibly because I’d opened both front windows about a quarter of an inch. Finally got a bit further to Stow on The Wold and Moreton On The Marsh and as usual hit some traffic going through these towns but nowhere near as much as usual. And once past these, I heard a squeak from the wipers and turned them down to first speed then within a half a dozen miles ish I’d turned them off and just flicked them on every minute or so as the weather was easing. A half hour later I spotted a patch of blue sky and the wipers were finally stood down. Beautiful drive after that with the road virtually to myself and got to Victoria Farm in record breaking time for a Friday afternoon run in approximately three and a half hours. My mate Doug got there ten minutes after me but had driven up the M5 as he had an errand or two to sort on the way, he’d left Bristol and from Thornbury on it had been beautiful sunshine all the way, yet I ran parallel mostly less than twenty miles away, weird weird weird.
Paid my dosh at Victoria Farm and it’s a tenner a night, then rolled in to the driest campsite that I wasn’t expecting and heard they’d had less than ten minutes of a light shower all day. Rounded up all the undesirables and took a van full down to the Pig In Muck although some walked with a head start. So loads of us in the pub and had the upstairs almost to ourselves and had a brilliant steak and ale pie and chips. Back to camp and a couple of pints in the camp site bar to be greeted by a dozen or so other bay peeps and about the same from the SSVC that were also Techendering. Then back to the van and camp fire, Stella, and choons.
Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,, Saturday was a bit different
Paid my dosh at Victoria Farm and it’s a tenner a night, then rolled in to the driest campsite that I wasn’t expecting and heard they’d had less than ten minutes of a light shower all day. Rounded up all the undesirables and took a van full down to the Pig In Muck although some walked with a head start. So loads of us in the pub and had the upstairs almost to ourselves and had a brilliant steak and ale pie and chips. Back to camp and a couple of pints in the camp site bar to be greeted by a dozen or so other bay peeps and about the same from the SSVC that were also Techendering. Then back to the van and camp fire, Stella, and choons.
Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,, Saturday was a bit different
