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to the Archive indexFirstly, on behalf of all the participants, may I thank Steve Cobb for organising and staging an excellent day on the 20th October? The run proved to be very eventful for us. I arrived at Roydon Village Hall at 10am following a 75 mile journey. We had been threatened all week by Michael Fish with Hurricane Bertha, Doris or somebody. Luckily, the weather proved to be kind to us, although Carl Harper arrived on his 'bike in a bag', wearing full oilskins and a sou'wester.
Mark Daniels and Laurence Coates duly arrived in Danny's van; Laurie looking decidedly haggard as he disembarked. It turned out that he had earlier chased a young villain, attempting to steal his 'rust bucket' Mobylette from outside his dad's house. (Incidentally, David Evans had his Puch stolen recently from outside his house.) After tea and biscuits, provided by Steve, we all set off at 11am.
As usual, David 'Francis Drake' Evans took the helm on his NSU Quickly. Unfortunately, the Quickly's plug whiskered up after only half a mile. Regrettably, after another short distance, David had another breakdown. Mark Daniels, aboard his Gadabout, stopped to assist while the remainder of us carried on. David Whatling, on his Supermatic and Neil Green on his Puch City slowed down, waiting for a pathfinder. Keith Flood warned us not to follow him, and later on we realised why! Presumably, brother Michael already knew, as he continued on with his New Hudson, ignoring the pacemakers. We duly arrived at the Six Bells, Gislingham, 20 minutes ahead of schedule.
According to Pete Smith's mileometer, we had covered only 11 miles of the 18 mile trip. Obviously we had been misdirected. Was it Keith, or Tony Hammond on his James Comet?
A tasty lunch was had in the pub while we awaited the arrival of the NSU casualties. When they finally arrived, David's Quickly had a broken rear brake cable, while Steve Cobb's petrol tank had come adrift. A temporary repair had been effected to the tank by using one of his redundant 60" waist belts. Perhaps NSU had misnamed their vehicles, perhaps 'NSU Eventually' might be better! As the Crazy Gang sped off at the re-start, Pete Smith's New Hudson ground to a halt. Peter Green, aboard his 'other' Wisp and yours truly stopped to lend a hand. My hitherto co-operative Moby AV3 then wouldn't start, needing a plug change. As Peter Green said "Helping each other is what it's all about".
After taking a wrong turn and covering an additional five miles, the three of us finally arrived back at Roydon. At the Village Hall, after tea and biscuits, all riders voted for their best bike. The award went to Mark Daniels's Rex engined Phillips Gadabout. As Steve handed Danny his trophy, it was heartily received in Danny's usual jubilant, happy-go-lucky manner. We began to depart for our various journeys home at around 3pm, and I was well on my way back to Essex before Michael Fish's deluge began, as predicted. May I again thank Steve Cobb for a pleasurable day enjoyed in the company of like minded bufoons? Peter Green's Autumn Jaunt is eagerly awaited. (It is to be re-arranged from the 27th, due to the storms of that day.)
Riders as follows:
First published: December 2002