Snow, rain and a bitterly cold wind

I don’t need to tell you that the winter came back with a vengeance. The forecast was bad, Reading would be Ok for the show but we would have to ride through rain and snow to get there, so, the night before, texts and phone calls were being made to reschedule the day. We’d all go by car straight to the show and meet up there, simple solution but rescheduling at the last minute is not ideal.

I drove to Avebury just in case any Scrumpies turned up on bikes, which of course they didn’t. By the time I reached Hungerford the rain had stopped and as Chievley came on the horizon the sun shone through, so the forecast was pretty accurate. I pulled into the services just in case any of the Vultures had turned up and yes, three of them were there.                 .                                                                                   

  
 

 
  Ed (Dep Rep) & Sue along with their "Official Photographer" Chris, were waiting to greet us. A few minutes later, Nick, another Vulture arrived. Truth be told, they didn’t know about the change of plan!!

We now had a Route Master, Road Captain, Back Marker and Support Vehicle. Shame there was no pack to put in the middle of it all.

Reading may have been dry and sunny at times but there was a bitter cold wind and it’s a sad fact of life that bad weather does affect outdoor bike events. The overall attendance was only about a third of what it was last year and most of them had also come in cars.

Nigel & Mary and Steve & Mary were already there along with a few more Vultures

 

  
 
Even in the bar it was cold and a couple of hours was the most any of us could take, but we got a chance to talk about Scrumpie 5, they’ve got their tickets, "Have you got any more of those pin badges?" and many more other subjects. Let’s live this season like it’s our last one.

Blackjack.bob