12/07/14 - Essex / Hertfordshire Ride

[road runner]

Northern muppet 'murph' arrived yesterday evening after a long trek down from Manchester. Anticipate that we will be at the meeting point by 10.15 a.m so don't go without us! Hopefully the weather will be kind to us as there are some picturesque villages on the route.
Looking forward to it.

[spaceprobe]

Arrived at 9.20 having a Macmuffin nobody else here yet

[StephenC]

Well that was a disaster and yet not, for me.

Funkycowie had estimated that the gang would reach the McDonald's on the A505 between one and half one. So I managed to get there for one on the dot. Sent a text, bought some nuggets and settled back.

Having finished my grub I waited some more. And more. Went and got a milkshake. Finished that. Waited.

At half past two I declared it a bust.

So I set off home down the B184. Twenty minutes later I got a text asking me if I was still there.

Oh well.

But on the upside, I saw eleven Spitfires flying in formation and doing solo dives over Duxford, as well as the mighty Lancaster. An additional bonus was that the B184 with the J300 was awesome. Saffron Waldon was so beautiful too.

So, in short I had both a disappointing and a delightful day. Thanks!

[Funkycowie]

I am really glad you had a good day despite us being very late, really sorry about that Stephen. I didn't see the text pop up on my phone because I was using it as Sat Nav.

It being my first big ride out I didn't account for having to wait at junctions for everyone to catch up and, on exiting, pulling over to let stragglers catch up having waved cars past. We started out late because I was expecting 2 others to show... so we waited about 15 minutes... And also had an unscheduled stop at Digswell Viaduct because I just wanted to make sure every one was ok as we had a dodgy start that almost lost people.

We also had a fantastic day regards Lancaster and Spitfires, on approach to Duxford on the A505 the Lanc and a Spitfire did a flyby along the road followed by 5 Spitfires I think... then 3 Bi-Planes were buzzing the skies.

The weather was fantastic all day despite forecast for a slightly dodgy afternoon, 4 of us managed the full route although we skipped the Saffron Walden section because we had lost so much time, 2 left off at Dunmow to head home, 2 got as far as Duxford and had other things they needed to do today, and Terry left early on at Wheathampstead as intended.

For some reason I thought we started off with more than 9...

[Dave Weller]

Thanks for a great ride around Essex, we passed through very pretty villages and some of the 'B'' roads got me swinging the scoot around.
Nice to see some new faces on the ride. I notched up 205miles and the Burger ran fine all day,
Cheers
Dave

[Funkycowie]

Glad you liked it Dave

[michaelphillips]

well what a great day firstly like to say thanks to funky for spending lots of his own time in sorting out the ride. theres a northern saying, theres nowt wrong with rite folk... great bunch of muppets whom all made you feel welcome.. cheers lads
i suffered about 2/3 the way round the trip with my back muscles playing up, but thanks to the stops i managed the last bit and then the trip home, the fill up just before we started the ride (150+ miles) + the 35 miles home still had two bars on metre, filled up again with 9.29 litres so i got 91 miles to the gallon so was impressed with that
took a few photos which are below, thanks again to everyone, great to put faces to your avatar and cant wait for another ride out

[road runner]

Hi Peter (Funkycowie), Thanks for organising a great day, thoroughly enjoyed it as did murph. It was nice to meet new muppets Gary (Anonstarter), Mike (michaelphillips) and Rick (spaceprobe) as well old ones.
Here's to the next one!

[spaceprobe]

Hi Peter (Funkycowie), Thanks for organising a great day, thoroughly enjoyed it as did murph. It was nice to meet new muppets Gary (Anonstarter), Mike (michaelphillips) and Rick (spaceprobe) as well old ones.
Here's to the next one!

RICK...... its Rob

[Funkycowie]

Glad you like the ride