A Day Out With Our Leader
by
Richard Clifford
My run round Rutland and Leicestershire went really well. I
didn’t have any problems holding the group together, or anyone
getting lost, since it was just little old me. It was a perfect day for
it, sunny but not too hot so naturally, I went for it anyway.
Even before I left home I knew it was going to be a
road-trip sort of day. A passing young lady with two small kids had a
few probs getting her little lad to go past the bike. Clearly he was
very nervous about this bloke all in black and a scary-looking machine
at the roadside.
Some joint words from me and his Mum got the little lad to
realise there was nothing to be worried about – at least, not
while I hadn’t started the thing up. Off he slowly went, right
down the street looking back at the bike all the way, a total convert
I’d say. Biking’s future is secured in Leamington for
another generation, then.
Then there was the lost gentleman and wife in the car
– just as I was earplugs in, lid on, engine warming –
needing directions… Off lid, out earplug, off engine, off
bike…
I ran out across country to Rugby, then via Lutterworth to
Market Harborough (A4304). From there, the B6047 is a really nice road,
bit popular with bikers, very scenic with twists and turns all the way
up to Melton Mowbray. No time for a pork pie, on to Oakham (A606)
– this stretch a bit ruined these days, with silly speed limits
and new
estates getting added onto some of the villages. It’s only about
seven miles of that tho. From Oakham, I finally cracked how to get
through to Stamford on really good C-roads, and I’ve stored that
up for next time. For
nearly 10 miles I barely saw another vehicle.
By this time I was thinking some lunch would be a good thing.
This tearing about grinning from ear to ear in the sunshine is all very
well, but you gotta eat sometime. A quick spin down the A43 from
Stamford and turning off near Blatherwycke, I found the Kings Head at
Apethorpe. I like a decent country pub, I do… had been meaning
to check this one for ages.
Seeing beer-wise they had Tim Taylor Landlord on the handle, I
knew my instinct had been right, and rewarded myself with a proper ham
and grain mustard sandwich of huge proportions (well so it should have
been for £4.50). Sitting outside in the sunshine, feeling quite
enchanted with life in general, along come a bloke and his missus from
Yaxley over in the Fen country. They clock the bike, next instant
he’s on about his Z750 four, the last bike he’d had to sell.
Five minutes later we’re all three sitting down over a jar
and yacking away solidly for an hour, as you do. By the end, having
thrown a leg over the Kat, he was dead keen to get himself another bike
ASAP, I think even next year’s holiday money was going to be in
jeopardy!
As the remainder of my “virtual troop” were still
game, or at least not arguing that I could hear, I decided to drop in
on my parents for a cup of tea mid afternoon, then called in at Sywell
airfield near Northampton. This is a grass runway small airfield with
1930s buildings, really nice place to be on a sunny day. Especially
with the “Utterly Butterly” wing-walker girls running
around in their jump-suits. I merely add that for “local
colour”. I DIDN’T know they would be there.
Unfortunately very little flying was going on (unusual) as
there was going to be an open air concert again that night on the
airfield. I found out there’s going to be be an air display there
around September 24 though, so I’ll keep that in mind.
I finished the afternoon off with a quick detour to Rob
Dawson’s in Northampton around teatime for another cuppa tea,
followed by a clear run back along the A45 to Daventry, and home to
Leamington along the A425 via Southam. A “grand day out” in
perfect weather, I caught up with family and friends, and found some
new roads and ven- ues for the future. Result.