Skegness Ride Out

Twelve of us left Kestrel at 9.00am prompt for a run to the sun, or Skegness in this case, a good number considering the rather negative weather forecasts the night before.We proceeded via the rich bits of Leicestershire (I think Tony quite fancies a place out there?) onto Melton Mowbray and then Grantham for the breakfast stop. Refreshed, we carried on into Lincolnshire around Sleaford to Coningsby to re-fuel. Just after this we hit a major traffic queue for a Country Fair (or a posh car boot as some would have us believe!!!). After some extensive filtering we escaped the traffic and continued into Skeggy, arriving just before 1.00pm.After a hearty lunch, a few moments soaking up the sun were taken (see picture). During this little break, John Wright arrived unexpectedly, having finished the grouting and got a belated pass-out…… Proper Bloke!!!!. At 2.30pm we set off on the return journey. The A52 is now a 50 limit all the way to Boston, which gets a bit boring, but hopefully we made up for that on the ‘B’ roads on the other side of Boston. We went from Boston down some lovely roads (and one of the strangest 40 limits in the middle of nowhere) to Gosberton and Pinchbeck to the comfort stop at Stamford. On the last leg we went under the Harringworth viaduct, which is quite an imposing structure up close, and headed on towards Market Harborough. It had started to rain just outside Market Harborough and was getting progressively worse so we decided to stop and put the waterproofs on. At which point it stopped and didn’t rain again all the way home…..TYPICAL!!!!!!!  We finished the run just outside Wolvey, one or two had peeled off earlier, in fact the last time anyone saw Paul Lewis he appeared to be doing circuits of the M1 junction 20 island, perhaps getting his bearings. Hopefully everyone enjoyed themselves, they all appeared to be smiling anyway. Last but not least, thanks to Simon for being the tail end charlie.

Ian Collard