Possible long ride east Sat 25th July

[Robbo87]

I'll aim to be at t' Old Brewery in Gillingham for 1.00-ish.

[Ming]

Shame - you'll miss all the good stuff

[ptolemyx]

When it comes to stops Andy it might be best to just do what you want and we'll follow. Asking peeps what they want you'll never satisfy everyone.

FWIW I'd prefer not to have long stops for meals. I'm happy to just stop for quick cuppas and maybe a sarnie and get on with the ride.....but others will want a two hour lunch stop

[Ming]

Same for me, Bri - I've got some timber to lose so when I'm riding I'm not eating

[Robbo87]

Shame - you'll miss all the good stuff

I'll try and make up for it, up to and after Gillingham.
The fat end of 165 miles door to door on two wheels, when it's scorchio and I'm just on a jolly, is good enough for me nowadays.

[Tvrv37]

20260723_180424.jpg

Amended route.

[Scotty]

Another high point on the route is from step 32 to Mere, aka the Maiden Bradley road, marvellous bit of tarmac that one, a real fave of mine, sadly not ridden it for a few years now that I'm in the fecking New Forest (imho the worst forest in the UK, rubbish!)

[billinom8s]

Have a good run y'all

[Kata]

Thanks for leading the ride Andy. Nice to catch up, plus see Phil's new bike.

Cheers

[ptolemyx]

Dunno what happened at the fuel stop
I told Andy I need E5 and there was a Shell only 4.5 miles away. Heard him say "follow Brian" and I pulled away with Arty following. At the first junction I pointed for him to mark and he pulled alongside and asked if I was going home. Told him "no, petrol" and carried on at a snails pace. Soon realised you lot weren't following so carried on to the Shell petrol, filled up with E5 and had a merry solo ride home.

[Ming]

We missed the turn and had to turn round just up the main road. Phil had a working satnav as my phone was dead, I remember you saying it was on the A36 the other side of the A303, which we went up and down, found a sign for Stapleford that you said the garage was in, but that was down a B road, not the A36, so we circled around and couldn't see another station other than the one we filled up at. Scrapped the rest of the route as we'd lost so much time during the day so went straight to the Old Brewery just in time for a brew before they closed.
I'll keep the route and do it again in full with a bit more planning and in quieter times

[Robbo87]

Well - what started as an intended rideout within a rideout, turned out, for three of us, as a fully independent and stand-alone one.
bkingalan and I arranged to meet in Crewkerne with the aim of meeting Andy Ming's main rideout body at 13.00 hrs in The Old Brewery in Gillingham. Alan's son Mike came as well so the three of us bimbled our way around some of the nicer parts of west Somerset and Dorset and arrived at said Brewery at 12.50 hrs. . . . . . . . One o'clock came and went, so did two o'clock, so did two-thirty; at three o'clock we gave up, removed our butts from the cafe seats, transferred them to our respective bikes and left the rear car park at 15.10 hrs.
A few more quiet roads later and we're supping drinks at the Clay Pidgeon on the A37; then a pleasant dash home via Maiden Newton, Toller Down and in my case Crewkerne, Chard and Ottery, 147 miles door-to-door and a good day out for me.
Big thanks to Alan for showing me some of the roads (and lanes it must be said) around his patch. It was all very enjoyable, just a shame we missed the main Ming party; hope you had as good a day as we did.