First of all thanks to all who turned out yesterday. It was a really good day with plenty of laughs, memories, amazing roads and reasonably priced food
Also thanks to the guys who have shared their pictures for this thread
My day began around 7am when I woke up without any form of hangover (had been out for my brother’s birthday the night before but managed to pace myself
)
Despite the early get up I still managed to set off 10 minutes later than planned
I filled up just before the M55 and was greeted by an insanely cheery cashier (too cheery for that time of a Bank Holiday Monday morning). After this I set off to meet Lozzy. The journey was going well until I noticed a black BMW in front of me that looked a bit suspicious. Whilst I was thinking “Surely the police don’t have unmarked BMW’s”, uncannily I looked across to the hard shoulder and an unmarked police BMW was slowly creeping back onto the carriageway after pulling over a Porsche 911
Fortunately, the police car left at the next junction and the traffic abandoned its cautious 65mph(ish) speed.
I got to Lozzy’s house around 9:05am and after a short discussion about problems with/new additions to the car(s) and a quick photo we set off for Bakewell to meet the rest of the guys. Oh and we also did a quick ‘rev’ test to compare the sound of our systems (which are now identical except for the cat-back) The resulting bang from mine seemed to make us both jump!
By this time the Motorway was covered in rain which made the spray particularly bad – Lozzy later commented she could hardly see my car at one point! Though with her HIDs I could always see her
To make things worse, there were the usual idiots on the road. In particular a white van driver who passed us in estimated excess of 90mph, then later slowed (as we passed him) only to come screaming passed us again
My Sat-Nav was also less than helpful, with various signals of ‘straight on’ changing to ‘this is the junction you’re coming off at’ at the last second
Luckily we managed to negotiate all the motorways safely and were soon back on much slower roads – one of which was made even slower due to the tanker wagon that was in front of us
After what seemed like an eternity in third gear the wagon turned off and we found ourselves with a stretch of dual carriageway in front of us. After seeing the ‘ETA’ on the Sat-Nav tick nearer and nearer to the time we’d agreed to meet I called Lozzy on the walkie talkie and said we needed to make up for lost time. She obviously agreed, and after hearing that Stewart had already arrived, we unleashed the full fury of the
s as we undertook the last leg of our journey to Bakewell
When we arrived at Bakewell the rain was still pouring down. Despite this, the town was absolutely rammed. The car park I had proposed we meet in was almost full but we managed to park near Stewart and were trying to arrange the cars for a photo shoot when we were moved on by the ‘jobsworth’ car park attendant
As the rain was getting worse we all huddled into Lozzy’s car and awaited the arrival of the others. Steph had been in touch and said she wasn’t too far away but Dan & Kayleigh had set off a little late. While we were waiting I read Matt’s PM explaining he wasn’t going to make it and the reason why – a little too much information was provided to be honest!
Shortly after Steph arrived and we decided to relocate to a larger car park in the hope for some better photos. This didn’t really come off...
While waiting for Dan & Kayleigh we wondered off into Bakewell, but not before the car park attendant had informed us of her frustration at losing the centre caps off her
! Whilst we were all enjoying a drink in ‘The Peacock’ pub, Dan & Kayleigh arrived. After this we went back to our cars and prepared to head for ‘Speedwell Cavern’. Unfortunately the convoy got broken up in Bakewell’s one-way system and as I eagerly tried to turn round in the steep entrance to a posh house I caught the underneath of my bumper. Luckily there is no visible damage, however Stewart seemed to delight in reminding me that this has now happened twice – both times when he has been in attendance
Shortly after we were reunited with the others and after more complications with the one-way we managed to all convoy away from Bakewell. The journey was full of exciting roads which could not be enjoyed properly as a white VW polo (complete with roof rack and ‘L’ plates), and later a caravan held us up. Despite this we made it to the Cavern safely and a slight Sat-Nav error actually turned out for the best as we were able to park in a line...
Unfortunately the path up to the cavern from the road was through a muddy field that was full of animal ‘droppings’. Dan announced that if Kayleigh stepped on any there would be no way she was getting back in his
and later announced “If you step in a pat you aint coming back”
The queue for the cavern was rather long but, despite the rain we were all in good spirits and enjoyed several laughs about anything from cars going passed to the Marmalade and his adventures (see 'Jokes and Fun' section). New additions to the ‘condiment family’ were suggested...as well as a sit-com!
Once inside the cavern we were advised to ‘freshen out helmets’. I’ll leave you all to draw your own conclusions regarding the jokes that ensued...
Our tour guide was the ever enthusiastic ‘Jay’ who produced many delightful quips which he (assumably) must be sick to death of churning out group after group. One of the highlights was the ‘Minor Incidents’ that he explained occurred in the mine/cavern. To undertake the journey to the cavern we all had to descend 105 steps and climb aboard a small motor boat which, after some careful balancing ‘sailed’ us down a low, narrow tunnel to our destination, stopping half way to let another boat pass. The cavern itself is 200metres below the ground and includes a subterranean lake called the ‘Bottomless Pit’ which we later found out was only 11 metres deep
On the way back ‘Jay’ regaled us with tails of aluminous cave water and, rather worryingly, the presence of radon gas in the cavern and tunnel. This, we all agreed, must have had something to do with his outrageous levels of enthusiasm.
After the cavern we made our way back to the cars and decided to head for a good looking road that was sandwiched between two sets of cliff faces. The road proved to be amazing but unfortunately there were no stopping places and the road itself was only just wide enough for two cars so we weren’t able to pull over and get some shots. At the end of this stretch of road we found some equally amazing but more open stretches of tarmac – the rain had cleared up and so we let loose the full potential of our cars.
The drive was amazing except for one particular corner that almost caught me out but the fantastic handling of the
easily coped with it – luckily the same could be said for Lozzy who was right behind me! Our last full convoy drive ended with us all calling in at Chapel-en-le-Frith for cash, petrol and food.
The food at ‘The New Inn’ was excellent for the price - £9.95 for two courses but you got plenty, particularly for your main course! By this time however, some amongst us had been put off eating meat by Stewart telling us a tail of how a woman had found a piece of a cat’s microchip in her Chinese takeway. Needless to say the jokes that followed continued throughout our meal
(“I’m ordering the Feline Surprise” was amongst the best
)
After this we all said our goodbyes and set off home. Stew and Steph set off separately but me, Dan and Lozzy convoyed back part of the way together. This was fairly uneventful apart from another Sat-Nav related wrong turn lead us to some traffic lights on a busy roundabout above the motorway that had absolutely no plans to change from red. I’m not entirely sure the sensors had detected we were there as it wasn’t busy from the other direction but they simply would not change. As discussions were being made regarding driving through them
Lozzy advised we shouldn’t in case any police saw us. Literally seconds later two police cars went passed and we all breathed a sigh of relief!
Shortly after we said goodbye to Dan as the motorway split and me and Lozzy continued towards Wigan and then I went on back to Blackpool.
A superb day with great people! Laughs from start to finish mixed in with some amazing drives. Once again thanks to all who attended and thanks to everyone for reading
Can’t wait for the next one....
Lee
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