FNRttC Short "Fridays" tour to France

[mmmmartin]

Fridays members and those who have signed up via the website (at http://fridaynightridetothecoast.blogspot.co.uk/p/welcome.html ) for updates should have had this morning an email with details of a long weekend touring in northern France in May.

(note that in spite of the "Fridays" label on this thread it's run the same as the "Not the Fridays" tours - you book your own hotels and sort out your own food and ferry back - it's not run like a CTC Tour.)

 

[mmmmartin]

about half a dozen interested so far, early days yet.

 

[mmmmartin]

now we are eight, or 10, depending on how i count.

 

[frank9755]

Are you using base 8?

 

[mmmmartin]

*quick Wikpedia check*
Two have signed up recently and one might do so. The deadline to throw one's hat into the ring is February 29. And there is ages to go before we go, as it were. So we might be 01 or 011 in base 8 or 01 in base 10. Or maybe more. Or not. I think.

 

[AlexB]

Are you going to list these nutters or do we just slink up to Clacket Lane Services and check each other out shiftily until the coach arrives...

 

[mmmmartin]

those who have expressed an interest already have an email listing you all, and suggesting those who wish to share rooms should reply to that email, as sending each other's emails out isn't polite.
not all are on this forum so starting a "conversation" to exchange banter wouldn't really work.
we are currently 10 definite, with some others who expressed an interest now remaining silent.
as a sort of guide, we definitely are (@ denotes they are OTP to my knowledge):

• me
• my mate david (sharing with me)
• @ianmac62
• Peter T (sharing with @ianmac62)
• @User482
  
• @User13710
• @User
• Annie H
• @AlexB
• his mate Richie who rode the Bordeaux recce

and Nick S and Carl W who haven't come back to me yet. A short reminder email will this week go out to the mailing list.

 

[frank9755]

I reckon that anyone who pitches up at the services on a bike will be in.

Maybe, but they will struggle to pitch up on the right day as there's no mention of a specific date anywhere, other than on that ephemeral email from a few weeks ago.

 

[ianmac62]

I looked at access on GoogleMaps; provided you ignore a No Entry sign (rules, eh?), the MSA is bike-accessible from the eponymous Lane.

 

[mmmmartin]

Clacket Lane is used occasionally by the local CTC group for coffee, as it is big enough to cope with the numbers. Comments from car drivers are usually along the lines of: "I didn't see you overtake me." Etc.
Entrance to the north side is here:
https://goo.gl/maps/EoxGu7MRZMu
A check would be in order: if the temperature ever rises above the bloody freezing level I'll pop up one day.

 

[User10571]

From a previous life as a recovery vehicle operator, motorway services always have to be accessible by means other than the motorway, for the purposes of staff and emergency service access. I'm unaware of any exceptions to this.
The 'No Entry' signs are there to dissuade other drivers from using the service roads as an additional 'junction' through which to access the motorway.
While you are, strictly speaking, not supposed to use them, I doubt very much if you will in any way be prevented from or challanged for doing so.
HTH.

 

[ianmac62]

Cheers for the above. And thanks @User for offering to do a recce. I'm planning to be on the train arriving at Oxted at 0937.

 

[mmmmartin]

From a previous life as a recovery vehicle operator

Truly, there is no limit to the accumulated knowledge contained within the wonder that is The Fridays.

 

[ianmac62]

Thanks, @User!

 

[mmmmartin]

Members and those who have signed up via the website for the email updates will have received an email saying* there are just a few places left: another expression of interest has come in and he's having a think. We are currently looking like a group of 12, which is a Goldilocks number. Not too big and not too small, but just right.

*Among other things - the main point being that we were all in Southend basking in the sunshine and enjoying a nice healthy fry-up followed by beer.