Well, that was an eventually night/day/evening. Began badly, ended badly, smashing in between (despite some discomfort!).
The bad start: I was due to finish work at 9pm (couldn't arrange to get off earlier as I usually do for FNRs). On account of the time issue & likelihood of rain, I brought my kit into work, commuted on the Viner (!), and my mum brought the gear for the night down. Plenty of time to make my usual train (2124 from Portsmouth & Southsea station- which is about two minutes from work). Or so I thought....there were major problems due to a signal failure at the next stop up the line, Fratton (it had been at least an hour since anything ran). When the trains did eventually get going again, it was very slowly- for safety reasons (and I'm certainly not arguing here!) they were only letting one train at a time move between Portsmouth Harbour and Fratton. The 2124 was first indicated as delayed, then cancelled altogether (there wasn't a train to fulfil the service, I imagine). I knew I could get a train from Three Bridges to London Bridge (well at least ordinarily...one I have kept in mind for FNRs as a last resort), and the very helpful guard (a keen cyclist himself!) confirmed that there would be a connection- trains run from there all night. So I got on a train at last. I had 'teef's mobile number & kept him updated with what was going on. Unfortunately, due to the delay (14 mins in this case) I missed one connection at Three Bridges (which would have got in to LB at 2347), and had to get the next one. That got me into LB at 0019, an hour later than I was intending to be in Waterloo. Having phoned 'teef, it was agreed that they'd all wait at the pub rather than meeting somewhere else. I had a LB-Hackney route set up on the Garmin just in case, and despite not managing to follow it, this time I actually worked out how to get back on course, and I made the pub at a quarter to one.
I'd gone for clothing on the assumption that it would be wet & cold- thankfully it was neither- but this gave me a problem early on. When we got to the Shell garage I took my base layer and skull cap off- I was damp from all the sweat! I won't argue with User10571's view (btw, a splendid report indeed) that the pace was progressive- ordinarily I don't think I'd have had a problem with it. Unfortunately for me, my personal circumstances weren't quite ordinary. I've got a couple of saddle sores (which hopefully won't need antibiotics like the last one- these two don't seem as bad, but they're bad enough). Helpfully located one either side, with nowhere to avoid aggravating them. Trying to keep up a decent pace when you're unable to find a comfortable position on the saddle is not exactly easy- I couldn't spend the whole time standing up, but I needed to take the pressure off as much as possible, hence much freewheeling. And when I was on the saddle, the pain was constant & didn't exactly help putting the power down. The other issue I had- fuelling. Ordinarily, I go for the little & often approach with food and drink. If I feel I need to have something, I will- I like to get a move on (for example when I went to Brighton and back last month, I did each leg in under four hours), but I can't manage it if the tank's running dry (one reason I like using the hydration bladder- I can drink safely and keep moving- me & drinking from a bottle on the move is not a good combination, more one that's dangerous). The problem last night was that I wasn't getting what I needed to keep up, in part because I was trying to keep up! Put those two factors together and I spent rather a lot of time chasing taillights, fortunately they let me catch up from time to time! And when I had fuelled, and perhaps they were flagging a little, we did even manage to ride in one group!
The early morning mist was indeed special, and it was framing some lovely countryside (some of which I've been through in the past, nice to see it at a slower pace), and Dunwich itself was a peach of a destination, it didn't need the glorious morning to make itself look good, though glad it did get one. Lovely to have breakfast/lunch/whatever you want to call it there. Great food, great company, great scenery...what more could I want (apart from the demise of those sores of course!)?
And the bad end....got to Waterloo no problem, train running as normal. But then using a crossing outside Fratton station, some bimbo clumped my rear wheel with her Pashley (would have to be a tank like that...). Rear wheel has now developed a distinct harshness. It could be a slow puncture (it seems to have lost more air again) but I have the nasty feeling the stupid young lady's broken something, so it might well need checking out. Grrr....
Despite that and the other problems, absolutely cracking night/day/evening, really glad I decided to take the risk on the weather. Thanks guys!
If you bailed on account of the expected bad weather....oh dear, never mind!
Dun Run III some time?
The few photos I took now uploaded
here
It's miserable, gloomy rain. It must be Welsh rain because there's some for ewe, ewe and ewe... 
