Post Script...
"I'll say no now Al - I need to go to work and re-send some stuff to China, don't want to be indecisive so - NO"
Later that morning...'Ring ring', 'ring ring' -it's Al.
"Dave said he'll do the Stonehenge trip but doesn't fancy the ride to Hampshire on his own so I don't mind going for a ride anywhere if you're free..."
Me: "It's OK - I have been in and out, at my Mum's now - shall not get home until 14:15 or so, I have nothing prepared as I deffo said I would not be available - if topcat wants company to yours then he knows where I live etc...give him my number..."
Approx, two minutes later, Topcat1 "Hello - we'll meet at 14:45" - at the kebab van space, which is used as a tyre shop during the day.
This is the moment the day started to come unhenged...
Got to the hole in the wall and retrieved pizza funding in time to meet Dave who immediately had an attack of the Davys and needed a walnutbreak. Back to mine.
"Bark bark bark bark bark" - which, in Jack the Dog speak, roughly translated meant, "It's a good job you are disturbing me during the day because I like my beauty sleep and can't stand being woken up by cyclists after midnight"
Off we went.
A lovely amble to Farnborough was the order of the day, save for a young man in a BMW estate who thought it would be fun to lean on his horn for a while as we avoided the massive sequence of potholes in primary along the A30 towards Sunningdale.
His blonde passenger was obviously impressed by his prowess at beeping - but he didn't reckon on the level crossing descending...giving chase sometimes pays...
I was really polite though and explained things to him through the glass. (He didn't wind the window down - just made hand gestures...) Everyone else around had the roof down, arms resting on door ledges, listening to a fat bastard on a bike reasoning with the young man, wondering why.
To MacBludgeon's - and my back up Garmin was first class, except I had torn the corner off it extracting it from my sweaty pocket. A quick cup of tea, a tour of the burgeoning bicycle emporium 'chez Al' and we were away.
5 o'clock in the afternoon is a daft time to go for a bike ride. I mean, midnight is sensible - but....5pm?
Back to the A30, into Basingstoke and out via something called Churchill (there's Churchill something in Andover too - very popular but no cigar)
Highlight of the day - the B3400 - what a delightful ride.
the flintstones - this was at the front gate...the proper house is 'up the path'
another gratuitous oil seed plant shot - I love the colour spread, sucking in the sunlight.
setting sun - not making stone-u-like, it looks like but the b3400 is a great ride into Andover from Basingstoke
My Garmin - waiting on a street corner somewhere near um...
"Oh my - I'm still hungry"
When we arrived in Andover, MacB led us astray and blamed it on me - which I consider a privelege - so we lost valuable seconds (1800 of them - about) in hitting the A303 and deploying true mouseketeerability in battling with the traffic towards Amesbury and then Stonehenge. Got offered lemonade and a 'Size big' Willier Mortirolo on the way also - as previously discussed. Now if the bloke had chucked the bike at me...the world might be a different place. As it was, I took on the job of fly collector as the lemonade set sticky on my suntanned skin. (Dontcha just love alliteration..?)
At sundown -6 minutes we decided to pull off at Thruxton and recce the foldable GPS. Accountants logic prevailed and we waited at the entry slip for the appearance of the intrepid ones. Dave's stomach was setting up a Doppler / shockwave boom effect by this time and if a gingerbread house had been nearby, he would have scoffed it. 'Road kill' became attractive in the twilight...
Then "Whoooooooooooooooosh!"
Shockwave, shockwave, shockwave...
Then "Whooooooooshette..!" - a nebula that was ilovebikes, in the slip - passing like there was no tomorrow (possibly wouldn't have been).
We were shaking with the cold so much by then, they probably thought we were yet another mirage - soon dismissed when their hamper was raided for sustenance.
And the return is history...another wonderful adventure for the two Andys.
Do any other CycleChat peeps have as much fun as the 'Midnight Mouseketeers' I wonder?
No lullabys needed during the latter stages. Warmth was our friend on a bitterly cold night.
And now it's today!
And we're happy, and thinking about the next...
