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Lunch time meeting at the Five Miles Pub, Upware, Cambridgeshire on Sunday 6th February 2011
Report and Photo by Mike Davies
Riding across the Essex, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire countryside to Upware is always an enjoyable experience and today it was more so, being one of the rare dry and salt free riding days so far this year!
However, there was another element with which to contend – an extremely strong south-westerly wind, gusting up to 40mph at times. On the Essex and Suffolk roads, which still retain an abundance of well cared for hedge rows, the wind was not too bad, except when passing an open gateway!
Crossing into Cambridgeshire opens up the beginning of the Fens with large areas of flat open countryside. It was here that the wind really made its presence felt – blasting from the left hand side and requiring a careful and concentrated effort to steer one’s intended course.
On arrival at the Five Miles, I saw one other bike had just arrived – it was Andy on his R1200GS. As I parked, Mark drew up on his R1100RT, followed shortly by Louise on her Ural 750 Combination (complete with reverse gear) and finally Mick on his R1200GS.
We all gathered around and chatted amongst ourselves as we had not met up for some time due to the recent weeks of cold, snow and salted roads!
Going inside for lunch, we ordered our particular choice of food – I nearly always opt for the roast dinner in the winter months. Most of the pubs we visit offer a good choice of food, ales and other drinks. This pub is set “five miles” from anywhere on the banks of the River Cam.
During these lunch meetings many subjects are discussed in addition to BMW motorcycles related topics and with a full calendar of events for the coming year, we were soon chatting about the next major event, the Rhino Rally held at Beddgelert, North Wales, over the weekend 18th – 20th February. This is run by the Northern Section and details are in the Journal or on the Forum, as with all BMW Club events.
The discussion then moved on to our own section’s trip to the Vosges region of France from 18th – 25th June. A top quality holiday site with camping and chalets, set in a delightful area of France.
The
time flies at
these convivial meetings and soon we were all putting on our jackets
and walking out to the bikes to ride home. See photo of
those there, for posterity!
My ride home was not direct as, like Andy on the way there, I wanted to visit two locations for this year’s East Anglian Trophy – look on our website for details – I can highly recommend it as you will ride to places you never knew existed!
As I turned into the last road leading to my house I noticed a rider on an R1200GS so I stopped and had a quick chat, upon which he turned around and followed me home. Kevin had bought the GS recently and is not member of the BMW Club, so I gave him a journal and we had a good chat about what the Club does. Turns out he lives only a few miles away so hopefully we may have another new member about to join!