RogueRunners 24 - Day 1

There had been some re-arranging.

Initially my plan had been to drive to my girlfriend's house & leave from there on the Saturday, this was gazumped by the need to get drawings issued at work, so it was to be  very early start & a long drive round the M25 & up the A1. It was also pretty chilly, but I had a thick ski jacket on & was fine.

When I arrived at the designated meet point (the Stamford Garden Centre), my ex-next-door-neighbour Mark there & chatting with a couple of the other rogues, after years of looking at my my succession of interesting cars, he bought himself an Alpine & was keen to put some miles on it.

We all had the customary good breakfast before heading out onto the A1 to put paid to a few miles & get to the good stuff. This year I'd threaded the route up the eastern side of the A1, which was fine, not proper "blatting territory", but good in parts & better that a motorway. At one point we passed a 1930's car full of people waving furiously at anything that looked as if it might wave back.

Then suddenly, there was a level crossing, the traffic melted away & the road became sublime, we were enjoying ourselves so much that we completely omitted to fill the cars up - well - someone said "is that the fuel stop?" about 12 miles out, someone else said "I think it's about 6 miles from the hotel, so it's not that one". They were wrong, so the Sevens arrived at the hotel somewhat thirsty.

As indeed were we, so after moving the cars into the hotel courtyard at the invitation of the staff (the cars with the innovation of lockable doors stayed outside), we visited the bar & retired to the rather wonderful beer garden overlooking the river Tees.