Just home from a couple of days in Cornwall.
A bloke on YouTube that I follow (Helmet Head) wanted a few of the Patreon's of the channel to meet at the Chapter 1 Diner in Indian Queens for the Thursday Bike Night, so as I have never been I thought "why not".
Things did not go exactly to plan.
First the weather was looking poor. Second the google link that was tracking HH as he came down the M5, under J21 where I was due to catch up with him, was not updating fast enough on my phone, so that even with a 'high speed pursuit' from W-s-M to Taunton, I never caught up with him, no matter, I'll tootle down to my hotel... which was fine, until Oakhampton, when the rain started and then later on the A30 over Bodmin, when it really got going.
I was going to pop into the diner before heading to my hotel, but it was chucking it down, so... Turns out 3.00pm check in to Premier Inn means 3.00pm. So I put my wet gear on the floor behind a chair and waited the 20 minutes in a nice warm reception.
Sorry about the puddle Prem Inn!
After several cuppas and extended use of the hairdryer in my room, my kit was acceptably damp.
The Bike Night was wet, so it was just a small group of us, lots of chat and good few laughs.
For Friday, the arrangement was, meet at the diner at 9.30am for a (Helmet Head) breakfast (two of everything), and then I had agreed to lead a ride up onto Dartmoor, where HH could get lots of footage of a Morbidelli 1100 cruiser he is reviewing.
VERY long story short. I had my breakfast at 8.30 and waited for everyone else. I had banked on a 11.00am depart... at which time, one of our party was just starting to eat his breakfast.
Just outside Tavistock, I stopped to allow a couple of blokes to get petrol... which turned out to be a 20 minute fag break. Another 'brief' stop on Dartmoor turned into the same, only a mile from the stop I had planned.. which also happened.
We eventually made it to the lunchtime stop at Jolly Rogers in Bovey Tracey just after 3.00pm. It's well worth a visit and everyone was enjoying the place so at 4.00pm I abandoned any thoughts for the second part of the ride, made arrangements for one of the other blokes to route HH and a couple of others back to St Austell, where their hotel was, and headed for home.
I did the whole trip home across country, as Friday afternoon, in August, in the school holidays the M5 is a car park. Made it home in two and a half hours of gorgeous, mostly deserted A roads.
Final miles, just a touch under 400.