R*n 663: Kendal

After a reunion bbq at Marybank Farm the night before with lashings of vintage Italian soda water, I was up bright and early for a bit of rodding. One of my tenant's pipes were restricted and needed a good ramming. In other words, I had a shit start to the day and things could only get better.

With a spot of hashing in store, the omens were good for Sunday to pick up nicely. I punched the postcode into my Garmin and was off earlier than expected in the direction of Kendal....or so I thought. As I left the M6 to join the A591, my GPS had other ideas and wanted to take me somewhere else. I decided to treat it like a woman with a map and totally ignored it, having already formed a rough idea of where I was going. I drove around the southern outskirts of Kendal without finding my spot and, after parking up at a Shell station on the southern carriageway of the A591. I did what I usually do in these situations - phoned Forever Blowing. Apparently I had transposed a 5 and a 9 in the postcode from the website and needed to correct it on the GPS. Shit in, shit out - the theme continued.

Those who do not drive low slung vehicles will not appreciate some of the obstacles I often face, especially out in the countryside. The lay-by where we were to meet was just dirt and had become sunken over the years. Once I had driven into it, there seemed little chance of me driving back out again without bottoming out. I backed right up the way I had driven in and all was well. I was out of the shit.

The hare today was Simple, a visitor from Guildford H3 and his 360 degree checks needed getting used to. I soon was in his mind-set and was anticipating the guile behind his trails. However, the early stages left me in dismay. I had travelled 6000 miles back to the UK and had been looking forward to fitting in a few scenic jaunts through the countryside. He was taking us on a detailed investigation of Kendal's black stuff and I wasn't too impressed. However, things did pick up a lot and the golf course made me think back to Pattaya and wonder how many more they are going to make there, in our hash paradise.

I clearly remember seeing Highway at the beginning of the trail, don't recollect seeing him at the beer stop and definitely didn't see him at the end for the circle or even in the On Inn. I was however later informed by email that he had been found after a 4 hour adventure and was safely back behind the wheel of his hybrid with his aptly named missus.

It was very nice to see those faces again, who had not been at the bbq, especially my old workmate Slackbladder. He had sent his family along, but only turned up at the end for the circle. I imagine he did some trail of his own making, knowing him, and am not so much questioning his run credit, rather than wondering why I don't appear to have been there. I'm sure there is a logical explanation and can imagine this is another senior moment on my part.

There were other points of note. Upper Skirt was on fine form getting into me for some insurance before I do something silly and disappear again. Good for you girl! It also became clear to me that Speed Bump is now RA and a fine job she does in the circle too. The fact that I got away without a down down was noted.

Well that's your lot and I'm off for a few stretches before Tuesday's run around Garstang, if you want to believe that.

On on NMC.