10 bikes in all met up at Denham meeting point which must have been a great turn out for a very long time. Len even brought Fred along! Welcome back Fred! The roll call was as follows:- Steve was on his Combo, Ron, Ian, Ray, Big Dave, Bill, Brian and I.
This was looking to be a great day for riding as the sun was out however it was still tad bit cold which we all knew would burn out. We arrived at our destination which was the Black Horse pub just before lunch. This did not stop some of the lads to have breakfast or call it an early lunch also known in some other circles as “Brunch”. This generally consisted of ham or sausages, eggs and chips.
This year the landlord of the Black Horse pub decided not to have BBQ instead opting to make food to order which suited us just fine. Colin and Max turned up a little bit later as the time went by more and more bikes started filling up the car park. Some of the classics were very impressive as well as modern bikes. Couldn’t help to notice that the numbers were lower than last year which is becoming a norm everywhere we go now a days.
After more cups of tea and coffee and plenty of catching up and banter with old friends as well as acquaintances. Brian and I decided to pay a visit to the Cellar which was the site of a very well-known café back in the sixties as many of you know.
The rest of the gang decided to head back to avoid the congestion due to Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations. Steve decided not to join us as he was on his combo which could have paused difficulties in tackling the barriers by the river bank and so we said our goodbyes. As it happened there was no more than usual Sunday traffic in the town centre.
There was only couple of bikes there such a cry as back then it would have been over 100 bikes. Brian and I made our way to the café on the front where we used congregate all those years ago. We sat in the warm sunshine enjoying our ice cream. We got chatting to the lads on the scooters and reminiscing of the old days. It seemed very odd that rockers have been overtaken by mods as there must have been around 20 scooter and only one bike which was ours.
Brian pointed out to them that had it been the sixties some of their scooters would have ended up in the river. After a stroll by the bank we returned back to our bike where Keith and other biker were sitting in the sun enjoying the peace and quiet. We said bye to them and headed home. The traffic was very light and we arrived home in very good time. Very enjoyable day out with a great day’s ride!
Pat & Brian
