Well we actually did it!
Yes, we were able to do our first, and now possibly, our only meeting of the year apart from the January and February Noggins.
Thanks to the organisational skills of David and Judith Pawley we had another great scenic run around very rural Derbyshire, which certainly I for one had looked forward to even more than usual as it was the first organised car event that we had been able to hold in this strange
and unusual year.
There were some slight changes to the usual format, in that we all took our own picnics to have at the end of the run as opposed to the usual pub lunch, but apart from that, and the fact that we were very careful to socially distance in groups of 6 at the picnic, you would not really
have known that this was the year of COVID.
10 cars assembled at the Peak Edge Hotel car park, Derby Rd., Stone Edge near Chesterfield. I was determined not to make the same mistake as I had done last year, when my SatNav had me driving around for about 6 or 7 miles whilst I tried to find the meeting place, and at least this year I only had to jam on the anchors as I drove past and reverse a
few yards rather than do all those extra miles! There had been a late change to the meeting time from 10.30 to 10.00 thanks to local
knowledge from Peter and Cherril Gilbert who were able to warn us of parking restrictions in Bakewell that were causing traffic congestion, but everyone made it in time.
It was really good to see new members Chris and Debbie Lewis and Peter and Ann Beckett there and hopefully we didn’t put them off from future events.
Sadly for them, Woody and Carol had to arrive in their Tin Top because their MOG was still being repaired. This however proved beneficial for those of us who were there without navigators, myself and Ian (Stevenson), as it meant that we were able to each have a navigator – I claimed Carol, knowing what a good navigator she is. Sorry Woody!
Off we set, with Carol and I in the lead of what ended up as a small group of 4 or 5 cars doing much of the route together, so it was just as well that I’d claimed Carol as my navigator.
What a brilliant route. Some great corners and sweeping roads and ‘interesting’ single track roads – but only one with a grass growing down the centre of it, which luckily was not high enough to damage the underside of my beloved ALY. The views were tremendous, and whilst
the weather was not warm, we had no rain during the actual run itself and the sun made an appearance from time to time. Other road users, mainly cyclists, walkers and motor bikers, were all friendly and happily pulled over to let us pass when we were on one of the smaller roads – unlike a certain Mrs Grumpy that I came across last year!
The route had us meandering around a beautiful area of the Peak District and we did about 45 miles in total during the run taking in places such as Hartington and ending up at the showground car park in Bakewelll. Luckily Judith had included the details of where the available loos were, which we did make use of – and caused quite a stir and talking point when we pulled into what was basically a walker’s stop off!
Choosing the Showground car park in Bakewell as the final stopping place was an excellent idea. We had plenty of space and luckily we also had the sun for the majority of the time we were there – where we were also joined by Paul and Jan Fileman who had driven up to join us for the picnic, and for Paul to distribute some pre ordered regalia.
Sadly, the weather did not hold for the whole time and the long promised showers finally arrived so that we packed up very quickly, with a lot of people heading off then, and some of us braving the weather to make use of the facilities in Bakewell before we hit the road again.
A huge thank you once again to David and Judith for planning, organising and checking the route. Another really enjoyable, and in this strange year, unique, event. David even foolishly admitted that he may be able to be persuaded to do another one next year! Thank you again.
Liz Ellis