words by Alex, Photos by Pete, Butty & Bern
Crew: PTD, El Pres, Slim, Butty, TJ, Croxy, Coley, Mr Inc, Bernard, Dr S, Stunt
Pub: Dunc, Nic, El Pud, 3 Sheds, Lee, Mawds, Simon
Route: BL, Zag, Walker Barn, Charity (no extension), Standing Stone, Ferriser, Suicide Decent, RHS exit, Smithy
Conditions: Cool and breezy on wet trails.
Notes:
An almost full complement for the now famous PTD cocktail ride! With G the only notable fail due to a nasty case of the sh*ts 🙁
Eric sends best wishes from the even wetter lakes (but we see him at the weekend!)
Not the best showing of decorations on the bike…but we have a mini father christmas on the presidential backpack, Mr Inc has glowing threads on his frame, and Croxy has arrived with matching hat and bike “bows”.
Route plan is simple – a direct line to Ferriser for all the cocktails in one go!
With an 8:30 food o’clock we need to get going and allow a late running
Butty to catch us up.
Cool it may be, cold it is not, quite a bit of de layering at the start of the Zag.
Misty over the top of charity, which makes the churned up lumps of turf from recent vehicles all the more exciting! (luckily no casualties).
Tis a very wet descent, straight across at the bottom, and onto standing stone, then Ferriser..with the entry rather slippy!.
Onto the real business of the evening (as Butty makes the catch in the nick of time).
No1 A green citrus number – looks more Gangrene than British racing green, but despite the joshing it’s rather good 🙂
No 2 A cloudy yellow number (“Do not exercise this horse in the morning!”) Apple is the theme, Cider, Calvados and a hint of Cointreau..mixed reviews (the spectre of cider related youthful over imbibing casts long shadows for some of us!)
No 3 A Classic favourite..clear and bright Whisky Mac – a fine way to finish.
We are having so much fun we almost forget Julie’s famous mince pies (and just about manage to pose for the evidence of their consumption in the forest) Coley has also required evidence of riding at night for Werner!
Would it be wise to do the descent after all this? of course not…but we do it anyway.
Full marks to Butty and PTD for attempting and delivering on the tricky exit to the fire road.
A “Right turn clyde” is the fastest way out…although we need to do better than Steve McQueen to reach neutral territory 😉
Leathers does us proud, much chat and catching up with all the social members.
As is becoming standard protocol, there are those with responsibilities in the morning who leave at sensible o’clock…..and those who slip into another zone…:-)
Cold on the way home!!