James_Harvey

Following much running around, I can confirm that the Essex Meet on 19th Nov is most definately on.

<B>What: </B>Essex Meet and Drive
<B>When: </B>November 19th 2000, 12noon to ooh and aah the cars followed by drive at 2pm (Participants need to register by 1pm).
<B>Where: </B>The Crown Public House, Langdon Hills, Basildon, Essex.
<B>How to get there: </B>

Dave T-S

Better count me and Carolyn in. If it's dry i'll bring mine, if it's wet we'll bring her car (i'm going to be in trouble when she reads this!!)

Do we have to book a table??

Dave T-S

An afterthought - after reading the original thread I see the venue has been moved from Margaretting area to Basildon now it's been organised by Pete C - wassermatter Pete isn't your car reliable enough to go that far? - Mr Nakai's post got to you??

PS You can't Muppet me in return - got your bitz on both our cars

[This message has been edited by Dave T-S (edited 09 November 2000).]

James_Harvey

Im afraid I take the blame for the Pub.... on Chuksters suggestion Pete C has helped out hugely by sorting the drive...

Pub in Margaretting too small and V. busy on a Sunday.

I'm assured by the pub that we don't need to book for food.

James.



[This message has been edited by James_Harvey (edited 09 November 2000).]

Pete Croney

Dave

The first pub is about 3 miles from my house. I would have prefered that one

Dave T-S

James
....only joking - I don't mind where the pub is.

Pete
Spoilt my fun now...

Tim Taylor

HI guys

Count me in. I'll see you there.

Tim

AllanB

I'm up for that, see you next Sunday .


AllanB

tizard99

Way hay, thats about a two minute drive from me house.
Nice choice, I'll be nipping up if its ok. Might not do the drive as I have major university work to attend to and I know the area quite well so you'll all be at a disadvantage

Trev.

KimA

James,

See you on the 19th.

Kim & Dom

Pete Croney

Although James has asked for people to arrive at 2pm, can we have the Treasure Hunt particpants at the pub before 1pm.

The route takes just over 2 hours (you are in for a treat ) and it will be easier if it is completed before dark, now approx 4.30pm

The format is directional notes, with a few cryptic bits to help/hinder you. You will need to record notes about things you see along the route and your mileage will be booked out & in. The route is approx 60 miles (very approx ).

Points will be scored for...

Mileage closest to the target distance. 10 points
Correct answers to clues. 28 points

The drive will not be timed and all RTA laws must be obeyed at all times. This is a fun event, on some very good roads AND NOT A RACE/RALLY.

If you want to use OS maps, Landranger 167 and 178 will cover most of it, but this area falls between 3 maps and a top quality 1.5 miles/1 inch map book will probably be a better investment. It will be possible to do the drive without any maps, just using the clues.

All competitors will be given a route map sealed in an envelope. If you get lost, you can open the envelope, but this will mean you will not score distance points.

tizard99

Just a quick reminder to push this topic to the top of the list. P.S. its stopped raining and the sun is out over here.

Trev

gizmo71

Got back just in time to see Spurs v. Liverpool.

Pics now at their proper home

Rum*

A quick word from the "token" Yorkshireman at todays southern meet...

Well done Pete and Mark (??) I think it was Mark....*sigh*...sorry I got it wrong...James *nother sigh*, been a long trip home.....Thanks to Pete and James! There, said it *S*

Anyway, a top day out....I enjoyed it "large"!!!

Trip home was cr@p....25 mph for the 1st hour on the M1...after that I think I made up serious time...and didn't get caught..

Thanks again to all...it was great putting faces to nicknames

Rum

[This message has been edited by Rum* (edited 19 November 2000).]

Blow Dog

Yeah,
Nice meeting you all again, look forward to the next one.

Gizmo,
Is there something wrong with the site?
Cem

******EDIT*****

Sorry Gizmo, seems like GeoCities is being pants tonight. I managed to get on to your site, some great pics you have. If you dont mind, can I pinch some of them? Like to put them on my site too.

Cem



[This message has been edited by Blow Dog (edited 19 November 2000).]

RonaldoH

Just got home to norway.

Thanks to all that organised James, Pete. Was a good venue-after they stopped lying about the food and just got in the kitchen! women eh!?
Route was good laugh, even if it was raining large' essex style. Did'nt dampen our groups spirits in the end (Kim&Dom-WRS RB5,James&Linda-Reddish Blue Uk Turbo, with large exhaust with their sleeping navigator ,Colin&Wendy silver uk turbo, speedlines in anthracite,Chuck&Nikki and the angels Em&Kalvin in the 22b and Myself&Nat in K.I.T, the SLK that no matter how hard I tried would not let me have any fun, but laid the power down where needed)

Some of the route was slightly water logged which was the daily supply of smiles, including when we hit a river that was at least 6'' deep Merc did'nt like that!

For those of you who did the route and completed it, there was also a greeeeat hump back bridge-James H all four wheels in the air Burns style

Other than that,lol, it was all completed with the upmost respect for other road users and the speed limits Good show and great day.

Thanks All

Ron&Nat

RonaldoH

Neil, any chance of the pics?
Ronnie

James_Harvey

Glad you all enjoyed it... Nice piccies... it just wouldn't be Essex without at least one wrecked Metro

A big thanks to Pete for a tour around some seriousely quality Essex roads and for showing some of you 'foreigners' that there is more to Essex than Dagenham

The road past Hanningfield resevior
The twisties around Blackmore
One of my fave roads from Herongate to Billericay
And that Bridge Well, my co-driver who knows the area quite well ( when not asleep ) said 'take it easy, this ones a bit vicous... yeah right... queue some 'Big Air'
Fantastic!

Appologies to everyone for the food fiasco Next time I shall remember to ask the pub if 'They're sure we wont need to book' and 'They haven't got any impending refurbishments they wish to tell us about' Still, I think the venue was good and, all things being equal, we could go back in the spring...

Which leads me on to the next question... who's up for doing it again in the Spring / Early summer? Hopefully the flooding will have abated by then and the days will be a bit longer

And last but not least... a big thanks to everyone who turned up and made this event a success.... see you all next time.

James.




[This message has been edited by James_Harvey (edited 20 November 2000).]

Neil F

I had a great day and should thank the group that let me tag along without the strain of having to navigate the route (RonaldoH's group).
I backed out half way as I was about to suffer bladder rupture (why does the body process beer/shandy so quickly?) but was having a hoot up til then.
My girlfriend (Carole)was tasked with the videoing and in between the screaming, caused mainly by enthusiastic acceleration forcing the viewing tube into her eye socket, she got some reasonable shots of Chuck's 22B and the SLK. Unfortunately pain and nausea put paid to a full video commentary.
Glad you all got back OK.
Also nice to meet some of the BBS guys (Rum, Yex, Cem, Chuckster to name a few).
I'm up for the summer one if it comes off, meantime I'll try sampling the rest of the course in the next few weeks, great route Pete!

Neil.

gizmo71

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>I backed out half way as I was about to suffer bladder rupture<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

*LOL*, know the feeling, I pulled over next to a field somewhere up around Blackmore, I was lurking behind the trees doing something about it when an RB5 came past tooting.

Caught 'em up a few minutes down the road though.

Yex

It was a successfuly day, even if we did c**k up the drive in the afternoon

Good to meet more names from the BBS and exchange views on anything from Scoobies to property prices, NeilF

We would have liked to stay around a bit longer but had to go home to look after the dogs. This did have the effect of stopping my wife taking Ronnie's lovely SLK out for a spin and coming back to put a £35,000 dent in my bank balance Ronnie, please don't bring it again or I will have grief about selling the Scoob for one

Gizmo, wondered where you were until we saw steam coming off the bushes We were lost when you went past, but could not decide if you were going in the right direction...particularly as you were travelling at about mach 4

Look forward to the next one...

Yex...and Lisa if no SLK's are around

Dave T-S

Hi Guys
Thanks for a good day yesterday and to James, Pete & co for organising.

Pete C
Your directions suck - "turn right" - OH NO NOT THAT RIGHT ACROSS THE MAIN LONDON (UNMANNED CROSSING) RAILWAY LINE THEN DOWN THE FARM TRACK - the "other" right - so where's my free carwash voucher???
Only joking M8

At least we were the only ones to go boldly where no other Scoob went - offroad (deliberately) down a farm track in 6" of mud - where they are supposed to live!
Luckily the torrential rain/apprentice Hanningfield reservoir in the road washed the mud off eventually.

I also got the award for loudest/best sounding exhaust again - thanks Pete!

Here's to the next one!

PS Muppet of the day award - did anybody see the Max Power black Corsa with an Impreza bonnet scoop on - late afternoon on the treasure hunt - we went past it in the other direction pi55ing ourselves with laughter (made a change from the pi55ing rain) - he was probably going along saying "huh - that car going the other way has copied my idea"

[This message has been edited by Dave T-S (edited 20 November 2000).]

[This message has been edited by Dave T-S (edited 20 November 2000).]

KimA

Hi guys,

Just to say a big thanks for yesterday - it was a brilliant/hilarious 3 and a half hours (yes, you're reading it correctly!) of driving for our wee convoy. Have no idea why it took us all so long to complete (it was pitch black, and everyone had left and gone home by the time we returned to The Crown - victorious with our completed answers - no Chuck, it was a clock on the house, not shutters !!) - could have been the quick(ish) stop off at the pub (several women seen running in one direction, closely followed by James who didn't have a clue where he was following us to until he got there - shouts of "where d'you think you're going?", followed by much giggling and a rapidly retreating red-faced James!).

Ronnie's SLK was marvellous, although we were disappointed that he didn't drive through the forge

My favourite moment was running into the Green Man pub to ask what it was called (as the sign was so old it couldn't be read). Opened the door, closely followed by Linda. The whole place went silent, and then several people shouted "THE GREEN MAN" - weren't expecting us were they???

Roads were excellent, if a little muddy and water-logged, but that just added to the fun. We also came across the unmanned railway crossing - was fun trying to turn 4 Scooby's and 1 SLK around in a 6x6 turning - slight exaggeration - but we did it!

Next time we'll meet for breakfast, not lunch, so we can get back in time

Thanks again James and Pete.

Kim & Dom



[This message has been edited by KimA (edited 20 November 2000).]

tizard99

Yex & Co. Sorry missed you, got there about 1:30pm as the wife was feeling majorly ill from alcohol poisoning and then needed to sit in the bar (she only had a hot choclate honest). Nice turn out of cars, the EVOs looked good too. Catch you all next time.

Mine was the silver K128 reg with the silver 17" alloys parked over the back right.

Also interesting idea of going the wrong way out the entrance to the pub, was that your idea to dis-oriantate them Pete?

Trev.

Carolyn T-S

Kim

I'm glad we were not the only ones to encounter the locked unmanned level crossing - nice road though...........not !

See Pete C for a free carwash next time you visit Essex.

Carolyn

James_Harvey

Kim,

Too busy rabbiting and not paying attention to where I was going.

James.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by KimA:
<B> - could have been the quick(ish) stop off at the pub (several women seen running in one direction, closely followed by James who didn't have a clue where he was following us to until he got there - shouts of "where d'you think you're going?", followed by much giggling and a rapidly retreating red-faced James!).
[/quote]



[This message has been edited by James_Harvey (edited 21 November 2000).]