Sunday November 20th - Essex Winter Rally.

 So, the reason that Richard Warr had come down to mine for the weekend was also because we were booked in for the Club Triumph Essex Winter Rally. Both of my Triumphs are currently in storage, so we were using my former car 'Rusty Custard' with Richard driving and me navigating.

The alarm was set for 6.30am Sunday morning, (Hence the obligatory Saturday night drinking was somewhat subdued) and by 7.15am we were on our way up the A12 to the meeting point at the Marks Tey diner near Colchester. 

By the time the diner was open there were a good collection of Triumphs there and also some friendly faces that I'd not seen for a while. 

With coffee and breakfast consumed, we were handed our packs and clues and started trying to figure out the route. (Which was across four separate maps!) We managed ok with most sections, but the last section was proving difficult, so we decided to just get on with and worry about that bit when it came to it.

We set out and headed East into the Essex countryside and gradually picked our way through the pre-planned route. We did go wrong at one point but got back on track after about five minutes. 

It was a long route (about 80 miles) and by lunch time we felt that we were started to fall behind as we had to be at the finish by no later than 2.30pm and we still had a lot of ground to cover. We managed another couple of sections, but with time now getting on we decided to cut the last section and just head for the finish. (Better to miss a section, than be disqualified for being OTL-outside time limit)

After a fabulous Sunday roast at the finish location, the results were announced, and we found that we had finished in a dismal 4th place out of 6. We both felt that we had done better than that, but it is what it is, and we accepted that we had must have just been shit! We did feel that the route was too long for the time allowed though and this was backed up by the fact that three other crews had cut the route to make the finish as well. 

However, it was a good, fun day out and it had been a great weekend as well, so no complaints.