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13th September
Ivor and Sylvia complete with arm in plaster picked me up at 07.30 sharp and off we drove making for Blandford Forum as the Dorset group were organizing the last major run of the season. Linda met us and with no other Somerset arriving we continued on towards Blandford whilst Linda headed for Warminster where others were meeting. Although the rain was slight and the roads were damp we made good time and went in to Blandford town centre. Well Ivor needed his fix of Costa Coffee! It just so happened there was a little café opposite doing a cooked breakfast so I had to sample their wares didn’t I? A Cappuccino and a small breakfast rapidly served and I got my morning fix too. What a great place to meet in the future if we are this way again soon.
A mile further and on we went to Tesco to find Steve and Kat awaiting our arrival. We were quickly followed in by the Wiltshire contingency consisting of Mark and Sandra, Neil, Dave with his neighbourly garage owner Emily as pillion, Blacky and Linda and Bob plus Becks and Dawn in yet another car. But at least they were there! So were Terry with Bandit and Mike who made up the Triumph contingency.
Steve led the bikes in to the Legion Club at Upton and the gang was assembled for explicit instructions as to how to play Poker. Bandit and Mike took the easy option and joined Becks and Dawn in their car. Well they had come up from Exeter! Maps issued and location details given, a single card taken and off we went. Checkpoints were manned by Bob, Andy and Kat (or should it be womanned in the case of Kat?). As Kat did not know where to go we led her through Poole and over the ferry to get her to her checkpoint at The Bankers Arms pub in Studland. Whilst waiting for the ferry we were overtaken by two ambulances which took preference so we had to wait for a third trip by the ferry before boarding. Once there Kat did an admiral job of issuing us with our next cards so now we had two.
Off we headed for Bovington Tank museum but we took a detour to take in the magnificent views near Lulworth Cove and Povington Hill before picking up the road through Wool to get to the next checkpoint. Andy and his faithful dog greeted us at the entrance to the tank museum and we were issued with card three.
Next location was Constitution Hill back in Poole. On the way along the A352 we saw the other group heading the other way so no casualties so far. Bob had patiently waited for us and calmly issued us with our fourth card. So now back to Upton as quickly as we could to find all safely back just ahead of us. We entered the club to the smell of barbequed burgers and sausages being cooked by head chef Kev. We all booked back in to Steve to be issued with our fifth and final card.
Frantic opening of envelopes and each card was carefully scrutinized and adjusted to make the best possible poker hand. Steve checked and double checked then stapled the cards in to a fan formation and carefully added each player’s name on the reverse. No fiddling possible there then! Whilst we tucked in to the food and drinks from the bar the poker hands were duly placed in winning order.
The results were announced and Terry had done worst and as no wooden spoon had been bought, he won a plastic spoon! And the winner was…
Becks stepped forward to receive his award from Kat in the form of a superb trophy of fanned cards with the best poker hand you could ever get! Superb.
The final results in reverse order were:-
15th Terry (Joker) 14th Magic 13th Mike (Grinder) 12th Mark 11th Linda 10th Emily (The Garage) 9th Sylvia (The Broken Arm) 8th Sandra (The Blonde) 7th Dave (Dozy) 6th Neil (The Drinker) 5th Blacky (The Top Biker and only Triker) 4th Ivor (The Engine) 3rd Dawn (The Little Dragon from Wales) 2nd Bandit 1st Becks
A great day out seeing lots of friends, chilling and talking amongst good mates.
A major thank you goes out to Steve the Single Wheeler Dealer and Kev the Kitchen Blade for organizing such a great Fat Lady Run with a difference.
If you weren’t there you missed out!
Magic