It is January 20, it is below freezing, snowing and the forecast is for more snow. So what do you do? Curl up on the sofa and watch the Sunday afternoon film? No, you dust off your green machine and hit the road.
Roger Higgerson’s annual road run had the added attraction of plenty of white stuff and, although the cost of fuel and other factors limited the MV participation to a Land Rover Lightweight, Jimmy and a Hotchkiss, a motley collection of civvy 4x4s joined in for what was voted one of the most successful of Roger’s adventures.
We met at Jack’s Hill Café, near Towcester, one of Britain’s best transport cafes, but soon left the A5 Watling Street to head into the great white hinterland. Where we went is anyone’s guess, as white lanes surrounded by white hedges and white fields all look pretty much alike.
At one point we stopped to pay homage to a memorial marking the spot where a Boeing Flying Fortress came to grief (see http://www.sywellaerodrome.co.uk/museum-exhibits-blakesleyb17s.php). We had soup and mince pies in a lay-by, went through someone’s farmyard and paid a brief visit to Turweston Aerodrome, which was understandably very quiet. The car park here was empty which gave the Deuce-and-a-half an opportunity to perform a doughnut spin on the ice. The Hotchkiss followed suit . . . but in a less spectacular way.
Then it was on to the Green Man at Brackley Hatch, near Silverstone, for lunch before dispersing.
The snow never stopped, but neither did the vehicles . . . or the fun.