19th Aug 2006 – They’ve Done It Again!

Scuffers Make Light Work of the Royal Oak Challenge

The Scooter set off from the Royal Oak, North Gorley at exactly 0800 hrs. At approx 0900 hrs there was a team change, my turn, the first 20 minutes were absolute hell! That was when we realised there may have been a little over indulgence on the previous evening. The only member of the Wood family that was healthy was 12 year old Emily, can’t imagine why that was!! By about 1020 hrs we were at Britford, on the outskirts of Salisbury where there was a team change

The new team took the Scooter through Salisbury and onto the Winterbourne Arms, arriving there at 1130 hrs. This was 17 miles from our start point and we realised that we were well ahead of time, so we eased up and stayed there until 1245 hrs, having our Marshall’s rolls & doughnuts and a drink when the pub opened. Our next team change was at Cholderton, funnily enough at a pub, this time no drinks as it was boarded up; on then to Tidworth and another team change at The Ram.

After a long rest and another shandy (no I’m not kidding), we left at approx 1545 hrs and made our way to The Crown at Everleigh, arriving at around 1645 hrs. That was a very long 4 miles, obviously we were really beginning to tire by now even so we stayed there to “waste” some time so that we didn’t get back too soon.

We could actually hear the thunder coming from the direction of Pewsey as the Scooter left The Crown after another shandy (seriously, it really was shandy) at around 1815 hrs in the pouring rain. I’m glad I was in the minibus for that stretch!!

At the top of Pewsey Hill Steve Mercer and I jumped back on; actually, we didn’t so much jump on, it was more of a limp by this stage. However, we needed to ensure that the Scooter didn’t run away as the friction of the brakes had been severely affected by the downpour – and so the monster machine was walked down the hill and into Pewsey, arriving at the Royal Oak around 1950 hrs, still ahead of schedule!!

We did have a fair amount of funny moments along the way;

• Ask Wayne Hawkins what he did with the push bike that he seemed determined to ride all of the way!! He wanted to ride that because it was easier to ride than scoot.
• Nigel Lihou does look a sight when riding a bike with a small saddle, this year he really did manage to lose the seat!!
• Julie Winter should be congratulated, as the only person, apart from Tony Kimber, who was either on a bike or on the Scooter all the way.

Tony must also be congratulated for having the sheer determination to sit and control the 18 foot monster all the way, whilst everyone else was getting hot, with exertion, he was getting cold and wet, I know that he was soaked to the skin when we got back to Pewsey.

A big “thank you” for all of our sponsors no matter how much they gave to our cause. Our commercial sponsors also deserve a big thank you:

• Tim Thompson of Whatley’s for transporting the Scooter to North Gorley,
• Brockenhurst Estate Agents, who had their board on the Scooter all the way back,
• Marshall’s Bakery for the food the that they provided
• Last but not least Michael Williams, of Williams Metals Recycling Ltd (Milton), who will recycle the Scooter after Carnival is over.