Newbury, Sunrise and Solent 7's - Blat to the beach.

Chill & mist - Sun & Fun, 15 sevens dissolve into the late summer Hampshire and Sussex countryside (picked off one by one by the BlatGoblin?)

Turnout for the 8am RV at Farnham was good: 10 cars and their willing participants.Temperature was a bit cool ... but that'll be the season then. So, a crisp start.

Roll call:

Andy of Coastal Command made his legendary 'pre blat' blat up from Worthing and came dressed in his ski gear.Very pessimistic/hopeful so soon after the recent drop in temperature!

Also in formation : Ian H , now more well known as 'Wolfie' after a tragic predictive text message that has left him with a tirade of themed remarks and accusations of other after dark activities.

The new Mr and Mrs 'Wilto' Wiltshire both joined the blat (cruelly prized from the grapplings of the marital bed, arrived with blankets and coverings ...presumably from that very bed).

A cross section of our local area 7 club members (ReHab) made up the remaining number along with the lone Solent Sevener, Trevor, in the fireblade 7... who was to lead the group on the ensuing main blat route... and most of us right off the map!

A swift spin down to Alresford, a pretty town woken in the crisp morning to 15 Caterham 7's as they manoeuvred in the main square for the RV with the Newbury group, who arrived at exactly the same time... all tightly planned of course by Jon Croft of military mind.

All too soon,Trev of the 'blade selected a sequential heap of gears and fled as the head of the blat, promising to show us selected routes in 'his' territory... 3 cars at the back were missing within 3 miles!

Low sun, narrow roads and the blind resolve to pursue anything of familiar 7 shaped outline up ahead, kept the senses sharpened. Only the Indian tracker equivalent of bent grass stalks that are the tell tale signs of a recently hooning 7 : the 'paused-to-cross dog walker (with strangling spinning dog on lead)' or 'stopped and looking behind cyclist' give any indication that this could be the right direction.

Quick check behind, Wolfie's there then !!

Junctions appear and are guessed at as a glimpse of something low and familiar just slips from sightline up ahead. There's three up ahead and 5 behind ... that'll be three missing: the lead pack of hounds. A cross roads, the three in front raise hands of surrender, I dive past and break right (it's got to be south here, further behind Trev's lines so he can really up the pace!), it was, we open the taps and climb the straight passed Loomies.

Our two wheel motorbike cousins, basking in a seal colony of leathers on the shoreline of the car park, turn from their sweet teas at the familiar yowl of Trev's full Honda Fireblade rev range, but find no source for their reference: something pink with four wheels and only 3o inches high is not a match they'll make today.

We know what hybrid we're dealing with , which is why we can't follow him and keep the man behind in sight, which is the normal 'Blatiquette' you understand. This is one Pied Piper that isn't going to have many rats to lead to the watery end.

More to follow- here's some pics in the meantime.

Newbury 7 patrol heading through our territory Sunday 27th 08.45 hours!

Sunrise Squadron standby RS 12 hours.

Intelligence reports that a neighbouring county's 7 patrol is planning to pass through our airspace.

Escort operations are required to:

1) Secure the territory in case of insurgent activity.

2) Add noisily to the fly through.

3) Ensure that breakfast is plentiful.

Met check and orders issued Saturday 20.00 hrs

... so, to summarise: anyone fancy a LazybellylateBlat to the beach on Sunday?

Overdue postings....

Bad form... there's loads to catch up on, but the weather's not been bad enough to force me to be indoors doing the blog updates!

The shortening daylight window will mean time to get up to date I guess, but I'm two sets of 'A' frame bushes further into the blat season, so plenty to commit to these pages.I need a blog whaller.

Gratuitous flame shot:

Blog comments to come include:

• The London Tunnel Run: An exercise in losing 50 cars in 5 mins
• Introducing the Nav-Can: Bending tin meaningfully.
• Blat 'n' car show: A Sunriser for two and a car show for 300.
• Stelvio Bob: A long solo recon trip.
• A North loop Blat: The welcome return of two missing men.
• Rob W's RAFstagBlat: A cul de sac of 7's gathers for the send off.
• Rob W marries: his girlfriend.
• Brighton NightBlat 2: The full moon has Ian out for meat at midnight...as wildlife gathered.
• Goodwood Revival: Flt Sgt CBB and I dress up and join the parade.

Jeeez... that's some home work!

(This is a few days later, so i'll make a start on the list above) -

25th July, Midnight.

The Tunnel Run.

'There's this thing they do, where everyone meets up really late at night , they all get together and drive off through loads of tunnels, there's ferraris and lambos and TVRs and stuff, it's all a secret and organised by Pistin Hedz, don't tell anyone, but come along and bring friends and....'

So three of the Sunrise Squadron gave the idea a go, adding 3 x-flows and their own micro climates to the rising temperatures and thickening fumes of central London on a Saturday night did little to relax the soul, but this run was a charity thing so we persisted through Greenwhich and on to the meeting point in the lee of the Dome.

Motor Neurone Disease robs the basics right out of healthy living. This evening was dedicated to Simon, a sufferer, already looking at the loss of the simple pleasures of musicianship and driving.

Donations were given for stickers and route maps, mementos presented and passenger seats made welcome for Simon in the top trump card section of the exotica turned out for the tribute. So, with good charitable intent we prepared for a spate of outright howling hooliganism around the streets of London!!

As seen in a Countach side window!

With pre-programmed Tom Toms apiece, using the 'TYRE' files sent out in advance, we loaded the diminutive 7's into the breach with 'high number' Ferraris, Lambos, A Tiger striped S2000 with an Osama Bin Laden wax work passenger ( :-0), that fast Datsun , a Sagaris etc etc...and we were fired into the teaming streets of the City and West End like a video game scene from Fast and Furrybus or something modern!

Tunnel names that you only hear on travel reports flashed by at the same rate as the speed camera salvoes. Multi cylinder flat plane cranked howls were doing their charitable most for the occasion as the sprints from 'traffic light -to roundabout exit -to sharp left' offered full rev range opportunity to excel... mostly in first gear!

We kept station for all of 15mins. Those visible in front thinned at one complex junction, as did those behind. The tell tale howls echoed unsighted about the city and with one more set of lights and a right turn later, our three 7's were on their own. Another blink and change in direction, and then there were two... and breathe.

Help!

To be continued....