Third Sunday?

Then it must be Meldrews' Sunday.

Usually we meet at the Blue & White Café at Smeeth on the A20.  We have been meeting there practically since it re-opened with Superbike racer Leon Camier's mum at the helm. But it is getting busier and busier on a Sunday morning, not with bikers, who seem to have started to to back to the Airport Cafe, but with "normals" and their kids.

Biker life has always been a little adult and we aren't the axe chucking mob, just blokes of an age that like to have a breakfast and chew the fat in an adult way without feeling that some bullethead might be offended on behalf of his kids or his delicate wife.  It's not that we use the f-word all that often, but like any group, we have people that are drawn together for their love of bike and biking from across the spectrum. We have all shades of political views but it rarely comes up as a subject.

So this Sunday we tried the County Members pub in Lympne Village.  Lympne has a claim to fame as it it is actually named after Portus Lemanis, one of the first ports that the Romans used when they invaded from Gaul (now France) in about AD66. There are still Roman remains, of buildings etc, on the hillside below the modern village.

Over the past two millenia the silting up on the English side of the channel has seen the sea move away. Instead of being at the foot of the cliff, it is now about a mile to a mile and a half away across what we now call Romney Marsh.

The ruins are in the domain of Lympne Castle.  The Saxons had a fort up here in the 4th Century.

Lympne Castle is also one of the homes of the Aspinall Foundation. The two zoos at Lympne and Howlett's near Canterbury are conservation and breeding centres for endangered species, mainly focusing on gorilla and rhino.

So after that digression.  

We had a bumper turnout with nine of us including one member's son on the back of a scooter.  Start them young and in all the proper gear. 

Breakfast was very good, not too expensive and relaxed.  We pushed three tables together and could all chat. No rush and breakfast runs until 11am. Then they prepare for pub opening hours and the lunch crowd arrives.

From here we split up. Most of us decided to head over to Robinson's Foundry as there was an Indian open day.  Others went home.

The ride to Canterbury was lively.  I like to be an old and alive biker so tend to ride a bit more sedately.  The adventure bike group (GS, KTM something and V-Strom 1000)  flashed past. I held back and like the tortoise and hare, I was behind them in the shopping traffic in the city centre.

Parking up with loads of Harley's and a few Indians and the occasional Victory across the road meant we were near the dyno that was testing bikes for £19 for two runs.  I decided not to bother. Pepé is okay as he is. Just a big cuddly tourer.

After a tea and a look at the high price tags on the Indians I headed for home.

Another nice ride out and I still haven't cracked 6000 miles! I need a bigger challenge.