Out with the Old Gits 27

Tuesday, Old Gits day.  12 hardy souls braved the cold wind today and did the normal run to the Caffles Garden Centre at Hewish.  We were joined there by another OG who has been off for 6 months with illness; it was really good to see him.  The weather wasn't too bad to be fair, it just did not warm up at all as the forecasters led us to believe.

Rob's Corner

Rob was one of the founder members of the Old Gits but unfortunately passed away a couple of years ago.  One of Rob's contemporaries, Roy (also passed on), decided to have a stone made to mark this spot, at the top of Max Mill Lane. As this was a favourite stopping place and viewpoint for Rob, fellow members had to drag him away from the gate whenever they stopped.  The stone is engraved with 'Rob's Corner, R.I.P' and a picture of a cycle.  It looked as if a van or lorry had disturbed the stone so several of the living Old Gits repositioned it.  This did prompt a discussion that some form of permanent memorial could be made so that as each of us ride up that big cycle path into the sky, our names could be added to it.  With that thought, we carried on to the tea stop.

Close shave!

On the A370 at Hewish is the garden centre we use as a tea spot.  We normally get off the busy road and cycle the last couple of hundred yards on the footpath.  Today, with a hundred yards to go, there was a traffic accident and the white car pictured failed to see stationary cars in front and hit the rearmost vehicle pushing it onto the pavement; just as myself and Keith were cycling along it. The car actually hit Keith's bike but only enough to push it back a bit. No damage to bike or rider.  Not so fortunate were the drivers of the other vehicles, they both needed an ambulance.  My first thought was that the offender had been using a mobile phone but when I checked the driver and the interior of the car, all I could see was airbags!  A lucky escape for the pair of us, perhaps the memorial we discussed earlier could be placed at this spot!

After tea and toast, we carried on to Weston on a new varied route and the total mileage recorded for yours truly was 27.