The shame of it ...

Whilst out collecting landmarks yesterday, I was having quite a bit of
fun on the Wing.

The blat down the M4/5 to J27 (to find a riverside mill) was easy
enough, and quite brisk (for me). The new link road across north Devon
is pleasantly swoopy, allowing me to find another old watermill in
Ilfracombe with ease. This is about as descriptive (of landmarks) as I
can be, under the new edict issued by the RBR authorities.

A trundle down the coast road to Penzance was a combination of fast
sweepers, and slow nose-to-tail drudgery. At one point, I was sat at
the back, swearing at the caravan-tugger, only to find he was sat
behind an elderly couple in a tiddly little Korean thing, who thought
that 28mph was perfectly acceptable on an NSL single-carriageway.

Having circumnavigated the harbour at Penzance, to find my fishermen's
memorial, I turned for home.

12:40 - only 7 1/2 hours in. Should be home early.

Back up the A30 to St Cleer, and I find the old stone commemorating a
King. At this point I find myself on the verge of nodding-off now and
a gain.
Bottle of Isotonic filth (no wonder they were 3 for a pound), and a
bar of choccie held the zeds at bay.

Into Devon, to find a little church on top of a hill, then the long
slog homewards.

Into Somerset, via the A30 and M5, then south into Dorset, to find an
old post box. The oldest, allegedly.

Doubled back, north into Somerset, to Castle Cary.

On the way, down some tiny A road, I noticed three headlamps in the
mirror. Suspecting I was causing a log-jam, I signalled the engine
room "all ahead - half", and upped the pace.

They stayed behind, and didn't overtake on the straight bits, I was
even pulling out a lead. At the next hamlet, I pulled into a bus-stop,
and was passed by a trio of 125s, all sporting L plates. Luckily, I
couldn't find a bridge to jump off.

From Castle Cary I trundled crestfallen into Wiltshire, to look at
some big sculpture jobbie near Longleat, then, after the fifth tankful
of the day, it was A300/316 into London, and home by 9:30.

17 hours, 696 miles, 8 landmarks, 190 points.

Up to 27 now, only 63 to go.

Observations:

Tyre roar - is it getting worse? I was passed by a Rangie Sport on the
A30 yesterday, and thought I was being strafed by a Tornado. I think
the odd noise from the rear Avon is tyre roar, not rubbing, after all.

Petrol's a bit pricey in the West Country, in't it? 107.9p?

That big bolt holding on the o/s front caliper really should be done
up.

The quality of tottie wandering around Penzance harbour was
lamentable.

 

Eddie and I were out with one of our mates, who's got a GSX-750F. When I
say "out with" I mean "spent a lot of time waiting for" He even failed
to keep up when we followed one of these super-sports machines through some
twisties ...

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s152/Ap0lloCreed/Michaels 20070617/HondaPacificCoast1.jpg

For the final stretch I swapped bikes with him (I was on the RSV) and we
still had to wait. I did find the GSX-F disturbingly enjoyable though.

--
AndrewR, D.Bot (Celeritas)
Aprilia RSV-1000R, Honda VFR750F-L
BOTAFOT#2,ITJWTFO#6,UKRMRM#1/13a,MCT#1,DFV#2,SKoGA#0 (and KotL)
BotToS#5,SBS#25,IbW#34, DS#5, COSOC# Suspended, KotTFSTR#
The speccy Geordie twat.

 

Nice writeup nonetheless.
Did the RBR make noises about bloggers giving the game away?

 

It did. One bright spark even put up an annotated GoogleMap or Earth,
or something.

For most landmarks, it's not an issue: telling how I found Dover
Castle, for example, isn't going to give the game away[1]; for more
obscure ones, it would really give an advantage to others.

[1] I found around 70% of this year's clues as photos on Geograph.

Found 85 out of 90 inside two days.

Still not sure about two.

 

How precise/obscure[1] are the clues?

[1] Delete as appropriate.

 

What, those two?

Obscure.

The most obscure in the past have been:

Merlon Cynreig (Welsh Poly) in Porthmadog, where Dave spelt the
English AND Welsh names of a steam engine incorrectly;

Strawberry and cream steam engine, in Beds, where the engine had been
used on a farm that grew cucumbers and strawberries;

and

War memorial, near Nesscliffe.

Of course every village newar Nesscliffe had a war memorial, but
no-one knew he wanted the one in Ruyton XI Towns.

 

I'll have to try and work those out myself later!

However did you get on before Google? Or did the RBR only really take
off once the Internet started becoming more mainstream?

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, CT

Christ no! Rumour has it that William the Conqueror only rocked up
because of a clue that said:

"One in the eye for a royal chap, at a place with an appropriate name".

And there's a cave painting near Ilfracombe that says "Oooh! Argh, ugh,
ugh, ohh, aaaaaargh. Ugh!" with a carving of a Goldwing just below it.

Argument rages to this day over whether the object to the side of it is
a sidecar or the rider's lunch.

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - "He's hopeless, but he's honest"

I have already made the greatest contribution to the fight against climate
change that I can make: I have decided not to breed. Now quit bugging me and
go and talk to the Catholics.

 

You asked Dodger then? He's old enough to remember what he meant by it.

 

I didn't, but apparently there are things for proles called libraries,
or something.

For me, yes. It(RBR) first started in 1973, just in time for the "fuel
crisis", which killed it off for a few years.