A sun barren set of meteo outlooks for the south east promised a weekend where the 7 would not be taking advantage of it's RS15 status (vehicle ready in 15 minutes, car should be pre-blat checked fully fuelled and ready to launch.)
Normal Easter bank holiday then.
Until Monday that is. A glimmer of clearing sky and the covers came off the mood and the car. The so far uneaten weekend snacks and deli specials were packed, wrapped and basketed.The credit crunch thermos joined the kit for it's Easter outing and the Tom Tom itinerary (North Loop) was pre-loaded for the carefully disguised recce patrol north of base via the National Trust's Georgian manor Basildon House near Pangbourne-on-Thames.Hence: NatBlat.
Half doors, tonneau and wind deflectors have to come off for the true NatBlat configuration of full doors, floor mats, umbrella and half hood: sun's out, the current Miss Carrots duly installed in the observer's station and all is set.
In the cruise, and at sub 4k revs, Chapman's 7 and the Ford 4 pot do their best to settle in to the lazy torqued pace of the Easter bank holiday Monday. Cool air keeps the webbers fed, but the rubber cold and hard. The shocks need clicking to soft on these bloody roads too. Did we lose the basket in that last trench? I think I've lost a tooth.My spleen feels bruised... are we following the 'nav? What's it doing now? (Don't try to pick up a Tom Tom Tyre itinerary half way along ... it really insists you do the whole thing and will drive you back until you jolly well do!)
'Route would be good if there wasn't any traffic on it' says the usual driving head, but we're in cruise mode... and the webbers sip frugally onward.
Oooo, nice bend that, wonder if you could drift it, smooth tarmac and a little bit banked... but we're in cruise mode.
'Tom of the itinerary' steers us around Reading , which is good , I see a sign for Aldermaston : that'll be nuclear stuff and that, cool, nice village.... it's a NatBlat, keep it cruiser styleee.
Wonder if we get pork pies.
Pangbourne.
A glimpse of the river... it's the Limpopo! I'm informed that the Thames is a more likely candidate.No hippos then?
Even the chance of 4k revs would be nice right now.
Basildon House, turn left, hope it's got a long drive.No luck, short and gravelly, but the paint faced children in the MPV's like the 'red car daddy'. Wonder if the lesbians in the face painting tent will make me up like the front of the red car daddy?
Lunch-on-the-grass-next-the-Seven (A small Cotswold village or a place to scoff pork pie? The latter.) And the sun shone,cars always look good on grass.
Basildon House was full of ice cream attached to children, or the floor. Bet it wasn't when Keira Knightley filmed stuff in posh dresses here. An unsilenced Tom Tom continues to navigate us around the Georgian splendour in muffled bag tones.
And so to the rest of the North Loop: and with Tom Tom freely bellowing pent up commands, we join the 'cartoon' road section across the downs. The type of roads that ribbon-curve, dip and climb into the distance. Briefly, only Wiley Coyote with his ACME speed camera in the small linear villages will see the webbers tuned back an octave before I'm thus reminded that we're still on a NatBlat...damn.
Didcot power station off to the right... it's not doing the steam thing where it makes it's own weather, and it's a lot smaller as you get closer to it...bit like the 7 , and that pork pie.
Nice road, over-run : pop, bang, nice.....shhhhh.
100 miles through Surrey,Berkshire and Hants. A mix of roads and changing scenery that'll add to the portfolio of choices for the Sunrise Seven Blat collection... the jury is out as to whether it'll be up there with the greats.That is until it's tested , in context, at blat pace, with clear roads, objective and focus.
NatBlat? Well it's cultural and sociable, but the 7 is a tool in the box for one job, and one application, and they have nothing to do with the aforementioned interactions!
Wonder how I'll get the paint off my face before work tomorrow.
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