South Wales Sunday Run 22nd June 2014

Area Discussion South Wales
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This month’s run is organised by Keith & John

The run will be on Sunday June 22nd and will start from the car park at Sarn Services, M4 Jct 36. CF32 9SY. 

Please meet at 10am in good time for a 10-30am start.

The run is 84miles long and will have a pit stop at Beach Cafe, Llantwit Major Beach, CF61 1RF.

Lunch will be at 'The Watermill', Ogmore, CF32 0QP, where we expect to arrive around 2-15pm.

Starters
Spiced pear, blue cheese and caramelised pear.               V      £5-95
Garlic wild mushrooms on toast.                                    V      £5-75
Deep fried blanch bait, chunky tartare sauce.                           £5-25
Ham hock terrine, sweet mustard pickle.                                 £5-75
Homemade soup of the day                                                   £4-95
 
     Mains
Roast welsh pork, apple sauce, sage and sausage stuffing.        £9-95
Roast chicken supreme, bread sauce, thyme gravy.                   £10-95
Roast sirloin of beef, Yorkshire pudding, red wine gravy.            £10-95
     All served with roasted potatoes and and fresh vegetables.
 
Aubergine and lentil moussaka, house salad.                  V        £8-25
Grilled pear, warm goats cheese, walnut salad.               V        £8-45
Haddock in SA gold batter, mushy peas, tartare sauce.              £10-95
Homemade beefburger, cheddar, onion marmalade, chips.          £9-95
 
 A varying range of puddings, dessert wines and coffees etc is also available on the day

 

Anyone wishing to join us on this run, please let Keith Foley know.

Landline (with ansaphone)  01639 760449

Email address:  keith26@ntlworld.com  

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Well done Keith, a really good route, fantastic weather, great lunch, all in all perfect!

Shame we lost a few members en-route but the roads were very full and it is difficult to account for people pulling over in a convoy to answer a phone… and when people loose contact with the car ahead then fail to even attempt to re-catch the convoy, being at the tail was pretty frustrating, short of pushing folks along a bit with my front bumper, not a lot more we could have done to keep everyone together.

Really good turnout too!

Hope John Letton is feeling better? 

4

Thanks John.
Thank you and Tina for volunteering to be be rear gunners.
You both did a sterling job, as usual.
Thanks too, to all who turned up today and made the run a good one.
I counted 21 cars !
Yes i agree, it was a shame to lose a few of the flock.
The overall speed was not helped by a couple of new slow drivers up front who thereby controlled the speed of the whole cavalcade.
Never before has the lead car had no car behind it for so long, so many times.
I had to stop 5 times in the first half to allow catch ups, thats mad.
Ive learnt the lesson of slow newbies who will be slotted in towards the back next time and interspersed with experienced cavalcade drivers so as not to slow everyone up.
Ive also had mails from people who booked meals on Saturday night/Sunday morning, ie last minute, then decided on Sunday not to eat and headed for home without telling anyone.
The Watermill supplied the said meals only to find them not wanted !
Watermill not happy about that and i dont blame them. Thats not on !
No matter though, i have a plan to cope with that for next time !
Meal deposits seem like a good idea to me and there will be a no exceptions cut off point a few days before the run.
Last minute add-on chaos is not readily acceptable when the run has been advertised for 2/3 weeks.
All that apart, it was a good first run (i hope) and seemed to be enjoyed by everyone.
At least i have had no complaints, yet, lol.
John was fine this afternoon, though sore and weak after all the medical engineering.
Each day he feels a bit better and stronger so good progress is being made day by day.

5

Thanks Keith F,

 

A fab run, its an area that I’m not familiar with, so it was lovely to cover somewhere new.

Lovely lunch, and good to see all the fives.

Have you started planning the next one yet?Wink

Cheers,

Keith M

6

Thanks for those kind words Keith M.

No, ive not started planning the next one yet.
Maybe best to see if i get any flak coming in from this run first, lol.
Plus im driving to Rotterdanm on Wednesday so its a bit busy for me at the moment.

Oh hang on, – Rotterdam.
Hmmmmm, now there’s an idea for a Sunday run !
I shall have to give that one some thought, methinks.

7

Perhaps we need to rethink our convoy strategy on our monthly runs. We can’t travel the whole route with 21 cars running nose to tail. Everyone has a route map, it’s up to them to follow it. If there’s a gap, so be it, we are driving on public roads and roundabouts and traffic lights will create delays for some.  Criticism of new members who haven’t been out on a run before won’t help matters in this respect, everyone has to travel at a speed they are comfortable with.

Dave

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Regarding the meals issue, we need to discuss this further, possibly at a future meeting. It’s not acceptable to book a meal and then not take up that option. This makes a difficult situation for the organiser and a loss/inconvenience for the venue. With regard to having cut off points and deposits before the run; the runs are open to everyone up to the point of departure, preferably with advance notice, the deposits will be a nightmare to organise and collect and is not feasible.

Dave

9

Hi Dave and thanks for your comments.

Taking your points one at a time, yes it may be worth a rethink of convoy strategy.
I had no intention, and have no intention of running nose to tail, running with a safe gap is good.
However, the lead car, ie me, running at 40mph over clear traffic light and obstruction free roads and not seeing any cars behind me is just plain silly in my opinion.
I had to stop three times between A48 near Pyle and Nottage Village for the three cars behind me to catch up.
I was not racing, at no time did i excede 40mph and still they disappeared into the distance and out of sight. This is in addition to the five stops for the convoy to catch up overall before we got to Llantwit Beach.
Given the domino effect, the convoy got strung out unecessarily long.
The meals is a bit of a thorny one and i dont have the answer to it but it does need looking at i think.
I can now see that deposits will not work so that idea has been binned.
Our ‘regular’ members have never been a problem so again i dont have the answer but again its surely worth looking at.
I have to say i still think cut off dates before a run is worthwhile.
I had, i think 5 people who appeared betwen 10am and 10-20am and had no idea of meal choices etc.
That put me in a difficult position at that crucial time.
Meals were booked but some of them not required when we got to The Watermill as some people disappeared from the run.
Overall, although it was a nice run, i cant call it a success from where i stand.
I do think a meeting as you suggest would be good.
Im not sure i can be at the fish shop meet just yet as i have to be in Didcot on Wed July 9th or Thurs July 10th, the date is not yet certain.
Failing that, perhaps Gnoll Park day would be a good day to sort it.

Keith

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Thank you Keith for your run we enjoyed the day , we enjoy the company on every run be they new or old or older members . The comments you make are not new , most organisers of past runs can sympathise with  at least some  .  We do not agree with comments against new members as they may not have driven in this fashion before  , we do think that we all should comply with the rules of the road and allow all members to drive at a pace to suite themselves  .

There is a meeting every month and surely that is where any ideas should be discussed and rules if any are adopted .

We do agree that it can be a problem when meals are booked and then not taken , and late arrivals requesting meals , this is a headache for the organiser .  Driving in  convoy brings up occasions when even where the lead driver is aware of the possibility of delays ,  it is not possible to predict traffic conditions at the rear .

JJ .

 

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Whilst I agree that participants should not have to break the law, although I laugh a little at that because my old man once said he had to do 100mph to keep up with Sandra on a run a few years back, I do think that not losing touch with the car ahead of you is your responsibility.

This does happen often but is not helped when people are not prepared to go above 40mph even when the speed limit is 60 or 70mph, and certainly not helped by people pulling over to answer the phone, causing the rear sweeper to do a U-turn and come back to make sure they were not in medical difficulties and requiring assistance.

We will have a chat about it at the next meeting in August, similar frustrations about speeds on runs lead to a break-away group a few years back.

Let us not forget, these are sports cars and not a collection of vintage hearses…

12

Keith and John I think many of your comments are totally out of order and if you two had bothered to talk to one another instead of picking on new members and like many of us did not realise that

this was a race! -  The guy who stopped to make a phone is called Peter Jones joint area co-ordinater does not need your permission to do so, I also had a route map to find out the destination and did not need escorting by you

  • I had already told Keith I would not be staying with the run and would not be going back to the Watermill So if you bother to get the fact right it might have prevented you driving off at a stupid speed to catch up with the group

and maybe your anger should be taken out on people who stop in stupid places to wait for people to catch up like the stop at Rest Bay. Why bother with route maps If people get lost they get lost it is not the end of the world

and they will catch up eventually so lighten up and enjoy a day out.  We certainly do not need your tips on the highway code so if you have nothing more constructive to say don’t say anything.

 

Please do not bother to reply to this I am not interested in what you have to say you have already said enough - an apology to new members would be in order but I don’t think you will do that. 

13

Peter, we seriously thought something was wrong with you when you pulled over onto a dirt layby, clearly we were right.

Your comments about my highway code skills are duly noted and I look forward to August`s meeting.