Copdock 2023

I woke up at 5am with 3 alarms having been set.


I had to get to Gillingham Maccy D’s for 6am to meet the first
member of our group coming from Norwich.


I got my motorcycle ready at about 530 a.m. after packing my bag of
supplies. Which included a pot of ITSU instant noodles – just
add hot water. Some green beans to munch during the day. And
some toilet roll.

When I got to meeting point 1 just after Satis house in a layby, the
person we were due to meet was not there There were two
laybys and I might have chosen the wrong one..
Ne’er mind we set off to the next meeting point which was Tesco
Extra Ipswich. When I was filling up with super the person who was supposed
to meet us at Satis house turned up. One person did not find us
so we had lost someone.


I bought a sandwich meal deal with my petrol. Incidentally it
only cost £9 in fuel to get to Ipswich from Kirby Cane, which is
not a lot considering I thought it would be twice that, This was
one of my major worries as I only had enough cash to get home
again.


The next meeting point was Premier Inn where we got to next after a
bit of logistical satnav work by myself. We met a car and another motorcycle. And as 5 vehicles
converged on GATE 1. We did not see the straggler (He had
satnav issues) on the way in so we entered the site. We found
our place and were conscious of having to stop moving on-site
after 9 am. There was some issue with the place we were offered
having a gate access issue, so we found an alternative pitch.
I went in search of the last person whilst the others erected the
gazebo, I found him and gave him a wristband. He then got in.
Just after 9 am we set up shop and parked our bikes for the
day.


HOC had arrived on site.


By the time the gazebo was up and the chocolates broke open,
we were ready to receive people to come to look at the bikes. We could relax a bit and we aimed to be the friendliest club
exhibiting. I think we did quite well, and felt good to be amongst
fellow HOC members.


I managed to grab a seat and munch on the sandwiches I had
bought earlier.


Later I found the bag of green beans and munched on them raw
as I chatted to the people that came to see us and the other
HOC members.


The bikes being exhibited were old and new, my classic 1976
CB750/4 was on display.


The journey home was a bit of a traffic jam in places with the camaraderie of bikers traveling en mass back to their respective
homes.


I hope about 8 out of the people that showed an interest in our
stall would join the Norfolk, and North Suffolk Branch of the
HOC. I feel as though I took part in an event that benefitted
my adventurous spirit.


The really great thing was when I got back home I remembered
the ITSU noodles which I had not found any hot water and
feasted upon the memory of the day.

Fin