Thank you **** Made it home safely

[Gerry]

Frank and me (Gerry) made it home safely from England. After the meeting in Hindhead we went to Stonehenge and after that down to the coast.
The weather stayed good and dry all during the day and we even had a very sunny evening. In the afternoon we arrived at Hayling Island near Portsmouth
(a place I know well from a visit 1975 and 1979). To my disappointment I did not see again the lovely barmaid from the Maypole Inn on Hayling
I met in 1975 , but by now she must be almost 70 years old. I said hello to the current owner and told him the story.
Since the Maypole was closed sunday evening and we could not find a suitable B&B we finally landed at the Portdean Caravan Park on Hayling.
I could persuade the nice lady at the counter to make some phonecalls and convince the managemet to give us a caravan at a reasonable price for two days only.
(thank you my lovely lady from Parkdean - I will remember you almost as long as lovely Hazel from the Maypole)
The caravan was large and they had a bar, a restaurant with very good meals meals at reasonable prices so we could even survive the Monday with strom and rain all day long.
(Especially the bar played a leading role in that). So we decided to hit the road to Dover - leave beautiful but rainy Enlgand - and try to get an earlier ferry.
Tuesday again was a sunny day, and we almost regret our decision to go home.
We went along the coastal roads, passed Chichester, Brighton and Hastings. Due to many congestions and very heavy traffic we did dare to ride along the seafront, but near Hastings
where the main road runs close to the sea we had beautiful views. We got a ferry in the afternoon and landed at Calais at 17:00 continental time. The weather was still good and got
even more sunny and warmer ond the way to Reims. We spend the night at Châlons-en-Champagne near Reims (halfway home) where we arrived around 21:00 hours.
Wednesday again we had beautiful weather and reached home around noon.
In spite of the rainy weather in England and the minor hardships we had to endure (my broken belt in Belgium at friday morning and Frank kissing the road when he slipped in the rain during the rideout on saturday) we had a wonderful time at the meeting in Hindhead. I want to thank our english friends who found the perfect location and orgnanized the meeting. I also want to thank especially Tomba for the medical care which made Frank fit enough to ride the long way home
They are of course not responsible for the heavy showers that spoiled the rideout on saturday. Never befor the "European Warriors" had such a splendid meeting with about 20 Warriors from the continent and about the same number of Warriors from Great Britain. To my greatest joy our friends from Finland joined us again and we even had a Warrior from Hungary. There was no language barrier and we had a great party in a warm and friendly atmosphere.

[Jarv]

Gerry and Frank...
Pleased to hear you had a good trip.
I hope Frank is feeling OK now!

Please keep me updated on any developments with next year's meeting in Dresden.

All the best

jarv