[Words from Derek - thanks] Arriving at Poplar 2000, there was some confusion as to which group to join - there were so many - one of which was a Pan European group and I felt vaguely drawn towards them. But I resisted and found our very own Manhoc riders where 6 bikes and one pillion (plus Raphael, our mascot) were waiting patiently for me. The general consensus was that it would soon rain, so we all kitted up in the waterproofs. This turned out to be a mistake and we did get rather warm.

There did appear to be some confusion over the start time [Alan: it is on the web site!!!] but by around 10:30 we set off. Steve and Sue had arrived by this time so we had 7 riders and 2 pillions - a good number for the time of year.

Gary, as always, ignored the map published on the web site and did is own thing which did entail some backtracking - but the, what is new? For the first time ever, the buddy system broke down - investigations are planned so that it doesn't happen again.

But eventually, we all arrived at the National Space Centre. Gary decided that he wanted to test out all the car parks - so we went from main one to coach park and back to the main one again. We parked up and went inside to enjoy the spectacle of space.

After wandering around, we were just about to leave when the heavens opened. Not too much of an issue except that Gary had thoughtfully left his crash helmet underneath his bike and it got a bit wet! Ian's Gold Wing ended up with a swimming pool on the back seat (which means it's waterproof, I suppose). So, we set off and had a nice ride back via the usual petrol and tea stops.

Some pictures - also from Derek.