The London to Brighton Run, Sunday 1st June 2003
July 1, 2008 · Print This Article
The day had arrived, it was 7.30 am and the southern convoy from Southampton was on it’s way up the M3 to meet at the Kent starting point, Bluewater. We stopped at Fleet services for breakfast and to collect more smarties.
Arriving at Bluewater after one and half hours on the road, we were met by the vision of the smart Newbury Crossblade being driven by Mike (mcflurrysmart) around the entry road with Steve (mccsmart2002) in the passenger seat videoing our arrival.
Parking up with the other smarties already in the car park. We started to organise ourselves with printed direction of our route, short band radios which proved to be a must for anyone in convoy. Thanks to Paul (S2Murph) who lent me a spare radio. Then it was time for the group photo shoot. With this done it was time for the off. We took the A2 into central London where we were to meet with smaller groups of smarties waiting along the embankment.[pay]
The start of the route into London went fairly well with just a small gap forming in the middle of the convoy, this was closed using the radios to communicate to the lead car the aforementioned smart Newbury Crossblade. As we drew ever closer to central London and started to encounter more traffic lights and junctions the convoy was became more difficult to hold together. The radios saved the day again, and we had just 2 splits in the convoy which by know was crossing over tower bridge and along the embankment, and some 36 cars strong.
Slowing to regroup it was time to hit the A23 out of London. This was when the convoy became most fragmented but again the radios meant that we did not loose anyone. We regrouped again at a Texaco garage before heading on to Pease Pottage and the Black Swan pub. On this stretch one of our smarts had an incident with a BMW driver, but no one was hurt except the beamers pride as the smart came out better overall than he did.
Arriving at Pease Pottage we had further smarties waiting to join us. With the car park full of smarts and time moving on, we started off again in smaller groups for Brighton. This is when the heavens opened up and the rain came down. Mike and Stephanie in the Crossblade got the full brunt but kept on smiling all the way through Brighton to the Marina, our final gathering point.
By 3.30 pm everyone had arrived and were assembled in the Marine car park, some 50 cars in total. It had been a long day. Speeches were made and a raffle held, the prizes having been donated by smart Newbury. £250 was raised for a local charity.
In summary it was a grand day out with everyone enjoying the event. Well done Mike, Stephanie and all involved in the organisation.
Top Tip, buy a short band radio, have a good map and keep your cool.[/pay]
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