Scatter Challenge; June 2017
A Hot Day and Wing Walkers
When Steve first mentioned this scatter challenge to me I thought I was going to be otherwise occupied on Saturday 17th June. As it turned out I wasn't. So on the Wednesday before I was looking for an excuse for a ride and decided to do it. The scatter challenge took in parts of Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Rutland. Steve kindly forwarded to me the information I needed to plan a route. I then put together a platinum route which took in 22 standard controls and 6 bomber controls. Included in my route were the mandatory 5 standard and 3 bomber controls needed for a Platinum. The standard controls were the usual kind involving visiting a location to answer a question about it. The bomber controls were based on active and retired RAF stations. Some of these involved answering a question others a receipt as proof of visitation.
I rode up to Market Harborough on the Friday where I spent a pleasant evening with the organisers Babs and Bob, and catching up with Steve and Rob (aka Grim). The scatter challenge was organised around the Langton Inn attached to the Premier Inn we stayed at. It was all very civilised in the morning. There was no riding to the start. (Well for those of us staying at the Premier Inn.) We just wandered down to the Langton Inn's restaurant, checked in and made our ride preparations over breakfast. It was the nicest start to a scatter challenge I have ever had. It was a lovely day and quite warm at 8 am when we left the Langton Inn to start out on our routes.
Grim and I had planned the same route with him going anti-clockwise and me going clockwise. Steve was also going anti-clockwise with a slight variation on the same route. So at some point it was likely I was going to meet the Chuckle brothers coming the other way. The first part of the ride to RAF Metheringham was great and I made good progress. Lovely winding roads with not too much traffic. Aside from an issue at Edith Weston with discovering her husband was Ethelred the Unready. (Mr Weston wasn't an acceptable answer apparently.) Cranwell College was very impressive to see. I got to RAF Metheringham just as they were opening at 11 am and took a break there to cool off. A lovely spot and nice people. A former Lancaster base its a very interesting place to visit.
After busy Lincoln I saw more of RAF Scampton than I needed to looking for a telephone box that should have been obvious to me. When I got to RAF Wickenby it was buzzing with people watching wing walkers. Grim rolled up as I was there and we had a short break while we watched the wing walkers. It was warming up nicely by this point. Probably around 25 C and humid. A guy we were chatting to still had his jacket liner fitted! I was doing OK at this point. I had done 17 controls of the 28 controls. After leaving Grim, a little bit further on I came across a rider coming the other way on what looked like a smallish heavily accessorised Honda who I’m pretty sure was Steve. I waved to him but unfortunately he was so busy blistering his front tyre that he didn't notice me.
The remainder of the ride after RAF Metheringham involved much more urban riding, particularly in the vicinty of Peterborough, as the temperature peaked mid-afternoon. I had a bit of trouble finding the churches at Billborough and Deeping St James, particularly the former as there were two St Andrews's churches (and it wasn't the obvious one). Do you know what's different about the windmill at Sibsey? Around 5:30 pm I eventually finished back at the Langton Inn behind Grim and Steve. I was very hot and sweaty in my riding gear which was absolutely minging. (The HG gear is destined for the washing machine.) A few cold drinks and something to eat at the convenient Langton Inn and I was ready to go again. It was really nice to meet Babs and Bob and to meet up with my old mates. (Steve's front tyre was the star of the show for me.) Around 9:30 pm it eventually cooled off on the ride home.
I enjoyed the ride overall. The majority of the roads for the first half of the ride were good with plenty of bends and little traffic. In the afternoon it got very hot and the roads were more cluttered. Babs and Bob really put a lot of time and effort into organising the scatter challenge and did a great job. The venue, information and planning were all first class. A big thanks to them for the time and effort they put into the event. Northumberland next year sounds like a great idea.