“I can’t believe this, it’s bloody tipping it down!”
were the first words out of my mouth on Tuesday morning.
The rain was bouncing off the conservatory roof directly
under our bedroom window, amplified by the glass it sounded like a tropical
thunder storm. As it happens it was just a light shower, nothing to worry about
for a weather hardened “ biker boy” like me. Still it always puts a downer on
proceedings, especially when you’ve promised to take your dear wife with you on
your next Gold Post Box expedition. My plan was to “mop up” the few new Gold
Post Boxes that had recently been painted around Manchester.
Luckily for us by the time Lilie Rose & Ben
where ready for school the sun was
starting to show through the grey clouds and the rain was down to almost
nothing. Dry enough in fact for Ben & I to walk up to school or so we
thought. As soon as we were at the top of the road it came down again, still
nothing like a cool September shower to get you moving. We ran the rest of the
way to school.
“Love You” Ben said followed with a kiss
“Love you too sweetheart” I replied instinctively
enjoying every moment of Ben’s affection. “Enjoy it while it lasts Raymondo,
you never know when it will dry up” Mind, I thought to myself. Knowing Ben as I
do I know it will never “dry up”.
I arrived back home rather damp around the edges but
at least the sun was out.
Jeannie was planning on going shopping but as soon as she saw the
weather change it was a no brainer.
“Right are we going then?” came the question from the other room
“Yes we can do, thought you were off shopping?”
“It can wait!”
“It can wait!”
Within half an hour we were pulling off the drive
heading for our the “Storey Family Gold Run”
4 Gold Post
Boxes, 3 for Sarah (more to follow on Sarah’s number 4) & one for hubby
Barney. How amazing is that? Plus a quick nip over to Leigh to photograph
Heather Frederiksen’s Gold Post Box.
Tuesday 11th September - Day 6 Daily Mileage 184 – Total 1117
Manchester. Heading around Manchester on the M60 as
opposed to last time riding straight through the centre proved to be a bit quicker and easier but very boring. Not really what I wanted for Jeannie on her first #GoldBoxJourney
as they call it on Twitter. Still I was pleased when I heard Jeannie shout out
with just a touch of excitement
“Look it’s over there in the wall!”
She’d spotted Barneys Gold Post Box in the wall at
the side of Disley Post Office.
“Brilliant, I can’t
do a U-turn here and the sat nav is telling me to carry on. I must have
put Sarah’s Gold Post Box in by mistake”
“It’s OK we can pick it up on the way back”
Pulling Up at The White Lion Pub on Buxton Road I
the wet paint sign and the three cones had gone. It was actually dry this time.
“Right time to “bag” your first Gold Post Box, Sarah
Storey’s”
Off I climbed and stood in the road to get a
cracking photo of J on the bike.
“Right let’s get back to the post office and get
that one”
Jeannie "Bag's" her first Gold Post Box
Sarah Storey Gold medal Women's Cycling: Track C5 Pursuit
Pulling up in the parking bay in front of the post
office there was a Refuse collection truck slap bang in front of the Gold Post
Box. After 3 failed attempts to get the drivers attention. As he was busy
playing on his mobile phone, (they must have been on a break- as his two co-workers
were tucking into 11’s. in the cab). The driver jumped out to ask what was wrong. I explained what we were doing and
could we swap place, and like a true gentleman he did just that.
Once we’d sorted that out the next thing was to get
a good photo. Lo and behold there were two elderly gentlemen one with a
cracking camera who were happy to oblige. They had been trying to ask the
refuse truck driver if he knew where the other Gold Post Box was as he climbed
back in the cab after speaking to us.
So here’s a great big thank you to the nice chap who
took a cracking photo of Jeannie & I in front of Barney Storeys Gold Post
Box.
Market Street Disley
Barney Storey
Gold medal Cycling Track: Men's Individual B 1km Time Trial
Now if you’re in the area, can I just let you into a
secret. The ride between Sarah’s and Barney’s Gold Post Boxes is .3 of a mile.
Sarah’s next Gold Post Box is just 5.3 miles down the road but here’s the thing
it is the most amazing 5 miles I have ridden to date. Beautiful is not a good
enough word to describe the stunning little, single track in places, called
Middlewood Road. The road runs straight through the centre of a wood and
Davenport Golf Course. It is a brilliant little stretch of road, over cobbles in
places, over a single gated railway track through woodland and then into the
stunningly beautiful village of Poynton.
Finding the Gold Post Box in the middle of the
village without a sat nav would have been a nightmare but with the powers of
modern technology we had no such issues.
A quick thank you to the young chap heading back to
school or college for taking the all-important photo, even after your friend had
refused due to being soaked to the skin in his t-shirt. Obviously the plastic
bag on his head hadn’t done its job!
Yew Tree Lane Poynton
Sarah Storey
Gold Medal Cycling Track: Women's Individual C4-5 500m Time Trial
Next stop, Eccles. Here’s me praising said sat nav
when it takes us all the way around Manchester on the M60 adding 5 miles to the
route. Then at the exact moment it needs to point me in the right direction on
the roundabout, decides to sulk & promptly freezes, great! Luckily I had a
good idea which exit to take and within 2 minutes we were pulling up at the
side of Sarah’s third Gold Post Box (Yes I know she won 4 Gold’s just bear with
me) to get a quick photo.
I’d like to thank the chap sat in his car watching
me take the picture and valiantly getting out to take a picture of the two of
us, but he didn’t so I won’t bother!
Eccles Old Road Eccles
Sarah Storey Gold medal Cycling Track: Women's Individual C5 Pursuit
It was at this point that Jeannie fessed up that she
was soaked to the bone, well to be 100% accurate, she had a wet backside. So
decision time it was 11 miles up the road to Leigh or 20 miles straight home.
Leigh won.
Now talk about a nightmare. The ride across the
Great East Lanc’s Road was a doddle. Zigzagging through Leigh’s side streets
was horrendous both into and out of the town. It was like a mini American style
grid with constantly changing traffic priorities. One word, bonkers. Still
Heathers Gold Post Box stands proud even if it is on the other side of the
street to the co-ordinates on a particular site who will remain nameless for
reasons that will become clear very soon.
Market Place Leigh
Heather Frederiksen Gold Medal Swimming: Women's 100m Backstroke, S8
“Right that’s the last photo taken for this morning,
what now?”
“Home please, it’s been great but I should have
bought those new waterproof trousers last week in Fleetwood Yamaha”
“OK, I’ll drop you off and head over to Leeds and
Skipton for the last two of the day”
Heading back across the East Lancs I shouted over
to see if Jeannie fancied lunch out at the Wine Press at the side of
Hollingworth Lake.
“That would be nice” came the positive reply.
I’d forgotten to mention as we rode away from
Barneys Gold Post Box for some strange reason we lost com’s and so the rest of
the ride had been done with just one way
communication. J could hear me
but I could not hear her, “Bliss” you may say but no fun at all for J
listening to me berate all the mobile phone users, the drivers that pullback in
front of you so close you can smell there fag smoke, the strange folk who just
sit at traffic lights way after they have turned green because they are simply in a
world of their own.
Don’t you just love riding Raymondo?
Lunch was very nice thank you, Whitebait starter for
me Smoked Salmon for Jeannie.
Cheeseburger with Bacon and chunky fries for me,
Mushroom Risotto for Jeannie.
Cola, Diet Tonic & a Coffee, “that’ll be £35
please………………….. and a bloated feeling for half an hour. Bliss.
Leeds. A quick pit stop at home to drop Jeannie off
after “bagging” her first 5 Gold Post Boxes and getting her #GoldBoxJourney off
to a flying start. I was off over to Rawdon on the outskirts of Leeds. A little
deja vu crept in as the Gold Post Box is located 1 mile up the road from
Horsforth where I had visited last week. Still I was just about to clear all
the local Gold Post Boxes or so I thought. It only took just over half an hour
to get there as the M62 car park was clear for the first time in months,
result. Mind there are quite a few night closures planned so beware travellers!
Town Street Rawdon
David Stone Gold medal Cycling: Mixed T 1-2 Road Race
Skipton. As I was alone there was no reason to find
someone to take the photo so within 2 minutes of arriving at David Stones Gold
Post Box I was off again. Mind it was in a really nice location on the corner
of the street right at the side of the street name sign. Whereas Danielle
Brown’s Gold Post Box is slap bang in the middle of town. As look would have it
there was a lady in a BMW X5 parked at the front of the taxi rank waiting for
her little children to post a couple of post cards in the Gold Post Box so I
quickly pulled up in front of her and jumped off, took the photo and was back
on Mr T in a flash. Mission accomplished!
Swadford Street Skipton
Danielle Brown Gold medal Archery: Women's Individual Compound - Open
The ride home was very enjoyable as I took the back
roads over to Accrington to call in at Winfields as I knew that have a café
with a few Motorbikes on display. Plus I’ve been after buying a Leatherman Wave
Multi Tool for a while & I know they stock a very good selection.
Just my luck, the Leatherman I wanted was the only
one not in the sale, typical & to cap it off the café had just closed.
“Time to go straight home me thinks Raymondo” Still it’s been a cracking day
which I’ve loved sharing with Jeannie. Thank you darling for getting involved
and more so for putting up with my current “Obsession”.
Day Six - 6 Gold Post Boxes
“I can’t bloody believe this”
“What now?”
“We missed one……….. ahhhhgggg”
“No, where?”
Unbelievable, I knew there would be 4 Gold Post
Boxes for Sarah Storey and there are, NOW!
Downloading the photos and adding the title, name,
gold medal, event, by looking on Gold
Post Box Finder site it jumped out at me. Sarah Storeys fourth Gold Post Box is
in Maccelsfield just 7.3 miles from where Jeannie & I had been earlier. Unbelievable.
Note to self, do not just rely on Wikipedia for
coordinates double check with Gold Post box Finder too!
So folk’s that way yesterday, “so what’s next?” I
here you ask. Well I’ve been looking at my Mapsource Map of locations and there
are 6 main areas which I intend to cover.
1) Wales
– 7 remaining which will be done in a single
500 mile trip
2) South
West – 16 remaining which will be split into two trips possibly 3
3) London
& Surrounding Area – 24 ish which will be one big 2 day trip
4) Lincoln,
Norfolk, Peterborough – is another day
5) Ashton
& Nottingham - I will do with my Dad also called Ray which means a 120
years’ worth of Ray Walton’s on one bike. How fantastic will that be?
6) Scotland
– 890 mile round trip planned 1 possibly 2 days
7) Sark
– see below
8) Isle
of Man – I’m saving the best till last. More to come on this later.
Right Sark. What a performance, Flights to Guernsey
£300+, chartered boat £3,000 madness!
So when will I be going? Tomorrow Thursday 13th
September is the answer. Cost - £30 return. Now how fantastic is that? Seek
and thou shalt find is my motto. Pool to Guernsey 8.30am returning 9.45pm £30
return on with Condorferries. Outstanding.
Transfer to Sark Late Bird Ticket £18.52 – “Job’s a
Goodun”………………
Last but not least I’d like to thank Dave Avery for
kindly allowing me to park Mr T up on his drive for the very long day’s trip to
Sark via Guernsey.
Dave you are an absolute star, thank you so very
much.
Right folks I need to do a bit of sorting out so
until the next time, happy #GoldBoxJourney’s everyone.
