Day 2 on the 'Follow the Blue Dot' Tour

** Route Plan

START: 7am - Clacton - Royal Hotel, 1 Marine Parade E, CO15 1PU

FUEL: Saxmundham - Shell, Main Road IP17 1LF

PHOTOS/MEET: Gt Yarmouth - St Nicholas Car Park, S Beach Parade NR30 3JP (30-45 mins)

FUEL: Norwich - Shell, Yarmouth Rd, NR13 5AR

FUEL: King's Lynn - Shell, A47 / Saddle Bow PE34 3LW

FUEL: Newark - Shell, A17 / Winthorpe Roundabout NG24 2NY

PHOTOS / MEET: Newark - Showground, Lincoln Rd, Coddington, NG24 2NY (30-45 mins)

FUEL: Skegness - Texaco, A158 / Burgh Rd PE25 2RJ

PHOTOS: Skegness - Pier / Scarborough Esplanade PE25 1BF

STOP: Skegness - Royal Hotel, Drummond Rd PE25 3EH

MEET: 7pm - Skegness - The Courthouse, 30 Roman Bank PE25 2SG

** Here we go again

Henry & Beef Riding - Clacton to Great Yarmouth to Newark to Skegness.

We left Clacton pretty much on time which was just as well, as the Day 2 route was designed to have the most mileage in a single day of the whole tour.  By 9am we were at our first fuel stop at Saxmundham and just after 10am we were pulling up in Great Yarmouth. 

Great Yarmouth hosted rallies every year from 1981 to '89 and was Henry's first national rally in 1986. It was a bit epic as he rode a standard Series 1, with L Plates and it took him a whopping eight hours after losing his travelling companions in Tunbridge Wells - a mere 30 miles from home - when they all decided to use motorways. He was such a good, law-abiding boy!  For me and most other scooterists, this rally was a great favourite; for one thing, the venues seemed to be more scooterist friendly than a lot of other towns and everyone has memories (fond or otherwise) of The Long Bar, the Barking Smack and Tiffanys - sadly none of which are there any more. The campsite(s) were also not quite as shocking as some of the others and for the majority of those nine years, camping was located in St Nicholas Car Park - where at least you could walk to most places and the evening dos were all in Tiffs and generally pretty good - there was at least one notable exception that I wont go into!!! 

We parked in the road outside St Nicholas Car Park and debated whether or not to pay parking charges (oh how times change), before deciding that we were only stopping for a few photos and didn't bother... we're all just bloody rebels!  It was a bit surreal to be there; it was also really quiet (until we arrived) with no scooters or hordes of scooterists milling around.  Beef did have his first panel off moment but I was assured it was 'just to check'! So there we were, standing around, taking pictures and talking crap when we saw local resident Andy Saggers who I recognised from way back when and who had walked over to say hello. And then something else fabulous happened ... out from the corner of the car park itself, a Maicoletta appeared, ridden by my old friend Darren English who had come over from Bedfordshire to meet us. I'm not sure how long he had been waiting (sorry mate) but he joined us for a few pictures and then rode with us as we set off towards our next destination.    

As I was driving along, somewhere near Spalding, I spotted another scooter sitting at the side of the road and it wasn't long before the lovely Graham Fisher joined us and we had two Lambrettas and two Maicolettas in convoy with the two vans. At some point, Darren peeled off to head home but Graham carried on with us and I actually got to say hello to him when we got to Newark. The Newark & Notts Showground was the venue of a rally in 1984 so the entrance was a logical place for a photoshoot / meeting point. After fuelling up about a mile away, we made our way to the gates where we were met by two fabulous friends Big N (Neil Potter) and Dawesy (Simon Dawes) - both of whom are Newark based scooterists who had brought along some much needed supplies - drinks, crisps, chocolate and sausage rolls - like a red cross parcel, only better! And it all went in the van that I just happened to be driving! We were also joined by Andy Gillard (of Scooter Nova) and Gary Thomas (ex Scootering) so we took the obligatory photos before getting back on the road.  At this point in the day, we had done over 200 miles and broken the back of the day's mileage but still had 60 miles to go ... at about 10 miles to go though, the boys hit a bit of a bump in the road (literally). As I was driving the advance van, I was some way ahead of everyone else and was slavishly following my sat nav based on the information in Henry's route plan ... unfortunately, we may have had our sat nav parameters set somewhat differently as my route ended up being completely normal, humdrum almost. It was however, somewhat different to the alternative route suggested to Henry by his Sat Nag; a bit of a bumpy one by all accounts and a route that Henry describes as being more like taking a ride at Alton Towers than riding on an actual road. 

Skegness hosted four of the national rallies in the 1980s - from 1981 to 1984. At at least two of these rallies had the scooterists camped out on the Northshore car park - you may have noticed that there's a bit of theme going on here! I think I did one of the four (I've had a drink since then) but Henry didn't do any of them and 'the tour' was the one and only time he has been there. So far! 

It wasn't long before we made it into Skegness and pulled in to a petrol station to fill up ready for the next day. We were met there by the incredibly supportive Robin Quartermain and the lovely Female Scooterist Sam Gee who led us down to the sea front for our photo shoot. Sam then showed us the way to our hotel where, with 506.3 miles clocked up, we locked the scooters up and checked in - looking forward to a hot shower and a nice meal. This nirvana wasn't to be however, as Robin had arranged an evening do with DJ and raffle as well as a visit by the Mayor and town mascot (which wasn't weird at all).  So we bravely sacrificed our nice meal for the greater good (who else repeated 'the greater good' in a West Country accent?) and headed over to the The Courthouse where Robin, Sam,  Simon and other local scooterists had set up some decks and were spinning some tunes; we had a chat with the Mayor, took some pictures with the town mascot and even won some prizes in the raffle.  After a drink or three though, we really needed to revisit the food situation and for the second time in 2 days, found ourselves dining in a 'Spoons before walking back to the hotel and retiring for the evening.  

**It is worth noting here that Robin supported us right from the moment we went live. I created the FB page and published the (rough) route on 11th October 2023 - by 22nd October, Robin had sorted a venue out for the do, created his own FB event and started spreading the word ably supported by Sam Gee.  It was this kind of support that made the whole thing as epic and memorable as it was!