Mar 15, 2024
You all hate estate agents so why not use this opportunity to beat the route planned by one! A no nonsense route of 55 miles on Landranger Maps 172 & 183 put together by Duncan Stonier starting and finishing in his home village of Timsbury, about 6 miles South West of Bath.
The date is Friday 15th March with the first car away at about 7.30pm, this is the last 12 Car of the Bath MC winter season. It’ll be a busy evening for you using some of the best lanes in the area, no whites and all checked in his Mini.
Two classes, one being marked maps for beginners, the other for everyone else! To keep the playing field level, anyone using marked maps will have a 10 minute handicap penalty but the overall win is open to any competitor. Everyone else will be on Plot’n’Bash using a mixture of instructions but designed to keep it fun, not mind-bending! There will be a number of short sections to keep you honest and accurate map reading will be the order of the day.
Being an estate agent, Duncan thinks there should be a useful prize so he’ll donate a £40 Majestic Wine voucher to the winning crew.
Regulations will be available shortly, any questions in advance to Duncan on 07831 877326 or duncanstonier@gmail.com.
Ten crews entered the Timsbury 12 Car run by member Duncan Stonier (his first one as an organiser) based at the hall on the edge of the village. Crews were greeted by his wife Mandy who’d not only prepared welcome teas and coffees but was also on car park duty! Sadly we lost one crew at the start with car issues so Diane Whittock flagged away nine starters at just after 8pm.
The route of 50 miles was split into seven sections, the first one being just over two miles long so crews were in the thick of it straight away. The lanes were typically narrow and well washed after all of the rain with one re-route required after inspection earlier in the day due to flooding. The crews were taken on a compact tour of the area which included Paulton, the edge of Radstock, Peasedown St John, down into the myriad of lanes around Foxcote, out beyond Kilmersdon, back past Babbington House, through Faulkland, Wellow, Priston and on to Englishcombe. A final leg from Newton St Loe to Farmborough via Stanton Prior got the first crews back to Timsbury by 10pm. Two crews used marked maps with the remaining brave souls using handouts containing a mixture of navigation instructions.
Despite an error in the instructions at Peasedown which was sorted in the results, most crews managed to navigate the Foxcote section and then had a fairly uneventful if brisk run through the rest of the route returning to Timsbury to be greeted by sandwiches and cake which had most certainly been earned!
On this occasion, the marked map crews were subject to a 10 minute penalty from the outset to keep the results fair which when calculated, gave us a joint first place between two plot and bash crews, Jerry Pennell /Dan Stone and Giles Pursey and Mark Dunkerley. As per the regulations, Jerry and Dan took the honours (and the £40 Majestic Wine vouchers donated by Stonier Hobbs estate agents!) on the basis of furthest/cleanest.
Duncan was keen that this should be a social as well as competitive event and the Conygre Hall at Timsbury proved to be an excellent venue with plenty of space for cars and crew. The last crews headed home just after 11pm. He wants to publicly thank the marshalls that were out in the dark and Nick Chapman for sorting the results. Special mention of Dave Clifford is deserved for helping Duncan set up the controls and (18!) route check boards earlier in the day then collecting them all that night with Taff Evans.
