Flood Drive (19 January 2003)

It was the first drive of the year and the portents weren't looking too good... I arrived at Heston Services on the M4, only to be greeted by a flood of water across the entrance to the car park. Maybe we should have taken the hint and turned around and gone home at this point, but the arrival of four other cars (one with an MG driver as a passenger) convinced me that it would take more than a drop of water to stop a WLA drive!

So off we set, back onto the M4 with all the spray, but just for a couple of junctions to the Windsor exit. Our route then switched to a mixture of A and B roads, passing through Twyford, Sonning and Sonning Common. After an hour on the road we made a quick stop to re-group and have a drink at the Dog & Partridge in Peppard. Only when we stopped did I realise that we'd visited the same pub on a drive just over a year before. I remember the food being very good, but alas, we were a bit early for lunch and had plenty more miles to cover.

The weather had brightened up while in the pub, so we just had to get the tops down for the next stage. Jarvis and his girlfriend were on their first event and probably thought we were joking about getting the tops down - but they succumbed to peer pressure quite easily. We headed towards Wallingford, then onto one of my favourite roads - the B4009 - taking us through Goring, Streatley, and almost to Newbury. Along the way we encountered several floods and some horses. Lunch stop was in Wantage at a pub called the Bell Inn - food took a while to arrive, but boy was there a lot of it!

Suitably refreshed, we continued our journey to the White Horse monument on the hills in the Lambourn Downs. A quick look at the sights (on foot!) and then we made our way around the Downs and back to the M4 at Chievely services for a well earned hot drink. Then we said our goodbyes and headed back home.

by Bob Pain