The 'Annie' Calls Again
It has been a little while since the Classics Crew have done the Gentle Annie. In fact it has been a couple of years and the memories of that run certainly encouraged a return journey. It looks as though a few others in the group were of a like mind as eleven of us fronted up to Memorial Park at 9 o'clock one Sunday morning. The weather was certainly positive with fine weather forecast and only a small chance of rain later in the afternoon. It was definitely a mixture of men and machines with classics through to moderns and youngish to more mature gentlemen swinging legs over there machines. We were soon heading down Napier Road to Hawkes Bay the long way; via Taihape! Unfortunately, Roger had to leave us at this point as his recently acquired Moto Guzzi 500 decided it would share some oil with the big wide world through its rocker cover so he headed home to curb its sharing behaviour. With Sir Al in the lead we were soon passing Stormy Point and looking towards the mountains with no inclement weather in sight and the thought of coffees at Taihape BP urged the crew on.
The scene at BP was one of business plus with cars, motorcycles and people galore. The Wild Bean Cafe was definitely selling a lot of beans that morning. After fuelling up bodies and machines and saying goodbye to Mick on his Buell, we headed north out of Taihape to begin our eastward journey to The Bay. We were quickly into it with a never ending procession corners. If you haven't done the Annie, make sure you add it to your bucket list, or if you have, add it to your annual 'must do rides'. With a breather at Ngamahanga ,we made good time over the Annie and at Fern Hill we were greeted with the sight of of a couple of Mr Plods seemingly heading over the Annie and fortunately taking no interest in us. It might have been a different story earlier on.
A dash and splash into Hastings soon had us on our way to our lunch stop at Tikokino Tavern. It was a popular place where refreshments and food were taken onboard by the troops with a number of sea food platters disappearing, washed down with an ale or coffee. It was a great yarn session but we still had an hour or so of riding to get home and were soon back on the bikes and heading south. With the sun dipping lower and growing awareness of what a few months out of the saddle does to your rear end Sir Al and I decided on a brief stop in Woodville for a walk around. We were soon on our way again over the ranges and it was interesting to see the progress being made with the Te Ahu o Turanga highway They have certainly moved a lot of dirt around!
A great day out and definitely a good nights sleep was had and some more wonderful experiences for the memory bank.
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