No shortage of idiots

My Third outing within a week took me a bit further afield and was 'interesting' to say the least, for it was the day the idiots started panic buying fuel. I had fueled up the day before and had a decent range left in the tank, after my Manston trip, certainly plenty to cover the 120  odd miles to Beachy Head and back, my destination on that day. I'd heard on the radio that BP had said they had some issues with getting fuel supplies out but I don't think anyone expected what happened shortly after that announcement.

I was desperate to get out, it was warm and the sun was shining again but I couldn't think of anywhere to go. The longer I pondered, the less distance I would be able to cover, as time was ticking on. Looking at Google maps for inspiration, I quite by chance, came across a marker for a Bomber Command Memorial at Beachy Head. Memorial info.  That was it, I'd head down to the seaside. I quickly knocked up a scenic route, togged up and set off, grabbing a couple of packets of crisps on my way out, a light lunch.

Needless to say Tomtom took a different route than I had anticipated, the downside of having too few waypoints on a route but not to worry, it was a pleasant ride nonetheless. Pleasant until I reached Kipping's Cross on the A21, where the traffic came to a standstill, blocking 2 roundabouts. Luckily I managed to weave my way through and get back to open road once more but then it struck me, the jams were caused by people queuing for the BP petrol station. As my journey continued, there were 2 or 3 similar experiences, with roads/junctions barely moving, blocked with lines of vehicles queuing for fuel. Crazy. It never ceases to amaze me the number of people who have no clue how the mechanics of supply and demand works. Maybe it should be taught in schools at an early age, so future generations won't have to go through this madness. Toilet roll, etc, last Spring, fuel now and most likely turkeys in the run up to Christmas.

With Tomtom having  taken me HER way, it was my turn to deviate from the route. I did this by missing my turning off a roundabout. Tomtom recalculated the route but rather than having me do a u-turn, she took me to a point beyond my missed turnoff and one of my waypoints. I only realised this a short distance from the waypoint, having turned left, when logic said I needed to go right. If you have a waypoint marked, she'll take you there regardless! It wasted a few minutes but I was soon back on track and in Eastbourne, at the seaside. The late summer sun had brought quite a few people out, and I felt quite chilled cruising along the prom watching the crowds. A few miles the other side of Eastbourne is Beachy Head.

Beachy Head and Lighthouse

There's a big pay and display car park at the Head, no motorcycle spaces though, so I parked up at the end of the car park, right by an ice cream van.  I made a quick visit to the loo, then set off in search of the memorial. As you might expect, being on top of a cliff, it was very windy, which, despite the sun, was quite chilly.

I hadn't expected the memorial to be quite so close to the edge of the cliff, so walked right past it without realising. My walk took me to something else interesting though, an old signaling point, now with seats in it, that had been used by the Royal Observer Corps during WWII. A plaque commemorates the job done by the ROC and other forces staff on that point or nearby. What an amazing, if somewhat scary view they must have had, watching thousands of German bombers overhead. A great place for an air show.

Beachy Head Signaling Station

British Forces plaque

 

With a little help from google maps, I located the Bomber Command Memorial. No wonder I'd missed it. It is out of sight of the main path, down a slope and near the edge of the cliff. It has a great view out over the channel.

Moving on from the memorial, I made my way back to the car park, grabbed my crisps and found a seat out of the wind. As I sat munching my 'lunch', I couldn't help feel I was being watched.

Steven Seagull

There was nothing doing this time for Steven, with no Grizzly to feed him chips! Sitting contemplating whether to have an ice cream or not, I suddenly heard the unmistakable sound of a merlin engine. Quickly I scoured the sky until I found the source, a Spitfire coming from the west, which circled around, before heading back whence it had come. My mind made up, I got myself an ice cream and returned to my bench. We'll, it's practically the law isn't it?, to have an ice cream at the seaside. Cone consumed, I made another toilet trip, then set off for home. 

The route back was different from that down and totally down to Tomtom, as I hadn't put in any waypoints for the journey back. I'd been on the road about 30 minutes, when I came across a queue of traffic. It was a fairly narrow road, not to mention with a police car in queue, so filtering passed was slow going. I wondered what the cause could be. Then, the penny dropped. A good thing about Tomtom is, that it shows you fuel stations along your route. One look at the route and I could see there was a fuel station about a mile up ahead. Slowly but surely I rode into Horam and filtering by, got within sight of the petrol station. It was utter chaos. Cars waiting in both directions to get onto the small forecourt. A guy on the forecourt was doing his best to direct cars to the pumps. In front of me was a lorry. He suddenly went round the queue, all sitting indicating to turn into the petrol station. I followed. When he stopped, I nipped around him, only to be confronted with another lorry and a long queue of cars behind, coming towards me on my side of the road! I was now sitting in between 2 lorries with only one place to go. Luckily for me the kerb wasn't too high, so I rode up it and onto the narrow pavement. As I did so, another guy from the petrol station came walking passed me. "Fucking madness " he said. He was like the pied piper but leading a line of vehicles.

The Horam Pavement. Don't recall a bollard. 

 I rode along the pavement for about 100 metres, before my side of the road became clear again and I could get back on it. I did so but had to stop, as I'd picked up a bit of branch on the pavement, which was sticking out just behind the front wheel. With that disentangled, I was on my way. Heaven knows how long it took to clear that mess, and all because people had panicked unnecessarily. A small issue with BP in a matter of hours, became a crisis across the country, despite what anybody said. The panic buyers created the problem that they thought existed and we were all screwed.

The rest of the journey was fairly uneventful. Back home, I bedded Ginny down and went inside to watch the chaos on the news. It was just incredible the way it blew up. I've not had to put any fuel in the car yet, as I still have about half a tank and Ginny has not been out since. She has about 80 mile range left. I don't expect to use that anytime soon. Hopefully things will be back to normal soon.