I took off on the Bank Holiday Monday and headed North to ride around Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and even a little of Warwickshire. I had to skip some of the tourist places as there were still very busy.
I then travelled over to the Shire Camping site at Oxhill. A brilliant little site with very good facilitates (hot showers 24/7 were a definite hit). Harry the owner was an excellent host and the site was now empty of Bank Holiday campers save for a couple of pitches. Next morning (Tuesday) I did a bit more touring around after a quick breakfast in Banbury. In the afternoon David arrived and we settled in with supper and a few drinks.
The 3rd day (Wednesday) David and I did yet another loop of the countryside following a great breakfast at the Blue Bean Coffee Shop in Shipton-on-Stour. On the way we had a cuppa at the Broadway Tower and yet another at Gilkes's Cafe in Kineton. We arrive back at the campsite to find that we were the only campers left, so we rearranged the benches to get out of the chilly wind and awaited the arrival of Greg and Melanie who had been touring North Wales.
Once they arrive we lit a bonfire and cooked our supper and finished off any drinks left over as glass bottles were not allowed at the Overland Event next day.
An early start on the Thursday as we stopped for breakfast at McD in Banbury and then rode down to the event near Oxford. David and I had volunteered to assist with setting up and then at 5pm we became paying event goers. I met many an old friend during the event and made some new ones. Its a great event with many traders and food stalls (I didn't cook a single meal) and I have a waistline to prove it.
Tiffany arranged another "Pimms Party" for those of us that were at the Overland Xpo Event in the USA 2016/18. I even met with the irrepressible Mary Motorcycle (I collected her BSA in bits and transported to to Travel Dri near Okehampton where Craig and Maxx restored it for her. She rode the bike around the world in 1967 ( introducing-motorcycle-may ).
I returned to Ringwood and Greg and Melanie followed on the Sunday and then they stayed with us until they rode down to Plymouth to catch a ferry to Spain and then rode to Portugal to store the bike before flying back to the USA.
