Sunday 14th March 2010.
Afghan Hero’s, Wootton Bassett.

There were 6 of us that took part in the Afghan Hero’s ride through Wootton Basset on Mothers Day.

We meet up at the South Mimms Service at 06:45 hours. We being, Alan, Ken, Barry, Phil, Mike Dignum (ex member) and myself.
Just before I got to South Mimms I had noticed on a motorway sign that the M4 was closed between junctions 14 and 15. This was our route to Hullavington Airfield, the start of the ride through Wootton Bassett.
Over a coffee at South Mimms we agreed to ride to Hullavington Airfield via the M40 and the Oxford Services before cutting across country.
We departed South Mimms in good conditions, it was just a bit chilly.

Mike and myself got separated from the rest of the group at a roundabout, we had to stop and let a load of bikers come around the roundabout who had the right of way.
We kept our group in sight from afar before we lost them at another roundabout.
Mike and I made our way to Hullavington Airfield via the M4, following a little way behind the rest of our group.

As we left the motorway at J17 we then joined the thousands of bikers descending on the airfield. This last mile seemed to take an age.
The Police were letting bikers onto the airfield from both directions, which made the gap between us and the rest of the group even larger.

We got onto the airfield and all the bikers were formed up in columns of two along the length of the runway. Beside this column was formed a second and then a third and so on until the runway was filled from side to side and along it’s entire length.
We saw the rest of our group already formed up on the runway as we rode along to form our column. They were in the 3rd column whilst we were in the fifth column.

We walked back and chatted with Ken and Co. Some pictures were taken on the airfield, not by me, which will be made available once they are downloaded. As you would expect at event like this there were quite an assortment of bikes, which helped whilst waiting for the start of the ride. The weather was kind to us this day. If it had been raining it would have been an unbearable wait for the start of the ride.

Albeit we had an arrival time allocated to us of 09:00 to 10:00 I noticed that there were loads of bikes already here that should not have been on the airfield for another hour or so.

At 11:00am the ride started with column one moving off around the taxiway of the airfield.
Some bikes from adjoining columns left their own column and filtered into the column departing. Obviously no respect for the other bikers waiting their turn. The marshals and Police did what they could to try and stop it from happening, but they couldn’t police the whole column, which was nearly two miles long.
My column eventually moved off at 13:10 hours. Ken’s group obviously departed before Mike and I.
It took about 50 minutes for the ride to and through Wootton Bassett.

We meet up again with Ken and Co and also Graham and Mike O at the Chieveley Services at J13 of the M4.
Graham and Mike O had been out for a ride during the morning and it was arranged for them to meet up with us at Chieveley Services for the return journey.
We had something to drink and eat before setting off home across country.
Everyone was in agreement that it was a good ride to and through Wootton Bassett. I mentioned that it was quite touching that each village we passed through the people were out on the pavement waving and applauding us, the bikers. The villagers also took the trouble to make posters up thanking us.
We all agreed that we were glad we took part in the ride today, we wouldn’t have missed it.

I was asked if I thought if the ride would happen again next year. The answer came back that the wristbands we got today had “Wootton Bassett 2010” on them, so we hope the answer will be yes.

Mike D didn’t join us for the return journey as he had to get home quickly. So he shot off along the M4 and M25.

We set off on the B4009 across country towards Tring. Graham led the way and I brought up the rear.
It was a nice ride on the B4009, some nice turns and straight bits.
We joined the A41 and then had another break at the Services by Berkhamsted.
It was agreed at the Services that people would now make their own way home as people would be peeling off in different directions.

My journey home went without incident and I was in time for a roast dinner.

Thanks everyone for coming on the day/ride.

Roland.