Ace Cafe & Brighton Run

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Daves Bike  Nice  Ace Cafe  Abbey Point  Claire  Ace Cafe at night

Jim & Elaine  Nelson Column  Trafalgar Square  London Tour  Dave & Claire  Brighton

Brighton getting busy  Rat Trike  Trike  Nice Scooter  Nice Goldwing  BRIGHTON 09 010.jpg (281050 bytes)

Jim & Elaine  Hmmm what to have  What clean trainers  Ace Cafe  Strange window  Looks like ya tied the knot

Bob & Ang  Room with a view  The stud  Can't park there Laine  Must be a mate of Jims  More skelly bobs

Was Dracula there  Nice Bikes  Triton  Brigton  We are the mods  Nice Wing

 

Ace Cafι /Brighton Run / 59 club Anniversary

  This was the annual    Ace Cafι  London to Brighton  run , which coincided with the 50th Anniversary of the 59 Club

  The ride this year sadly didn`t see the same numbers ride from Nottingham as last year , despite early planning . The planned numbers did however help Martin secure a fantastic deal with the hotel which we all benefited from………. Thanks Martin / Barb….. pity you couldn`t make it ..

            Friday Morning saw Claire and Myself tanked up ( petrol )  with our trusty Drifter  sporting big saddle bags to carry 4 days worth of toiletries , u/wear and of course the hairdryer down to Brighton . Arriving early at Trowell we bought a couple of coffees ( they ought to have been wearing Wayne`s skellybob mask with what they charged me  … robbers  ) and waited for the posse to Arrive.

            Jim n Laine first , Rob n Ange next then Wayne and ……. Mrs Wayne ( sorry duck memory like a sieve ) . We set off at 11;00 as planned and had a nice cruise down the M1 in lovely sunshine ….. all excited . A surprisingly quick hour saw us pulling into the Services for a ½ tank of petrol and a fag break.. no rush . Another 45 minutes cruising and we were stopping at the London Gateway Services , just before the end of M1 . These Services just happen to have a  “Burger  King ! “  ( serves you right for asking me to lead ) and as it was around 13;00 , time for dinner . Well fed and watered we only had another 35 minutes or so on the road before we were at the Ace with an hour or so to chill before booking in to our digs   Abbey Point      …. Thanks Rob n Ange .

            Now , if anybody has seen one of those wildlife films where a pride of Lions rip into a herd of Wilderbeast ……..  or a school of sharks attack defenceless seals just offshore …… then you have seen Wayne n Jim at the Ace gift shop ( sorry lads  just joking ….. not ) . I think we all bought a few bits n pices , badges n Patches , hoodies etc   and then just to be fair   I bought Claire a teatowel to brighten up her time at the sink .. .  The bikes arriving were from all over Europe , new and old  , standard and custom and a nice hour or so was spent looking . The tents started to fill the grassy bank opposite . 15;15 saw us needing to book in , and even the roughest and toughest biker sometimes needs a little afternoon nap …   Bless .  A nice evening with a few beers at the Ace , more bikes to look at and not too late a night saw the close of day one .

            Saturday Morning , great breakfast and ready for our cruise into London , Trafalgar Square . Ned n Jo turned up as planned , but didn`t fancy the London run after only 10 mins of arrival …. Planned to see em in Brighton . There must have been around 120 + bikes lining up for the ride at 10;00 , with four High Vis Marshals leading us in, in batches of 30 ish . Again , nice Sunshine , reasonable traffic and 30 minutes later we are cruising around Nelsons Column …….. (  Oooooo  Errrrrr ) . Now here comes the good bit ….  Because it`s the 59 Club Anniversary , and the 59 Club is Church Based …. The Church of “St Peter in the Field”  ……. Right next to Trafalgar Square ….. opened its gates and let us park there until around 13;00 . That’s central London , free parking , 2 hours   Nice ..  We relaxed in the Sunshine around Trafalgar Square for a while , had a few tourists take our photo`s  ( we didn`t charge em !! ) , then got ready for a cruise into Brighton…

            Bikes suitably blessed by the vicar ,Wayne Leading , with his Sat Nav wedged in his Jacket , had us cruising Saturday afternoon past Horseguards Parade ,  Downing Street , Big Ben and Houses of Parliament , with the London eye clearly off to our Left as we followed the Thames down to Vauxhall Bridge . Over the Bridge we soon found the A 23 , Nice one Wayne , and now not too far to Brighton . Doh !!  Brixton High Street , Saturday afternoon , Fantastic food smells , but stop start stop start traffic for a good 20 minutes with buses , vans and cars not too bothered about bikes or anybody else for that matter . Clear of outer London , the road opened up and a nice run . A petrol / fag stop at Pease Pottage services ( End of M23 remember Jim .. )  had us only 25 minutes from Brighton . A text from Jo and a return call  ( Neds phone safely tucked up at home )  gave us a dιjΰ vu moment ….. the hotel were refusing to let bikes park in their underground car park ( remember the problems last year ) . Arrived expecting grief only to find Jo had sorted it all out with their head office , sent the manager home with a migraine , and negotiated FREE parking for the rest of us  ….. Nice one Ned n Jo .  Rooms ..  Cock On n showers just Brilliant …. Evening meal booked for 19;30 . Unfortunately this is where Wayne didn`t manage to sort out any digs for the night …. So had a nice long ride up the motorway and an early bath at home .. pity you couldn`t stop .  Evening meal finished , we had a walk to a beachfront bar for overpriced warm beer accompanied by a loud funky DJ ( their words not mine ) . Onwards to good old reliable  Weatherspoons … quite busy , nice beer , and a pleasant view of never ending breasts teetering on high heels up and down the road ( its Saturday Night remember )  . Off to  bee bies … busy day tomorrow.

            Sunday , Brighton , nice Sunshine , great breakfast . We all did our own thing in the morning , with Ned N Jo heading homewards for work on Monday . A look around the “ Lanes” for us , then down the front to see the bikes rolling in , and rolling in and rolling in !!. There was a steady stream of bikes cruising in all Morning and nearly all Afternoon .   They were parked ALL along the front .. miles of em , then all along the headland , then on the pavements  etc etc …Cruisers , Customs , Tourers , Plastic and some amusing Rat bikes nice to see .Even the scooters were worth a look  , with my favourite being one stripped of bodywork and sporting  “clip ons “ , yes on a scooter .. whatever next …. Men dressed as Women …… this is Brighton . Claire found her Skellybob helmet  , had a look on the Pier then met up again with Jim-Laine-Rob n Ange for a nice beer in the “ cricketers” , oldest pub in Brighton etc etc … must call back later . Sunday night , Walkabout , Globe and back to Cricketers .

            Monday , Breakfast , Sun still shining Rob-Ange-Jim n Laine load up , check out and set off for steady run home , with Claire and me deciding to check out the Marina for a while . So impressed we had a pint in the sunshine overlooking the boats before we tanked up ( petrol again )  and set off up the A23 , clockwise on M25 ( no services ) onto M1 and into Toddington Services for a break , having rode nearly 2  hours we had easily passed ½ way home . Another stop at Leicester Forest for pee pee and home for 16;40   ……………  Nice

  Doing it all again next year,  Not sure if we`ll get same deal at hotel      Join us    …..    DS

  Ps   picture this  ……… sorry Laine ….

  So there we are , me , Rob, Claire and Ange , in the hotel Lift, waiting for the doors to close and take us up to our rooms , when I notice Jim n Laine coming into the Hotel entrance through the  REVOLVING  DOORS  ….   Our lift doors just start to close when I notice Laine  …. At full pace  …….. decide to exit the revolving doors prematurely …..….. through the solid plate glass panels ……….. Bless ……….. she bounced off the door like a rubber ball  , spectacles at                28 degrees to horizontal  ….. one lens missing  she looked at Jim for help ….. !!   Jim is so proud that he didn`t laugh , but I`m sorry I can`t say the same …..  Thankfully  Laine wasn`t hurt and had a good giggle later ……   Jeremy Beadle would have paid us a fortune …..

I WOULD LIKE TO THANK DAVE STONE FOR THIS REPORT & PHOTO'S