Racing on a wing and a prayer

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away. Oops, sorry, going off on a tangent there.

Yesterday was a days racing at Hexham, for those of you saying where? Hexham is a market town 20 miles west of Newcastle.

Living, as I do, in Milton Keynes a day trip to Hexham turns into a major logistical exercise. At the end of the day you are faced with three options all pretty similar in terms of cost.

Option one was to drive, a 516 mile round trip which my sat-nav says would be 4½ hours each way, total cost about £70 for petrol.

Option two was to catch the train. Unfortunately Milton Keynes is on the West Coast mainline and Hexham is near the East Coast. The options would then be to either get the train via London or a 1¼ drive to get the train from Peterborough, still a 3½ hour journey. Total cost about £65. (£45 train fare, £10 parking and about a tenner for petrol)

Option three was to fly. A 45 minute flight from Stansted to Newcastle then a couple of trains to get to the course. Total cost £74.50 (£47 flight, £17.50 parking and £10 petrol)

In the end I opted to fly and so I was at Stansted, after setting off from home at 06:30, having gone through security and trying to find a Racing Post in Smith’s when I get a text. “Hexham holding an inspection following overnight rain.”

Bugger what do I do, I could wait for the result of the inspection but then possibly miss the flight or I could continue to Newcastle and hope the course passes an inspection. The alternative didn’t bear thinking about – just how does one kill a spare, midweek day in Newcastle?

In the end I decided to chance it and caught the flight.

Have you noticed, when they make the safety announcements, they say do not use your mobile phone until you are well inside the terminal building. Well, I’ll tell you, my mobile was on as soon as they opened the door of the plane and I was sure as hell relieved to pick up a message saying racing was on – it wasn’t to be a wasted journey after all.

Or was it?

Once outside Newcastle itself the view from the train window was becoming quite attractive, however one thing was worrying me, it looked quite misty outside and I remembered that Hexham was perched on top of a hill.

My foreboding increased as the free bus crawled, and I mean crawled, its way up the hill. All of a sudden it was looking very misty, no make that foggy.

I was thinking I had come all this way and I was going to be thwarted by a Brighton like fog. Luckily as the coach broached the top of the hill the fog did thin out, certainly enough for racing to go ahead.

Hexham is what can best be described as a Spartan course. ( http://www.ors-racing.co.uk/Hexham.html ) and that is also a description that can be applied to its culinary offerings as well. By mid afternoon having not had anything decent to eat all day I made the choice to cut my losses with the racing and head back to Newcastle for a bite to eat.

Now Hexham kindly provide a free bus service between the station and the course, however the only bus back is after the last race. Therefore if I wanted to escape early it was to be a case of walking – yes me actually walking – at least it was all downhill. I was knackered by the time I reached Hexham station and dying for a cup of tea or something. There was a very nice café on the station, of course it was closed.

I eventually did manage to get a meal and very nice it was too. The flight home was on time, actually I lie, it arrived at Stansted 20 minutes early – well done Easyjet, credit where credit is due.

It was lashing with rain and of course I was parked in the open, about as far away from the terminal as it is possible to get. Why is it a 75 minute drive seems to take twice as long when you are soaked through?

I eventually go home just after ten, 15½ hours after setting out.
Was it worth such a long day just to watch five mediocre races – yes it was!!!