Sammy Miller Run ............  

A Good Day in the Forest

 Again, as has been the case so many times this year, the weather looked as if it was going to be a problem.   In the event we had a bright though windy day.   Returning home at the end of the afternoon we ran over wet roads so it seems that we were very lucky.   Myke Tye had organised a very pleasant route through the New Forest from a meeting point at Bolton's Bench outside Lyndhurst.   

By eleven o'clock a group of eight Sevens (which I was taught to be fifty six - sorry) had gathered.   Mike distributed an excellent itinerary with maps, together with question sheets to keep us busy on the way.   Thus we set off down the Beaulieu Road, doing our bit for road safety by keeping the rest of the population down to below the regulation forty mph.   Mike had decreed that there would be no convoy as such, and shortly we had split into two groups, we were tail-end-Charlie of the second.   That was until about half way when we pulled of to find a Last Post.   No - not a trumpeter; a post box!   Ray who had been in front decided that he was better off behind us, as then he did not have to map read as well as drive.   And so it was that Austin Sevens came unto Sammy Miller's Museum.  

It was decided to have lunch first, and we all adjourned to the Tea Rooms where a modestly-priced splendid Sunday Lunch was available.

The Museum itself is an eye-opener.   Some three hundred bike, all of which are spotless, many of them having been restored to a high level, are wonderfully displayed and captioned.   Additionally there is an amount of interesting ephemera interspersed with the bikes, and the three display cabinets of Sammy Miller's  silverware are quite awe inspiring - he has indeed been a true competitor.

So, after a 'wash-up' meeting in the foyer, where deserved thanks were given to Mike for his effort in laying it all on, we set out for home.   

What a good day.

Mike Whittome   May 2005