Autumn is definitely here as the near freezing overnight temperatures before the Eddie Webb Mystery Tour on Sunday the 7th of October let us all know. Two meeting points, one at Banbury and the other at Bicester, made for an easy start for those of us who live near these two towns. Although advertised as a Mystery, we all knew we were heading for the Hell-Fire Caves at West Wycombe.
After the usual amusing pedestrian version of teaching those not used to the drop off system how it is supposed to work, around 15 bikes set off into the appropriate mist for a mystery run. Turning off the A41, just after Waddesdon, the road climbed up into the Chiltern hills, the low clouds made riding a challenge as visibility dropped to a few hundred yards (sorry, metres for the youngsters). With the damp fog clinging to the trees of the forested sections this really was becoming very spooky! No one wanted to lose sight of the bike in front for fear of becoming a lost soul in the wilds of Buckinghamshire. The usual magnificent views being reduced to the tail light of the bike in front and the ghostly outline of the rider.
Arriving at the Caves without losing any ‘souls’, in fact we gained a couple more who had ridden directly to the site, the main problem was how to park a motorcycle on the steep slope of the car park. Warming drinks had us ready to venture into the mouth of the cave and read the stories of its construction, the goings on of the Hell-Fire Club and Sir Francis Dashwood.
Only those with torches or flash guns could see the ghostly skeletons above their heads as they walked into the damp and creepy tunnels. No one admitted to seeing any ghosts but the eerie gloom makes shadows seem like apparitions. One little child wouldn’t enter the caves as the motorcyclists were exiting because the retro-reflective sections of their clothing made them look like animated skeletons appearing from the gloom into the daylight.
How Eddie managed to organise such spooky weather for this mystery tour to these ghostly caves I don’t know but it all made for a fun run.
Great ride out……..thanks Eddie