Berrow '99 Daily Report

Day 8: Saturday 25th September 1999

Here it is, the all important Last Saturday at Berrow. And as luck would have it, the weather actually improved today! Got down to the beach at 10am, people were setting up buggies and kites in the sunshine, but there was hardly any wind! The skies were still slightly overcast and rain threatened a few times, but mostly held off.

Being the Slow-Bo I had to get out onto the beach to buggy, and I did it! A few trips down to the muddy bit and back and I was ready, for Buggy Safari to the Lighthouse, with Brian! We made it into the second section of beach, where the wind promptly died, it started to rain and it looked like we would never get any further up the beach. Meanwhile one of the races was just about to start, so we had two options: grab all the stuff and walk back to the car, or go for the Lighthouse!...

...Boy, is it a long way to the Lighthouse! (about 2 miles I think, I don't know for sure as my speedometer got full of sand and stopped working immediately after we had got back to the main beach!) It was quite slow going on the way, through lots of muddy sand and streams that were actually like small rivers by the time you got up to them! This was the point where I discovered that my "waterproof trousers" were not actually waterproof (try not to think about that one!)

On the way back we found a lovely dry, smooth section of sand and whizzed along! Wahay! This is what we had been waiting for all week! Raced Gary Tyrrell back to the main beach. For some reason he didn't like it when I overtook him (hee hee) but he came after us in hot pursuit and only got past me when one of my lines snagged on one of the groynes. We all returned to the main beach with "Terminal Buggy Grin", muddy clothes and aching limbs. And Brian wanted to go again!!

So I will have to apologise for the lack of photos, but I was out buggying - so there! I did manage to get photos of one race, again this was amusing as there was almost no wind and lots of entrants all trying to get through the start gate at once!

And finally, the Berrow 99 Auction - always fun, and for a good cause. The Auction ended with an attempted world record on "stuffing fizzy Flying Saucers down your neck and drinking beer at the same time" (see below). All participants were last seen foaming at the mouth...