30 July - 4 August
We originally met Rod and Alison in Wellington last year when they were introduced to us by our very good friend Lynda. (Lynda is the Secretary of the Ducati owner's club in NZ and Rod and Alison are Ducati nuts, so when they were planning to come to NZ on holiday they made email contact with Lynda and we were subsequently introduced when they arrived).

It was lovely to see them again in their home village of Temple Cloud and wonderful to be shown around Wells, The Cheddar Gorge and Bath. One of the highlight sof our trip was to see the UK round of the World Superbikes at Brands Hatch on Sunday where Rod was hopeful that he would be able to introduce us to Frankie Chili. We have both followed Frankie during his career - G for different reasons to N (see the smile on my face on the photo with me and Frankie!) and even though he is now retired from racing he still has a large involvement with the World Superbike scene. So, thanks to Rod, it was very exciting to get the chance to meet Frankie, although very briefly as he was rushing about inbetween races. We were also very lucky for Frankie to give us Ducati team paddock passes, so we could get to see some of the racers close up.

The trip to Brands Hatch was a day of mixed emotions though, the high being able to meet Frankie but unfortunately a rather large low when we heard of the death of Craig Jones who had died after a crash during the Supersport race.

But thanks to Rod and Alison for everything and a great time in Somerset, a lovely place to spend my birthday. Hopefully see them again in NZ one day.