Right, it seems Devonshire St nearby has The Thin White Duke and Connelly's Bar, then there is the Griffin toward the station....

Think thin white duke has more interesting gin but I can't drink as I m on call
Expect everywhere will be busy

You may not be the only one Jack...yes at that time it'll be hotting up

I am now driving into town from outside so one of us, ME, will also be alcohol free!
Meeting up with everyone beforehand is a nice idea.

@G_man: no, in the French Thing[tm].

@Bob: Thought you were booked in the Ibis? I know Anita had some discussion with Trish.

Currently fighting off two bloody great Alsations and - count 'em - ten cats at Niece's in Barnsley.

Neil

Ok plan A is to head for the Griffin on the corner near Rob's at 1800, as it's nearby and seems to have tables for groups, also a good range of ales 'off-the-wood'

Sounds like a plan Simon And the weekend weather doesn't appear to be holding any shocks for travelling either so what could possibly go wrong

You're buying the drinks for that

The North Sea in winter is a very uneasy body of water... there's a reason they build oil rigs fifty metres above the water!

No problem Simon bearing in mind most appear to be on softies

A terrific evening as ever (not finished for some )

Delicious and generous fare from Rob and his super-crew, (the best prosciutto I've ever tasted) and scintillating company on a surprisingly mild night compared to our past experiences of sleet or driving rain.

Bob, and Paul, can you check your bag with the Otto model please, one of you has a card in it which I forgot to extract

Not quite sure how it will proceed on its journey, it may end up short of its destination (I don't think I'll be seeing either of you at the Wetherspoons place for morning coffee).

Oh and Bob can you post a link for that footage "on the road' you showed me?

Just to say - the torta di cioccolatta (sp?) at Rob's is _out of this world_

Neil

A heartfelt thanks to everyone for making the annual pilgrimage, from north, south, overseas and Wales
It’s always humbling to host a fantastic bunch of people, all brought together by the love/hate/anxiety and stress of owning one of these cars!

On behalf of myself, Angelo and all the staff, we wish you all a safe journey home and a peaceful Christmas

Fabulous to catch up with everyone last night. As has been said, huge thanks to Rob and his team. The food and service were fabulous, as always.

Journey back was thankfully uneventful and after our detour we are reunited with the laptop.

I will take a look in the car in the morning, to see if I have a card. The items are packed right at the back of the boot and we will need to take everything out. We are currently very rural though so it is pitch black outside and there are very strong gale force winds at the moment too. Really hope Neil and Anita don't have these for their ferry crossing

Oh and with regards the videos. We don't currently have a broadband connection, farmer thinks the mast has been moved / damaged!

I will see if I can get links on my phone but that signal too is only just working, if I stand by the window

EDIT Hopefully there should be some working links on a page in the members section now.

Thanks Rob

Best wishes to the team

Paul and Valerie

Many thanks to Rob and his staff, as usual and also my supply of wonderful Bolognese from Rob to take home, it's much appreciated by me and the Grandkids

Nice to see everyone again and especially nice to see Bob and Trish once more, it's been a while.

Good to briefly meet Paul, who I didn't even realise was there until he said goodbye, sorry Paul and Valerie

I finally got to learn and use the cruise control on the Alfa and I must say how brilliant it is. The journey was a lot more comfortable than when in the Coupe, although still miss the Coupe loads

Thanks all

Hi Simon,

Checked the bag this morning, no card in there.

Cheers Bob

Must have joined our missing 6 models

Great to meet up with everyone and thanks from me as well to Rob and everyone on the team for another great night . Sorry didn't make the meet yesterday morning but Mrs Gman reminded me we had a Christmas fair at midday that we promised we'd go to

@ Bob - thanks for the reminder about the BCM all these years ago at The Sportsman and here's the link:

https://youtu.be/VKjINtTAR0Q?si=kCHcnyy4PtZT7Y3Z

Mine features near the end with the bonnet up when my radiator ruptured . Twas a cracking day and how many of these mighty coupes are still with us?

Merry Christmas everyone and all the best for 2025

Aaaand now we are back in Potsdam, sixteen days, 4200km, and two dodgy north sea crossings later. It turns out that if you have a following wind as we did, you can get from Carlisle to Potsdam on one tank of fuel!

For the whole trip, 250 litres of fuel (call it around £320, I didn't log it), one ferry (turns out I'm not as athletic as I used to be, so upgraded the cabin from bunks to a bed for the trip back) for around £500, and one night in a hotel for about £100 - plus lots of borrowing relations' spare bedrooms... five xmas dinners, 120 miles of roadworks on the M1, thirty miles of roadworks between Hemel and Cambridge... between Amsterdam and Potsdam there were two roadworks, total under 20km, and the only traffic jam was at the German border where they have to look as if they're inspecting things to keep the nazi party AFD from stirring things up.

The trip across the water was not as smooth as it might have been, and I really hope the someone in a nearby cabin who was really suffering was the same one who decided to have a shouting match at half past one in the morning

Regards to all who made it - a bigger crowd than previous years - and a repeat of my earlier public service message: the chocolate tart at Rob's is amazing
Neil

An epic journey Neil and glad you're both back safe and sound I suppose turkey is NOT on the menu in the Barnacle household on Christmas then