Ring of Red - November 9th 2025 - Afterwards

Today we watched the Remembrance Sunday event from Whitehall in London. It started around 1015.

By 1115 it was pretty much over apart from the veterans passing the Cenotaph and leaving their wreaths.

Since Covid I have been on the Ride, but haven't bothered to blog about it. I am amazed that under the new "management" how numbers have dropped. There's no regalia like wristbands being produced nor much pre-event publicity. Maybe this will be the last one? I have been attending, apart from Covid, since 2013.

I had planned to leave around 1145 to get to  Clacket Lane Services on the M25 around 1245. I needed fuel and planned to stop at Tesco at Willesborough in Ashford and then rejoin the M20. 

I'd decided to start my part of the Ring at Clacket Lane rather than Thurrock, where i usually start, purely to avoid the Dartford Crossing.

Fuel ended up being from BP on Hythe Road as the road to Tesco was closed.... in the end it was the same price per litre. 

Then back on the M20 past Maidstone and onto the M26.  I was passed by a couple on a pair of BMW GS's, they sounded like light aircraft!!

On arrival at Clacket we were directed into the caravan parking.  No vans were displaced.

I took some photos of the assembled bikes and then went in for a coffee. 

We got the shout to be ready to leave at 1325 to join the motorway at 1330.

Usually,  we stick to the left lane, stick to 50mph and space out to let other users enter and exit at junctions.

This year, we joined and everyone shot off at 60mph. Less lane discipline than expected.

At Cobham Services I decided to call it a day. In the end it was easier to get back then expected. The services are on one side of the road accessed by both directions. 

I stopped at Clacket eastbound on the way back. I was in need of a comfort break and a top up with coffee. A little peckish I had some wafers.

I took another of the bike.

I was home around 1530. I got Claire to take a photo of me in my Ring of Red shirt. It comes out once a year...

This blurred picture is me on the M25 and is a screenshot from a video on Facebook. 

The weather helped make it a really enjoyable day.

My dashboard showed the average temperature hovered around 15°C.

Onto next year? With the turnout at some of the start points being very low, maybe there won't be a next time?