It’s Friday morning and it’s rally time again (isn’t it always?). I’m meeting up for breakfast before the off. Five of us are riding up to Ladram Bay, all on 2 strokes, what could possibly go wrong?
Once we’re off the M27 the ride through the New Forest into Dorset and Devon is fantastic. The weather’s chilly but bright, and with the sun shining, we make good progress along the Jurassic Coast, mingling with some of the Poole Inner Circle on the way up.
A fatal error
We made our second and final fuel stop (it’s about 120 miles from Pompey), stop for coffee, or in my case a yummy orange-flavoured hot chocolate, I’m definitely living the dream.
Unfortunately, one of our troop made a fatal error. I won’t name names, we’ll just call him ‘Dave’. Well ‘Dave’ says ‘We’re doing really well, no problems or breakdowns…’ It’s not so much the kiss of death; it’s more like a big smack on the lips. We got within about 10 miles of Ladram Bay. Yes, you’ve guessed it, in front of me, the Lambretta ‘Dave’ was riding started to backfire, and quickly ground to a halt (OK, hands up all of you that thought ‘Dave’ was me!). It wasn’t in a great place either, a long, fast single-carriageway with no pavement. Fortunately, there was a farm gate nearly opposite, so we took cover from the traffic there.
It wasn’t long before we discovered the flywheel had tried to escape and the scoot was FUBAR. Now there’s a whole other story to go along with this, but time dictates it’ll have to be told at various pubs and bars next year.
We, minus ‘Dave’ make it to the caravan park without further incident, and ‘Dave’ arrives some hours later. We booked into the site and headed to the caravan, meeting many other fellow travellers along the way.
Revs Per Minute
A few drinks later our band of merry drunks wandered off to the bar for more drinks. I caught Friday evening’s band, 77 RPM, more from the entrance to the venue than actually seeing them as I was doing a gate shift for SWSC. They sounded great though.
Friday drew to a close, but before you know it, it’s time for breakfast!
Retail therapy
I’m probably keener on getting a nice full English than my compatriots, no doubt due to the relative amounts of alcohol consumed.
Then it’s off to the parts fair and I come out with a nice new set of Malossi SIP caliper brake pads, who says parts fairs are all porkpie hats and Jam posters?
Budgie smugglers
Ladram Bay has a fabulous little beach, and though it’s not exactly sunbathing weather a walk along the beach is most definitely recommended to clear the cobwebs away.
Saturday evening brings more bands (and alcohol), The Iscolators (well that’s what the flyer said) are great, and clearly are having fun on stage.
The end is nigh
A break between bands, gave me just enough time to top up my alcohol level, and then we had the great Heavy Sol. In case you don’t know, they’re a fantastic soul/mod covers band and they always go down well wherever they play.
Finally, it’s time for bed after what once again has been a great rally and getting better every year. And with that my rally season was over for another year, see you at Dawlish in March.
Words and photos: Booga
SLUK Shopping
With Christmas fast approaching, be sure to check the SLUK Shop for gift ideas, we also have various items available for those winter rebuilds. From riding kit, to cylinder kits we’ve got you covered.
