Time to get up and head north (again). This time, it’s a little different as I’m heading to the Nottingham Vespa Club’s 60th anniversary rally.
Wow, although they’d been going as a club for a few years they held their first rally in 1965. That was when The Beatles were in the charts, milk was 9 1/2d, and beer was 2s 4d. Fast forward to 2025, and I have no idea who’s in the charts. Milk is 75p a pint, and beer is simply expensive.
Anyway, it’s a bit of a trek, so I leave reasonably early for my ride up to Nottinghamshire.
Operator error
Somewhat surprisingly I had a relatively incident-free ride up, even missing the predicted rain. Although I had one, too close for comfort, near miss. Coming off the slip road onto the M1, I nearly lost an argument to a lorry that ‘appeared from nowhere’, actually it had been there all the time, and I only saw it when I did my lifesaver! Hard brake, and I managed to tuck in behind it. Close, but no cigar (or maybe that should read ‘no sarcophagus’).
Anyway, apart from swearing at every average speed camera for the last 15-20 miles of my trip, the rest of the ride was completely uneventful.
Dib dib
I arrived at the rally site, Walesby Forest, which is a scout camp located just over 20 miles north of Nottingham. Iggy actually went camping here with The Cubs back in 1978!
Walesby is an activity centre set in 250 acres of forest, and it’s fantastic. It has camping, as well as a limited number of lodges. A few years ago, VFM used it as their venue for Strictly Scooters – a much less sedate weekend!
A family affair
Once the tent was up, it was time to catch up with everyone. Now, I need to point out that a Vespa Club of Britain rally isn’t like a National. It’s more like a family get-together, where you meet up with family you haven’t seen for ages, or meet the family you never knew you had.
Show us your cog
Then it was time for food, a nice curry from the canteen, which was free! Afterwards, it was time to wander to the bar to catch up with everybody and check out each other’s cogs.
More free food!
Saturday morning arrived and it was (free) breakfast time. After breakfast, there was time to relax and do some more catching up – or, in the case of this chap, probably time to do some online shopping for a more suitable tent.
Ride out
The weather turned a little overnight, and it was cloudy, but so far, there had been little rain. Normally I don’t bother with rideouts, but as the one organised for Saturday was only about 30 miles, with (free again) pizza waiting at the pub we were heading for, I decided to enjoy the ride.
Beautiful countryside
And what a ride it was, through forests, country lanes and genuinely lovely countryside. Once at the pub, we enjoyed our pizza, and then… The rain came! And then some! For about 15 or 20 minutes, we sat inside while it poured down. To say we timed it well is an understatement. The rain stopped and back out we go.
Nottingham lad, Colin with his new MP3, illness forced him to give up two wheels recently
Free BBQ
Once back at the rally site, we settled down and relaxed before it was (free!) BBQ time. It was yummy, so much so I went back for seconds, then thirds, then fourths!
Jimcan’tya!
We were lucky with the weather; it rained on and off, but mostly, we weren’t caught out in it. The only thing that it really affected was the 50s style gymkhana. You know, the sort; we’ve all seen them on YouTube, jousting, riding over seesaws and the like. It had to be cancelled as the ground was far too wet to safely ride on. So the gymkhana became a jimcan’tya!
The evening was spent in the clubhouse, with Rob Quartermain stepping in for the original DJ, who’d been taken ill a couple of days before. Then it was back to the tent as I had to leave early in the morning.
All in all I have to say well done to Andy Butler and the volunteers who managed to organise a small but perfectly formed rally. Nice one.
Words and photos: Booga
