Well, that was a fairly mad weekend.
I worked Friday up until about 3 and then headed off to my brother's house to pick up his sidecar. My kit was all packed and ready in the van so it was a doddle to swap everything over, get togged up and set off for the annual rally in Shropshire.
I'd decided on a scenic route through Wales as this was the outfit's first long run and I didn't want to just belt it up dual carriageways. After crossing the Brecon Beacons I travelled alongside Llangorse lake and ended up on the road to Hay on Wye. Just short of Hay I turned off onto the Hereford road and stopped off for fuel. This revealed that the ER5 outfit was returning a very reasonable 45mpg and that's on standard gearing. I reckon a one tooth less front sprocket will improve matters. This consumption was achieved on a combination of dual carriageways, twisty A roads and steep climbs so I was pleased with that.
I passed Baskerville Hall (site of a previous Annual Rally) and made good time to Hereford. I had chosen to take a smaller A road due north to Bucknell and this was a delight as I hustled the rig around one fast sweeper after another. I came across an open-fronted roadside garage full of dusty 70s Vauxhalls and it made me laugh. Here in my city the owner would have barricaded these up to prevent endless enquiries. There's a little Riley parked on a drive around the corner from my house with a big note in the window reading "NO! It's NOT for Sale!". Apparently things in rural Shropshire are different.
I arrived at the site to find it full of happy rallyists and it was great to see so many old friends. With my tent up and the kettle on it was time to wander around kicking tyres and swapping stories. Eventually we all decamped into the pub and had a jolly time.
I was double booked this weekend as I was due to attend a party in Newport on Saturday night. It was the tenth wedding anniversary of club stalwart Simon Birch and I had to go. The original plan was to do the rideout and then set off south, but sense prevailed and I opted to have a leisurely ride home so, as the field emptied as riders went on the two rideouts, I packed up, said goodbye to the three sole stay-behinds and got going. As I left I saw a bloody Delorean in the car park and learned later that it belonged to club blagger-in-chief Andy Duncan. Top man!
On the way home I stopped off at an old haunt of mine, the slightly eccentric Strand cafe in Talgarth. Armed with a copy of the Guardian I sat down for a very enjoyable (and rare) hour of reading and eating a fry up.
I got home in time to put away my camping kit and get togged up for the party. I had arranged to bunk at Simon's house and so I parked up there and we all set off for a nice evening of beer, buffet food and catching up with more old friends.
The previous night at the rally I had been feeling a little out of sorts and only had three or four pints. Normally when I'm at a rally or party I can drink until the bitter end but I didn't really enjoy my last pint and was happy to call it a night. The same thing happened at Simon's party and I started to feel very tired too. I spoke to wifey and she agreed to come and collect me. This was fine until she ignored the one thing I had told her about the route and she ended up on the A449... for the seven miles or so to the first chance to turn around
However, after several amusingly stressed-out phone calls I got her turned around and all ended well.
Sunday started well with a long run followed by a hot shower before I tucked into my porridge. Mrs Onepot was booked (with the kids) to walk up Sugar Loaf mountain near Abergavenny and this tied in well with her dropping me back to Simon's to collect the outfit. In the end we got the rig and we all went off to do the walk. It was a perfect day for it and soon we were sat with a large group of fellow parents and my sons' schoolmates on top enjoying the fantastic view. Son number one Dylan romped up a good five minutes ahead of me, which bodes badly for the coming years of parenthood.
Once off the mountain I was alone again on the sidecar and had the freedom to take a scenic route back to my brother's house in Penarth to swap the rig back for the stinky works van.
I paid the price for my long solo ride by being press-ganged into knocking up junk food for the kids and a chow mien for Mrs Onepot's supper. After that I was relegated to the box-room to watch a dull MotoGP on our other telly. They have to do something about the number of riders on the grid eh?
All in all a great weekend. Thanks to Boyd and Mart for doing such a good job with the rally. Thanks to Silverfox for the loan of a nice sidecar outfit and thanks to Mrs Onepot for not saying it was my fault she took a 14 mile diversion
GC
