Black Country M.A.G.
"Back from the Dead 2"
30th May - 1st June. 2003.
This
time Black Country MAG decided to move a little closer to home -
a grand total of 17 miles in my case. The last time this
place was used for a rally was a fair few years back when the All
Nations M.C.C. used to hold their rallies there. The 'new'
gaffer seemed a decent enough chappie, he even owns a Harley, but
we didn't hold that against him. The one thing that
did annoy me slightly was the price of the beer. John
Smiths at £ 2-10, Marstons Pedigree at £2-40. These kind
of prices might work further South, but they don't go down well
here on the edge of the Black Country. Just as a
comparison, I saw John Smiths advertised at £ 1 per pint whilst
on my travels that same weekend.
Anyway, enough of my moaning. I
rolled up Friday night and booked in, most of the other
Moonshiners were already set up at the bottom of the field.
The next hour or so was spent wandering around and seeing who's
who, so to speak. Now seeing as I had a load of
'essential' things to do on Saturday morning, I didn't bother
camping, well, it's only a 17 mile ride back home.
Saturday morning, and what a morning.
Looked like being the hottest day of the year so far. I
wobbled around on the Little Green Guzzi, doing the things I had
to do, then met up with a few other Moonshiners, the plan being
to head for the rally. In a way, the plan worked - we did
eventually make it to the rally site, it just took a little
longer than we thought.
Myself and Mark, headed North to the cafe at Whitchurch, where
a quick cuppa was the order of the day. We then carried on
towards the coast, and were most pleased to hit the A 55, mainly
due to the temperature dropping by a good ten degrees. It
seemed the coast was the place to be, cool enough to be
refreshing, not too hot and stuffy to be uncomfortable. A
swift stop at the fabric mills in Mostyn proved useful - I
managed to grab enough tiger-coloured material to make a new set
of curtains for the 'mobile dog kennel', with enough left over
for all sorts of silliness.
Rhyl was the next stop, for dinner, then
onwards along the coast to Llandudno, and the Great Ormes
Head. We had a slight panic when Mark's Harley stopped
charging. Luckily this turned out to be nothing more than a
loose battery terminal. We then swung back inland towards
Betws Y Coed, followed the A 5 through Llangollen. By
around eight o' clock we were feeling hungry again, so another
food stop was in order.
The last few miles along the A5 convinced
me that the lights on the Guzzi could do with an upgrade ( which,
funnily enough, I have just done ). By ten thirty, we
rolled up back at the rally site. It had only taken us most
of the day and 273 miles, but a day spent riding is never a day
wasted, in my opinion.
According to 'those who know', the best
part of 70 people booked in, the Moonshiners managed to take the
club turnout award, and the rally was pronounced a success.
Considering I didn't spend more than about two hours on site, I
can still say I enjoyed the rally . . . I suppose I'd best finish
this and drag myself up to the Black Country MAG meeting and get
the 'official' verdict.
Cheers.
^..^
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