MAG Western Region
Duk Dik
9th - 11th April. 2004.
Here we go again, another nice sunny
Friday, everything loaded up and ready for the off. What
could possibly go wrong ? Well, the first little problem
was Kath's Ducati ( not the one that's being eaten by rats, but
that's another story ) which decided it wanted a bit of attention
in the battery department. So we sat happily drinking
coffee whilst waiting for the battery charger to do what battery
chargers do best. A prod on the button, and the Ducati was
coaxed into life - next stop, the petrol station. I looked
at my fuel gauge and decided I could easily make the next 70 or
80 miles before needing fuel, so I waited on the road whilst the
others filled up. Our little convoy headed out of the built
up areas and onto the A 449 where we could make decent
progress. I wound the trike up to overtake the slower
moving traffic and the thing decided now would be a good time to
lose power. Oh dear, pull in at the side of the road time
and check things over.
The ignition system was sparking like a
good 'un. The fuel gauge said there was nearly half a
tank. I took a closer look at the fuel line, it appeared
the fuel filter was empty. Ah - have a listen for petrol
sloshing around in the tank - that sounded ominously quiet.
OK - so my fuel gauge is faulty and I'm out of petrol. Soon
cure that one. One of our merry band, Ken, was despatched
in the direction of the nearest garage. One new petrol can
and a gallon of BP's finest later, and we were off. ..........
for all of 200 yards, when the thing stopped again. Right -
let's whip the fuel pump off - that seems in order. Let's
check the fuel pipe from the tank - oh dear, it seems to be
blocked. Nothing that a good set of lungs won't shift, so I
promptly blew back up the fuel line. Success ! Petrol
could now flow happily to the fuel pump. ............ it was a
pity that I'd now flattened the battery trying to start the
thing, and being an automatic it meant that bump starting it was
out of the question. Luckily the "dog kennel"
happens to have a 12 volt car battery on board, so with much
cussing I removed the battery from the kennel and went to fit it
on the trike. Arghh - I had every size spanner except the
one I needed, but ain't that always the way ? With a bit of
struggling I got the trike running again, and we were once more
on our merry way. The nasty little fuel Gremlin struck
another twice before we got to the rally site, the one time being
slap bang in the middle of Ledbury High Street. I bet that
caused a few muttered curses from the cars following us.
The rest of the journey was most
enjoyable. Over the top of the Malvern Hills, down into
Ross on Wye, then through the Forest of Dean and on to the rally
site, just outside of Lydney.
Having done a fair few Duk Dik rallies in
the past, I was quite surprised last year when they held it on a
site that was fairly flat. It had always been a standing
joke that the Duk Dik rally was held on a hillside, preferably
with lots of mud just for good measure. This year they had
gone back to the hillside practice. Ok - so you had a grand
view of the Severn estuary, but it meant sliding out of your
tent. This site would become almost impossible to ride a
bike off should the weather turn to rain. Anyway, despite a
few little setbacks, we had arrived and we soon had everything
set up, camp wise, and went off in search of food. Thanks
to "Munchies" food wagon we were soon fed, and
excellent grub it was too - and reasonably priced, nice one
Munchies, it was appreciated. The rest of Friday was
spent in the infamous "Slippitt Inn" - which as per
normal was selling real beer, as opposed to this nitrogen keg,
Eurofizz rubbish. A few pints of Uley "Old Spot"
was just the thing I needed. . . and at less than £ 2 a pint
folks could afford a quality hangover. ................. .and so
to bed.
Saturday morning, and my first job was to
whip the fuel pickup pipe out of the trike's tank and take a good
look inside. Nope - the inside of the tank was very clean
indeed, the only possible cause could have been the plastic
"top hat" on the end of the pipe sliding down enough to
touch the bottom of the tank and getting held there by the
suction of the fuel pump. We soon cured that by cutting a
large vee in the side of it - that way it can't create a vacuum
and stick. That seemed to have cured the problem seeing has
it hasn't done it since ( crosses fingers ).
Today seemed a good day for a scenic tour of the area, so
off we all went in the direction of Chepstow. We abandoned our various
vehicles in Tesco's car park where one of the more wealthy members could
lend me a tenner. Thanks Ken - you're a star ;-)
Having fed,
the plan was to take the road from Chepstow to Monmouth, via
Tintern Abbey ( A 466 ) as this is an excellent biking
road. The trike had other ideas and promptly refused to
start. This is getting to be a habit. This time it
was a broken low tension wire between the coil and the ignition
unit. A bit of furtive wiggling and away it would go, with
the occasional bout of misfiring just to remind you that it needs
fixing as soon as possible ( I rewired the ignition circuit as
soon as I got back home ).
We just had to stop for a cup of tea and a
slice of cake - it wouldn't be a ride out if we didn't.
From Tintern we carried on to Symonds Yat, then cut through the
forest again back to the rally site.
Saturday night was just as enjoyable as
Friday night - with the added bonus of Stevie and his mandolin
thrown in for good measure.
Sunday morning, and we took a stroll around the site.
Well, a stroll up and down the site to be more accurate.
The one thing about this rally is the diversity of bikes / trikes
that turn up. There's everything from race replicas to
rats, with most other things in between. Some of the paint
work on these machines has to be seen to be appreciated - I'm
afraid photographs don't come close to doing it justice.
By now, the one side of the field was
getting well slippery, with one or two folks having real trouble
trying to ride off. Luckily, as folks were packing their
tents away and left, it meant there was more "virgin"
grass to ride over. As I said earlier - if it had
rained then there would have been problems.
We were in no great hurry to pack away, so we just had a
leisurely sit about until most folks had left.
Our plan for today was to head North and
join the rest of the Moonshiners who were camping at the Engine
and Tender, in Broome, some 75 miles away. Apart from
losing half of our convoy somewhere in Hereford, the plan went
well, even the trike behaved after a fashion. We weren't
too concerned over our missing members, they knew where they were
heading. As it happened, they took the faster route along
the A 49, whilst we trundled along the back roads, but there was
still only about 10 minutes between us at the end. In true
Moonshiner fashion, we headed for the cafe before continuing the
last four miles to the E & T.
Now it just so happened that there was a
feral hairpiece lurking in the pub - this abysmal wig attacked
several folks before the terrifying toupee was finally captured
and put out of it's misery - but I have a feeling it will be
back.
the terrifying toupee strikes again
To the coast - this a way
Bank holiday Monday, and most of our lot were
packing up and heading home. That left three intrepid
Moonshiners, on three intrepid ( insipid, more like ) trikes, so
what better excuse is there for a trip to the coast ?
A delightful scenic tour going over the top of the hill at
Dinas Mawddwy, then along the estuary to Barmouth, where we did
the seaside thing, which involves food and drink, before heading
back along the back roads towards the E & T.
Fifteen wheels on my wagons
Tuesday morning saw us packed up and ready to head back home. The trike had covered 400 plus miles, with more than it's fair share of problems, which have now hopefully been corrected. The MAG rally was most enjoyable apart from that sloping site, which to be honest, will prevent me from going again next year if it's held at the same site, but that aside, a most pleasing weekend away, and after all, ain't that what it's all about ?
Cheers.
^..^
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