Howlin' Wolf M.C.C.
Wobbly Wolf Rally.
1st - 3rd September. 2000
Howlin'
wolf M.C.C. gave the Wobbly Wolf rally a miss last year, but now
it's back, and being held at what seems to be a very good site up
in the Peak District.
I spent Friday morning fitting
a 'new' distributor to the trike, and by 12 o clock I was ready
to roll. I stopped just outside Lichfield and reduced the
trike's tickover speed by 300 rpm to a nice even 900 rpm, then
hit the A 515 towards Buxton.
Of course, it just wouldn't be the same without
the rain, and rain it did, only for a few miles, but it was the
type of rain that takes no prisoners. Good job my
waterproofs were to hand.
The A 515 is one of those roads that is
just as enjoyable on the trike as on a solo bike. Enough
twisty bits to keep you amused, and a fair few straight bits.
By mid afternoon I managed to find the "Rising Sun", a
large hotel on the A 625. I pulled the 'mobile dog kennel'
onto the field and set up camp next to a delightful little trout
stream, complete with delightful little trout swimming to and fro.
Having set up camp, the next thing was food, so I fired
up the cooker and cremated a few 'burnt offerings'. By the
time I had finished my leisurely tea, it was time to head for the
pub. The band for tonight was "Van Hooligan", who
did a good job of keeping everyone entertained.
The "Rising Sun" is
one of those places that is certainly big enough. If you
wanted to 'escape' from the band / disco for a few minutes, then
all you had to do was walk through into the bar area.
I noticed that food, reasonably
priced food, may I add, was available up until the bar closed at
1 a.m. Now that's what I call damn good service.
Bikers always seem to get the munchies around midnight. I
was lucky enough to be sitting by the food area when it was
announced, at around quarter to one, that any food left was free.
Oh dear - another cheese burger disappeared down my hatch.
Having been fed and watered, I wandered off to bed
- - well, it was after 3 a.m.
Saturday morning dawned
bright and early - which is more than I did. I rolled out
of bed around mid day, and set off in search of food. Come
to think of it, I'm pretty good at food searching. Maybe
that's why I'm a fat bastard.
The silly games were taking
place at the rear of the pub, so I wandered over for a look.
Hmmm - carrots ! Hmmm - large tubs of water !
It seems that most silly games involve
people getting wet. Considering most bikers wear
waterproofs in order to arrive nice and dry, why do they just *love*
getting soaked in the silly games ? I noticed the landlady
of the "Rising Sun" was roped in, and duly got a tad
damp.
I took a nose around the bikes
parked at the rear of the pub. There was quite a variety, which
makes a change from all the sports bikes you tend to see these
days.
Saturday afternoon slid into Saturday evening. Tonight's band was "Slingshot", who managed to lose their vocalist. Not to be outdone, they performed their first set without him, fortunately, the guy turned up later.
The evening's silly games started off with an innocent looking 'eat the ice cream' contest. Strange, that ice cream doesn't seem to be melting - Oh - it's the new 'soft fat' ice cream.
Following the silly games were the awards. It made a change to see a German club taking the aggregate mileage - with over 1000 miles each. The pub landlady was presented with "shortest distance travelled - female"
Reports of a strange gentleman, wearing a dress and doing indescribable things to an octopus type creature came to my attention. Being of an inquisitive nature, I went off to see this apparition for myself. Indeed this chap was wearing a dress, a nice tartan one with a dead badger sticking out of his groin.
Don't believe me ? Take a look
It was too late to save the
badger, but the octopus type thingy may just pull through, but
considering the agonizing wail it was letting out whilst
receiving mouth to mouth resuscitation, I doubt it.
Over on the rally field, other
strange things were happening. Someone mentioned fire
breathing dragons - or something similar. So, being of
sound mind and body { stop laughing } I wandered over.
Now *THAT'S* what I call a blow job !
Sunday morning, and time to head for home,
but not until I'd been back to the pub for breakfast. £3
for a full brekky, complete with toast and coffee, just the thing
I needed.
Seeing as I was up in the Peak
District, and the sun was shining, why should I go home the
direct route ? I took the somewhat scenic way back,
covering 120 miles before I finally managed to hit home.
I just love the 'B' roads in the Peak District.
So the Wobbly
Wolf rally returned after a year's break. Was it worth the
wait? In my opinion, yes; the Howlin' Wolf M.C.C. found a
great site in a part of the world that's just made for biking.
The pub was plenty large enough, almost too large considering the
lack of bodies on Friday night. There again, I'm not a
great lover of 'overly large' rallies, but I expected a few more
folks to be there. I enjoyed the ride there, I enjoyed the
rally and I enjoyed the ride back, and when all's said and done,
that's what it's all about.
To the lads and lasses of the
Howlin' Wolf M.C.C. - I'd like to say thanks - and all being well,
I'll see you next year. Cheers.
^..^
Lone Wolf.
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