What is this you ask?
This is what we had above us most of the weekend.
And after last years debacle at the hands of Doningtons Dick Turpin Enterprises it's back home where it belongs and all the better for it. Even the weather was booked, hot and sunny all weekend with extreme bake selected by mid afternoon every day.
Friday lunchtime saw Lindsey and I meeting up with Aurora at Scotch Corner for that thrilling ride down the A1. My thoughts exactly, the ride down is utter crap cos it's so boring but at least it's not cold or wet. In fact it's about as far from it as possible, slow down and you start to bake, even with ventilated leathers it's hot.
Once on site I strip off my leathers before even contemplating the tent it's that hot. Once pitched we settle back and await the arrival of other WIMAs and the Darlington Contingent. The sites filling up rapidly but we manage to hang onto enough space and by early evening we're all sorted. Let the party begin.
Looking sooo cool (or so he thinks)
After much gibbering and drinking we all head down to the central arena to see the bands. Headlining are the Levellers who do there stuff as well as ever although the mix is set to drum'n'bass which kinda takes the edge off things a bit. MikeyJ goes into his usual dancing frenzy but returns to base camp about half way through, he continues to boogie though. I've lost track of Lindsey, Bev and the other WIMAs, it turns out they have been down the front boogieing the whole time!
Once the bands finish I stagger back to the tents soon to be joined by Giddy and Xemina, Giddy and I have just started gibbering when the girls come back, I'm amazed Lindsey has lasted out this long considering the amount of vodka she consumed earlier on - perhaps she's training for greater things in WIMA (although to be honest to pack away as much vodka as Granny you need to start training from an early age).
Saturday dawns slightly cool and cloudy which means we can stay in our tents that bit longer. By late morning however it's got it's act together and the temperature is rocketing, time to ride. Lindsey and I are joined by Andy and Christine (FJ1200) who have never been over the cat'n'fiddle road - we decide something must be done about this immeditely. Denzil by this time is onto his umpteenth beer of the day and lecturing anyone daft enough to listen on the secret of staying not too drunk and not too sober - I decide to reserve judgement on this and see how they all are when we get back.
The site looking kinda busy, yet cool, although in fact it was hot.
As normal the roads into and around the Peak District are busy but Lindsey knows the back roads so it's a magical mystery tour to the start of the cat'n'fiddle. We gas up, have another bottle of juice to combat dehydration then set off, the road is almost empty so we have a most pleasant thrash over the twists and turns of this legenary road. All too soon it's over, both Lindsey and I remark that it seems much shorter than it used to be, I guess we've been spoilt by Scotland too much this year. Andy is quite impressed and proves Fudges do handle, even two up, once you've done some things to the suspension.
After lunch and at the supermarket and a chance to to use some soap and hot water (rufty, tufty bikers us tha' knows) we set off for a short tour round the Peak stopping occationally for icecream and stuff. It's all very pleasant and we end up in Matlock Bath to stock up on essential supplies and to visit a pub for a well deserved pint before returning to the rally.
A well deserved ice-cream somewhere in the Peak
True to his words of wizdom Denzil is still bouncing about and showing no signs of flagging and before we have stopped has pointed out that Lindseys back wheel is smoking like a good 'un, brake pads well fucked and another few miles would have trashed the disk as well. Deciding there is nowt we can do about it right now beer is opened and the party continues.
The bands are not as good tonight - well without the Levellers how could they be? I can remember some heavy metal band doing their stuff, I can't remember the singer putting one foot on the monitor but I'm sure he wanted to! The next band sounded a bit better but still not my cup of tea, Girlschool were on next I think but by his time I was utterly mashed and happily talking bollox with Andy about life, the universe and everything.
It's Sunday morning and nobody is going to church. Somebody is still riding around site at 6:00am on a Harley with open pipes, perhaps it's God (who may or may not ride a Harley) having a bit of fun with us. By 8:30 the heat of the tent overcomes the hangover and I forced, bleary eyed into the world, everybody else seems to be suffering the same symptoms.
Over the next few hours we get ourselves organised and packed before climbing into too hot leathers and setting off for the long and tedious run north up the A1.
All over till next year.