Middle Wicket Rally

9^th/10^th October

The Silent Few MCC have two rallies at this site, one in the spring and one at the end of the year. Last year was my first visit, and damn good fun it was too, and our attempt to get to the spring rally failed due to excessive wind. Not the beans variety but weatherly gales which after blowing Giddy's VFR over we took as a sign from god not to go.

So it was with great enthusiasm that we gathered outside the Railway Tavern on Saturday afternoon for the trip down. As is usual with the Darlington Contingent the 1:00 ends up with us leaving at 2:00.

Six of us set of together;

Giddy - VFR750

Smugger and Lisa - GSX1400

Shag - TRX850

B - GSX750F

Me - R1150GS

Dav, Sue and ectoplasm

And off to the A167. Giddy and Smugger have both been at the red meat again and from leaving Darlington things are particularly manic but cos it's twisty they ain't getting away!

Sometime after Northallerton I decide to chill back a bit and ride the rest of the way at a (slightly) more licence preserving speed with Shag and B., I've know Shag for more years than I care to remember but have never ridden to a rally with him so it'll be a first.

On we go; A61, Ripon, A61 (top entertainment to start with but soon gets spoilt by heavy traffic and double white lines), A59 (getting very bored now so start to take in the view - pretty good) and then after a little town and motorway chaos we're at the site.

We won and award for something or other - greatest collection of fuckwits in one place I think.
Smugger drank it ....

It doesn't look anything special, just a cricket pitch in a town with a few tents and bikes. As with all these things though it's the people that make it and this rally obviously attracts the better sort because I have a hoot of a time.

Due to excessive consumption of falling down water I can't remember everything that happened during the evening or for that matter in which order things did happen but some highlights are recorded below for your edification.

Dancing at various times to the band and the disco - both good.
Riff Raff, the band for the evening, churning out a good collection of rock covers.
Some brilliant stuff been played by the disco (well I liked it).
Wandering into the bogs and finding some guy sat on the bog without trousers and the door open and another playing with a ball and chain.
Winning a club award, not too sure what for.
Outlasting Giddy The Elder in the drinking stakes - a scary and slightly worrying development.
Some bloke wandering about without his trousers on and his tackle hanging out. (could be the same guy as above). This seems to be a worrying development at rallies - Or is it just me?

But enough of this weirdness, a good time was had by all until around 2:00am I realised I had lost the plot sufficiently to justify heading to my trusty sleeping bag for some well earned Z's.

It's very late and past their bedtime...

Sunday morning is not a pretty sight. I make an initial but futile attempt at wakefulness around 8:00am but soon give up and return to sleep till a more realistic hour.

I try again around 10:00am and I've sobered up enough to have a hangover.

Breakfast consists of coffee, paracetamol, bananas and croissants. OK so the last two items might not be part of a traditional rally breakfast but it's what I brought with me - been a veggie can lead to breakfast problems at some of the smaller rallies. As it was I would have been fine at this one due to it having a proper servery kind of thing...

It's well after midday before the majority of the Darlington contingent are capable of leaving. I say majority because Dave & Lisa managed an early start to get back for a free feed while Dav was only just emerging from his tent as we left....

The ride back is almost sensible.