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The first rally that the Welsh have held was at Tonna Rugby Club near Neath in South Wales (just near Swansea if your geography is poor). With the reputation of the British weather and mix that with reason that Wales is so gorgeously green and lush, we expected a good dousing of fine English rain - maybe even some Welsh stuff too. We weren't disappointed either, as traveling down on Friday 13th seems to summon any Rain-God in the neighbourhood! I know, I'm daft for polishing my bike and it's all my fault...still it proved my old waterproofs don't leak eh? A good 3½ hour ride got us to the rugby club, where it wasn't raining (seems it stopped there and just rained in England - typical!). Anyway it looked as though everybody was coming up to look at the bike as this was the first time most of them had seen it in the flesh. "Andre's gonna be pissed when he sees that" said a voice from the crowd, and sure enough Andre was over in a flash, looking over Midnight Thunder and taking the proverbial jovial route of congratulations. (Andre has a wonderful purple Royal Star that has been winning awards for ages.) Most seem to have heard of the Americana exploits and the Best Dressed Harley award, which was fun for me to hear. Other chaps wanted to know how to remove the Air Injection System, which is dead easy. Loadsa questions came to me but I had to erect the tent before it all went dark and rainy. By the time Angie and I got to the bar, the disco had already started, one raffle had taken place and burgers/pies/chips were on sale at the food counter. Hooray, the beer was cheap and well taken advantage of by, it seems, most of the crowd. Just over 300 people came to this rally which was just brilliant. We found some friends, Janice and Tony, from last years Outriders rally. Poor old Tony had blown an oil seal just arriving, so his Saturday was going to be spent repairing the bike.
Oh, what a rainstorm we had during the night - thunder and lightning too. It's great to think you're camping out there in natures wonderland wondering when your tent's going to get washed away. Still we all survived the deluge and it was a terrific morning that we woke up to. Rushed to the brekky queue, swilled it down with a couple of cups of tea and discovered where to go on the days Poker Run.
This should be a 68 mile ride, said the sheet of paper - which is OK so long as you don't get lost, which is why they put phone numbers on the top in case anything went wrong. I only know of one mishap which was when John Byrning rang back to control to say that he'd broken his clutch lever and could someone bring him one over. Please remember to let control know where you're ringing from if this happens to you won't you? As the main M&P store is only down the road in Swansea various spares were obtained readily and everyone was kept happy.
Ah, well - I thought I had the last photo's but it seems that good old Tomo has sent me a picture of some nutter with his shirt off. I wonder who it is? Click here if you want to see it as we don't want to offend anyone's eyes now do we? (Bloomin' birthday boys...) Off to Barnsley Custom & Classic Bike Show next weekend.
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The Welsh hospitality flowed on and on into the night, with everybody having had a great time. Notices were up showing breakfast could be had for £2.50 - just get there before 10.00am. Also there was to be a Poker Run the next day. This involves getting directions of a route and randomly picking cards from cards from five different check points. The best Poker hand drawn wins a prize. All good fun and you get to see some great parts of the countryside as well - just watch out for the sheep! I think I remember lots of bleating and baa-ing during the night, but not in our tent, honest.
I managed to sell Scouse the spare rear mudguard I had, and was promptly relieved of almost half to pay for the Hartlepool rally, next month. (Thanks Paul). The rest of the afternoon was spent with a beer in one hand and a polishing cloth in the other. I didn't realise how therapeutic this can be. Angie on the other hand had a good old chat and occasional snooze in the midday sun, very nice and chilled.
On to the night time then. A Band, disco, raffle, awards, dancing, prancing, wiggling and giggling - you know the stuff. If there was a prize for the best leggings then this young lady would have won.
We spotted our chairman dancing on the chairs with a couple of lovelies, and it just turned out that it was my birthday the next day, so I ended up celebrating big style.
Now, It was Tomo's leaving do as he's moving off to Gibraltar, the lucky lad. As the VSOC webmaster, he had gained a bit of a reputation with the ladies, who were now able to restore some justice on to the lad, being bound in cling film to a pole, stripped and then covered in cream and foam.
Hope you enjoyed it mate. You look like you did...
This
was the last photo of the night, as I'd have probably lost the camera, so Angie took it back and we all carried on well into the early hours. The band were fantastic with at least 4 encores that I can recall. As the disco played a few of us got on to the stage and had a great time. It got so hot that our tops were off (not a pretty sight, but at least we kept our dignity), and we finally got the organisers on to the stage for a well deserved bow and round of applause. For eight people to put this rally together deserves credit. WELL DONE CHAPS AND CHAPESSES! Looking forward to your next one in four years time.