The small village of Ashover in Derbyshire was the destination for our Saturday night campover magnificently organised by Richard Bailey and Monica Vaughan of the Moto Guzzi Owners Club. The 50 miles or so it took to get there saw Loz, Zak, Matt, Dean and myself enjoying some wonderful roads. I must admit it was probably more enjoyable for everyone other than Loz because he had what's called terminal gearbox failure on his XT. Now this is the bike he's riding up to Iceland on in August. Of course absolutely nobody took the piss, and comments like "If I were you I'd swap it for a Honda C90 for your Icelandic adventure" were never mentioned, and the attempt to stuff his bike into a black bin liner was nothing more than an alcohol inspired figment of the imagination.
Not quite as "brrooom brrooom" as five minutes earlier.
With tents pitched in a farmers field and some beer drunk we wandered off down a convenient public footpath to The Old Poets' Corner. Obviously we weren't exactly there for the good of our health so, and quite rightly so, took it upon ourselves to drink some more beer. The actual main purpose of heading down the pub at four O'clock in the afternoon was to listen to a couple of guest speakers. Lois Pryce who rode a 20,000 mile journey from the top to the bottom of the Americas and more recently rode from north to south of Africa was the first speaker, with Austin Vince being the second. Austin has twice ridden round the world.
Loz's little'un Zak and Lois Pryce
The Old Poets' Corner.
Two hours later, chit chat and heckling over with, it was back to the tents for some culinary delights mustered up on the camping stoves.
Matt (Joey), Loz and Zak (The future of biking)
Now then, tough man Dean (He's only tough because he can eat Dynamite Hot Stag Chilli) has a Thomas The Tank Engine Plate!
Matt (Joey) is on a plate full of chicken curry.
I got a bit more adventurous with sirloin steak marinated in garlic and mustard with a red wine sauce accompanied by sautéed potatoes and mushrooms all wash down with beer and a little red wine. Keith Floyd would be impressed.
The usual round of sillyness.
By 9 O'clock we were back in the Old Poets' to witness some absolutely fantastic music by Crossroads Unplugged. The bass player and singer (below) also happens to be the pub Landlord. The set started off with Eric Clapton's awesome Cocaine and ended with the mighty Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd. Everything in between is a bit of a blur and it's only now I realise I should have taken more video footage for memory jogging purposes.
Bass player, singer and pub gaffer.
Now this guy here on the left of the above picture, who later remarked to me that his legs no longer worked due to excessive beer consumption (And I could clearly see he wasn't making this up) was part of the Moto Guzzi Owners Club. He managed to get himself on stage as it were to play the blues harp with the band. All credit to the guy, he was fantastic. Shortly after this obvious turning point in the evening, drunken crowd enthusiasm saw people elevating themselves to higher levels by dancing on tables and chairs. There was singing (to a fashion), air guitar, ball guitar (see video below), air drums, air harmonica, air tambourines and jiggly titties. Oh yes it was all going on.
Top left in picture; Richard, rally organiser. Bottom left and right of picture: Relatives?
By about 12.30 we were back at the tents, taking time out to record a crap and quite frankly pointless movie (see below) before heading off to mingle with fellow bikers.
* Warning: Not suitable for minors or those of a prudish disposition due to the use of naughty words such as f*&% and to&*%r *
After not going to bed until about half two, Sunday morning left us feeling somewhat woolly.
At least the weather remained dry for us. that was until we left the campsite to ride home where upon the heavens opened and stayed open for the entire journey home. We left Loz and Zak behind whilst they waited for our mate to turn up with a car and trailer to transport the trusty old XT back home.
The rally was a great little event. I think there was a maximum of 60 people due to the size of the function room for the guest speakers. All in all a thoroughly pleasant little jangle.
