MZ Riders Club

South of Scotland Section

Page updated : 27/12/2005

Site designed by Mike

Welsh Rally 2002

(by Mike Paterson)

I had decided to try for the North Wales & Cheshire Section’s ‘Summer Treffen’. It was the longest trip to date on the Skorpion, 270 miles there and roughly the same again on the trip home. I left on the Friday morning, and it looked anything but summer when I set off. Luckily, the route I’d planned was relatively a straightforward one, sticking mainly to the motorways.

The Skorpion simply ate up the miles. My only complaint being the seat, which forced me to stop oftener than I really needed to - about every 100 miles or so. However, after about 5 hours in the saddle I rolled up to the campsite, very glad of the chance to get off and stretch my legs. Everyone arriving received a rally pack with a sticker and a nice little rally badge, as well as information on the local sights. For the railways anoraks there was the added attraction of a steam-train which left from the Station opposite the campsite. This was one of those privately owned, run by volunteer type of outfits. The steam trains roll along a line the whole 8 miles to the nearest town. On finding out that this would cost us £8 each, we decided that we weren’t that bothered and we decided to take the bikes instead.

Later on it started to rain steadily, so we all headed off to the pub for the usual evening’s session. What a shame, eh? The pub was a bit on the small side and we effectively filled it. The locals, however, didn’t seem the least put out by this invasion and the kitchen staff took it all in their stride.

Saturday saw a steady improvement in the weather and a stream of visitors began to arrive from all over. John Richardson (the club’s Technical Officer) and I, deciding to forego the dubious/expensive attractions to be had at the railway rode into town on our bikes in search of a café that he has used in the past when going to the Dragon Rally. When we found it, it was like taking a step into a past when carbohydrate was king. Big mugs of tea and food which would have had food critics gibbering into their nouvelle cuisine. Choose from the following – egg, chips, beans, sausages, bacon, fried bread etc. Get the picture? Ach, it was great. I’ll worry about my arteries some other time. It saved me having to eat anything else all day.

Suitably stuffed to the gills, I nearly went to visit the nearby  Dr. Who exhibition simply because the surrounding road signs have a Dalek on them, which I thought was pretty cool. In the end I settled for taking some photos of the signs and didn’t bother with the museum as I have never really liked Dr. Who that much anyway.

Back at the campsite once more there were the awards and raffle to get through. The awards were excellent, all silver cups with engraved plaques. I picked up the long-distance award, although I believe that I just managed to edge out Grenville from the Kent (Invicta) section for this one. I also narrowly missed out on ‘best 4-stroke’ as well, but Brian Thurlow from Yorkshire had cheated by washing his bike before coming along, so he picked up that one. Just as well I didn’t win, really. It was a cup about 40cm tall and must have been a pain to pack. I did suggest strapping it to the tank, a la Johnny in the film ‘The Wild One’, but he was having none of that.

The raffle saw the usual odds and sods, as well as some quite good stuff, and here I picked up a natty NGK baseball cap to add to my collection of hats (I have so many now that you’d think I was going bald or something). Then it was off to the pub again for another evening of tall tales and outright lying. All good-natured fun as you might expect.

Sunday dawned bright and sunny and, all too soon, it was time to pack up and head back up the motorway home. Total mileage for the weekend was something like 550 miles and fuel consumption was around the 60mpg figure, which I think is quite good considering that virtually all of this trip was done at motorway speeds.

My thanks to the North Wales & Cheshire Section for putting on a well organised little rally and, although it was a fair distance for anyone else from Scotland, I’d recommend it for next year if you’re at a loose end.