MZ Riders Club

South of Scotland Section

Page updated : 27/12/2005

Site designed by Mike

Winter Rally 2004

Are you tough enough?

Not quite the Dragon Rally, but a month or so before this famous endeavour saw the MZ faithful assemble at the Green Dragon Inn at Hardraw in North Yorkshire for the annual MZ Winter Camp. I so wanted to go (bloody masochist!), but the weather forecasts made grim watching in the lead up to the weekend.

However, on the Saturday morning I decided to brave the cold and so got the bike out. So, packed up, hearty breakfast inside me, I headed out onto the road south on the bike. It was cold, but not uncomfortably so, in direct contradiction to the weery willies on the TV weather forecasts. However, an hour or so later, heading through Galashiels on the A7, it began to snow. Gently at first, but when I stopped off for petrol and came back out of the shop the world had disappeared into a blizzard of white. Great, just what I needed. So, should I keep going, or should I call it a day and head back home? I decided to risk it and, carefully, pointed the bike southwards once more. As it turned out the snow stopped after about 20 minutes and things began to look up. Apart from some heavy rain around Carlisle, the trip passed off without further incident and, after about four hours on the road, I arrived at the Green Dragon to be met by all the usual suspects. Some folk from the Cossack and Panther Owners Clubs, two H-D’s, one of them a beautiful 1940s model, and two hardy lunatics who turned up on a Honda C90.The rider explained later that he was planning on going to the Elefantreffen in Germany on it and was here for the practise. Apparently it doesn’t go fast enough for him to get cold (?) The only other South of Scotland Section members to turn up were Dave and Peter, the latter was still convalescing after his recent accident. At least, that was their excuse for coming in the car and staying in the pub.

After setting up the tent I headed off to the said pub. Well, you have to, don’t you? Just to be sociable, mind. I’d brought a couple each of the new t-shirts which went down well, all being sold within 15 minutes of arriving, and I could have sold a lot more besides had I had the room to carry them. One of the benefits of the outfit was its carrying capacity in this regard.

The evening passed quite quickly, with the usual eating/drinking/telling of tall tales etc. that these sort of events degenerate into. Later on there was a live band playing in the pub, so singing was added to the mix, although some folk who shall remain nameless should really know better at their age.

All too soon it was time to head back to the tent and try and get some sleep... I can’t quite remember my head hitting the pillow!

So, next morning, all packed up and it’s time for breakfast, courtesy of the folk in the pub. After which I said my goodbyes and started off. Still very cold but mercifully frost free, this changed to persistent rain which stayed with me for most of the rest of the way home. Unfortunately, one of my boots began to leak. It’s always worse, I think, when only one boot leaks as the contrast with the warm and dry one seems to make it that much less bearable. Nevertheless, I made good time and eventually made it home where I had a nice hot shower to warm my bones up before making an early night of it.

Weather aside, an enjoyable weekend. Good company, the odd beer or three and the chance to feel smug about being a ‘proper’ biker, rather than one of those nancified ‘fair-weather-only’ ones (apologies to all those who came by car and stayed in the pub, but you should have known that this was likely to happen!).