VRA (UK)
Northern
Our first camping trip of the year planned and executed with military precision – not! In the week before the AGM I had a couple of days off, so I tried to find all the camping gear that had been stored in various places around the house, in the loft, in the garage and in the garden shed. Also, checked the trailer tyres, put the wheels back on it and wheeled it out of the garage to make sure the lights were working, since I had removed the bike’s rear mudguard and the tow bar during the winter to clean and waxoyl the inside.
Friday morning saw me and Pauline sorting out clothes, biking gear and a small amount of alcohol for the weekend and packing the bike and trailer. Then we tested our new intercom system, which works OK but is a real pain to set up each time we ride. Then it was time for lunch before setting off some time after 2pm, a little later than planned.
Saturday night is karaoke night, and the usual suspects were ready for action, very
well organised by our friendly DJ, Phil, who played some great music between times,
so it wasn’t just karaoke all night. The alcohol flowed once again, but being a bit
of a lightweight at the moment I only had a few, and spent a while playing snooker
with Hilts, Klingon and Sean, very long, low scoring games, which by some strange
fluke I won, it must have been my not drinking! Once again we headed for bed around
1am, the disco/karaoke having finished and half-
Saturday night was very cold in our tent, although Nicole did say that it was OK in theirs, with the electric fan heater on all night! We did manage to sleep despite the cold, in fact we didn’t get up until around 9am, by which time several tents had already been packed. After a cup of tea and some breakfast we set about packing up and saying goodbye to people as they left. It’s always a bit sad at the end of a rally, but we look forward to the next one and meeting again. By around midday we were ready to leave and the weather had started to look a bit threatening, but we set off in the dry and managed to miss the rain all the way home. We again headed via Weatherby, Otley and Ilkley, the traffic wasn’t as bad as Friday and we made good time, stopping at a Little Chef near Ingleton for lunch before arriving home at around 3:30pm, the end of another great VRA weekend, roll on the national AGM!
With the weather improving by 11am, several of us had decided to chance a ride, one group electing to have a look at the small town of Beverly, another deciding on York. Pauline and I, with Hilts and Nicole leading, accompanied by Billy and Kerry, Jack and Jackie, Gary, Rainy and Eddie following in the van, headed to Beverly. It was about 50 minutes ride on mainly B roads through some pretty countryside and we managed to find parking near the town centre. We had a short search for lunch, being turned away from one small café “I’m sorry, we’re a bit full at the moment”, but soon finding a less busy and much more accommodating café a short distance away next to the market square. There we were well received and very well fed before heading back to the bikes. We popped into M&S for supplies for tea and then followed Hilts again on the return journey, this time by a different route but again through pleasant countryside with fabulous views.
We just had time for a shower before the AGM at 4pm, a well-
With the business out of the way it was time for tea, M&S ham & egg rolls, crisps, jelly & raspberries and a couple of Pimms, while we sat outside the tent and chatted with friends, very civilised! Then, strangely enough, we went to the pub!
We had decided to travel via Skipton, Ilkley, Otley and Weatherby so as to avoid the long and boring motorway journey via the M6 and M62. This is a slower but shorter route through some wonderful country, but Ilkley is always a bottleneck and too narrow to filter much, especially with the trailer. The route also takes us past Harewood House, where we always see quite a few Red Kites, a fantastic bird to watch in flight.
The weather was kind to us all the way, despite a few threatening clouds, and we stayed dry and warm for the whole trip, with only one stop to check the map. We managed to find our way to Breighton Ferry by around 5:30pm and met the earlier arrivals in various stages of putting up tents or sampling the first few bevvies. It’s always good to catch up with friends old and new, especially after the long winter break and it was nice to see visitors from the Royal Cotswolds, Midlands and SEVRA who had travelled a fair distance to be there, not forgetting Denbhouy all the way from the frozen north of Scotland.
Once the tent was up we headed into the pub for an evening meal, a very good lasagne with chips and veg, just what was needed. This was followed up by a few drinks and the usual evening of drinking and chatting with our friends. There being no disco, band or karaoke on Friday night meant we were able to talk late into the night, with just some background music from the jukebox, just the start to a weekend that I like. We retired to the tent at around 1am, leaving a few diehards still drinking and talking ‘til the early hours. It was a beautiful clear night, but not cold and the tent was a welcome retreat for the night.
Up at around 8am on Saturday, kettle on and chairs and table (the open top of the trailer) set for breakfast, I’d just settled into my chair when it naturally started to rain! So it was a quick dash to put the chairs inside the tent (quite a squeeze) and close the trailer, and breakfast was had looking through the plastic window at the rain. It didn’t last long, but the weather didn’t look at all promising, so after some discussion it was agreed that the planned rideout to York would be cancelled, leaving everyone to decide for themselves how they wished to spend the day.
VRA Northern Region AGM 2011