I had planned on visiting the 'old country' to use up accumulated air miles and thought that it would be fun to rent a motorcycle to use as transportation while there. Since I knew I wanted to visit old friends dotted all over the place I thought that the Rally would be an interesting diversion en route. Having taken part in the Alberta 2000 Rally in 2000 I have an interest in 'going places' and this was an opportunity to see parts of England I had never seen before.
So I spent time on the Internet planning my route and getting as much information on the checkpoints as I could. I knew that my time would be limited so decided to confine myself to checkpoints in approximately the locations I knew I would be riding. The bike I was to rent, a Honda Deauville, is not available here in Canada, so that was an added bit of excitement. The only time I could spare to do the trip was at the end of March, so David kindly gave me, as a foreign visitor, dispensation to 'do' the Rally before Easter.
Needless to say things never work out exactly as planned! After being delayed for 24 hours in Canada by the worst snowstorm Vancouver has experienced in March, I eventually arrived in England, only to have to spend a night in hospital. That's another story! With plans tossed in the wastebasket I eventually picked up the bike on the Saturday, knowing that now my leisurely six-day ride was going to have to be compressed into four.
On the way back to Hitchin from the bike rental place in London I decided to stop by Hertford to get my first checkpoint, the icehouse at the castle. I worked in Hertford 20 years ago, but never went to the castle, so it was nice to see something I had driven by so many times. After wandering fruitlessly around the grounds I decided to ask for help. A nice older couple was out for a walk and confessed that although they had lived in Hertford for 17 years they did not know that there was an icehouse at the castle. Somewhat despondent I decided to press on home, only to be stopped by the same couple, who had decided that this was important stuff and had found the icehouse! So the first checkpoint was bagged after all.
The following day I was heading south and west to Christchurch so stopped at the Tarry Stone (easy) and Bucklers Hard Maritime Museum (easy). Monday was a trip northwards so I passed the Boer War Memorial (hard because of the hike to the memorial itself, but only worth 10 points), the Roman Villa (another hike), the Rollwright Stones (where I had the only rain of the entire trip), the Radar Memorial (easy) and the Wichenford Dovecote (a bit of a challenge for me since there was no name actually on the building, apart from a National Trust plaque).
After staying overnight with an old junior school friend I had not seen for 37 years it was time to head further north to Yorkshire. The Ferry at Hampton Loade (an easy 25 pointer) was followed by the Minne Pit Memorial (moderately difficult, if only because there are several memorials, including one actually at the site of the accident) and the Anderton Boat Lift. That day was its grand reopening so the car park was packed with people and I had to ride down as close as I could and then walk back up the river to get my photo. Back on the bike I took in St.Mary's bell tower (easy), the Ripley village stocks (easy) and then the Fat Betty white cross. This one was a little bit of a challenge in that none of the locals knew which one of the several crosses up on the Moors was the one I was looking for. So I carried on and found a white 'lump' (white, but not a cross) and, a short distance away, a cross (but not white). I took pictures of both to let David decide which was the correct one.
After an overnighter with friends in Hutton Rudby it was time to head south again, taking in the Flamborough lighthouse (an easy 30 pointer, I thought), the Propeller Memorial (where I met the only other RBR riders I saw on the trip, a couple on a Ducati 907ie. Hello, from Nick in Canada, to you!) and finally the monument to W.E.Henley. I must confess that I had found out the answer to the bonus question well in advance, by using the Internet!
An interesting four days of riding. I hope to have achieved a Bronze for my efforts. When I took to bike back I had put on 2,000 kilometres (it was a parallel import, I imagine), seen many parts of England I had never seen before and only been rained on once, for about 20 minutes. I was very impressed with the Deauville, and cannot understand why it gets such poor reviews in the English motorcycling press. I would buy one if they were available here in Canada.
Many thanks to David, and all of the volunteers who helped to make the Round Britain Rally a reality. I will be back to do it again, this time with a bit more time to see more of the sites.
|