November Notes    

 

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Should I go to the  Alternative or not I asked myself?   It was Friday the 3rd of October and the weather was wet and by that I mean penetrating rain with a mist like density.  The forecasts all showed that it got better after about Newcastle.  Well after all real rufty tufty bikers aren’t put off by a little bit of wet are they?   Well I’m more of a fair weather rider and after the surfeit of rain at Corran Ferry I could do without a 120 miles of soaking wet weather – so I resolved not to moan and get on with it.  
 

 

 

 

I set out hoping the forecasters had got it wrong and it would clear up soon. I start off at the back of eight on Friday morning for Woodthorpe Hall in the Lincolnshire Wolds.  But, at Carfrae Mill after negotiating a very slippery and windy Soutra my clutch stopped working.  Things were not going well really.  I’m stuck in a car park with the relentless rain and no clutch. After investigation it turns out that the clutch centre had come undone.  Luckily I had all the tools needed with me so after an hour or so I was off again albeit with no oil in the chaincase. Stopping at the next Petrol Station I topped off my fuel and then discovered that astonishingly BP had supply problems and there was no oil – I ask you BP with no Oil!   It transpired that the rain only really stopped just before Scotch Corner, about half way.  

 

  

The so I completed about 320miles in approx 11 hours and arrived at the Rally site very sore and tired with just enough light left to put the tent up.   With attendance of about seventy or so Bikes, virtually all AMC machines, it wasn’t the best attended Alternative but, despite being very windy at least it didn’t rain.  In fact on the Saturday run the winds were very strong and noticeably affected the handling of our machines in addition I arrived back to find my tent collapse as the pole supports had broken under pressure of the wind. With the help of some Surry section members and others I had my tent repaired and shifted over to a more sheltered spot.

 

 

  
The Saturday run was to the Lincolnshire Aviation Museum at East Kirby where we spent a pleasant hour or two observing the exhibits including one of the four existing Lancaster Bombers. In the evening as I was the only Scottish Section member attending and as Lincolnshire is some distance away from Scotland I picked up the Furthest Travelled Male Award.  So on the Sunday it was back on the road and off home with the run along the A1M and A1 being much better as the wind had died down and it only rained about an hour after I arrived home.