I went to the rather aptly named Brass Monkey Rally at the weekend. It was actually fairly warm for the time of year on the way down, thanks to some good old English drizzle. Luckily it had stopped raining by the time I got there, which is always handy when putting a tent up. I have to admit to being a little reluctant to go after last year, when sleet made for the most horrendous ride home I'd ever had - I stopped off half way home that time to drink tea and hot soup in an attempt to defrost. That and standing under the hand dryer drying my hair and scarf helped immensely, as did the hand warmers that I put in my pockets to help keep my core temperature up for the last drag home. I'm sure I provided some entertainment for the folk in the services cafe as I did my best impression of a shivering drowned rat! The weather for those that headed South was even worse: they had full blown snow to deal with, which is not a lot of fun when you only have two wheels on the road. We must be mad, riding motorcycles in the middle of Winter to camp out in a field with a bunch of fellow nutters!
The funniest thing that happened this time round was winning the award for female long distance - rather ironic as I'd travelled the princely sum of 85 miles, and yet there it was. I remembered back to the time many years ago when I rode 410 miles to the Island Invasion Rally on the Isle of Bute. On that occasion I lost out to my best mate, who'd ridden to mine first, and had therefore beaten me by 10 miles. D'oh! Still, that's the way the cookie crumbles, and winning the trophy this time round was nicely topped off by winning a prize in the raffle to boot. Not to mention having a darned good weekend with a load of great people - one of the great things about Winter rallies is that they're so small you get to meet pretty much everyone there :-)
Roll on the Summer when I'm hoping to go to the Simmer Dim Rally in the Shetland Isles - I wonder if I'll get the long distance for that one?
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