Coast to Coast 2

August 08

Write Up

	Hardcore scootering	See, told you they were still at the Rabbit stage!
		It's for charidy mate
	Kurt gives it large (well, as large as he can bless)
Is that a threat Glyn?		Mini me?
		Janine busts some shapes
		Ready for the off
	You can run, but you can't hide!
	Q. How many members of Dirty Mills does it take to put up a tent?
	Great to see Larry again :o)
	What is he doing to that goat??

 

Last year Bos was unable to take part in C2C as he had just broken his wrist, so he was really looking forward to being able to do it this year. We had registered and paid our dues well in advance, so there was nothing else to do but sit back and wait for the weekend to arrive. We had finally gotten our act together - all packing and last minute jobs had been done on Thursday so all that was left to do on Friday when Bos got home from work was for him to shower, get our gear on and go. So miracle of miracles we were on the road for 2pm!

Our route took us over Woodhead towards Manchester (always a good start to a journey), through Stockport, a quick sprint on the M60 and then onto quieter A roads passing through St Helens and Ormskirk before finally arriving at Leisure Lakes, just outside Southport which was the venue for Friday nights festivities. Despite weather forecasts predicting rain, rain and more rain we only passed through a brief shower by St Helens so we were very pleased to arrive dry at 5.30. We pulled onto the field with the intention of pitching our tent and heading into Southport to eat - but found that the site had a really good cafe so we ate there instead.

Having set up home we wandered around the campsite to chat to people we knew and compare rides. Some people had arrived as early as 10 and 11am - obviously they could not contain their excitement! We popped into the venue to register and pick up our badge and patch meeting Michaela on the way - she was sporting a very fetching black eye after being attacked by a bungee that morning. Dr Bray was manning the desk and we were greeted with big smiles and hugs as usual. Formalities done it was down to the serious business of partying!

Southport Scooter Club had organised a do in town complete with a coach to ferry people there and back - although we did not opt for this we hear that a good time was had by those that did. Instead we stopped at the campsite and spent the evening dancing to the sounds played by Dukesy and Glyn. Bos was on top form bouncing around like a loony and gyrating his hips at all and sundry (that's the last time I give him rasberry lucozade!) By the time last orders were called we were both pooped so we grabbed a cuppa from the van outside and headed back to the tent and into oblivion.

We woke to blue skies - a far cry from the torrential rain that had been predicted (although there had a been a couple of light showers through the night). I decided to just have a "rally shower" as I planned on showering when we got to Brid so as to be fresh for the evening do there. Once clean(ish) and dressed we headed over to the cafe for breakfast before returning to the tent to pack up. The itinerary had said that we were to ride out of the camp site and into Southport at 9.30 but most people had long gone by then, so we loaded up the scoots and headed into town - passing other scoots heading in the opposite direction as they had no idea of the meeting point either! We carried on regardless and spotted Dream Warrior in town who pointed us in the right direction - phew!

With nearly an hour til the off we mooched about looking at scoots, talking to friends and grabbing a coffee as our next stop wouldn't be til lunch time. 10.30 came and people were putting on their helmets and firing up their scoots - and we were off! Over the bridge in one big mass and then along the coast road (which was more like a rollercoaster) towards Preston. This year the start was completely different to last years, with scoots staying together for much, much longer, mainly due to marshalls stopping traffic for a fair few miles into the ride and the route being more or less one straight road.

Once through Preston we were soon onto the A59 which was to be our route for most of the day, so we settled down to a steady pace and enjoyed the scenery right up til 12.30 when we reached The Mill Stones which was our designated lunch stop off. We had a back up plan to head into town to get lunch and fill up if the offerings were not to our liking, but again, we were pleasantly surprised. Lunch consisted of a huge hot beef or pork sandwich with chips, salad and coleslaw plus a coffee for a very reasonable £5.

Fed and watered we set off again at 1.30 - stopping briefly to fill up. There was a bit of a hold up around the A64 at York, but a bit of filtering soon saw us past that and it was plain sailing all the way to Brid, arriving at 3.30. We had been told that the Rugby Club was a 5 minute walk from The Spa so we headed for there via the South Beach - but no sign of it. Bos went into a newsagents and was told that it was the other side of town - doh! We eventually found it and pulled into the campsite at about 4pm. We were told that scoots had to be left in the designated area, so we parked up and hauled all our gear onto the camping area - selecting an out of the way spot along the edge.

We went for a wander around to see who had arrived and were greeted by Tiik, Kay and Monica who had driven over and were well into the party mood already. Some riders had not been so lucky with a couple of "offs" and break downs, but fortunately nothing too serious. As we passed the shower block I saw a group of ladies and asked them where the showers were, only to be told that there wasn't any separate ones for women - how cosy!

Next priority was dinner which was provided courtesy of the local Chinese just across the road - yum! After dinner we set out to investigate the showering facilities for ourselves - there was no way I was going out without getting clean! It turned out that there was only one set of walk in showers, so I made Bos stand guard outside while I got clean - sorry to the 2 lads who had to wait - but I was as quick as I could be. I left Bos to get his shower and headed back to the tent to get my glad rags on. By the time Bos got back I was ready to go, so once he had gotten changed it was just a case of zipping up the tent and off for that 5 minute walk to the Spa.

20 minutes later we were blown into the pub opposite - it was a tad breezy to say the least! We had a couple of drinks in there before heading over to the Spa to catch Tiik's stint on the decks which was scheduled to start at 9pm. Wow - the place looked fantastic - gone were the old carpets, replaced by wooden flooring, a big entrance hall and a different way down to the main hall, where the bars and cafe have had a complete overhaul too. We found ourselves a chair - not that we planned on using it, but it was a useful place to keep my coat and bag - and went for a wander stopping to talk to Larry from Sparkright who we were very pleased to see for the first time since his accident, before getting on the dance floor - although we felt a bit lost as there were only about 6 people dancing - guess everyone else must have been too tired!

Matt Cummings was on after Tiik so Bos and I checked out the cafe and listened from afar - Matt is very talented and will go far I am sure, but it's not really the sort of thing you can dance to. Glyn was up next and played his usual excellent set of ska and reggea, but still not many takers until he played Pressure Drop which had everyone out of their seats and on the dance floor - finally!! Once up, there was no stopping them, so when The Spectre came on the dance floor was heaving. We have seen this band a few times now and are always impressed with the amount of energy they put into their performance and tonight was no exception.

They finally went off after midnight and after a thankfully brief raffle draw it was on with the music - however, it turned to indie, so after about 20 minutes Bos and I decided to call it a night and headed back to the campsite. Tired but happy we arrived back to find that the clubhouse was closed, meaning that ladies had to use the gents so Bos was put to guard duties again before we fell into our tent. Bos is lucky in that he can fall asleep anywhere, however it takes me a while longer - especially when some knobhead decides to spend the night shouting and bawling and having domestics with his wife :o( Thankfully she slapped him and he shut up long enough for me to grab a couple of hours sleep!

Sunday morning was forecast as being the best weather of the weekend - so naturally we awoke to torrential rain! We lay there in the tent waiting for it to stop, but after an hour we had to admit that it wasn't likely to, so we packed up our gear and lugged it over to the scoots, grabbed a quick sandwich from Carols which we ate in the tent before dropping it as quickly as possible and packing it on my scoot. We said brief goodbyes to people we knew - it wasn't the weather to stand and chat in and headed for home. Luckily the rain stopped about 10 miles outside of Brid and we ended up having a fantastic ride home - the sun even made an appearance once or twice!!

So all in all a great weekend - facilities, route and organisation were an improvement on last year and the atmosphere was brilliant - we are already looking forward to next years!

A big thanks to all at YSA for all their hard work - it was much appreciated :o)