Shires

July 08

Write Up

 

Despite starting a new job, with longer hours, Bos worked his miracle and had my scoot all fixed and ready to go by Friday afternoon as promised. He took it for a quick test drive and after pronouncing it good to go, I donned my gear and set off for a ride around the block. Apart from feeling a bit tight around my collar bone I felt fine - much more confident than last time I had a serious oops! Bos had said the decision to go was mine, so when I got back I told him to get packing!

As he had put my old barrel and piston back in and because of my fragile state we took a sedate bimble at 45-50mph down the M1 to junction 28 then along the A38 where we were passed by Malice, Lynchy and Wyn who were obviously in a hurry to start partying judging by the speed they passed us at! We arrived just before 9 and were greeted by Cheffy - a real ARSEHOLE ;o) and went over to where he was camped with Hippy and Christian. Bos set about putting the tent up while I was sent off for coffee.

I ran into lots of people on the way, so it took a while, but the tent still wasn't up by the time I got back, so I just had to keep myself amused by drinking voddie! Once our house was set up and we had changed out of our riding gear we headed for the do - again, this was no quick walk as we ran into Nicky from Nottingham and Disco Dave to name but two, chatting for so long that I ran out of voddie and had to go back to the tent to replenish my glass!

We headed straight for the soul tent and in no time Bos was on the floor - but as I had promised to be good this weekend I abstained and after a while I got fed up of watching and went over to the main tent where The Topcats were playing - marvellous. I made my way to the front gingerly - I didn't want to get bumped when I was doing so well - and spent a pleasant half hour watching the band and talking to friends.

Bos came and found me after a while and we spent a while chatting with AVT, Malice, Wyn (who had suceeded in their task of getting pished) Lynchy and Maz. More dancing for Bos and then a cuppa before heading back to the tent at about 2am. I awoke at about 8am to the sound of heavy rain, after one of the best nights sleep I have had since my accident. When it became impossible to ignore my bladder any longer I got up and dressed and made my way over to the loos. Bos was going to have a wash, but there was no water in the taps, so we filled the kettle from the main tank and went back to the tent to make brekkie.

In between cloud bursts we attempted the showers and found that normal service had been resumed, so I was able to have a lovely hot shower which loosened my shoulder up beautifully. Back at the tent we were treated to another cloud burst, so amused ourselves with a game of draughts - which Bos won, tut! By 10 it looked like the rain had given up and we risked a walk around the parts fair - not that we really needed anything other than a spare inner tube. It took that long to make it up one side that we stopped mid way for a coffee before going back down the other side.

We also had a wander around the scoots that were lining up for the custom show, but there really wasn't anything new at that point. We decided to walk around the site and see if there was anyone else we knew or any interesting scoots and duly met Shaun and Fliss from Nottingham and stood admiring his box for a while. After some lunch we walked around the custom show which had increased in size and after more chatting this time with DMs and Pashy - who had both been on a magical mystery tour of nearby villages on their scoots, we went for a bimble around the nearby woods making it back to the campsite just in time for the next heavy shower.

After a nap we headed out for some dinner and treated ourselves to the excellent curry - yum! At this point we made the decision to pack up and go home that evening as the weather was supposed to get worse and I didn't want to push my luck - kind of a quit while you are ahead situation. On the way back to the tent we saw Jinxed and Cara so stopped for a catch up as we had not seen Jinxed since Llandudno where she had taken a spill from her scoot and damaged her knee. Turns out things are still not too good :o( and just shows that despite the slow speeds, italian shopping bikes can still cause serious damage - no matter how carefully they are maintained or ridden.

Tent loaded and goodbyes said we pointed our scoots homeward, opting for the more scenic route of A38, A61. The journey home was uneventful apart from having to stop when I got a bit of grit in my eye and the large, painful jolt I got from a crater in the road when I was forced to brake suddenly after some inconsiderate driver decided to pull onto a roundabout at 90 miles an hour. We arrived home safe and sound in just under 2 hours and this morning it would appear that we made the right decision as it has rained with a vengeance for most of the day!!

Well that's all for now - the next report will be of our jollydays as we leave for Spain on Thursday night - woo hoo!!