Heavy Soul

Tielt, Belgium

May 08

Write Up

     

Well, where do I start? There we were, just back from Skeggy, recovering on the sofa, flicking through Scootering when Bos says "I see it's Tielt rally next weekend". "Bugger (ses I) if I had known that I wouldn't have bothered with Skeg, but would have gone there instead" "We still could" was the reply. "No chance, you would have to have time off, we would have to sort out ferries, money etc etc" and so the conversation ended. But it continued to whir around in our heads for the next couple of days - with me even going as far as researching ferry crossings and prices. So it gets to Wednesday night and Bos asks if we are going or not - I said I would like to, having enjoyed the one we went to 2 years ago, but can't see how, to which Bos replied, that if he could get Friday off we could. Again, it was left. Then Thursday morning Bos phones from work and says that if he finishes the job he is working on today, then he can have Friday off - best you get busy with the Euros and ferry tickets!

PANIC! First phone rediculously cheap ferry company (Trans Europe Ferries - scoot on a 48 hour return journey, Ramsgate to Ostende - £28! Bargain) to check if they have availability - they do! Next, rush to post office and change up some Euros. Home, dig out passports, scoot docs and start packing. Bos returned home from work at 4.45 and says "Are we going then?" I guess so. A cunning plan was formulated. Pack, eat and ride down to Mini's and stop the night there and head off for the ferry next morning - so that's what we did.

We left a wet and miserable Barnsley at 7.30 Friday night, filled up and pointed the scoots in the direction of Peterborough which is our next refuelling stop. Well, the weather just got worse and worse, with driving rain and wind making it not the most enjoyable ride (in fact, it brought back memories of last years "holiday"). We arrived at Peterborough services at about 9.45, so we weren't making too bad time. A coffee and a quick re-fill and we were back on the road. The rain did let up a bit and we were soon on the M25 - only 25 miles to go. Then "ping" about 10 miles shy of the Dartford Crossing my throttle cable snaps. I indicate and pull over onto the hard shoulder, hoping and praying that Bos had spotted me in his mirror - but it wasn't the case as I saw him disappearing into the distance. Oh well, off I gets and starts pushing her - thinking that he will realise soon and turn around and come back. 10 minutes later and I am still pushing, with no sign of Bos on the horizon, and as I was now going up hill I decided to ring a very nice man. I fired off a quick text to Bos and Mini to let them know what was happening, then dug out my AA card. Just as I was dialling a traffic cop pulls up, so I hang up to talk to him - explaining what had happened. As we were talking I catch sight of Bos pushing his scoot down the hard shoulder - my hero!

15 minutes later, the offending cable is replaced and we are on the road once more, arriving in damp Gravesend a little after 2am! By now Mini has given up and gone to bed, so we just made a hot drink and collapsed in a soggy heap.

Friday morning dawned all too soon and after showering, eating breakfast and spending a bit of quality time with my daughter, we headed off for Ramsgate - a short run of 50 miles. Although overcast the weather held and we arrived just over an hour later dry and excited. The check in went smoothly and we were soon on board ship and waiting for the off. A little later than planned we cast off and the 4 hour crossing was good, with the sun making it's appearance after about an hour.

A nap, some lunch and a bit of sunbathing on deck soon whiled away the journey and before we knew it, it was nearly 7pm local time and we had arrived in Ostende. We collected our scoots, plugged in the sat nav (this would be it's first test abroad) and set off to ride the 30 odd miles to Tielt. The sat nav worked beautifully, taking us along the scenic route and apart from one minor detour due to a road closure, took us straight to the rally site. We pulled in and were greeted by a couple from the club. They told us there was not much going on that night as the main events were planned for Saturday, however, people were eating in a local scooterist bar in town and we were welcome to make our way there. As we hadn't eaten yet, we decided to make our way straight there - only to find half the town had been closed off for road works! When we finally found a route to the bar, we were greeted by a couple of scooterists already indulging in the local delights.

One plate of pasta and a cool drink later we were well relaxed and passed a pleasant hour or so chatting with the locals. As we had not put our tent up and it was getting dark, we said our goodbyes and made our way back to the rally site, where we managed to erect our mansion in the growing dark, collapsing into a contented sleep as soon as our heads touched down.

Saturday dawned misty, and it was with some reservations that we climbed out of the tent - was the weather going to stop like this all day? We were greeted by some members of the club who directed us to the showers, which were excellent. Clean and refreshed we made our way back to the front of the club house and paid our money. €25 for the whole weekend, including 2 nights camping, breakfast, lunch and dinner - plus a drink on the morning ride out, welcome booklet and 2 stickers - bargain!

The itinerary for the day was:

08.00 - sign in and breakfast

10.00 - rideout

12.30 - picnic at site

14.30 - 2nd rideout

18.00 - Trophies and drink

19.00 - Barbeque

20.00 - Party

Dues paid we indulged in a leisurely breakfast of coffee, juice and croissants. More people started to arrive on some beautiful, classic scoots, but it seemed that most people were waiting for the sun to come out or the main rideout of the afternoon. There were only about 20 who decided to join in the morning ride out - a mere 45km over 2 hours with a stop at a local bar for a swift drink en route, through some absolutley stunning scenery - and the sun even deigned to shine on us! The ride had been well planned, and the local motorbike club provided marshalling services which were second to none.

We returned to the rally site at about 12 and were greeted by the site of more scooterists and tables laid out with white table cloths and a buffet to help ourselves from for lunch. Fed and watered we spent the next hour chatting to people in my bad French and their very good English and looking at the newly arrived scoots. At 2.30pm it was time for the main rideout. This time there must have been close to 100 scooters and more of the local bike club to continue their job of marshalling. A quick stop at the petrol station for people to fill up and we were off.

More excellent, windy roads, through beautiful countryside with some spectacular views before stopping at another bar for drinks after about 1.5 hours of riding. Refreshed we set off again, through some spectacular woods before heading back to the rally site - all in all a total of 60km for the second rideout - fantastic! At the rally site the barbeque had been lit, so it was just a case of getting the presentations out the way before we could eat. We picked up a trophy - not quite sure what for, but hey ho, it's something else to dust! and the local bike club won the best turned out (don't think they had too much use for the bottle of 2 stroke oil though!)

There was plenty to choose from on the BBQ - bread, salad, pork, ribs, sausages and not a dodgy burger in sight! Bellies full we retired to the tent to recoup our energies before the 'party' began. At about 9 we made our way over to the club house again and spent a pleasant evening chatting to people about their scoots, travels and general rubbish. The abandoned barbeque was turned into a fire pit after the temperature started to drop, and it doesn't seem to matter what your age or nationality, fire will draw you in. We spent a few hours warming our backsides, chatting and listening to music before calling it a day at about 12 as we had to be up at 5.30 in order to catch our ferry home.

Sunday arrived far too soon, but amazingly I had slept really well. With military precision the tent was dropped and scoots were packed up and we were on the road by 6.10. Sat nav programmed to take us the quickest route, we were soon on the motorway heading for Ostende arriving at 7 - perfect for the one hour check in deadline. There was a group of bikers ahead of us in the queue, and although we smiled and said hello, we were obviously not worthy of their notice as the proceeded to ignore us for the rest of the sailing - how rude!

On board we made our way to the main seating area, ate the breakfast we had brought with us and promptly fell back to sleep for an hour! A read of the papers, a walk on deck and generally chatting and chilling saw the journey pass relatively quickly and we were soon arriving back at Ramsgate, only 15 minutes behind schedule.

Once off the boat it soon became apparent that all the sunshine had been left in Belgium and we had to stop to pull on our waterproofs - tut! A quick run up the M2 to Gravesend where we stopped for lunch and a fill up, before hitting the road once again - next stop Peterborough. 100 miles and a mere 2 and a quarter hours later we pulled in. By now my back was starting to ache, so after a coffee and a cake I treated myself to a go on one of those massage chairs - what a £1 well spent!!

On the road again for the final stretch - only another 100 miles!! The rain persisted, but did ease eventually slowing down to a mere spit - woo hoo! To relieve the boredom I decided to try out my new kit and started a game of cat and mouse with Bos. I would speed off in front, then slow down waiting for him to catch me up, only to open her up again. How I lurve my improved performance (though I don't think Bos is too impressed, lol!)

We finally pulled into our road at 7pm - a mere 14 hours (if you take into consideration the time difference) after setting off. All in all we had travelled 670 miles in one weekend (not including the ferry crossing) - but well worth it. The rally might have been small, and we might have been the only Brits, but we were welcomed warmly, the atmosphere was relaxed, facilities were excellent, the rally and rideouts were well organised and it made a complete change from our normal rallies - it's just a shame it's such a mission to get abroad from Yorkshire!

I would like to say a big thanks to all at Heavy Soul for the warm welcome and hospitality they extended to us over the weekend. We will certainly be back if we can make it next year.

Taxi xx