Anyone who has been to previous Legend rallies will know that so far we have been lucky with the weather by and large. However on Friday morning as I arrived with the trailer in tow I thought our luck had run out. The others were trying to set up our new "budget" party tent to shelter the main caterers but strong gusts of wind proved too much for the fastenings and tore the sides off, reducing its usefulness to that of an oversized gazebo for the rest of the weekend.
Worse than that, by late morning the heavens had opened with accompanying thunder. Unfeasible quantities of rain fell on the sports field and also over-taxed the clubhouse drains causing water to run into the beer cellar. The route for vehicles down the bank and over to the far right hand corner looked more like a river. Around this time, Chris Holland's car decided to develop a starter motor problem, requiring RAC recovery!
We pressed on as best we could, putting up the main club marquees for the caterers and after a while the rain eased off and miraculously the river of water gradually drained away. I will never complain about the composition of the ground where we camp again!
After some hassle with the electrics last year, Ian had got together a proper 32 amp plug for the outside connection and a drum of cable plus the necessary sockets to deliver the power - and some little wooden stakes to fix them above ground level. The caterers turned up later but once both teams had hooked up we still had a problem with the circuit breaker cutting out. I suspect that the outside socket may be rated at 32 amps but I doubt that the supply to it is! Hence we had to rig up another cable into the bar for extra juice.
Anyway it all gradually came together, I popped home to swap car for bike and - in our fetching purple t-shirts with great new design - we were ready to receive the first arrivals by early afternoon. Chris Wallicker and Jo were amongst them - Jo on her 350cc Italian cruiser having passed her bike test not long before. Special mentions must also go to Peter from the Netherlands who had emailed ahead to reserve a pre-book ticket and also Dan and his lady who were on a trip from Denmark and arrived a day later than planned (Saturday) due to mechanical problems with their T140. They scooped the long distance prize, not surprisingly.
We followed the tradition of having the first musical entertainment on the patio courtesy of the Endeavour youth big band (for which the weather again was co-operative). Later on Fertile Fuzz took the the stage indoors and then the redoubtable drrink played into the early hours. The oriental catering went down well as did Munchies' burger and sausage variations.
Saturday morning meant breakfast and then getting ready for the ride-out. As the turnout had been quite substantial in previous years, Barry and Janneane had decided to try splitting the riders into several smaller groups. This required a bit of forward planning (arranging group leaders and practising the route). So we had four groups heading off for Wilmington, Fawkham and other country areas before converging on Eagle Heights in Eynsford just in time for their bird of prey display.
Some people went in to see it while others returned to the Pied Bull for drinks / eats. There was some light rain around that point but nothing serious and we were back in time for the silly games. After a poor personal showing at dizzy sticks and riding the wonky bike I skipped the musical chairs but was on hand to add my weight to the tug-of-war and what do you know? For the first time Bexley TOMCC beat the rest-of-the-world opposition convincingly. That almost makes up for the previous three defeats in a row. The overall Gamesmaster prize was won again by young Joe who again displayed a good all-round performance in the individual events.
First band up were the Booze Brothers on the patio, playing a typically varied set and bringing a fair few evening guests to bop along. The prize-giving and raffle draw followed with Jackie Lineham winning the Richard Cottrell trophy for this year. Headlining indoors later were the highly authentic Houserockers playing classic rock'n'roll and rockabilly and going down very well. For many it was another late-ish night!
Munchies catering were once again dishing up tasty breakfasts before the packing up had to start. The weather held out so I rode my bike home, came back in the car and took charge of a bulging trailer, the contents of which had somehow escalated since Friday. However I got it back to its storage place without incident and that was me done.
Overall it was another successful rally with a great effort by all concerned. Roll on next year, which has already been booked for 18 to 20 July!