(Some pictures are on-line)
I had mentioned to Martyn that I may be setting off early to the BMF Rally but failed to advise him that I had later arranged to meet Phil Loom at the Blue Star Garage at 3.00pm on Friday. This explained why, when Martyn phoned from the BMF Rally at at 2.40pm he was a bit surprised when I told that I was just pushing the Super 3 out of the my garage in Dartford!
Any road up, I met Phil at the Blue Star as planned and, as Phil was on his Bonneville and I was on an outfit, arranged that, if we got stuck in traffic, we should meet up at the first petrol station on the A14.
With Phil leading we set off and as predicted shortly after crossing into Essex, the M25 turned into a car park and Phil filtered off through the traffic. When the traffic cleared on the M11, I opened up the Super 3 and was soon at the first petrol station on the A14 where Phil was waiting.
A quick top up with petrol and with clear traffic we were soon at the East of England showground exit on the A1 where we stopped for a decent meal at the services. Now with full stomachs we set off for the rally and by phoning ahead were able meet Martyn at the entrance and find spaces to park up and pitch our tents.
Being Friday we just mooched about, getting used to the layout of the place, watched a bit of speedway and checked out the location of the Triumph clothing tent for Saturday bargain hunting. Headline band on Friday night were Boot Led-Zeppelin who were OK but, not a Hen, I have seen much better Led Zeppelin cover bands.
Friday night was a bit chilly, the zip in my sleeping bag broke and a new sleeping bag was added to my list of purchases planned for the Saturday. Saturday arrived and after a huge breakfast of giant Yorkshire pudding filled with bacon, beans, eggs, sausages and black pudding we were ready for bargain hunting.
We queued up for the Triumph tent which opened on the stroke of 9.00am. I have never seen such bargains, there were jackets for £20-£30 gloves for £10 and I bought a set of Triumph overalls for £5.00. We all bought quite a bit of stuff.
The Triumph Owners Club was part of the Peterborough TOMCC tent, which made sense, we made ourselves known to Sarge and had a chat. We also noticed that they were selling old rally badges, including some of our old badges for 3 for £1!
Martyn had remarked as we were wandering around that he had never been to a Wall of Death show, and as there was one running at the BMF we went. The Wall of Death is pretty spectacular even if you have seen it before. The final highlight with three bikes all racing each other around the wall is something special.
Saturday night entertainment was much better than the Friday, the highlight being “Killer Queen” who played a wide range of Queen numbers including an almost perfect Bohemian Rhapsody.
Saturday night was warmer, one of my purchases being a new sleeping bag and Sunday, well, after Phil and I purchased some fine fur hats to keep the cold out, we went home, totally rallied out.