Rallies - Ides Of March, Dwyle Funkers & 2 Moons

We have been to several motorcycle rallies this year. I will not go into too much detail as they tend to go along the lines of:

Arrived at.....
Met with....
Got drunk....
Woke up with hangover....

Anyone who read the two rally magazines (Big Bollards and Rally Review) will remember the style of writing of reports of rallies. The report of these rallies will be brief and I will let the pictures do the talking.

The Ides Of March.

This rally is organised by the Salford Centurians and is held outside Todmorden. The weather for this event can vary between wind, snow or rain. This year we only had the wind and rain, with a few tents being flattened.
The views of the surrounding area are enjoyable and worth a visit in summertime, which I must do soon.


The rally limit is 110 and usually sells out very quick. There is also a varied selection of two and three wheeled transport in the pub's car park.

Dwyle Funkers

This small trad. rally is arranged by the Dwyle Funkers themselves. Over the years it has been in several locations including Wales, Lincolnshire, Derbyshire and this year it was at the
Lower Lode on the banks of the River Severn not far from Tewkesbury. The pub suffered from flooding last year when the river burst its banks. There was a rally on when this occured and a couple of motorcycles were damaged as they didn't get to higher land in time. The field containing static caravans also did not escape the flood water.
On the river bank there is a mooring place for a few boats with these sculptures.
Although the rally was organised by our friends Guzzisue felt uncomfortable in the pub. Her father cannot go near fields where there has been a major battle in English history, so we think this is something that has been passed on to her.
A pleasant evening was spent chewing the cud with a small break for a raffle and award giving. The best bike was chosen by the landlady, with Bob winning the Best Bike with his Guzzi.
Sunday's dawn chorus consisted of a flock of geese that had great delight in waking everyone up and then when they decided to settle down got very uptight if they were approached.
Of course some people do tend to take a lot of gear for a weekend away.

Two Moons Rally.


This is our club's rally held at The Rising Sun near Altarnun in Cornwall. As it was the 10th and final 2 Moons, Robbie had decided to go out with a bang. We arrived on site on the Thursday to help erect a marque lent from the Pint Pullers.
Thursday nights are a chance for club members to have a quiet pre rally drink before the onslaught of Friday and Saturday. With us arriving on the Thursday it also gives Ian, Guzzisue and myself a day to do some of the Round Britain Rally landmarks on Friday before people start to arrive for the weekend.
We had intended to have an early start on Friday to get to all the Cornish landmarks, but the evening session was longer than expected so we had to miss going to one. We did however manage to get to Chain Fort / Blockhouse at Polruan. This was built with another on the opposite bank of the River Fowery to protect the harbour. It was errected in the 15th Century and last used in the 1600's.
From here we rode up to St Cleer to photograph the Memorial to a Lost Railway Line. At times the rain was so heavy that it seemed that we were riding in a stream!
Whilst we were taking the above photos a local biker stopped to see if we were ok as he thought that Ian had dropped the Guzzi. He was quite bemused when Guzzisue explained what we were doing.
Next we into the county of Devon and to the site of the Lydford Leap. Here we met up with fellow RBRers Jacki, Phill and Rufus, a well travelled sheep.
Back at the rally site people were arriving for the weekend and a good Friday night was had by all present. Saturday arrived with the traditional rain and many held off from going out for a ride until it subsided a little. There was some lost property handed in at the control tent, but the article was not claimed!

Ian, Guzzisue and myself walked down into the village for a few supplies and a look around the local church. In the village there were two events taking place, one in the village hall and the other in the church hall. Ian bought some tombola tickets and managed to win some prizes, which then ended up in our own raffle that night. Guzzisue did the same at the church hall!
Guzzisue managed to get a lift back from the church warden as Ian and myself had already returned with the supplies. The warden also promised to return later that afternoon on his motorcycle if the rain stopped.



Here are a few motorcycles from the site. First is my computer guru Roy on his Savage
followed by Ted Trek's very smart BMW
or how about this tidy Norton?
or Geoff and Carole's Ural combo?
As Saturday night progressed the fox above the bar got into the spirit of the rally
and as per usual when drink flows the conversation gets slightly far fetched and there is a place where people talking rubbish get sent to!
There were three birthdays birthdays being celebrated over the weekend, one I'm not sure about, Guzzisue's and Robbie's 40th (and he thought he was going to get away with it).
During the evening Andy the landlord treated everyone to a shot of whisky as he was enjoying the weekend so much. Ian told him that we had done over 6,000 miles commuting to the rally over the years. Andy's reply was that we had better do another 6,000!
The 2 Moons is dead. Long live the next rally name. Yes I know what it is but my lips are sealed at this moment.