Members Articles of Interest

Members can read articles sent in by fellow members, these must be anything related to BMW motorcycling.

EULOGY

My BMW R100 RT Classic N603SGX

Brian Atkinson 24th October 2016

It was the year 2000 and it was love at first sight. I was in a motor cycle shop called Supreme Motorcycles located in Bexleyheath. I found myself staring back at the front window and was transfixed at the silhouette in front of me. I had just spent a fair amount of time sitting on a variety of modern BMW bikes to see which bike suited me. I was frustrated at the seat height of modern bikes leaving me sitting there with my feet on tip toe. Clearly too dangerous! I dearly wanted a modern BMW since I was a member of the BMW Club with an old BMW R65RS.

Moving slowly towards this silhouette it was clear this 1995 BMW belonged to the earlier generation of bikes and yet it was straight out of the show rooms. The chrome and paintwork were immaculate. Whoever owned this bike must have kept it in cotton wool. There it was standing in the front window absolutely pristine and yet it had not been sold. Why!! This bike was clearly a bargain. I then heard it had only just been brought in for sale. I guess it was a case of being in the right place at the right time. Sitting with my feet flat on the floor and cocooned within the giant fairing proved so enthralling I decided there and then this was the bike for me. Next thing I was driving around the country lanes. I simply could not believe I was the owner of such a fantastic bike. The comfort and power was something I had never experienced before and I had to keep kicking myself how lucky I was.

Driving to a BMW ride-out I happened to bump into John Hicks who said he previously owned my bike. There he was riding the latest model and already beginning to regret part exchanging his new steed for my R100RT. He then surprisingly turned up one Sunday on a BMW R80RT. It was a similar year to mine and he rejoiced getting back on an earlier model.

In 2001 my pals Alan, Roger and Colin agreed to a bike trip to Morocco. This was the beginning in which the BMW during the next 15 years was to cover some 60,000 miles throughout Europe. It is hard to believe it never broke down whilst touring. However, it did let me down on one occasion on the outskirts of Bromley. The fault turned out to be a choice of an item costing £13.00 or an item costing £135.00. You guessed it £135.00!!

The next big trip was touring Russia. Initially I nursed a slight anxiety of wondering whether the cause of the original fault was still loitering within the bike. Luckily this anxiety proved unfounded. Now with growing confidence in my bike there was a long trip to the North Cape, the top of Norway taking about 3 weeks. There then followed similar 4000 mile round trips to Albania and Bulgaria which meant taking the reliability of the BMW completely for granted.

Finally in 2016, whilst touring the North of Spain with my pal Alan I became aware the bike was beginning to get heavy. Clearly the bike was not getting any heavier it was something to do with me reaching the grand old age of 80. Perhaps it’s time I should think about parting company with my very good friend. A bowls club member, Mike Sanders over heard me saying I’m thinking of selling my bike. He immediately asked me for first refusal. My son Martin soon restored the bike back to its original condition. Again, it was a case of love at first sight. There was Mike driving off into the sunset and me wondering whether I have done the right thing. At least I know my very loyal friend has found a good home.

Although it is a very sad occasion there is a silver lining. My baby Kawasaki 550GT now comes out of retirement.

With Alan Reynolds North Spain 2016

Oirschot 2014

After 35 years the The BMW Club Oirschot called time on their annual Easter BMW Motor Weekend.

Our members from the South East Section have attended this from 1991 and we have had a heartfelt welcome at each one. The work they put in to ensure we all have a great time, the quality and variety of the entertainment and food has been outstanding.

This year we had 13 members there, The Blissets from Nottingham, Myself, (Shaun) and Brenda trundling over with the Outfit and others following Ian Campbell. Traffic by Antwerp had a Bank Holiday feel to it.(stop/start) but at least the weather was good.

Their local Band entertained us on Friday, a Disco on Saturday and a very good Singer/Musician on the Sunday. On Sunday morning we were serenaded through our breakfast by a beautiful singer complete with musical lamppost! Mars in her Easter chick outfit accompanied by the Easter Bunny also amused us.

You need to view our website to appreciate all this.

Some of us completed the planned run on Sunday, Brenda and me followed by "Skip on Tour" (check out on facebook) stopped at the Oirschot bar for lunch.

We were not awarded the Grootste Club trophy this year (largest group attending this year was Southern)

but our George went home with Oudste Zelfrijdende Deelnemer (again)

The Sunday night was memorable, singing together "Those were the Days" as we waved our BMW Club Oirschot hankies, specially done by them to "wipe our eyes". Yes they were used!

They say this is the last time "in this format" so hopefully will plan something we can join in with, possibly even help with.

I was nominated to hand over a picture (our Jaquie Lippiet had put together using photos members supplied) and thanked them for their hospitality over the years. We will keep in touch.

By Shaun Mulligan.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

From: Magnus Eriksson [info@worldmotorally.com]

Sent: 28 October 2013 05:14

To: webmaster@thebmwclubsoutheast.com

Subject: World Moto Rally

Hi

We are putting together an Around the World Rally. Some of your members may be interested.

They can find more info at www.worldmotorally.com or join our mailing list on our Facebook Page. www.facebook.com/worldmotorally.

Thanks for your time

Kind regards

Magnus Eriksson

Rally Director

London to London, 132 Days, 20 Checkpoint Parties and Memories for Life

Join the Longest Rally in the World...

Rebuilds-Travel-Advice. etc.

Travel in Denmark

Advice supplied by Southeast Section Member Brian Atkinson

(update February 2013 )

I have travelled in and through Denmark twice. On both occasions whilst in Copenhagen it rained most of the day. It is worth noting you can get a map that offers a good walking tour of the city which takes you round the highlights including the Tivoli Gardens, the harbour and the Little Mermaid.

Needless to say the country is flat and pretty un-interesting . It is sad that everywhere you go you see wind farms. The people are great and speak better English than we do. The beer is expensive and the campsites are a good European standard. The road bridge to Malmo (Sweden) is certainly worth a ride. However, it was designed for cars and lorries and does not protect motorcycles from the wind. Need to take care.

The restaurants and pubs around the harbour are a great tourist attraction and offer good hospitality. They certainly prefer the British to Germans and Dutch. Like most countries on the continent the police take their work very seriously and it doesn’t pay to break their laws. It can be very expensive. Because beer is expensive you can often run into establishments that sell hooch. You have to take your chance, one of our colleagues had a very bad experience by drinking a whole glass.

Lastly, the weather is more changeable than Scotland so be prepared. On balance you are sure to have a great time.

Hope that gives a balanced view

John Hawker spotted this information in the Independent newspaper and thought it worth sharing with everyone. Link The Independent Newspaper

France not Spain

France not Spain - August 2012

I’ll ride down to Alicante as an old pal of mine lives nearby, 3 over nighters down, stay 3 nights, then 4 nights back including 2 nights in Millau for the Gorge Du Tarn;-simples!

Routes sorted, waypoints and routes downloaded to sat nav, all waypoints but only 3 of the 11 routes had transferred, hum something strange going on here, called Garmin UK who weren’t sure but said to recalculate every route on the day, OK but that’s never happened before me thinks.

During this time a filling fell out, £40+ later I had a new filling.

Pre holiday check:- spare bulbs, breathalyser kit, breakdown cover etc, turned on the ignition and the letters EWS appeared, BMW owners know this means big trouble; it sort of stands for Engine Won’t Start as the bike is totally immobilised. Undeterred I rang my nearest dealer who said that it might be a faulty battery or immobiliser, he checked his computer and told me that my bike hadn’t been modified ; this fault is so well known that BMW no longer use it I’m lead to believe!

Bike on charge over night, all OK on departure day, Friday

Aug 10^th, arrived at Channel tunnel and waited to load, switched on the ignition and EWS appeared, what do you do in a situation like this, I paddled the bike onto the train; but arrived without problem at the first overnight stop in Vierzon; via Rouen and Dreux.

Next day the bike played up but, headed towards Toulouse for my second nights stop, running late (amazing how time sapping the D roads are) I headed for the motorway, and called into the service area on the A20 just North of Cahors. Having rested I got on the bike and EWS appeared, and for the next 10 or so minutes I tried (in vain) to start the bike; EWS appearing every time- now what? I gave up and rang Britannia Rescue, imagine my horror to be told the bike wasn’t covered but a previous bike was, I was panicking now; however that was resolved quickly (phew)- and it’s 35⁰C and 5pm

Britannia Rescue transferred me to international operators IMA UK (Inter Mutuelles Assistance Group, who I must say were really efficient throughout my holiday), and I told them that I was booked at a hotel in Spain for the next night (Sunday) and could they be contacted, which was done; however the Spanish hotel refused to refund me the payment due to strict hotel policy; can things get any worse!

I had to organise recovery off the service area, seems it’s classed as the motorway, not sure if that’s because it was a toll motorway or the way the French do it. However the breakdown lorry arrived and with the bike on the back, we headed for the recovery yard, seems in France there’s no rule/enforcement about using mobile phones whilst driving, as the driver was on his phone several times during the trip to the recovery yard; and for good measure we picked up a broken down Dutch car along the way.

At the recovery yard near Cahors, a taxi arrived taking me to my hotel in Toulouse, when we arrived in Toulouse about 21:30 the taxi display showed some €330 from Cahors to Toulouse some 70 miles or so; and don’t forget the taxi return trip as well!!.

Arrived at hotel , it seems the more luggage you have the further away from the lift/stairs you are, the first room hadn’t been cleaned so back to reception, and another room allocated. Sunday in France and nothing much happens, no hire car firms are open, but lots of piccys of Toulouse and the parks etc.

On Tuesday, IMA UK organised a hire car for 2 days and bike transfer to a BMW dealer in Albi, having friends near Cahors I went to see them in the afternoon. Wednesday happened to be a bank holiday, yes you guessed no garages open, but a really good day was spent at the nearby Space Centre which was well worth the visit- my phone slipped out of my pocket whilst watching a film in the planetarium, luckily I found this just before the next group of people went in!

Wandering around Toulouse it became noticeable that most street name are in French and Spanish (Spain just over an hours drive away), secondly, very few emergency vehicles were bee baaing around town, and thirdly, was that almost all scooters and some motorcyclists use the pavement rather than wait at lights, with pedestrians having to dodge out of their way - or else. I was also surprised at how many Piaggio MP3 scooters there were, there was an exceptionally well restored Honda CBX 6 near to the hotel; that must be someone’s pride and joy.

On Thursday IMA UK called me, the dealer had diagnosed the EWS problem and the parts were ordered, on Friday IMAUK rang me, the parts hadn’t arrived via the courier, but the dealer would take parts off another bike to get me going, how my hopes changed that day; but I could have the hire car for 2 more days.

I hadn’t packed my sat nav nor phone chargers in the UK (big mistake there!), FNAC electronics a sort of cross between HMV and Currys in Toulouse had the bits, amazing how quickly phones and sat navs go flat; and there’s me thinking I’d be OK before I left .

Earlier in the week it had been proposed to fly me back to the UK and back when the bike was fixed, however this was not to be.

I was so busy one day that I had time to watch a Moto GP, I’m sure you all know how much I enjoy motorsport, I didn’t realise that there was a warm up lap-explains why on the first lap nobody over took.

Friday came, IMA UK rang to say the bike was fixed, Saturday I returned the hire car, taxi to Albi to collect the bike; don’t forget of course I’d been in the same 2 star hotel for 7 days by now.

I arrived at the BMW dealership in Albi during lunch, paid €46 for the work, went for the registration document only to discover I’d left my driving licence in the hire car in Toulouse some 45 miles away, I knew the hire car office was closed from 1-2 pm so I took a sedate drive back to Toulouse, only to discover that on Saturday the hire car office is closed from 1-4 pm, and it was just past 2pm; fortunately about 3 pm the hire car office opened and with my driving licence in the top box, I headed North to Limoges for the night, I’d decided earlier that as I was running out of time I’d head North and curtail my holiday.

Arrived at Limoges about 5 pm and called into a supermarket for food and petrol, EWS showing again as I left the petrol pumps but got to the hotel, checking the bike over for the next day, with EWS showing every time (again) I rang IMA UK, I was informed that nothing could be done until Monday as on Sunday everywhere is closed.

Having the food I’d bought earlier I bit on something (hard), it was only a ham sandwich after all, the filling I’d had less than 2 weeks prior had fallen out leaving a nice sharp jagged edge and tooth ache!.

During my enforced stay in the South of France there was a severe heat wave of 35⁰C+ degrees, I experienced 43.5 ⁰C on the motorway between Toulouse and Cahors, wearing leathers was really very unpleasant; more so was the air that burned the throat with the visor open.

Monday started the French holiday fortnight, every hire car was out, and the local BMW dealer was closed for another 3 weeks to boot. Several phone calls ensued, and by 4.30pm the bike had been taken away; one less thing to worry about. I had packed my biking gear in the panniers and top box as I guessed I’d be returning in a week or so to ride back, I’d also taken photos of the bike in case of damage.

Again flying back was mentioned as there was a flight out of Limoges to Stansted, and when the bike was fixed, fly back and pick up bike and ride home, luckily I was booked on the 12:40 flight the following day (Tuesday), and have a hire car home. Fortunately the local supermarket sold big sports bag for all by belongings, E flight ticket in hand and a taxi saw me at Limoges airport, and at the check in desk; yes here we go-not.

IMAUK had not e-mailed the boarding card/pass to the hotel so I had to rejoin the booking- in queue after having paid €60 for the boarding card/pass, the flight passed OK apart from a very small baby screaming its little lungs out until the plane levelled out; how can something so small make so much noise.

Arrived at Stansted and checked the hire car, no aerial, hardly any engine oil and washer bottle top missing, swopped for an Astra, and straight home.

Aug 27^th IMA UK said the bike would be repatriated to my nearest dealership.

I had been a marshal for the Olympic torch, and recall talking to one of the escort policemen on his 1200RT, and I quite clearly remember him asking me if my bike had been reliable; I of course replied 100%-er!!!!

The bike was repatriated on the 4^th September and I picked it up on the 23^rd, unused until the 27^th when it showed EWS again, battery charged for 24hrs, still the same; dealer picked up bike on the 28^th.

Call from dealer on 3^rd Oct saying that they’d found…….. a broken wire, why it wasn’t found in France, nor on the initial diagnosis in the UK?-my whole holiday trip had been brought to a grinding and expensive end by a broken wire!!

A few weeks later my credit card statement showed a deduction of some £15 from the car hire company, a quick phone call to their head office ensued and I was promised a return call in 7 days or so, I rang back 10 days later having heard nothing. Apparently the hire cars local office hadn’t provided receipts for the “fuel “; so I was refunded the money. I learnt several lessons from that, always check bank statements and query anything suspicious, always record reg. numbers and mileages, the hire cars head office said my hire car had only done about 20 miles; it’s actually over 85 miles from Stansted to my house.

Some months on and the bikes OK, but trying to claim out of pocket expenses from the breakdown company dragged on for weeks, 3 letters from me later before I received some financial compensation, it really pays to read the small print of your travel/breakdown insurance; and always ensure the breakdown company have your current vehicles details and always have travel insurance

I have travelled abroad every year on motorcycles since 199?, and have only ever suffered a slow rear tyre puncture and a blown headlight bulb, is it a case of all the bad luck collecting up and being dumped on my 2012 trip-who knows.

Happy days.

Ride safely

Richard Filipczak

Oirschot Weekend

Oirschot Motorweekend 29 March-1^st April

Like every year BMW Club Oirschot & Omstreken organises its International BMW Motor Weekend over the Easter Weekend (Friday 29^th- Monday 1^st April) for all BMW riders and their passengers. They had again decided to start this year’s rally on Friday and like all 33 previous events they have arranged a very entertaining program for us. Starting on Friday afternoon by signing in at reception and receiving a very welcome cup of tea and cake. Our trip, nearly compromised by them French Dock Strikers, took place in very cold but dry conditions. We only had a few “gusts” of snow with a little still laying on our ride through Belgium and on to Oirschot in Holland using the “quick” route to give us as much time at the Oirschot BMW Clubs Motor weekend. They really do some GREAT work putting on wonderful buffet meals throughout the weekend. On the Saturday night we had a DJ playing some great tunes and a terrific Band on Sunday the run was organised with Sat Nav co-ordinates to allow small groups to enjoy some very challenging twisty roads with very little traffic and a hearty cream tea at the end. We met up with a few club members from other sections, many being rally regulars but maintained our monopoly of winning The Grootse Club (largest attending section) Our George Barlow won the Oldest Rider award, all awards being made by their club secretary Rob. Standing around the camp fire on the Sunday evening together is a tradition and a great time for reflecting on the event and the amount of work and energy they put into making it a great weekend. Arriving for breakfast on the Monday morning (1^st April) we find that our host have been up very early to decorate the hall in full Christmas décor to totally confuse those of us struggling with a bit of a sore head. On the way home we stopped at Ypres for a tasty lunch, then a pleasant ride through the lanes to Calais. Thanks to the Oirschot club for a very enjoyable Easter and we look forward to 2014 when Easter is later and it will be warm and dry.

Thanks to Shaun for the above report.

The Dordogne

The Dordogne 25 May - 1 June 2013

Sue & Phil Jones Dordogne Trip 25^th May-1^st June 13

Keith & Debbie, John Cornell, Dave Henderson and Sue & Phil met at the services J11 M20 just after the heavy rain had stopped. We then progressed to the Tunnel and met up with Roger & Jill. There was a small delay on the train but as we were staying in Calais it wasn’t a problem. Geoff and Lesley had decided to do their own thing and meet us at Cadouin on Sunday.

An IBIS was booked and we all ate ensemble and most sampled the local Calais beer, very nice.

The next morning we had a leisurely start, for the 250 mile trip to Orleans via Cluizel chocolate factory / museum at Damville. The museum has an entry fee of Euro 5.5 and is worth a visit if ever you are passing that way. The products they sell start at about Euro 3 and the most expensive box of chocolates I saw were Euro 55. Hands remained strictly in my pockets although most of the ladies made a purchase.

At Orleans we split into two separate IBIS hotels and regrouped on Sunday morning. After a false start and an unexpected trip around Orleans we set out for Cadouin via Oradour-Sur-Glane.. Following a short visit to Orador we still had over two hours to go so we hit the road. This time we had what we had gone for, lots of twisties most of the way to the Ancienne Gendarmerie.

Sue and I introduced the gang to their new hosts and left for our cottage. I missed a corner on the way and went up someone’s drive and being vertically challenged managed to drop the bike trying to reverse with only one leg on the floor.

Monday was always planned to be a lazy day so we did a bit of shopping then had a long lunch in the garden followed by a short ride to Monpazier and Belves. Early finish to the day as Jan & Diana had arranged to do an Indonesian meal for the group. We were expecting to ride to the Gendarmerie and back but Roger called to say he and Geoff would come and collect us and then everyone contributed to the cost of a taxi to get us back… very kind, unexpected and much appreciated thanks guys & gals.

Tuesday rain delayed play, Sue felt homemade soup was required before making the trip to Domme and Sarlat, both fantastic medieval towns. When Keith arrived at the cottage he sported a large black eye due to falling down the stone spiral staircase at the Gendarmerie. Obviously everyone was sympathetic and told him not to say no to Debbie again.

Wednesday we went to Rocamadore meeting in Belves where Dave managed to lose an earplug, which we found on our return, resulting in our meeting place being nick named ‘earplug corner'. On the first re-fuel Keith’s GS refused to start so he pushed it up hill out of the petrol station then Debbie got everyone’s attention. By the time we had walked over the bike started why?

We arrived at Rocamadore just as the heavens opened. I managed to drop my bike for second time and got away with matching scratches on my panniers. Rocamadore is built on the edge of a cliff and worth a visit. We managed to miss the standard French lunch period of 12 – 14:00 so when we decided to eat we were disappointed. We then moved on to Cahors for a quick scout round for a snack but the lure of a four course meal in Belves was a strong temptation to return early to the L’homme hotel, excellent value but the heavens opened whilst we were in there and we all had a wet ride home.

The Meteo on Thursday was not good, one month’s rain in one day. The rain stopped about 10:00 so we decided to meet at earplug corner and went out towards Sarlat & Souillac to show Dave the route he would take when leaving on Friday due to family commitments. From Souillac we decided to have a short 30 mile ride along some twisties but before we started it started to rain and didn’t stop for about 16 hours. After receiving a thorough drenching we called it a day or Sue did with strict intructions to head for home, we all returned to our various accommodations

On Friday Dave left at 05:30 and made good progress until he was almost home when he ran out of fuel and had to be bailed by his good lady, who drove from home to Battle with some fuel.

The rest of us had a slow day. Following Roger’s lead to Bergerac, we took in the sites of the town and then did what the club does best, ate a three course meal.

Saturday’s leave was set for 11:00 for a trip to Blois for the overnight stop. At first we appeared to be making good time but after lunch it was decided to push on a bit harder. Although it was mostly dry the wind was very strong and John who is no spring chicken, started to suffer on his GS650. The final leg to Blois was a long, long straight road and you could literally see for kilometres but John was still suffering so we couldn’t take advantage and kept strictly to the speed limits.

At the Ibis we showered and had our final evening meal. Sue found some pieces of chipped crockery in her sauce and the management compensated with a free meal. Breakfast the next day passed without further incidence of additional crockery and we left about 10:00 and arrived at the tunnel in good time. Shortly afterwards Dave Deakin, Kevan, Kevin and Ron pulled alongside returning from their trip to Italy, small world!

Apart from the weather it had been a good week we did about 1800 miles and the new 800GT averaged 62 to the gallon, not bad fully loaded and 2 up.

A reluctant camper

As you know I was only going camping because my son insisted on going with me this year. The idea of going camping the far end of September filled me with dread. However, having booked the BMW trip to Rother Valley for the weekend I felt obliged to go even though my son, through injury, couldn't make it..

Although it had been cold and wet for 5 days leading up to the weekend, the weather forecast was pretty good for the coming Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This fortunately gave me some confidence, so I didn’t feel too bad about making an effort.

Driving into the campground around mid-day took me back 40 years when campsites in England were very much like this one. There was a desperate need for a modern block for showers and toilets and a shop that sold basic essentials that appear in all modern campsites. Anyway, what the Hell! We bikers are men and we can certainly handle a few short comings. I guess the site is well compensated with a wonderful location and a great pub just down the road.

Driving across the field there was a BMW sign erected in front of a large camper van. Mind you, it could be better described as a mobile hotel with a BMW motorcycle in tow.. Clearly the owner, John Burton, was having nothing to do with tents. Alongside the hotel was a solitary tent belonging to Shaun Mulligan. On arrival I had no idea who the tent and hotel belonged to since nobody was there. For a moment I was all alone but decided to erect my tent and wait and see what happens. Within a period of 30 minutes another three Johns had arrived as did Shaun and John Burton. That makes six of us, which in my view represents a nice number, although a few more intrepid campers would be fine. With everyone settled in and cups of teas being handed round, it was good to feel the camping atmosphere was taking off.

With everyone wearing tea shirts in the sun shine some of us followed a commotion in the far corner of the field. There was John Burton helping to solve the problem of building a Siberian summer house or was it a wooden wigwam or perhaps it was a cage for a Siberian asylum seeker We, the knowledgeable BMW bikers, offered a range of suggestions before heading back to our tents. We believed our collective advice was likely to be helpful, but just in case, we will be off before work continues on the Monday.

Suddenly it was time to eat. For some years the campers had debated whether or not to try the local Indian restaurant and each time they opted for the pub. When George Barlow arrived to pay us a short visit, he said he will return the next day and join us for a meal in the pub. With that, we now opted this evening for the Indian Restaurant. Everyone agreed it was a very successful evening.

Saturday morning, the sun shone brightly over the campsite making our different ideas of breakfast very agreeable. Talk turned to a ride out adventure. It was clear that John Burton, our leader, had no need for a sat/ nav when he launched us into the countryside for a 150 miles round trip. Somehow he managed to avoid, for the most part, the main roads. We skirted the Maidstone area and witnessed the most incredible views near Plaxtol. It was then off through Ashdown Forest and on to the Heaven Café for Lunch. John asked us if we wanted more of the same. He then led us down to Beachy Head where the sea mist blotted out the views but did not spoil the taste of a nice cup of tea and cake. After that, we headed for Rye and back to our campsite in Northiam where George Barlow was waiting for us to join him at the pub for dinner.. It was congratulations to John for an outstanding ride out.

Soon it was time to head for the pub and the evening meal. I soon learnt the pub was about a mile down in the village. It required a walk along a well worn track in a field to avoid getting run over. A table for eight had been ordered for us in a room at the far end. The room was very warm since the log fires, unlike central heating, could not be easily regulated. Once seated with our drinks and a menu in front of us, it was not long before the food was ordered. I was lucky to get the chicken pie, potatoes, peas and gravy since only two were left. For the others it was something else. With some of us finishing up with apple pie and ice cream it was time to hold your belly and hope you had not overeaten. Another great night!. Walking back to the campsite, some of the lads had the foresight to bring their torches. The track in the field was in total darkness. Needless to say, it was time for some of us to head straight to our tents for a good night’s sleep.

Sunday morning was strangely warm as we emerged from our tents. After breakfast it was time to begin gathering up our things. It was good we could take as long as we wished. Soon it was evident the work was being interrupted with intense discussions ranging from boilers to obscure fault finding problems. By 11am only John Burton remained for another night. I was home by 12.30am in time for a traditional Sunday lunch. What a way to finish a wonderful camping weekend. Again many thanks to you Shaun and the rest of the guys for supporting this weekend. If I am fit enough this time next year, then perhaps both me and my son can meet you for another camping weekend.

Brian Atkinson 22nd September 2013