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 Right,
time for our summer holidays and this year we’ve been waiting awhile
on summer and on a holiday so this rally couldn’t come quick enough.
Normally myself and Jeannie have been doing the IoW –Mersea thing in
recent years but we missed IoW this year as its Kitch n Anne’s
wedding after Mersea, so we knocked the holiday fortnight on a bit
to do that instead. So, Wednesday night the scoots were packed
up ready for an early start Thursday morning. Just the two of us
(again!) as the rest of the club were either never going or had one
by one pulled out. As it turned out, a few blues and friends were to
be at the rally but more of that later… So Thurs morn we get a
promise from Michael Fish of five days of solid sunshine. Well maybe
not that good but five days of dryness at least surely. God knows
we’re due a dry rally this year. Anyway, I decided to leave the
waterproof jacket at home I was that confidant! So, we fire up the
cut-downs and off we go. Now some of you will know I’ve had a few
teething problems with the lamikaze in its first 1000 miles so it
was maybe a bit unrealistic to expect a trouble free next 1000 mile
return rally journey……but I thought I’d get passed Edinburgh at
least! Unbelievable, first Jeannie thoiught she’d seized on by-pass
then we only get to Musselburgh services and my radiator starts
pissin out coolant. Vibration claimed another victim as the bolt
sleeves had rubbed through the radiator core. A few frantic phone
calls to bike shops and breakers turned up no spares so we had two
choices – AA it to Kitch’s and hope to fix it there or go back and
take the car. NAW!, AA it was and the wee guy actually did a braw
temp repair with chemical metal and radweld. In fact it is still
holding out now which is more than I can say for the rest of the
scoot! More later….. We cracked on and made up for some lost time
down to Humberside. Arrived at Kitch’s sore and numb at around seven
so it’d been a 10 hour journey all in with the delays. Boo. Also at
this point went to charge the battery and discovered the toolbox
door had disappeared! Cracked through at the hinge. Never even
noticed it happening. Ah well, Anne sorted us some scran and a few
drinks rounded off the night.
Friday and Kitch went off to pick up Tubbs while we set off for
Mersea around nine. We had a wee race on to get there before the
tide came in and cut-off the causeway. Started off down the A15 and
planned to fill-up at the roundabout services. Gets there having
burned about 70 miles of fuel (must be real low) and the garage is
shut. Shit. Nowt else for it but to plow on. Amazingly we reached
Lincoln and I now know the scoot does 85 mile to a tank at least and
hold over 8 litres not 7.5 like I thought! Close one. We battered on
without any real stops and even though my front brake had faded
almost totally and the back was binding bad enough to turn the disc
blue, we just made the causeway as the water was getting level with
the roadway. On to the site and once we’d fought our way past the
camper vans and cars, we pitched up next to Sam and Martyn and had
ourselves a well earned beer. Friday arrivals also included Kitch,
Anne and Tubbs, Alex and Karen (Alex resplendent in a ‘Glasgow’
Blues T-Shirt) mind you he’d made it himself! Also Gary Mac, Ian and
Kate and then all the way from Sweden via Abu Dhabi and
Sunderland…….JONATHAN! with the lovely Loren in tow. Was great to
catch up and thanks for bringing the carry-out! Friday was turning
out to be a crackin night but unfortunately Jeannie ended up
prematurely pissed and after winding up the local chavs was sent to
bed, closely followed by me as I was absolutely knackered.
Saturday started with looking for an
acceptable bogpan, something that was to be repeated through the
weekend with ‘acceptable’ becoming more relative as the conditions
worsened! For now though, it wasn’t too bad. Got back and noticed
Jonathan n Loren were still up! How lightweight are we? Hhmmm. The
parts stalls were just starting up so I figured I’d get in early and
look for a toolbox door. Result! A wee red fellow from a series 2
would do nicely (wouldn’t it?) As it turned out it didnae fit so off
to the pound stall for some files to narrow the hinge. Ten blunt
files later it was back to the stall for a £1 hacksaw! Finally a £1
roll of black sparky tape to change the colour and it was good to
go. Customising and bodging in one go eh? Next up – dyno challenge.
After being informed my scoot wouldn’t qualify for the competition
(‘cheating’ apparently, no mate, try riding it 500 miles - it won’t
feel like an easy option and it still aint a camper van!) I tried a
run out anyway. Problems with the computer on the dyno meant a huge
queue had built up behind me but eventually I was strapped in and
set to go. A big crowd built up to see the action and ……the throttle
snapped in half and fell off! You couldn’t make it up! Aaaggghh.
Well then, back to the parts stalls for a throttle rod and one hour
later after a hand from Jonathan, was back in the dyno queue. This
time was good to go but because of the delays had missed beer and
banana. Bollocks. Anyway, not a bad run resulting in 2nd
top reading off the day and redlining at 14000rpm – sounded awesome!
Martyn followed up with another spazspeed run and got the most
interesting power curve reading of the day (you have to see the
chart). Back to the end of the games and custom show. Some
awesome scoots here but I liked the fat orange metalflake vespa best
(reminded me of one called ‘badman’ a few years back and might even
have been the same scoot with a makeover?) loved it. Next who turns
up but Davie Russell! Down on scoot with his ‘new friends’ (ooohh)
from Telford! Good to see ya mate. Jeannie even made a move, she’d
been crashed outside tent all day and only got up to be sick a few
times. Pish-heed. Didn’t stop us getting on with devouring a
carry-out at the sea edge and having a right good blether, also
catching up with Nick and a few of the guys from the Wellerman site.
Saturday night saw us move up to the courtyard and sample the fine
foods on offer as well as a cheeky wee doughnut or two. Mixing well
with the guinness! not. The various bands were just getting into
their strides but once again we were both struggling to stop the
yawning and ended up crashing out again. Too fuckin old for this I’m
telling you. We’ll have to get Auto scoots if we want to stay up
late! Easier life and all that.
Sunday gave us another glorious day which was
started off with a quick brekkie before packing up and saying the
good-byes before heading off Northwards with Sam and Martyn. After
the first section of ‘B’ roads to Cambridge we got onto the A14 and
A1 proper. It became quickly apparent that Jeannies T5 has got a
fair bit slower since last year and we struggled to keep up. Promise
I’ll fix it for ya love (if only because I’m gutted at sitting at
that speed!) but the journey wasn’t too bad back up to Kitch’s. 20
miles to go just and the heavens opened. Only a short shower but
just enough to stop it being a dry rally. Had to happen eh? Then got
involved in a bizarre bit of road rage with a Mondeo. The guy passed
us and I noticed he was draggin something under the car. Pulled
alongside him and pointed under the car and he went ape! Was
shouting and signalling me to pull over etc. F’kin ‘ell! Eventually
he speeds off only to stop around a bend and jump out into road as
we came up. Quick explanation and I think he felt a bit of a fanny.
Seemingly he thought I was giving him the finger. What did we expect
from a tattooed Harley t-shirt wearing Mondeo driver I s’pose! Soon
after arrived back at kitch’s shattered for a chilled out night.
Monday – the final leg of the journey. We’ve now got a 280-mile
drive back to complete the homeward leg so off we set at around ten.
Another braw day and we made good time, although the scoot wasn’t
doing so well. The headlight had worked loose again and only a swift
tape-up stopped me losing it altogether. Next the headlight rim
snapped into three pieces!, followed by the headset top vibrating
off and only the previous tape on the light saving that too. The
shaking was getting worse and I realised it was maybe not helped
when I noticed the fork stem had come loose. Pinched up the bearing
nuts with a screwdriver and hammer and was better. Trouble was it
kept happening so every fuel stop the tools were back out. The
speedo then shook to bits and could be seen bouncing about under the
glass! Totally wrecked and it had cost a few bob as well. Gutted.
Finally got home and realised the battery had also cracked, leaking
acid all over the place (again). The battery tray was split, the
frame seat loop was cracked, my new luggage rack was split through
the mounts, the chain slider had departed the scoot and the chain
tensioner had split in two. Got 100mph outta it though!!! hee hee.
All in all a great rally but a sore one (body and pocket) for me,
and a fair bit of repair work this winter. Credit to Jeannie for
once again doing that journey without any complaint – love ya honey!
and great to catch up with Jonathan, Loren, Kitch, Anne, Tubbs and
of course Sam n Martyn. Lots of miles n plenty of smiles………roll on
next years ‘olidays!
‘ave it!!! Dunf
Stats – Mersea Island 31st August – 2nd
September 2007. Qualifying miles - 920
Club
scoots attending:
Davei Russell Lambretta GP-TS1
Jeannie Vespa T5-172
Dunf Lambretta YZ250
click here for photo's
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