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Llandudno Rally 2008
2nd to the 3rd May 2008
This
rally had been on the books since early on in the year, I even got a
new engine fitted and was hoping to give the 210 a right old thrash.
It started of with a large group planning to head down, but the
Wednesday before only Kenny, Anne, Jacko, Merieke, Rab, Mike, Dude
and me were up for the little jaunt down the road. It was decided
that I would go down the A-roads with dude and mike, whilst the GTS
gang along wi Rab and Wully fa the Berwick Bulldogs would zoom down
the motorway. So Dude and Mike left it in the capable hands of Paul
“The Route Master” to plan the route ahead, Oh how they would come
to regret that! With everything packed on the Thursday night along
with the ever important tools, I got a text fa Dude sayin his scoot
wouldn’t make it (you missed a great rally mate) and one fa mike
sayin that rab and Wully had decided to go the A-roads (HAHA
Idiots). We meet at Hillend and set of down the A702 to Abington,
and from the get go things weren’t going well for me, I could only
get up to 30mph and after a while it just wouldn’t move. After Kenny
had a look we got it moving again and flew the rest of the way to
Abington (note to self, when changing over the coil, remember to
tighten the HT lead properly). At Abington the two groups slit up
with the GTS gang heading of at high speed down the Motorways whilst
we took the A-roads down to Carlisle, Where I managed to get split
up from the others, a few calls later and I find out that the are
waiting in Gretna for me whilst I’m waiting on them in Carlisle, Yep
its gonna be one of those trips. After going through Penrith we
found our selves going around a very nice lake, which got me
thinking when did the put a lake I the middle of the A6??? After
spending at least 40 minutes of travelling up and down a road a max
speed of 20mph I finally ground to a halt with a bone-dry tank,
thank Christ for the spare fuel I carry. The stop also meant that
the others could start moaning at me……… well you didn’t have to
follow me did you! After finally getting out of the hills we came
across the M6, Which was the sign to ditch the old L-Plates and Keep
the hand poised over the clutch lever as we sat at a steady 65-70mph
to the services near Manchester. After filling up the scoots
again I soon came to a sudden halt on the hard shoulder, Shit did it
seize?.............Nope stupid me forgot to turn the fuel on. So off
Wully and me went to catch the others, at this point I gave the 210
a decent blast and was quickly sitting at 80mph with Wully trying to
keep up on his 180. After a near miss with a coach, we caught up
with the others an made good time getting to Wales, except from
mikes exhaust deciding to fall off at a nasty motorway junction but
a great bodge with zip ties sorted it and with 40 miles from
Llandudno Wully’s scoot started to rev like fuck and unbearable to
drive, but we plodded on and finally made it in to Llandudno where I
managed to lose them again! Found my way to the campsite and when
they turned up they said they had stopped to take pics at the
welcome to Llandudno sign WTF!!
Well after 10hrs on the road we finally
meet up with the rest of the club who were wasted already, the lucky
bastards. Tents went up and the drinking finally started with a
little trip in to town and a good old pub crawl before heading to
the do which to be honest was alright apart from the shitty jam
tribute band. We also had the bouncers lookin a bit worried when
Jacko decided to lift ma chair from under me and put me on my arse,
so I decided to do the same to him and sent him flying on his arse,
at which point numerous bouncers thought that all hell was about to
be unleashed. After a great breakfast at the local wethrspoons,
we hit the parts fare, or should that be called shiny shit fare!
After a look at the chrome and clothes stalls and a few more pints
we hit the campsite ready to sort out any niggles with the scooters.
I have to admit that before I left I had managed to fuck up the
thread on the cylinder head and just prayed that it would be fine
for the 600mile round trip…things weren’t looking to great, so me
and Kenny had a run down to the parts fare to see if anyone had a
second hand head and gasket, I shouldn’t have held my breath and it
was a waste of time, but the little run did show up some little
niggles with his really reliable GTS lol. So the scoot went backed
together and I just prayed more and more. Next on the list was
Wully’s scoot, which was diagnosed with a fucked drive side oil
seal, so mister AA was getting a very nice call in the morning. Also
met Davie Russell and Sarah on his TS1 and was good to see him
again. Forgetting about all the scooter woes we all got the
customary pissed and headed to the evenings do, where Basket case
were playing live and they seemed to go down pretty well, though not
as well as Wully the northern soul dancing fiend! Whose “swallow
dive” was the highlight of the night. Back at the site we hit the
bar and decided to watch the spectacular sport of extreme table
sliding, until some one decided to kick the middle table away as
someone was sliding down it, oh how we laughed, before we got kicked
out, boring bastards! With the scoots all packed up and Wully being
picked up by the AA and the GTS gang having left earlier Mike, Rab
and myself left. The journey seemed to go well but 50 miles from
Llandudno my cylinder head started to suck air and it made engine
lean as fuck, I was planning on bodge in it but couldn’t be arsed so
phoned good old Carol Nash and was picked up within and hour,
result! The trip home was boring as hell, especially when the
recovery truck is limited to 57mph, WTF! Then had to change recovery
companies at Lockerbie, and finally got home. Rab and Mike got home
fine, if a bit wet and the GTS gang of course got home in record
time.
Cheers
Paul “The Route Master”
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