GWR 2007
By Who else - but The world famous Ray at 21/09/2008 03:02:02 PM
GWR 2007
I met Grasscutter & Caroline, Martin & Pam, Graham, Ben, James & Vicki at the football club where our bike show is held. We rode down to meet everyone else at the Spearmint Rhino club in Slough. Damn! The club was shut. Eddy’s bike was playing up so we had to bump start it to get it going. We made our way onto the M4 and headed west. We took the Newbury turn-off and took the A4 through Hungerford and Marlborough to Avebury, where we stopped for lunch, and to wait for Catweasle & Heather. After lunch we set off again with Grasscutter leading. Through Alton Barnes, right onto the A342, right to Chirton and left onto the B3098 through Urchfont and Erlestoke to Westbury where we stopped to watch some micro-lights flying about. From here we rode to Frome, then onto the A361 to Shepton Mallet. We stopped for petrol and spent about half an hour trying to get Eddy’s bike going again. It eventually started again and we headed up the A37 towards Bristol. We turned left onto the B3135 towards Cheddar Gorge but just past Binegar, Little Ray’s bike started back-firing and flames started coming out the exhaust before it cut out completely. After lots of tinkering we worked it out as either the regulator/rectifier or the alternator. The AA was called and within 20 minutes they turned up. Result. He agreed with out diagnosis so we decided to charge the battery up and get to the site, we could go to Riders of Bridgewater tomorrow. We decided to give Cheddar Gorge a miss and head straight to the rally site. Off up the B3134 to the A38 where we turned right. It was only as an Easy Jet plane took off from a field next to us that we realised we had turned the wrong way. We turned round and headed back down the A38, turned off onto the B3133 and rode through Yatton and Kingston Seymour and finally arrived at the rally site. After paying the entrance fee we found Paul & Anna already on site so we set up the tents next to them. We had some food and then a few sociable drinks. The bands were ok, nothing special and then off to bed at midnight for me.
On Saturday morning I had a wander around the field looking at the bikes and arranged a battery charger for Little Ray’s bike. After the battery was charged up we rode down to Riders of Bridgewater to sort out Ray’s bike. He bought a new regulator and swapped it for the old one. After checking it with a meter the battery was still not charging. The mechanic couldn’t look at the bike until after lunch so Ray decided to stay there while we went on a ride. We would meet up with him and Debbie later. We took the A39 towards the coast and stopped in Dunster for a short break. Took some photos of the castle and some of the sights and then it was back on the bikes and off towards Porlock Hill. I was ready for it this time, and got up the hill with no problems. We rode into Lynmouth and parked up. After lunch we had a look around the town, very nice it was too, before riding off to the Valley Of The Rocks. A few of us climbed up to the top of the rocks, what a view from the top, fantastic. My legs were killing me by the time I reached the top. After scrambling back down to the bottom we rode back through Lynmouth and then took the coast toll road, which although a bit bumpy for me on the chop was a great road to take. We stopped in Porlock Weir for a while before heading back to the site. We arranged to meet Ray & Debbie in a pub in Yatton for a meal and to find out how his bike was. It turned out it was the stator which was the problem and had burned out the alternator and regulator/rectifier so they had all been changed and the bike was now fine although Ray was a couple of hundred pounds poorer. After a very good meal we headed back to the site with Little Ray leading the way. He took off quickly and left us, he also missed the entrance road to the site so we all arrived before him. We found out that we had won the Best Club Turn Out which Eddy had accepted for us as he had stayed on site. We headed into the marquee and started drinking. The bands tonight were much better than last nights and there was much merriment. Lots of people were dancing tonight including us. Little Ray eventually turned up about 40 minutes after everyone else. I finally crashed out about two in the morning.
Sunday morning I packed my bike as soon as I got up and then went off to have breakfast. After everyone was ready we set off home. As we had missed Cheddar Gorge on the way down we decided to go there on the way back. We stopped in the gorge for some food and a wander around. With Grasscutter leading again we followed the same roads back to Westbury and visited the White Horse. We rode up to the top of the hill and sat looking out over the valley with a beautiful view of the cement works. Back on the bikes again we followed Grasscutter back to Newbury and the M4. Catweasle & Heather turned off at Reading while the rest of us carried on down the M4. At Slough everyone turned off apart from me. I carried on to the M25 and turned onto the A40 towards London. The M25 was full of traffic crawling along. Round the North Circular Road and I arrived home where I unloaded the bike and had a shower. A total distance for me over the weekend of 505 miles.
Our thanks go to Weston & North Somerset MAG for a good weekend.
Ray Douglas
West London Harley Riders
