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Brit Butt Rally 2010
22-23 May 2010
The third running of the IBA UK's Brit Butt Rally saw a changed start/finish at the Marriott hotel in Cheshunt, just north of junction 25 of the M25. I arrived there on Friday afternoon, having ridden down with Margaret Peart (Beemerbird) who had been staying with me, and Chris McGaffin and Joe Fisher, both riders from Northern Ireland, whom we had met up with at Corley services on the M6. There were many riders aready there in the car park and around the hotel and I spent a while catching up with people before unpacking in my room and then signing in for the rally. Technical inspection in the car park meant having lights, tyres, horn and my auxiliary tank checked over - thankfully my horn, which I had spent the previous evening rewiring, was still working! That only left the odometer check - following a route for 20 miles so the rally team could use the difference on your odometer to calculate your final mileage. After that I went into Cheshunt to fill the bike up (both tanks), went back to my room and got it ready for planning - laptop fired up and two maps, one for northern Britain, and one for southern Britain spread out on the floor, and then lay down for an hour's rest before the dinner.
At 8.30, after the pasta buffet dinner, the rally flags and rallybooks were distributed - I got mine last as they were given out to riders in reverse order according to your rider number. Pete West, this year's rallymaster, took us through a few details of the rallybook, including how to claim for the rest bonus (3 hours stop starting between 11pm and 5am) which was worth 5000 points and the fuel log, worth an extra 10000 points. We were finally told the minimum mileage and points needed to obtain a finish - 28000 points and 1206 miles. We then all retired to our rooms to work out our routes. There were 67 bonus locations altogether, from the Lizard in the south of Cornwall, to Duncansby Head lighthouse in the far north east corner of Scotland - this the highest value bonus at 2999 points. There was also one combo bonus, with one location on the far north west coast of Scotland and one bonus at Carrisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight. I had a quick look at using these bonuses as they were the highest scoring, but I had already worked out that the start to John O Groats and back would come to around 1340 miles by itself, so put these down as sucker bonuses and dismissed them. This was one of the disappointing effects of having a start so far south - hopefully it will move around and be further north next year.
Each page of the rallybook listed details of one bonus, listing its name, latitude/longitude location, a Google Map screenshot, and photograph of the bonus. It also detailed what you had to do to show you had visited the location. For all bonuses you had to take a photograph with your rally flag in it with other details as well for some, e.g. if you or your bike had to be in the photograph as well. For some you needed to collect something else as well, such as a receipt for something specific. Finally, the page listed what points the bonus was worth and when it could be visited - some could only be photographed in daylight, some at night, and others only between certain hours of the day.
I spent the first hour typing the longitude and latitude details of all the bonus locations into Garmin Mapsource on my laptop, marking all the bonuses worth over 1000 points with a red flag, those worth between 600 and 1000 points with a blue flag, and those worth less than 600 point with a green flag. I did this carefully - and briefly checked each one against the google map in the rallybook as I typed it in - a basic mistake here would be costly on the rally. Having got all the bonuses into Mapsource I saved the file to my desktop and to my pen-drive (I had also saved it after inputting every five bonuses) and then transferred the file to the Garmin 2610 I would carry on the bike, and to the 2620 I would carry in my pannier as a backup (the advantage of using fairly cheap old GPS units!).
After a cup of coffee and a few biscuits I got back to work - next step was to mark up my two maps with the same locations, using red, blue and green stickers and marking them with each bonus' code showing its number, points value and any restrictions (e.g. 04900T for bonus number 4, worth 900 points, available between certain times). While this step could be missed out I do it so I have a physical backup of all the locations, and mainly because I find it easier to see possible routes when I can see all the bonuses laid out before me on a map. Whiel doing this I was also considering different legs and grouping bonuses together to create a route. I then imported the Mapsource file into Autoroute 2010 and set about putting a route together. I was struggling with my third route, finding I was having to discard a couple of bonuses because of their time restrictions when it struck me that by reversing my route I could posssibly get to them all in time. According to Autoroute my route, including the 3 hour rest stop, came to 35 hours and 1 minute (after 35 hours each minute late would cost you 100 points deducted, with a finish after 36 hours leading to disqualification), so it looked pretty tight, but I knew from experience that I could catch some of that up as I had built in time at each bonus location and some rest time every few hours which I rarely used. I was fairly sure I could cover all the route with two possible changes - I had to get to Wasdale Head in the daylight but my timetable was saying I would get there at 22:02 (sunset was at 21:15) so I might have to miss that out, and my last three bonuses in Kent might get reduced or cut out altogether depending on what time I got to Southampton on Sunday morning.
My final task was to write up the route list for my roadbook on two sheets of tyvek paper - this listed each bonus' code in order I intended to visit them, the time I expected to be there, the distance I should have covered by the time I got there, and exactly what I had to photograph when I got to each bonus. This meant that I would have this in front of me all the time and could put the rallybook away safe in my pannier. At just after 1 am I packed everything and fell straight asleep.
I was up just after 5, had a cup of tea and some breakfast (a can of Nurishment) as I got dressed and headed out to the car park. There were several riders already there packing there bikes. I decided that my timing meant I had to get away quickly and having checked where we were starting from, I pushed my bike to the startline to be the first off (I figured being number 1 gave me the right!). I then finished packing my bike, dropped off my room key and checked over the bike, suddenly realising that I had forgotten to fit my roadbook sheets, but where were they? A quick check of th epanniers revealed no sign of them so it was back into reception for a replacement room key - sure enough they were still on the desk where I had left them!
 With Pete West at the start
 Smoking as I restart the stalled bike!
At 6 am Pete West waved me off, I promptly stalled the bike and had to restart it while moving towards the set off point where I shook hands with Roger Allen and set off turning north at the roundabout outside the hotel, towards the A10 and my first control in Hereford, 10 miles away. I had got into Hereford and was going around the centre when the bike started to feel strange and then to start wobbling - surely I did not have a puncture already? I stopped to check and pulled the bike onto its centrestand The tyre was fine, but the four bolts holding the rear wheel on were very loose, two of them half out. I got out the tool kit and tightened them up and then checked the rest of the bike over - I had checked the bike right over a few days before the rally and have more reason than most people to be careful when it comes to checking tyres and wheels so I was quite perplexed as to how this could have happened. Several riders came past me and Michiel Kerkhof, a Belgian rider, stopped to make sure I was okay which was good of him. When I was sure everything was sound I got back off on the bike, went back round the town centre as I had missed the turn in concentrating on my problem with the bike, and shortly came to my first bonus, this public house:
1. Old Barge Pub, Hertford (375 points) - 06:18
It is always good to get the first points in the bag, even if a small score. In fact both my first two controls were not worth a great deal of points but every one counts, and could be crucial come the finish, and I had added them before heading into London as my first bonus there was not available until 7 am and I did not want to waste time getting there early. I headed back onto the A10 south and then cut off towards Harlow. The day had started bright and sunny at Cheshunt but now thick fog started rolling in and before long it became difficult to see across the road and my speed fell accordingly. My second bonus was a water tower at the end of Old Hall Rise - when I got there I rode right up to it and could just about make out its shape in the fog. I decided it was best to take a photograph of the road sign to evidence my visit.
2. Water Tower, Harlow (222 points) - 06:40
Heading into London the traffic was fairly light but it still reminded me of my despatching days as I rode down to Greenwich. At this bonus I had to appear in the photograph and it was only available after 7am. . I had my Gorillapod ready to hold my camera, but, as was to happen many times in the rally, when I needed to take my own photograph, there was another rider there to do it for me. In this case there were four other riders but Gerald Perkins did the honours for me.
3. 24 Hour Clock, Greenwich, London (1300 points) - 07:15
I left quickly and saw several other riders heading towards Greenwich as I made my way into central London, over the Thames and past the Houses of Parliament to reach my next bonus, the Cenotaph - Britain's memorial to those killed in battle. I pulled onto the central reservation and got my photograph. I heard that some later riders were moved on by police who objected to them stopping there.
4. Cenotaph, London (1150 points) - 07:40
I was riding away past the memorial when I glanced back and saw another rally rider stopped the other side of the Cenotaph. He was looking at his bike in that way people do when they are having a problem so I turned back and pulled alongside his black Triumph Rocket. The bike's battery had died but he had some jumpleads which I attached to the positive takeoff on the starter motor housing on the GS and the rear footrest hanger. After running my bike for a short while the big Triumph fired up and I left him to continue his ride without switching his bike off! I headed out west towards Heathrow airport and got on the M4 for a couple of junctions to arrive at my next bonus, a large model of an Emirates A380 on a roundabout on the way into Heathrow. I had pulled onto the service road before it and was just taking my photograph when I looked round to find two policemen sat in their car staring at me. I went over and they asked what I was doing - they were fine when I explained although looked at me as if I was mad when I said I had to be in Scotland by the afternoon! Another rider pulled up behind the police car but I thought it best to get out of there before I outstayed my welcome.
5. Emirates A380 Model, Heathrow Airport (1380 points) - 08:13
I jumped back onto the M25 and then took the M40 north to get to High Wycombe and my next bonus, the Hell Fire Caves. Part of the reason I liked changing the route around was that it gave me a long stretch this morning when I could link up a number of bonuses with motorway sections, which should give me a good chance of raising my average speed. I had already worked out that since I was aiming ot cover around 1400 miles I needed to maintain an average overall speed including all stops (but not the 3 hour rest stop), of 43.75 mph. Arriving at Heathrow my average had been around 36 mph so I needed to up this over the next few hours.
6. Hell Fire Caves, High Wycombe (550 points) - 08:40
I headed north on the M40 again and then turned off onto the A43, another good fast road, past Brackley, Silverstone and Towcester to get to the village of Stoke Bruerne to get a photograph of the locks and Canal Museum. I pulled the bike onto the pavement on the narrow bridge over the canal and took this photo;
7. Stoke Bruerne Locks, Northamptonshire (755 points) - 09:39
It was nearly 60 miles to my next bonus but this was nearly entirely via the M1, and luckily one of the few sections of the motorway without any roadworks or 50pmh restrictions so I made good progress to reach Donington Park. I had been here many times to see racing and bands but had never visited the museum and had not known about this statue of the racing drivers Senna and Fangio. I also had to make a donation to the museum aand get a signed compliments slip. I made a mental note that I must come back here again and spend more time looking around.
8. Senna-Fangio Monument, Donington Park (850 points) - 10:34
A short 20 mile stretch into the centre of Nottingham brought me to this statue of Robin Hood. I had not seen it before but knew exactly where it was as it was only a hundred yards past the Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem pub, one of the pubs on Grim Riders' Pub Crawl Ride, and one which I had visited only last month on the Treasure Hunt ride. I had to be in the photograph and managed to ask a Japanese tourist taking a photo of the statue to take mine as well.
9. Robin Hood Statue, Nottingham (450 points) - 11:02
The next bonus followed the same theme and was worth the same number of points but it meant getting out of Nottingham which is never easy to do quickly before getting onto the A614 and heading north to the village of Edwinstowe. This statue of Robin Hood and Maid Marian stands under a tree outside the library on the narrow High Street. Robin looked quite proud to be wearing a Brit Butt Rally tabard! I was now 20 minutes ahead of my schedule and enjoying the day although it was getting hotter and hotter each hour.
10. Robin Hood & Maid Marian Statue, Edwinstowe (450 points) - 11:41
Hull was 75 miles north of here, arrived at by following the A614 which ran into the A1(M), then the M18 and M62 so another fast run would give me chance to make up some more time. Traffic was fairly light although I had one section of the M62 when the road was completely obscured by the smoke from a car on fire on the opposite carriageway. I stopped for my first fuel stop at Brough as I needed a comfort break anyway and saw that petrol was 116.9, as cheap as I had seen it anywhere - when it takes 44 litres to fill both tanks this matters all the more! I only had to stop twice more for fuel on the rally, saving time as well since I had had to stop seven or eight times in previous years. I rode under the Humber Bridge and into Hull, following the signs for The Deep to find this shark statue outside it above the breakwater. I only had to walk past a few people sat on picnic benches, I heard that riders arriving later found a carnival going on a round it and had difficulty getting a photograph.
11. Grey Reef Shark Statue, The Deep, Hull (1050 points) - 12:58
From Hull I continued north across the East Riding of Yorkshire toward my next three bonuses which all lay within the North Yorkshire Moors national park. A few miles before the first one I came up to another rally rider, the IBR veteran Steve Eversfield on his Honda ST1100. We pulled up outside RAF Fylington together to take a photograph of the radar building in the distance. It seemed best not to go any nearer - indeed I met a rider later that night who told me he and his pillion had been stopped by military police and told they should not be taking photographs of a top secret establishment. It seemed a bit odd - you can actually see the building better from the main road than in my picture!
12. RAF Fylington, North Yorks Moors (823 points) - 14:17
I headed back the way I had come, past some beautiful and very impressive scenery, through Pickering again but out west this time on the A170 and then north across the moors. My next stop was the folk museum in Rydale. I also had to make a donation here to obtain a party discount ticket. The lady behind the counter told me I was the third rider through here today. As I pulled away Steve arrived to become the fourth.
13. Rydale Folk Museum, Hutton le Hole (650 points) - 14:40
Heading along Blakey Ridge for 7 miles brought me to the Lion Inn to photograph the pub sign. I also had to get a receipt so thought I had earned an apple juice, especially as I was now 32 minutes ahead of my timing. I also bought a postcard from behind the bar as extra evidence of my visit. Again Steve arrived as I was leaving and I took his photograph for him.
14. Lion Pub, North Yorks Moors (701 points) - 14:54
My longest leg so far was the 116 miles to my northern most bonus of Bamburgh Castle. I arrived here 40 minutes early, having made good time past Middlesborough and Newcastle on the A19 and A1. The road from the A1 had given me one heart stopping moment when I came over the brow of a hill to find a steep descent and unsigned sharp left bend - thnk goodness for ABS! I also recorded the highest temperature of the rally here, with my gauge indicating 31.1 degrees as I pulled up into the car park at Bamburgh. That seemed to be a good enough reason to have an ice cream from the van there and I then got a passerby to take my photograph as both I and my bike had to be in the picture. Once again Steve pulled up as I was leaving and I took his photograph for him - he then told me he was stopping to eat his tuna sandwiches. All I could think of for the next half an hour was how good tuna sandwiches would taste - especially those ones with tuna paste on thin white bread you always had as a kid on school trips and have never had since (or is that just me?)!
15. Bamburgh Castle (1345 points) - 17:00
I headed across country and onto the B6396 over the Scottish border to reach the town of Jedburgh. On the way I took a short diversion to visit the battlefield at Flodden and take my photograph for the Grim Riders' Battlefield Ride as it only added a few miles to the journey, and would save me a trip here later in the year. On reaching Jedburgh I followed the signs for the Castle Jail. I had to photograph the foot visitors entrance so took this photograph.
16. Jedburgh Castle Jail Entrance (850 points) - 18:15
My short time in Scotland ended at the border on the A68 where I had to photograph this stone at Carters Bar. I was now only 25 minutes ahead and needed to make up a bit more time again over the next few hours if I was to make it to Wasdale Head in time.
17. Carters Bar, Scottish Border (300 points) - 18:32
The following bonus was in the town of Haltwhistle, close to Hadrian's Wall, and known as the centre of Britain - indeed the bonus was the signpost showing this. I cannot have ridden the A68 south from Jedburgh before as I was amazed by the road and its incredible humps, some of which I found myself flying off the top of before steep descents - all of them showed many signs of scrapes in the road from exhausts and towbars. I turned off this road and onto the road running alongside Hadrian's Wall to reahc my destination. I had forgotten it was Saturday night but was reminded by all the people dressed up for a night out in the centre of Haltwhistle.
18. Centre of Britain Sign, Haltwhistle (638 points) - 19:24
Sixty miles through Carlisle and around the north end of the Lake District brought me to Whitehaven. I stopped just outside the town to fill up with fuel for the second time. The bonus was this arch way in the grounds of St Bridget's Church, and I had to be photographed underneath the archway. Once again I was lucky to find another rallyist, Mark Fowler on his Yamaha FJR1300, already there and he volunteered to take my photograph. we had a quick chat - Mark telling me his worries about an oil leak from the FJR's rear drive which had recently had a new oil seal fitted (and I thought that was supposed to be a BMW problem!), before I set off to see if I could get to Wasdale Head in time, leaving Mark to debate whether he would go there or not. I was now 50 minutes ahead of time and my GPS was giving my arrival time at Wasdale as 21:15 exactly, but I knew it ws not an easy or fast road to the bonus.
19. Arch Way, Whitehaven, Cumbria (1050 points) - 20:40
I headed into the heart of the Lake District at Gosforth and took the road for Wasdale. This is a very bumpy 10 mile long single track road which skirts the edge of Wast Water before arriving at the valley end and the pub. I passed Margaret coming away from the pub but only had time to wave before pressing on. I got to the pub at 21:13, took my photograph and watched my GPS change to night setting as I rode away. I then raised my dark visor to find it was still quite light outside so I probably would have been alright for another quarter of an hour or so. On the way out of the valley I passed Mark coming the other way so he had obviously made his mind up to go for it!
20. Wasdale Head Inn, Lake District (950 points) - 21:13
From Wasdale I had a challenging ride across the Lakes to get to Kirkstone Pass for my next bonus, includin griding over Hardknott and Wrynose Passes, made more tricky as it was now getting dark - and by the fact that I had forgotten to change my dark visor so I had to ride with it up and was constantly getting struck by insects and bugs. As I got to the end of Eskdale I saw a bike's rear light high up on Hardknott and thought it might be Margaret on her V-Strom, so pushed on to see if I could catch up. I did come up to the rider on Wrynose Pass but it was a 1200GS, who let me past and then sat right behind me all the way into Ambleside. I lost him in the town and turned up the ascent towards Kirkstone Pass. I stopped outside the inn to get the photograph of the doorway and my bike. Kevin and Lyn Weller pulled up and told me about being stopped at Fylington, then the 1200GS, obviously not on the rally, came past, and then Steve Eversfield pulled up. We had a brief chat and I changed my visor and set off south.
21. Kirkstone Pass Inn, Lake District (950 points) - 22:20
From the Lake District I got on the M6 and headed south to pick up my only Night bonus in Blackpool. Getting onto the M55 I passed a long line of coaches, all full of orange shirted Blackpool fans on their way back from the Championship playoff final at Wembley - I wondered if they had had a good day. Getting into Blackpool the town was full of people, including large numbers of Hen Parties and Stag Parties weaving all over the roads. I also found a problem - the bonus was to photograph the tower illuminations - but they were not switched on, the only lights were a few aircraft signal lights at the top of the tower. I got the best photograph I could, including the Sealife centre, Blackpool in the picture in case the tower did not come out very well.
22. Blackpool Tower, Lancashire (950 points) - 23:38
I was glad to get out of Blackpool and back on the road. I was getting tired now and started thinking about stopping for the rest bonus as I was now in the time window. My plan had been to stop at Knutsford services but I thought I might stop before that - I pulled into the services at Bolton West on the M61 but they were in the middle of construction work and I could not see anything except the petrol station to stop at (speaking to Mark later he had pulled up here and slept on the grass), so decided to stick with my original plan - Knutsford was only about an hour away. But first I had to get into Manchester and pick up a photograph of this sculpture. I got myself slightly confused as I had misread the location as Old Trafford Park, and I knew where that was - Trafford Park was a bit further away. The sculpture was on a large junction but there was no traffic so I pulled onto the pavement and had my photograph taken, with the Trafford Park sign behind it, by a passerby - I checked the picture carefully as he was swaying a bit and I was not sure what he had taken, but it was good.
23. Chain & Hook Sculpture, Trafford Park (905 points) - 00:50
From Manchester it was a short distance down the M60 and M6 to Knutsford Services. My mother only lives a few miles from here but I thought she would not appreciate me calling at such an hour! I left my bike under the lights by the entrance and rushed inside to buy a chocolate bar and get a receipt to mark the start of my rest stop - 01:31. I then headed upstairs to the cafe for a sit down in the most comfortable chair I could find and something to eat. They did not have a lot on offer so I had a plate of sausages and chips and a hot chocolate, got my paperwork out and filled in my log and the rallybook to bring it all up to date. I then sat there with my drink, set three alarms on my mobile, and fell asleep. I woke up half an hour later feeling refreshed. Another rider. Debs Devine, came into the cafe and we got another drink and had a chat about the rally for a while before I had another snooze and it was time for me to leave. I packed the bike back up, checked the oil and topped it up, checked the rear wheel (!) and then went back in to get a receipt, for another chocolate bar (I didn't eat either as they melted), to mark the end of my rest stop - 04:41.
As it became light again I reached my first bonus for Sunday at Mow Cop - I had been here the year before as the plaque in the front of the picture, which marks the finish of the Killer Mile running race from the bottom of the hill, had been a Round Britain rally landmark two years before. Gerald Perkins was stopped by the bonus too and we had a quick chat before I headed off across Cheshire towards Wales.
24. Mow Cop Castle, Staffordshire (701 points) - 05:05
I had lost some time as I arrived at Chirk Castle only 10 minutes ahead of my scheduled time, finding Mark Fowler at the bonus, which gave me someone to take my photograph in front of the gates.
25. Chirk Castle Gates (650 points) - 06:06
It was only a few miles down the road to the next bonus in Oswestry - we arrived at the same time but from opposite directions.
26. Borderland Farmer Statue, Oswestry (475 points) - 06:15
Another twenty miles brought me to the centre of Shrewsbury. For the first time my satnav confused me, taking me down a parallel road. I arrived at the statue just behind Mark, and just before Barry Heasman on his Harley. We played musical cameras - I took Mark's photograph, Mark took Barry's and Barry took mine.
27. Charles Darwin Statue, Shrewsbury (755 points) - 06:40
There were seventy miles down the A49 to my next bonus in Monmouth. I took a short detour again, this time to photograph a Round Britain Rally landmark a few miles off the road. I had actually visited this one before on th way to the Welsh Rally, then realised half an hour later that I had put the Battlefields placard on my bike instead of the RBR one - this had annoyed me so when I saw the RBR landmark come up next to my route on the GPS I was glad to be able to correct my error without having to make a special journey. Getting back onto the A49 I came across Mark Fowler stopped in a layby - I pulled over to check he hadn't got a problem (recalling his oil leak comments) but he was just putting on some sunglasses so I waved and carried on. I have ridden the A49 many times - it being my route home from university in Cardiff back to Cheshire many times in the early '80s, and always enjoyed it. Going over the hill by Hope under Dinsmore I remembered once seeing a car hit a deer and swerving across the front of my bike - to this day I have no idea how it missed me. I noticed there are now deer warning signs up on the road, so they are obviousy still about.
Arriving in Monmouth, where I once spent a summer working on a medieval archaeological dig when I was at school, I went straight to the end of the High Street to photograph the fortified bridge - not looking as impressive as usual due to the swathes of plastic sheeting surrounding it as it is being renovated and cleaned. I stopped around the corner for my third and last fuel stop and another can of Nurishment before heading south.
28. Monnow Bridge, Monmouth (501 points) - 08:08
I took the winding B4293 down to Chepstow, crossed the Severn on the M48 via the old bridge and joined the M4 until junction 18. I went around Bath and was riding down the A36 when I noticed I was about to pass another Round Britain Rally landmark - a five minute detour and I had ticked that one off too. I then came to the village of Norton St Phillips and stopped in the middle of the village to take a photograph of the old George Inn. The local primary school was running a scarecrow festival - if you look closely you can see one dressed as a Knights Templar sat inside the doorway of the inn.
29. George Inn, Norton St Phillips, Somerset (550 points) - 09:40
Twelve miles east I arrived in the village of Keevil and got to use my Gorillapod again - this time to photograph myself and the village stocks which had been built to celebrate the millenium.
30. Village Stocks, Keevil (501 points) - 10:04
The day was beginning to warm up now but I felt fine and was now in day 2 mode. The two days of the rally always have a different feel to them - the first is more relaxed and is about maintaining the schedule and not making mistakes, while on the second you are far more conscious of the time passing and riding against the clock.
I past Stonehenge on the A360 and found the Poultry Cross in the centre of Salisbury, took my photograph and set off back on the A36 towards Southampton. I was starting to think about my finishing route since I had at least three possible options - I decided that for once I would actually stop in Southampton, get out the map and review my options.
31. Poultry Cross, Salisbury (555 points) - 10:50
I arrived at the Maritime Museum in Southampton Docks 11 minutes ahead of schedule, which I used up trying to decide whch route to take from here to the finish. I had initially decided to head around the south of London on the M25 and into Kent where there were three bonuses, at Ashford, Warehorne and Finglesham, which would net me 1915 points. However, this got me back to the finish at 17:01 and I was concerned that the roads towards the coast could be very busy, as they were around Southampton, and that I would have to go back to the finish via the M25 and the Dartmouth Tunnel, which can be a bad bottleneck. Overall I did not feel good about this route so I looked at other options. I had two other possible routes - one heading north to collect two bonuses along the A34, then a detour away from the finish to the Cotswolds for a third bonus, for a total of 1855 points - with the further option of not going to the Cotswolds if I felt tired or the traffic was heavy. The alternative was potentially the most lucrative but meant crossing to the Isle of Wight to visit Carrisbrooke Castle for a massive 1888 points, while still being able to collect at least one of the northern bonuses on the way past, for a total of 2388 points. Although I had not researched the ferries to the Isle of Wight I thought the ferry only took about half an hour so reckoned it was feasible - I decided to try for this, thinking that at worst I would still have time to turn away from the ferry port and pick up at least two of the northern bonuses.
32. Maritime (Titanic) Museum, Southampton (1000 points) - 11:30
I set off from Southampton just before midday and hit solid traffic as soon as I got on the A35 out of the city. All the way to Lyndhurst was one line of slow moving traffic and the raod was quite narrow so it was difficult to get past with vehicles coming the opoosite direction. Lyndhurst itself was gridlocked but I got through it and set off on the road towards the ferry port at Lymington. A couple of miles down the road the traffic was still heavy in both directions and I decided to change my plans and go for my northern option. I figured the traffic was only going to get worse as the day went on and had visions of trouble and delays getting on ferries and did not like the thought of not being able to control those variables. After the finish I spoke to a couple of riders who had taken the ferry - one had spent three hours overall getting on and off the island. another had been seriously delayed when the ferry had broken down and he had had a long wait for the next one. It made me glad I had not gone for that option - it could have destroyed my ride.
I rode back through Lyndhurst and up the M3. All three lanes of the southbound motorway were stationary but I was again making good progress. Taking the A34 junction I headed north until a layby a short distance after the turning for Litchfield. stopping in the layby I had a 100 yard walk along the edge of a field to get to the bonus, a memorial stone to Geoffrey de Havilland who had made his first flight in hos homemade aeroplane here in 1910.
33. De Havilland Monument, Litchfield (500 points) - 12:52
Thirty miles up the A34 and B4494 brought me to the town of Wantage and the bonus of the statue of Alfred the Great in the market square. The day before the square had been full of market stalls and I believe the statue had been difficult to get to, but on Sunday afternoon it was easily accessible.
34. Alfred's Statue, Wantage (455 points) - 13:30
I now had three and a half hours before I had to get to the finish (finishing after 5pm would lose you 100 points for each minute late, up to 6pm after which you would be instantly disqualified), and my route via the bonus in the Cotswolds was just over 150 miles to the finish. Or I could just go straight to the finish which was 48 miles away - the last bonus meant travelling an extra 100 miles, but it would give me 900 points more, so I decided to go for it, after all it could make all the difference with the results (it didn't!).
The road north west from Wantage was frustratingly busy with traffic although it got a little better once I turned onto the A424 at Burford. I continued overtaking streams of cars as I rode through Stow on the Wold and headed toward my destination near Broadway. I got to the tower outside the village after taking an hour to travel the 46 miles from Wantage. My timing was further put back by the fact that the requirements for the bonus were for both a photograph of the tower and for an entry receipt, and the tower was on an outcrop, several hundred yards from the car park. So I took off my helmet and gloves and made my way to the tower, wishing I could actually run. When I got there I paid my £4.50 for a ticket, but when the guy behind the counter realised I was not actually going up the tower he. kindly but frustratingly, insisted on writing a long message on the back to tell any of his colleages that I could go up whenever I came back before October 2010. (I actually went back the following weekend with Stacey and it is certainly worth going up for the view and to find out about the history of the tower - one family actually lived in it, with no elctricity, from the 1930s until 1972, and before then it had connections to William Morris). I walked back to my bike, getting a lady taking photographs of the tower to take mine as well.
35. Broadway Tower, Cotswolds (900 points) - 14:34
It was now 14:50 and I had 2 hours and 10 minutes to cover the 110 miles to the finish - no problem as long as I did not run into any problems on the roads. In the event I had a good run back to Burford, then picked up the A40 across to the M40, then clockwise round the M25 to junction 25, arriving at the finish just after 16:30.
I was pleased with my ride, nothing had gone wrong, and the only difficulty had been the heat and the fact that after getting back to my bike at Broadway Tower I had not been able to find my gloves, meaning I had ridden without them - by the time I finished the backs of my hands were bright red and rather sore. After saying hello to some of the riders who had already finished and the rally team, I sat down with a tall glass of water and went through my paperwork. I had four items to complete - my sleep bonus record, with the two receipts for its start and finish; my fuel log, on which I had to fill details of each fill up - where it was, time, odometer reading, and number of litres (made easier because I only had three receipts); my photograph log, which listed each of my bonus photographs in order along with the time at each one; and the rallybook, in which I had to add for each bonus I had visited the time I was there and my odometer reading. Having filled everything in I went back over it and checked every entry before heading to the checking room - once in here I could not change anything. My paperwork was checked by Phil and Lynne Weston. Phil had been unable to ride this year after a motorcycle accident the month before. Everything checked out, although I still did not know how many points I had accumulated - I never count them up once I am sure I have the minimum required for a finish. Lynne also very kindly lent me their room key so I could get a shower and change out of my Aerostich.
At the dinner we spoke of how we had got on and who had not made it to the finish. A couple of people, including Joe Fisher, had suffered problems with their bike - Joe had had a recurring puncture on his rear tyre and had to head for home. Fortunately I did not har of anyone hitting a deer this year, but it seemed clear that the heat had played its part, as several riders had retired during the rally from exhaustion. Eventually Roger and Pete came in with the results - 25 riders from the 40 who had started had managed a finish. The other 15 had either not got back to the finish in time, or got back with not enough points or miles covered to qualify for a finish. Roger then read out the names of the finishers in reverse order until he came to the first three placed riders. The three called up were John Young, Rob Gawthorpe and myself. John had completed an incredible ride to finish on his 36 year old Triumph T160 in third place. I am not sure anyone else could have ridden the rally so well on such a machine. Which left Rob and myself - as soon as Roger said the mileage of the second place rider I knew it was not mine, which meant I had finished in first place, for the third year on the run. Maybe time to retire!
I left the hotel soon afterwards as I had to be back at work in the morning. By the time I got on the M1 tiredness hit me and I had to stop at the services. I sat on a metal chair outside the service station and fell fast asleep - I woke about 20 minutes later and carried on home, eventually getting back at 1 am. I was back in work at 8, it had been a hell of a weekend.
 Back home
Ride Statistics:
41187 points
1411 miles covered
34hrs 10mins total time
Ave speed overall 44.6mph
26hrs 7mins moving time
Ave speed moving 53.2mph
Final Route:
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