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Brit Butt Rally 2009
Friday 15th May - With one week to go from today have been preparing bike and kit ready for the rally. Serviced bike and had it checked over and a few small jobs (some heavy handed idiot had managed to round off two of the threads in the cylinder head for the rocker cover and needed a couple of timeserts fitting - oh, just remembered I do my own servicing!). Tested Aerostich on way to work this morning in torrential downpour and found it wanting as ended up with a wet crotch (knew I shouldn't have put my suit on at home - spent 5 minutes in the staffroom with a hair dryer aimed at my nether regions!) so will be taking the XL rainsuit I bought on fleabay in case of this eventuality. Also bought my first new kit for about two years - a pair of Alpinestars Drystar gloves as warmer and more waterproof than the O'Neal motorcross gloves I normally wear, and will stop the wind going up my sleeves. I am sure the rally will be more competitive this year - we were all riding somewhat into the unknown last year but this year many of the riders have that experience behind them and will have made changes to their strategy based on where they lost time or made mistakes. I have a list of changes to my strategy for this year but shall be guarding them closely! I am sure the rallymaster, Chris McGaffin, will be introducing greater variety and twists to the event to try and make us think harder about possible route choices.
Wednesday 23rd May - Spent all evening loading up bike's panniers and tankbag - first disaster finding next morning that my camelbak was leaking and had pool of orange juice and water all over the lounge floor! (luckily it is wood and not carpeted!). Spent a while debating whether to take sleeping bag and bivvy bag - in the end strapped them on the back - thought of being stranded in the wilds of Scotland in the middle of Saturday night is not appealing!
Friday 24th May - Arrived at the start/finish base, the Premier Inn at Trentham Gardens near Stoke on Trent in the afternoon and met up with quite a few friends from last year's rally. Having arrived there was a real feeling of excitement and anticipation of the rally to come as everyone was talking about their chances and where they are likely to be going. Scotland was favourite last year but I doubt it will be the case this year and the weather certainly looks worse further north with heavy rain coming in for Saturday and Sunday, while the south looks like it will be clear. Settled into the room and got everything ready for the planning session - both laptops switched on with Autoroute and Mapsource running; two UK maps out on the bed - cut down so one shows northern England and Scotland, the other showing southern England and Wales; and assortment of pens and route planning sheets on the desk. Also put out and checked all my riding gear. Then went down and got myself signed in with Roger Allen, the UK IBA President - he also took my start photo on the SD card I would then use for the rally photos:
 Start Photo
After signing in I went outside for the technical inspection. I was feeling very happy about the bike. I had put new tyres on it in the previous months, serviced it myself a fortnight before and had it into the BMW dealers to have the pinion bearings adjusted and a few small jobs done and they had checked it right over and pronounced it sound. Having said that I had a constant worry in the back of my mind about the final drive bearing - having covered 54k miles and heard so many bad stories of them collapsing on IBRs! Also had a second near disaster after the odometer check when I decided to go and fill with petrol and only then realised I had left my wallet in the hotel! Luckily a fellow rider was filling up at the same time and paid for my fill - thanks Tony!
We all met for a meal at 6.30pm and then went into the riders' meeting, walking in past the glass trophies and certificates which woud be given to the first three placed riders. There had initially been 65 riders taking part, a few weeks ago we were down to 56 with various withdrawals for a variety of reasons, and in the end there would be 49 starters. Roger Allen welcomed us all to the event and started by handing out several IBA UK certificates gained over the past year - I received a certificate for my SS2000 ride last year, and a UK Mileater award for completing four certified rides, and was most surprised to be presented with a glass trophy for last year's BBR win, similar to those created for this year's winner. After an explanation of the rules, safety issues, and a run through of the rally book by the rallymaster, we were at last handed out the rally books and flags which would have to appear in all our photographs. The minimum for this year's rally was to be 27500 points and 1123 miles covered. I had been given flag number 1 this year, and noted that Chris told us that, unlike last year when you could manage without your flag by appearing in the picture yourself, many of the bonuses this year could not be claimed in this way (I was the only rider to lose their flag last year!) - this year I was going to be super careful of that flag!
We all repaired to our rooms and set about planning. One major change this year was that each page of the bonus book showed not only a google map and description of each bonus, but also a small photograph of the bonus itself, and the gps coordinates for it. It took me about an hour and a half to get all the bonuses logged. This involved putting each coordinate into Mapsource, then placing a coloured sticker (green for those worth less than 500 pts; blue for those worth between 500 and 900 points; and red for those above 900 points) on the maps. When I had got all the coordinates into Mapsource I transferred the bonuses to my Garmin 2610 and then used GPSU to save the file as an Autoroute txt file and imported it into Autoroute 2007 - I would use this program to make all the route calculations. There were 69 bonus locations altogether, ranging from the far north coast of Scotland to Lands' End in Cornwall, and two ferry options, visiting either the Isle of Wight, or Arran to visit the distillery at Lochranza.
One major change this year was that many of the bonuses were time restricted, e.g. you could visit a pub on the Isle of Sheppey but only between 12.00 and 15.00 or it would not count. This made planning far more complicated. There were also fewer high values bonuses this year so I quickly realised a good route was going to have to collect far more bonuses this year, and be based on collecting groups of higher value bonuses. Apart from the far north of Scotland, which I quickly discarded because of the time restricted bonuses there, I could see four main groups - around London, Glasgow, Birmingham amd the Lake District, so I used these as the basis for my planning, sighing at the thought of having to ride through London! I started off with a route which visited all four areas but realised that it would mean riding past about four Day only bonuses between Scotland and London in the dark, and I could only get a score of around 34k points this way. Eventually I ended up with a route which went straight to the Lakes, turned east across the country to Whitby, then south to London by the evening when it should be quieter (I foolishly thought!) then down to the south coast where I would find somewhere to stop for my rest bonus, My first bonus the next day was a Daylight only bonus in the New Forest so I would have to be there after 5am. My route then took me across Wiltshire, over the Severn Bridge and through mid-Wales before crossing to collect four bonuses around Birmingham and arriving at the finish around 3pm, well in time for the 5pm finish after which you would start losing points for being late. I worked out this, with the rest bonus of 5000 points and the fuel bonus of 10000 points, should come to just over 39000 points, a little short of my points gained last year. I also calculated times for every leg, building in time for stopping at controls for photographs, stopping for fuel and for rest stops, using Autoroute, and transferred this information and details of what I had to photograph at each bonus to my route cards. This was important as it varied for different controls - in all your rally flag had to appear, but some said you had to appear in the control yourself, in others the bike had to appear, for some there were specific instructions of which part of the bonus had to be photographed. I finished all of this just before 1am and grabbed four hours sleep.
I was up just after 5am got dressed, spending five minutes jumping around the room and cursing as the zip on my Aerostich broke and jammed in the material, meaning I could neither do it up or under it - eventually Stacey pulled it apart with my Leatherman and I calmed down! Down to the car park which was filling up with riders packing their bikes and looking nervous. Some were angling to get to the front of the queue for the start but I reckoned it didn't matter a great deal and was better just to try and relax and start whenever I got to the front. I left in the middle of the pack and immediately headed north for the motorway. I had only done two miles and not even reached the motorway when a car stopped next to me and told me my brake light wasn't working - it had been the night before! I quickly pulled over and saw my main rear brake bulb wasn't working, but I waggled the wires to the auxiliary LED brakelight and that worked - I stuck it on tighter with a bit of gaffa tape and set off again.
The first part of my route was the same as last year - straight up the M6, this time for the 120 miles to the Lake District, passing last year's first stop at Forton. I settled into a steady pace, glad to be on the road at last and passing and collecting a few other riders as I went before turning off to the south Lakes. My first stop was the inn high up at the top of the Kirkstone Pass, and the weather quickly deteriorated as I climbed up into the mist. At the top you could only just see the sign above the inn's door from the other side of the road.
 Kirkstone Pass Inn
There were several other riders at Kirkstone, and I overheard one saying 'I'm not going up Hardknott in this rain!'. Most of us seemed to be heading that way 'though and I set off to Ambleside, where I caught up with Phil Weston in time to watch him turn the wrong way down the one way system! Luckily I used to do a lot of climbing in the Lakes so was confident of navigating without using the GPS, but I did have to stop to put on my waterproof one piece suit and change the dark visor on my helmet - I waved at Phil as he went past so he had obviousy found his way out! (The next day Phil had the misfortune to lose all his paperwork when his topbox flew open as he rode along and despite backtracking he never found it all and had to retire).
Going up Hardknott Pass is always tricky (I once had a nightmare reversing a minibus down it), but it was made worse by the poor visibility and rain running down the road. I was following Paddy McCreanor's yellow Goldwing up the pass after stopping for the first photograph, the blue warning signs at the bottom of the pass. The second photograph was to be taken of the cattle grid at the summit of the pass - I stopped behind Barry Manning's Kawasaki ZZR1400 and put the bike on it's stand, only for it to roll forward and on top of me, trapping me underneath and lying on my bad leg. I was very fortunate that there were two other riders there who rushed over and pulled the bike off me (although Barry later said he might not have done if he had realised it was me underneath!). I was glad that I had not hit his bike in going down but felt a bit daft and my leg was hurting now - I rode to the bottom of the pass before getting off and hopping around a bit, cursing again, and taking more painkillers.
  Hardknott Pass
My third bonus in the Lakes was the Pencil Museum in Keswick where we had to photograph the longest pencil in the world. I set off from Hardknott and ambled along, surprised to see a few other riders rush past me as the museum did not open until 9.30am and I aimed to get there as it opened, still with time to have filled up in Keswick. I did this and got to the museum in time to join the queue of riders waiting to pay their £3.25 entry fee to walk around the corner and get their photograph. I later heard that one rider had put his flag on the wooden frame, with his wallet on the top to hold it in place, but the wallet had then fallen down inside the case - the museum caretaker had to be called to unscrew the glass panel to get it out! The museum staff also gave us free pencils and said they would donate half our entry fees to charity, which was nice. This was also my highest single value bonus collected at 1592 points.
 Pencil Museum, Keswick
From Keswick I set off with Tony Carr towards the motorway, Tony turned onto it north towards Scotland (he was later to have trouble with a flat battery on his RT and finish as a DNF after the end time for the rally), while I continued east towards my next bonus, Tan Hill Inn. Tan Hill is the highest pub in Britain, at 1732 feet above sea level, and I had to photograph the sign on the side of the pub stating this height. It is also in the middle of nowhere, with long narrow single track roads leading to and from it. Most of the road from it was also full of a cycling race, making my progress rather slow - but I was glad to be on a motorbike when I saw some of the hills they were cycling up! At Tan Hill I also solved a mystery which had been troubling me since Kirkstone - I had realised then that the photographs I had taken at Kirkstone were the first two photos in the memory, so where had the start photo gone to? I concluded I must have deleted it by accident and was wondering whether that meant I was disqualified and should phone the rallymaster to find out now before wasting any more time. But I had been using my backup cheap Tesco camera until now because of the rain and at Tan Hill I had changed the SD card back to the Canon I had used to take the start photo, which then reappeared - obviously the other camera could not 'see' the photos taken with the Canon camera - I was okay to carry on after all!
 Tan Hill Inn
From Tan Hill I continued east to the outskirts of Darlington where I had to photograph a brick train - fortunately you could see this from the main road and it was a quick bonus to collect before jumping (the only way I could get on the bike with my leg!) back on the bike and continuing east to the coast. I had ridden out of the rain now and the sky was brightening up. I had been going for nearly 6 hours but felt fine and confident. My main concern before the rally had been whether I had the stamina to complete the rally. Since my accident I had only completed three rides, and one of more than 6 hours, and had been falling asleep at work by the end of the afternoon!
 Brick Train, Darlington
From Darlington I headed towards the coast and the jet town of Whitby. I had been to Whitby the previous October while taking a school trip to Robin Hood's Bay and had seen the two locations I had to visit in Whitby then. The first was the Whalebones - after watching me try to place my flag and it keep blowing away in the wind, a small child offered to hold the flag for me. I then had to get a scooter rider parked next to me to take a photogrpah of me in front of the Captain Cook monument. Recalling last year on the rally when I 'lost' a photograph someone else took for me at Spean Bridge I made sure I checked the photograph was recorded and protected it so I could not delete it by accident. I also changed out of my rainsuit and replaced the dark visor on my Arai before heading south out across Yorkshire.
 Whalebones, Whitby  Captain Cook Monument, Whitby
My next stop was at an old AA box by the side of the road at Garrowby, another quick bonus to collect.
 AA Box, Garrowby
From Garrowby I had to make something of a detour inland to collect the bonus in Holmfirth by visiting the Wrinkled Stocking Cafe (named after a character in 'Last of the Summer Wine', a television programme set in the town). This bonus could only be collected between the hours of 10.30am and 5.30pm as you had to take photographs of both the outside of the cafe and the inside, and the cafe was only open between these hours. I arrived just before 3pm, stopping for fuel for the second time on the way. It was a bit of a pain finding somewhere close by to park as I don't like to leave the bike with the GPSs and the tankbag still on it, so I ended up leaving it across the road from the cafe and rushing in. I gulped down a glass of squash and a buttered scone (it seemed rude to go in and not order something) and realised that was the first thing I had eaten apart from a flapjack and a bit of Kendal mintcake all day. Inded for the rest of the rally I only ate a couple more flapjacks and the rest of the mintcake, although I emptied my Camelbak twice and had a hot chocolate when I stopped for the rest bonus.
 Wrinkled Stocking Cafe, Holmfirth  Inside the cafe
From Holmfirth I headed back east towards the Humber Bridge and a water tower in North Lincolnshire. This was on a deserted road with nothing else around it and I stopped and sat there for a few minutes just listening to the birdsong and feeling the sun and breeze on my face. For several miles before that I was followed closely by a BMW sports car and I knew I was getting tired because I could not shake it off, although it's driver did obviously know the road much better than I!
 Water Tower, Gawthorpe
At Gawthorpe I reviewed the next few hours - I was heading towards London and had two time restrictions to meet: one was a radar tower near Chelmsford which had to be photographed in the daylight, and the second was to get to the Blind Beggar pub in London within the time window of 6pm - 10pm. All day I had been pretty close to the times I had projected to arrive at each bonus in my planning but as the afternoon had gone on I found I was losing around 5 minutes per leg and was now about 20 minutes behind time. I needed to press on to get to London in good time, aiming to get to the pub at around 9pm. Heading south I stopped at Torksey Locks near Lincoln to photograph the name of the Lock laid out in box by the side of the canal.
 Torksey Locks
I made my third fuel stop on the way to Crowland near Peterborough, where I had to visit another water tower. I had started to feel tired but felt much better after a 5 minute snooze sat on the bike while I waited for a train to pass at a rail crossing close to the bonus.
 Water Tower, Crowland
By the time I got to the Radar Tower at Great Baddow it was half past 8 and I was nearly half an hour behind time. Daylight disappeared around 9pm so I was alright for the light, but it was not the easiest bonus to photograph and I ended up having to lie down and aim up at the tower to try and get as much of it in as I could. I am sure I read that it is the highest radar tower in Europe.
 Radar Tower, Great Baddow
I headed back towards London, which looked like it was on fire as the great red ball of the sun was setting behind it. My GPS was telling me to go around via the M25 as the fastest route but that was nearly twice as long as the 14 mile direct route, and I needed petrol so I decided to go direct. Naively I thought London on a Saturday evening would be fairly quiet, how wrong was I! I stopped for petrol in Romford at the Tesco's store, queueing for ages behind all the people buying beer and loo roll, and only realised when I got back to the bike that the receipt only had the address of Tesco's head office on it. I tred to ask them to stamp the receipt but they claimed not to have one, so I wasted more time taking photographs to try and prove where I was. I got back on the bike and realised how much time I had lost, but the GPS was saying it was only 7 miles to the pub, and it was now 9.20pm so I had 40 minutes to cover that distance in. Those 7 miles were probably the longest I have ever ridden - the traffic was solid, and I was almost shell-shocked. I used to despatch into London several times a week, but that was over 20 years ago, and I have avoided riding in the capital ever since. I kept watching the distance going down in tenths of miles , as incremently the time of my arrival slipped further back by minutes.
Eventually, after running a couple of near-red lights I arrived opposite the pub in Tower Hamlets, but I was the wrong side of a dual carriageway. A swift (illegal) u-turn brought me to a stop outside the pub. A couple on the rally, Nick Robbins and Jools Hamilton were outside the pub taking their photograph of its exterior. I dashed past them and up to the bar for a receipt. I had to shout above the noise in the bar but luckily the barmaid had obviously served many other competitors as she just printed me a receipt straight off without me buying anything. I thanked her and checked the time on the receipt - 9.57pm, I was in by three minutes! Outside Nick took my photograph for me before they disappeared off on their R1200RT. As I packed up my stuff and changed my contact lenses for glasses (I had been really struggling to see clearly once it got dark), two more riders rode up. Ken Tucker and Gerald Perkins were both from Wales and were riding together for most of the rally. They dashed into the pub to come out with their receipts - showing 10.01 and 10.02, just too late to be able to claim the 900 points for this bonus. I felt sorry for them, but very glad I had made it in time. For the first time on the rally I actually thought about the possibility of winning - getting to the pub on time seemed like a good omen.
 Blind Beggar Pub
I had three more bonuses in London, and three more beyond the capital before I was going to stop, but none of them had any time restrictions on them so I felt I could relax a bit more as I headed across the centre of London to take a photograph of the London Eye. I even managed a bit of sight seeing, going past Tower Bridge and Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, which looked very impressive lit up at night, I had never realised how beautiful its architecture is before. I stopped as soon as I saw the London Eye, quickly pulled the bike over, switched the hazard lights on and grabbed my photograph.
 London Eye
The next bonus was a monument to Gandhi in Tavistock Square Gardens. I put the waypoint into my GPS and set off, and promptly got completely lost as the signal disappeared amidst all the tall buildings and I found myself going in a circle. I decided to head for the embankment, in what I thought was the right direction, hoping the signal would reappear there. It did and after fighting the traffic up Kingsway I arrived in Tavistock Square. It was supposed to be a 24 hour bonus but having ridden all the way round I could see that the gardens were surrounded by railings and each of the four gates was chained up. I stopped by a sign for the gardens as Nick and Jools pulled up. We decided it was not right or possible to climb over the railings so spent ten minutes wandering round the square taking photos of everything that mentioned Tavistock. Luckily the photo of the gardens sign came out clearer on the scorer's laptop and I was granted the points for this bonus!
 Tavistock Gardens
The last London bonus was Twickenham Fire Station and we both rode there, although not always together as our separate GPS units chose different routes to get us there at the same time! It was difficult to get the sign and the bike in a photograph in the dark but having done that we set off west. This bonus was part of a combo bonus with another fire station, at Durness on the north coast of Scotland, 735 miles away - if you got both bonuses you could claim an additional 1999 points. I did not think anyone would achieve it, but Paddy McCreanor did.
 Twickenham Fire Station
Heading out of London on the A3 I waved goodbye to Nick and Jools as they headed for a hotel to take their rest bonus. I continued on to Guildford to find a statue of a bishop, George Abbott in the centre of the town. It was past midnight by now and the street were full of revellers, and the roads with police patrol cars, several of which passed me slowly as I stopped next to the statue. For this photograph and the next one the requirements were that I had to appear in the picture as well as the statue and my flag. I tried taking a self portrait but it was not working as the white of the flag drowned out all the other detail. Eventually I stopped three lads as they came round the corner - they were very interested in what I was doing, especially when I explained it was a sort of treasure hunt - they wanted to know if they could get a share of the treasure too! I asked them if they would take my photograph - one said he would then ran off down the hill with my camera. Luckily he was only joking and came straight back - we all agreed it was a good joke but I felt like kicking him! Another of the lads insisted on appearing in my photo as well (I think he still thought it might give him some claim on my treasure when I found it). When they had gone I checked the photograph and pulled on my one piece rainsuit and turned on my heated jacket as it was getting colder.
 George Abbott Statue, Guildford
From Guildford I headed south towards the coast and Chichester to find the Chichester Cross. This was right in the centre of the town, surrounded by a maze of one way streets and pedestrian only zones which were really confusing the GPS so in the end I decided that, since it was now 1.30 in the morning and hardly anyone was about, I would just go straight to it. Fortunately there was one person walking by when I stopped, who agreed to take my photograph - it even shows the time I was there at the bonus.
 Chichester Cross
I had one more bonus to visit before I could stop for my rest bonus. This had to be taken for at least three hours, starting at any time between 11pm and 6am, and was worth 5000 points so it was not worth missing out on. Before that I had to find a particular bench next to a 24 hour burger van above Portsmouth. When I arrived there it was quite busy, despite being nearly 2 in the morning. The burger bar (next closing time, Christmas Day!) was in the middle of a large layby at the top of a hill overlooking the lights of Portsmouth, with a line of benches on the grass, just visible outside the lights around the van. There were rows of modified hatchbacks, some of them obviously moving to their own music! There was a lot of burberry about and the place only got noisier as a pink stretched limousine pulled in with a hen party on board. I felt very out of place as I examined each bench by the light of my torch, with a mug of tea in my other hand. Of course, the bench I wanted was the only one which had a group of people sat around it but they were very interested in what I was doing and we had an interesting chat about life in Portsmouth - a few of my preconceptions challenged!
 Bench at Burger Bar, Portsmouth
I had looked at my map and seen there is a Services on the M27 just west of Southampton so decided to head for that and stop there for my rest bonus. I bought a hot chocolate on getting there to get my start receipt at 2.50am. I was about 50 minutes behind my schedule, mainly because of the time I had lost crossing London. I had seen another bike in the car park and recognised it as the Honda ST1100 of Steve Eversfield. Steve is probably the only British rider to have competed in three Iron Butt Rallies in the US, an epic achievement considering the rally, held every two years, lasts for eleven days and most riders cover around eleven thousand miles crossing America in that time. He was just finishing his rest bonus but we stopped and chatted about the rally for half an hour or so before he left – a real highlight of the rally for me. After he had left I sorted out my paperwork, completing my fuel log and the details of the nineteen bonuses I had visited during the day in the rallybook. I put my head on my tankbag and slept for about half an hour before getting up and checking the bike over. I topped up the oil and replaced the bulb in my rear light. At 5.51 I got a second receipt and left for my first bonus of Sunday, which was only about 5 miles away. This was Arthur Conan Doyle’s grave at Minstead in the New Forest. There was another rider there on a R1200GS just taking his picture as I arrived. The sun was rising over the fields behind the graveyard and it was promising to be a beautiful day.
 Arthur Conan Doyle's Grave
The next few hours riding were terrific as I made my way through the deserted lanes of Hampshire and Wiltshire. After stopping for petrol in Romsey I made my way to the War Memorial in Over Wallop.
 War Memorial, Over Wallop
My next three bonus locations were all historic monuments in Wiltshire. The first was Stonehenge, probably the most famous of them all. I first visited this over 25 years ago while studying Archaeology at University (my professor, R Atkinson did a lot of work on the physical remains found around Stonehenge). Now it is all fenced in and has become a real tourist hotspot, but at 7 in the morning it was still quiet as I got this photograph of it in the background.
 Stonehenge
Continuing north I came to the man made Silbury Hill – again, I can remember celebrating my birthday by climbing to the top of this years ago but doubt that is allowed now!
 Silbury Hill
A few miles down the A4 was the White Horse at Cherhill – just visible in the distance in my photograph, which had to include the notice board in it.
 White Horse, Cherhill
My last bonus in Wiltshire was this fountain at Box near to Bath. I met two other riders, Steve Freeman on his H-D Classic and Andrew Weston on a Suzuki V-Strom here, I was to meet up with them several times over the next few hours.
 Fountain, Box
From Box I headed to join the M4 west, crossing into Wales over the new Severn Bridge. While despatching from Cardiff years ago I must have gone over the old bridge hundreds of times, but had never been over the new one before. It was quite impressive, especially looking up at the tall supports framed against the deep blue sky. I nipped off the motorway here to pick up a nearby Round Britain Rally landmark, before rejoining the motorway. I left it north of Cardiff and found the Memorial Clock Tower in the middle of Senghennydd. In another life I once preached in the Baptist chapel here, but noticed as I passed that it has now been converted into a block of flats.
At Senghennydd I met up with Steve and Andrew again, and then Gaz Owens pulled up. Gaz had just come from the Isle of Wight and was heading to St Davids to pick up the lifeboat station bonus there (both good points bonuses, unfortunately Gaz forgot to put his rally flag in either picture and missed out on the points at each).
 Memorial Clock, Senghennydd
Riding the Heads of the Valleys road took me most of the way to the next bonus, the castle ruins at Crickhowell. Steve and Andrew had taken a different route but arrived as I was leaving, as they did at the next bonus.
 Castle Ruins, Crickhowell
After stopping for petrol, my fifth stop of the rally, I crossed the border back into England to collect the Tram Inn Signal Box bonus at Didley in Herefordshire.
 Tram Inn Signal Box, Hereford
After riding through Hereford I took the lanes across mid Wales, through Knighton, to get to Newtown. The bonus here was one of those I had been past many times without knowing it is there. In the churchyard at Newtown lies the grave of the industrialist and philanthropist Robert Owen which we had to photograph.
 Robert Owen's Grave, Newtown
I had noticed several police cars in Newtown but hadn’t thought too much of it until I came across a group of sportsbike riders on the road to Welshpool – I had overtaken most of them before one made a twirling motion with his hand, indicating that the police helicopter was out and tracking bikes, I remembered this can be a very heavily policed area at the weekends, popular as it is with riders, and between here and Shrewsbury I counted seven police cars sat, half hidden, by the side of the road. Needless to say, everyone was keeping very strictly to the speed limits!
I had no need to rush anyway – I had caught up most of the time I had lost yesterday and was heading for a finish around 3.40pm, well in time to make sure I did not gain any time penalties for finishing after 5pm (finishing after 6pm would mean disqualification). Plus I knew where all my last four bonuses were, having lived around Birmingham for the past fifteen years – indeed I go past the next one, the Horseman at Darlaston every day on the way to work. The only problem I could think if was where to take the photograph, as the statue is above a large roundabout on a dual carriageway. In the end I just pulled over on the roundabout, stuck the hazard lights on, and got a quick photo with the horseman in the background.
 Horseman, Darlaston
From Wolverhampton it was back onto the M6 and down the Aston Expressway into the centre of Birmingham for the next two bonuses, the Golden Statue on Paradise Circus at the top of the notorious Broad Street, and then the Iron Man Statue in Victoria Square in front of the City Hall. I pulled onto the pavement next to this statue to find the oil bottle in the bag strapped to the back of the bike was leaking, and I ended up running around Victoria Square with a plastic bag full of oil, trying to find a bin to chuck it in.
 Golden Statue, Paradise Circus Iron Man, Victoria Square, Birmingham
My last control was one I had been to only two days before, on the way to the rally start, as it has been a landmark on the Round Britain Rally. It was the 24 foot stainless steel miner’s statue on a roundabout at Brownhills. My only problem was, again, how to fulfil the requirement of being in the picture myself – solved when another rider, the same guy I had met at the beginning of the day in the New Forest, turned up and we could take each other’s photographs.
 Miner Statue, Brownhills
There were then only a 28 mile run up the A34 to the finish at Trentham Gardens, finishing at 3.45pm. I was smiling when I finished, feeling so much better than last year when I had finished in the pouring rain with a stinking cold. However, Roger who took my finish photo said I should look how I felt inside and I didn't find it difficult to look shattered!
 At the finish
The next few hours were taken up with firstly sorting out all the paperwork, going through the final inspection, and then having a meal together before the presentation meeting.
I made one mistake on my paperwork, mistakenly putting 19.38L instead of 19.58L in my fuel log for one stop (the petrol had cost £19.38 which is where my mistake came from!). This cost me 200 points. But having visited 33 bonuses and got around 39000 points with the rest bonus and fuel log I felt very happy with my ride and that it should be good enough for a top three finish. Several other riders seemed to have had problems of one kind of another during their rides so this made me more confident at finishing well.
I also took the opportunity to get a back massage from Steve Lee while waiting for my inspection – apart from my leg I have never ached less after a long ride, much recommended for future rallies!
After the meal we all met for the finish presentation. Roger and Chris made the presentations – 27 of the 49 starters had achieved a finish, with a few people pulling out in the first six hours as they realised this was not for them. More importantly there had been no serious accidents, although Rob Abbott had the misfortune to have to retire after hitting a deer with his Honda ST1300 in Scotland. After applauding those who had got back to Trentham but either had too few points, too few miles or were out of time so did not gain a finish, Roger started reading out the 27 finishers in reverse order. When he got to the fourth rider I had still not been called. The first three riders were then called up – Gerhard Memmen-Kreugen, Barry Manning and myself, and then third place was announced – Barry had improved ten places on his 13th position from 2008. Gerhard and I looked at each other nervously before he was announced as the second placed rider (he was 4th in 2008), which meant that I had won the Brit Butt Rally of 2009. I was as lost for words as I had been the previous year when I had a cold and lost my voice altogether!
As a postscript the rally was run brilliantly and Chris’s rallybook was excellent – in many ways the rally was more technically challenging this year but possibly less physically challenging – I visited 15 more bonuses this year but covered nearly 200 miles less in reaching them.
FINAL ROUTE CARD
| LOCATION |
TIME |
MILEAGE |
POINTS |
RUNNING TOTAL |
|
START, Trentham Gardens
|
06:00
|
|
|
|
|
KIRKSTONE PASS INN
|
07:46
|
128 miles
|
900 points
|
900 points
|
|
HARDKNOTT PASS
|
08:35
|
149 miles
|
999 points
|
1899 points
|
|
PENCIL MUSEUM, Keswick
|
09:34
|
178 miles
|
1592 points
|
3491 points
|
|
TAN HILL INN
|
10:32
|
230 miles
|
1111 points
|
4602 points
|
|
BRICK TRAIN, Darlington
|
11:19
|
271 miles
|
801 points
|
5403 points
|
|
WHALEBONES & CAPTAIN COOK, Whitby
|
12:18
|
319 miles
|
1350 points
|
6753 points
|
|
AA BOX, Garrowby
|
13:38
|
368 miles
|
571 points
|
7324 points
|
|
WRINKLED STOCKING CAFE, Holmfirth
|
14:57
|
433 miles
|
1111 points
|
8435 points
|
|
WATER TOWER, Gawthorpe
|
16:18
|
500 miles
|
876 points
|
9311 points
|
|
TORKSEY LOCKS
|
17:13
|
534 miles
|
655 points
|
9966 points
|
|
WATER TOWER, Crowland
|
18:50
|
604 miles
|
800 points
|
10766 points
|
|
RADAR TOWER, Great Baddow
|
20:32
|
718 miles
|
666 points
|
11432 points
|
|
BLIND BEGGAR PUB, London
|
21:57
|
753 miles
|
952 points
|
12384 points
|
|
LONDON EYE
|
22:20
|
757 miles
|
1000 points
|
13384 points
|
|
GANDHI MONUMENT, Tavistock Gardens
|
22:45
|
761 miles
|
1259 points
|
14643 points
|
|
TWICKENHAM FIRE STATION
|
23:40
|
776 miles
|
999 points
|
15642 points
|
|
GEORGE ABBOTT STATUE, Guildford
|
00:08
|
802 miles
|
281 points
|
15923 points
|
|
CHICHESTER CROSS
|
01:25
|
855 miles
|
560 points
|
16483 points
|
|
INSCRIBED BENCH, Burger Bar, Portsmouth
|
01:50
|
871 miles
|
400 points
|
16883 points
|
|
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE'S GRAVE, Minstead
|
06:03
|
905 miles
|
1190 points
|
18073 points
|
|
WAR MEMORIAL, Over Wallop
|
06:44
|
930 miles
|
160 points
|
18233 points
|
|
STONEHENGE
|
07:00
|
942 miles
|
339 points
|
18572 points
|
|
SILBURY HILL
|
07:30
|
966 miles
|
300 points
|
18872 points
|
|
WHITE HORSE, Cherhill
|
07:37
|
971 miles
|
379 points
|
19251 points
|
|
FOUNTAIN, Box
|
08:02
|
988 miles
|
140 points
|
19391 points
|
|
MEMORIAL CLOCK TOWER, Senghennydd
|
09:15
|
1037 miles
|
390 points
|
19781 points
|
|
CASTLE RUINS, Crickhowell
|
10:10
|
1093 miles
|
555 points
|
20336 points
|
|
TRAM INN SIGNAL BOX, Didley
|
10:58
|
1120 miles
|
911 points
|
21247 points
|
|
ROBERT OWEN'S GRAVE, Newtown
|
12:28
|
1182 miles
|
699 points
|
21946 points
|
|
HORSEMAN STATUE, Darlaston
|
13:55
|
1258 miles
|
390 points
|
22336 points
|
|
GOLDEN STATUE, Paradise Circus, Birmingham
|
14:12
|
1274 miles
|
316 points
|
22652 points
|
|
IRON MAN, Victoria Square, Birmingham
|
14:20
|
1275 miles
|
1200 points
|
23852 points
|
|
MINER STATUE, Brownhills
|
14:58
|
1304 miles
|
195 points
|
24047 points
|
|
REST BONUS
|
|
|
5000 points
|
29047 points
|
|
FUEL LOG
|
|
|
9800 points
|
38847 points
|
|
FINISH
|
15:40
|
1332 miles
|
|
38847 points
|
FINAL ROUTE MAP
|
