Belgium
The
beers weak, the country's boring and the people are no fun
If
you agree with the above then you haven’t been to the Indian rally run
by Claude, Rolly and Marcel, this has to one of the
rallies you should pencil in on your calendar at the beginning of every year
We
set out from Lincolnshire visited a few friends on the way and met up with Ray
& Caryll Chriss at that exclusive B+B near Brighton on the Wednesday, ready
for an early start to catch the boat from Dover next morning. Those of you that
have known Ray for a few years may remember his 45mph sherpa van along with his
steady economy driving style, well that went straight out of the window in the
70mph dash to the boat and some inventive ambush avoidance techniques in Dover
got us to the boat with only a 10 minute wait for loading (neat!
he said-we needn’t get up earlier)
Over
the channel and a steadier run through France and into Belgium with a flying
stop at the fag shops, then on again into Diksmuide for the first of many casual
respites at a coffee shop (why is it nice to drink coffee in the street abroad
but lousy if you do it here)
Where
were we? Oh yeah onwards to the rally still following Ray like a blind dog
thinking to myself that we just passed the turning I used last time we came here
and lo and behold he swings into Marcel’s farm at Klerken
So
it's up with the tent get a coffee sorted and go to say hello! and see who else is here a day early. If nothing else its a good chance
to look at Marcel’s workshop and bikes, next thing we know Rat has turned up
on his chief and Ray has
shattered a filling, were the two related? I’m not sure and nobody's telling,
but Rat runs Ray off to a local dentist who freezes his face (there’s an
improvement) and digs the bits out free of charge whilst thinking " These
Indian bikes must be fast look how his beard has slipped "
Meanwhile
Bill and Lorraine’s whole family turn up complete with that really rather nice
twin headlight Panther and the English contingent now hold one end of the field
for king and country as more folks and bikes arrived and the rest of us lazed
the day away in the sun or took a quick trip into the nearby village,
For
some strange reason all of the foreign riders camp at the other end of the field
maybe it has to do with Caryll's snoring, I'm not sure. In the evening we tried out the Belgium equivalent of fast food, mussels
and chips cooked by Claude and was impressed, then we spend the rest of the
evening sampling the local beer
Friday:
- weather still good and more bikes turn up and we're off to Diksmuide to retry
the coffee culture and find the town centre has been taken over by a peace walk
for soldiers and civilians and the whole place is full of military vehicles and
soldiers complete with guns (instant respect guaranteed) but the band playing
was good fun.
Back
on the site to find an interesting display of how to change the clincher type
tyres on a 1919 power plus combo and if you kept track of it they re-punctured
the tube time and time again just to show how good they were at removing and
refitting that tyre, at least I think that was why! ,
Peering
around in Marcel’s son's workshop there was an interesting range of bikes
from normal tupperware racers, through custom cruisers a pair of India enfields,
one with the widest most sturdy set of crash bars I’ve ever seen, a very
narrow Harley Sportster chop and a Harley fat shiny thing that Alan Gould would
probably swap his girlfriend for (I’m sure this man is really a closet HOG
member I even caught him sitting on it goin " Broom Broom " Oh! sorry
according to a TV programme this week that should be " Potato Potato "
I shouldn’t want to offend any HOG members we already have), Also there was a
quite interesting Gillete-Herstal which I guess was the 500cc. These were a
Belgium bike firm that worked from 1919 until the early 60's they also made a
v-twin at one stage using the Swiss MAG engine, around 1929 they produced an ohv
single and spent some time record breaking with it, If you happen to have one of
the v-twins I should love a look sometime
Back
on the field someone has turned up with a pair of Sarolea's, also Belgium made.
This company ran from 1898 to 1957 and pre world war 2 the sequel they built and
raced a full range of bikes from 125cc upwards, and I didn't think anyone made
bikes before Indians at least that’s what I keep telling these Harley riding
bank managers.
Some tinkering back at the rally site |
Old fish market pit stop |
Gordon Holland on his 1939 panther |
The English delegation on their best behaviour |
Half way stop at the Trenches for lunch
|
Saturday night dinner |
When ridden it was interesting! |
Ray Chriss's 101 |
What
else, Oh Yeah Indians, well there was a nice un-restored '28 scout, that’s
only had two owners from new and has never lived outside of the village. The
first being the village doctor and the second being Marcel’s younger son Peter
and as those who know him will tell you, He rides it as if it was a new bike,
which going on mileage it really is, also Peter showed me around the dents and
scrapes on his Chief mostly caused by falling asleep whilst riding it, this
included an impressive scollop in the tank done by head butting it on exit (not
to be advised).
By
now several very nicely restored Chiefs had been wheeled into the workshop for
overnight secure storage and Ray had moved in part of his collection including
his Sheffield-Henderson another smashing bike built I’m told by a sidecar
company but looks like it was made by a watchmaker.
Also
riding about the place was the Nimbian, which if you haven’t seen it, is a
perfect graft of a Nimbus four engine into an Indian 4 frame, and possibly it
looks better than the original of either company.
Right
then, It's time to eat, drink and be merry the food at this rally is great, the
entertainment is also and the drinking ........well it was 5.30 am when we
stopped but everyone else seemed to have sloped off (lightweights!)
Saturday: - " Why are you waking me so soon " oh right breakfast! cooked
by Bill and Lorraine, how they managed to get co-opted into that I’ll never
know but they did and it was great but I was just told this as I was still on
autopilot
Next,
check out the map on the barn door that tells you where to go for petrol before
the run starts and shows where you will need the coffee tokens and entrance
during the day so don't leave them behind
11.am
and we're off on the run its going to be the latest British assault on Flanders
fields (if you don't understand this your too young, so go talk to your granddad,
Ray Chriss, or back to your WW1 history annual, I'm sure Anita will supply this
in 105 weekly episodes at £12.50 a week),
So
we're off into the Belgium countryside being led by Marcel on a chief heading
for Ieper, Ypres or wipers pick one dependant on your age or nationality,
flanked by a large white van and escorted by outriders on modern machines who
had to be seen to be believed when it came to blocking off junctions and
roundabouts and says a lot about the calm nature of the local drivers, I only
heard one car blow his horn at them all day..their survival rating in the UK
would be about 15 minutes.
Sadly
about ten minutes out we lost the Powerplus and chair to yep, a puncture ...more
practice needed and after a flying visit to one of the many war cemeteries or
maybe we just took a wrong turn, we made our way to Hill 62.
This is a trench museum and photographic archive and also
where we stopped for coffee and enormous rolls brought in by the backup team and
a chance to give the backside a rest the roads aren't all as smooth as you come
to expect Anita spotted her new crash hat in the cafe the type worn by the
Kaiser's men with the spike on top but Pete doubts it will pass the BS approval
back home.
Back
on the road again and we haven’t stopped at a roundabout or junction so far
but Rat has decided Anita's bike looks shinier than his and with incredible
skill and dexterity only available to a trained man has removed the rear number
plate, He really knows how to get on her good side.... Brave man...
A
bit further on Marcel succumbed to an electrical gremlin on the chief, which
gave a us chance to have a fag and for Rat to cross examine one of the locals,
while we watched in amazement as Marcel’s son Peter kicked the chief over with
a leg encased in plaster, any way a change of bikes and we were off again.
Not
to be deflected from our planned route we negotiated with ease a road closed off
for a motocross event in one village and what seemed to be another closed for
major road works, then on into Ieper town centre where the next round of the
peace march was going on, and with some deft manoeuvring we got parked up
in front of the cafe where our free beer tickets were exchanged for welcome
refreshments.
Here
in Ieper we had a 2 hour stop to allow for visiting the Flanders Fields
interactive museum, Which was interesting and thought provoking, you got a
random card on entry containing an identity of a combatant which you fed into
machines as you go round to see how you fared during the war, Amazingly enough I
got a chap not far up the road from where I live. As we came out the army had
arranged a band playing just for us, plus a march past (nice people)
After
this we drank more coffee and pestered a Rottwieler for amusement then headed
back up the trench line to the rally site, all in all about a 6 hour ride out
Evening
saw us ready for the pig roast, more beer and the music all of which was great.
Anita and Pete over for just a day trip, sadly had to leave for home before the
climax of the Belgium rallies, The Now Legendary Elvis Impersonator, gosh, she
was upset. Now for those who haven’t seen him, he's either great or crap, some
folks just laugh, some of the women seem to adore him and other folk totally
ignore him, such is the fickle nature of being a rock superstar....or not!
(check this out with Alan Forbes)
The
customary raffle instead of prize giving went on, and it was amusing that when
people chose their prize they all missed the one that just looked like
paperwork, but was in fact a 5-day boat ticket to the UK. So the last man to win
got the big prize, it just shows we're all attracted to shiny things first
After
a few beers I was dragged way to bed ready for the drive home next day, even
before Elvis had done his 3rd set. Boo
Hiss
Sunday:
- Saw Bill doing brekky for 100 again and we packed for home.
Ray
Rat And Caryll made an early start out to invade further into the Belgium
heartland to partake in the Old Klepper run for vintage machinery, and some of
the others went out on a Sunday morning jaunt around the Ostende area.
On
the way back we mused over the facts that the Belgium beers aren’t as week as
you think, the country is rather nice, with less people and traffic than here
and the Belgium bike riders are great fun to party with and seem not to get
arsey about anything.
So
if you found all this boring then we probably won't see you there next year and
we won't miss you.
But
if you think it sounds a bit of a laugh then we'll see you in a field somewhere
in Belgium for the next British invasion and you can write the rally report.
Keith
Bird