With the Dutch rally being held on the weekend of the
23/24/25th of June and the German rally the following weekend we
decided to make an 11 day trip and take in both rallies at the same time.
Thursday 22nd June came around so quickly and
after dashing home from work the normal mad rush ensued. Loading the Indian (& Pete’s latest acquisition – 125cc scooter)
and all the camping gear in the van and rushing over to Daddy Oakley & Nanny
No-Good’s. No surprises there,
the usual scene of last minute adjustments to vehicles with tools strewn across
the drive and Nanny No-Good finding another cupboard in the Winnebago with space
in it and rushing back and forth from the house with arm loads of essentials to
cure this dilemma. Finally set off
for Dover to catch the 10pm ferry, have dinner, arrive in Calais, leg it over to
Belgium to Adinkirke to load up with serious supplies (Jack Daniels and
cigarettes). Sorted. All adjourn to Moby Dick II for a few hours kip, ready to start the
journey to Erm in northern Holland later that morning.
We arrived at the campsite late Friday afternoon, weather
not so great but the setting was. Camping
was in a large recreational park in a secluded quiet back corner alongside a
large lake and clubhouse, frequented throughout the weekend by many water skiing
fanatics, (Nice one for the ladies – lots of athletic types in tight wetsuits-
YUM). After signing in we had to
get the program of events translated – everything was in Dutch. Ended up being late for everything and rushing to follow the crowd. The clubhouse shut early on Friday night so many tramped around the lake
to another clubhouse on the other side – we knew they were partying as a loud
Northern voice (Jez) could be heard across the lake – no mean feat this as you
could only just make out some lights across the lake.
The main ride out on the Saturday, weather looked a bit
damp and overcast but being hardened bikers we geared up, started up and
assembled at the campsite entrance just as the most terrific downpour arrived
– we all dived under the nearest trees (bikes and riders) and waited, chatted,
smoked and waited. The entrance to
the site was looking decidedly boggy now and once the worst of the rain stopped
we set off all a bit soggier. We
poodled along some nice quiet country roads and little villages and ended up at
a small pub/restaurant for lunch, not included in the rally fee as one of our
German friends discovered after going up for seconds and then ice cream. The ride back to site was along similar quiet roads, very flat and
peaceful, that is until a bunch of
thumping, rumbling Indians meandered through.
Saturday afternoon we played silly games with figure
eights, seesaws and beer balancing (substituted for cups of water) on the
Indians. John Wright, representing
the English delegation, decided to spill the “beer” first and then balance
the empty cup, everybody else spilt the “beer” after balancing. There was also a “who can throw the flywheel the
furthest” contest.
Saturday night was a cook your own barbeque, and music in
the clubhouse. Being a Veggie this
means I once again have a good excuse not to cook and go for the ready to ride
salad and bread course.
Things start to get a little hazy from here, something to
do with a smuggled hip flask! A
game of nail banging broke out late in the evening, nails placed in a cut tree
truck with people taking turns to hit the nail with one swing from a starting
position on the trunk. This may
sound easy, but the later it gets the more the nail moves. There was a ladies match and a gents match and I don’t
think anyone managed to get a nail in proper but we ruined about three hammers
in our attempts. Much much later,
Nanny No-good had to be rescued from the back of an ostrich – some kind people
had given her a leg up and then left her there stranded and Jez invited a friend
back to his tent but decided that no matter how hard he tried there wasn’t
enough room to sleep him and the 5ft cast iron pig in his tent. His offer of accommodation was rescinded and the pig was evicted with
many amazed Dutch onlookers, much laughter and flashing of cameras. Someone must have some good photos?
We had to take Miss Piggy back to her friend Mr Ostrich in
the morning – some double takes from the Clubhouse staff; this was part of
their ornamental garden furniture!
Sunday was a slow start and saw many people packing and
leaving early for the long drives home. By
Sunday afternoon we were left with a very quiet and peaceful site so we went and
played on the childrens seesaw and Peter decided to try the silly games on his
scooter. Sunday evening the local
Dutch congregated in the clubhouse, with much cheering and shouting. We were brave and went and investigated, Holland were playing in the world cup everybody had orange faces and hair
– thank god they were winning and they weren’t playing England!
Having a few days to kill before taking in the German rally
we went and visited a local zoo and stayed on at the site another night. Monday we were making our way to Lemmer to pay a surprise visit to Tony
Leenes and Hennie via Zwolla were we visited the Indian and Harley museum owned
by Max Middlebrook – a good selection of bikes to see and very friendly staff. Daddy Oakley got a little closer to the 841 he wants as we made the
museum staff push out a rather sorry example so he could have his photograph
taken on it. On to Lemmer to top up
supplies in the camper, gloat over all the bikes you can’t afford and remember
that spare part you just can’t live without (some more chrome for Pete to
polish). We left Lemmer late
Tuesday and headed off to Germany.
Over to Nanny No-Good (see German Rally)
Boudicca & TAG
