Our second ever Irish Indian rally was held in Lismore Co Waterford on the sunny weekend of May 25th 26th 2012. The venue was Ballyrafter house located at the foot of The Vee, a scenic and panoramic cut through the hills and mountains of Lismore. This venue proved to be the best decision we made in a long time as a club, albeit with only 5 members, but for the smallest Indian club in the world we definitely made the right choice.
The weather was magnificent and the sun was out in force, considering it was raining and overcast up to Wednesday. Our UK visitors must have brought it with them, thank God as it added to the magic of a great weekend for all.
Many of the gang were arriving as early as Wednesday night, before the official rally and by Thursday morning were ready for a bit of road.  Pete Selby had already met up with Liam Fitzpatrick and Jim Cuddihy and had gone on an around Ireland tour with Liam, putting up some mileage together around West Cork and finally working their way back to Jim’s in Kilkenny for a BBQ on Friday night. Well done Pete and Liam on a great trip prior to any rally!!!
I arrived down myself to meet up with Sybil and Mike to go for a run on Thursday and found more than a few willing riders to head out so off we went in the direction of Mahon Falls over Kilnacrossanty hills. Sybil and Mike in the outfit and myself and Snowy on matching Chiefs, and last but never least Nobby on his 741. We climbed up the hills towards the falls in one of the most scenic spots in Waterford County and finally reached the top of the valley. Coming off the summit down the back road we headed to Lemmy Brien for fuel and literally nearly ran into another bunch of our rally going friends, Anita, Pete, Martin, Tim & Sue Berry and a few more die-hards.  Together we all teamed up and headed in the direction of Dungarvan and arrived back at Ballyrafter House in time for drinks and some sun-worshipping on the lawns.
On Friday morning we set off again, this time in greater numbers with a view to going through the old village of Villierstown, this time our host and proprietor of Ballyrafter House led us off for this section of the trip. Heading over to Villierstown we had our first breakdown, unfortunately it was Mikes outfit and a generator problem that turned out to be un-repairable here without the proper parts. Mike returned to the hotel and we carried on over hill and dale until we exited out at Youghal (pronounced YAWL) bridge.  Joe turned back here and I led the group to lovely Ardmore, a seaside town/village where we stopped for ice creams and lunch.  After lunch we took the coast road to Dungarvan and broke back onto the Youghal road and headed over the hills towards Tallow and ultimately Lismore. These stretches of road proved to be a great ride for all concerned and everyone agreed it was a beautiful run back. Martin, Snowy and Pete certainly enjoyed themselves as they roared off into the sunset in stretches and let loose for a bit of fun.... boys and their toys I guess.  We arrived back to the hotel and found more and more riders arriving including Pete Selby, Liam and Jim and several more including Paddy Guerin (EL Presidente of the Irish gang), riding his Henderson. Unfortunately Mike was unable to fix his outfit and we decided to load it up and get my German army outfit in Cork and myself, Sybil and Mike would head out on Saturday on it instead. A plan that worked out well for us in the end.
Everyone enjoyed a lamb dinner that night and great merit due to Joe our host for his lovely cooking, if it flew, swam or ran, Joe could cook it beautifully. Well done Joe on the service and the help in all aspects of the rally especially coming out with us on the runs and marshalling as well. There now hangs a lovely Indian lamp in the bar of Ballyrafter House as a token of gratitude from all who attended. Thanks also to Noreen, Joe’s wife and BOSS for her help, even though Joe says he is the BOSS ........Thanks Noreen for everything.

On Saturday Jim, the Kilkenny giant led us out on a superb run, heading off in the direction of Mount Mellary monastery and we followed Jim on a magnificent trip over hills, woods, forest roads, mountains and swept along in good order up the Nuir Valley until we finally reached Cashel where the mighty and imposing Rock Of Cashel is located.  We felt if it was good enough for good Queen Lizzy last year when she visited then it was good enough for our friends from the UK also.  Stopping here for lunch and a relaxing hour we chilled out and just took in the day for what it was, relaxing in the sun and enjoying our day out, it gave people a chance to chat and swap stories and vital info on keeping your Indian running. We proceeded on after lunch and to be honest I’m not even sure roughly where we went but I know it was in the direction of Tipperary and Bansha. I was too busy trying to shake Mike off the back of my outfit to be watching the signs, but I knew we were in good hands with Jim out front as he knew the roads inside out and like a homing pigeon he was heading in the right direction, ably assisted by the golden helmet wearing Liam Fitz doing a great job keeping it all together. Well done to Sean, Joe and Tommy and the lads for doing the marshalling at junctions and keeping us all together. Everyone must admit they did a super job and looked after safety all the time.  By the time we arrived at the little pub at the foot of The Vee I still hadn’t dislodged Mike off my bike so I assumed he was here to stay, we pulled into a straw thatched pub called Kellys.  Mick had organised to get it open that day for us and it certainly was idyllic there. We had a few drinks, mostly bottled Guinness, and I think people were just enjoying the moment so we stayed a little longer  than expected but we were on Irish time so that’s the way things go here. We arrived back some time around six ish, that’s Irish time again. It could easily be seven or 645pm and before we knew it the call for dinner was up. Joe had prepared a lovely dinner for the rally. Starter was soup and bread rolls and brown bread, main course was Sybil’s favourite, corned beef and cabbage with potatoes and veg followed by apple tart and custard and tea and coffee.  I saw Snowy get a second desert but that’s a secret........
It was a lovely meal and all agreed well worth the 25 euro. This was what we agreed with Joe and Noreen in advance of the rally. All attending would have the meal and they would give us free camping and bar extension. As there was no rally fee this was more than fair and we had the raffle to cover the costs of the prizes and expenses to run the rally.  Our thanks to all who supported this and if you didn’t we know who you are J
We are very grateful also to Jim Parker for his contribution to the raffle with all the spot prizes he donated from Australia, hats t-shirts, caps etc, well done Jim, far away but ever present and to Conor Murphy who came over from Aus and brought the spot prizes with him, a fair bag of tricks to be hauling around the world, well done Conor and great to see you again in Ireland.
On the night Liam took over as master of ceremonies and did the dreaded speeches. And a fine job he did. Best Indian went to Tim Berry for what is most definitely an original looking bike, well done Tim, and well deserved. The bold Anita got best Chief and well earned. Lovely bike and a great girl.  A special plaque went to Sybil, another great girl, for all she does for the club both here and in the UK. No Sybil , no club and we wanted to let her know we appreciate everything she does for all of us and keeping the show on the road, Mother to about 135 of us, that’s a big family, and some of them kids need a lot of work so we appreciate everything she does.  WELL DONE SYBIL.  Best scout went to Martin (Jesus) Campbell and finally we had a Best Of The Rest prize which went to Pete Selby on his Harley Panhead. Well done Pete.
After dinner a nice evening transpired both inside and outside and we had plenty time to mingle and chat. Lots of old acquaintances were renewed and I was delighted to catch up with people who I hadn’t seen in ages like Michael Hutchinson and many others. We also discovered a few more Irish Indian owners and riders who came out of the woodwork which we will pursue to join the club as members.
We were honoured to have Mr Liam Diamond the co-author of “Franklins Indian” present at the rally.  The book is a life work and is the definitive book on James Franklin, the Irishman who was responsible for giving us the Indian Scout. We were delighted by his presence at the rally.
I think it was a great success for us as a small group here in Ireland to run a rally, Jim, Mick, Liam, Myself and Paddy. We hope that the new riders we met will serve to enhance the scene here, however a big thanks to all the lads for the efforts made to ensure it was a great weekend. Lots of work goes in behind the scenes of any rally to make it a success, often never seen or appreciated. Planning, organisation, coordination and getting it right on the day don’t just happen. These events wouldn’t get off the ground if not for the help from our UK members either and especially Sybil, thanks to all who helped us make this a great weekend. We hope the setting was right, the venue, the food, the pace and the routes were all good for the majority of those present.  You can’t please everyone all the time, but we did our best and it was our privilege and honour to host another Irish rally. Thanks to our hosts Noreen and Joe for making it a great weekend as well.  I hope this is the start of a great and long relationship with the owners of Ballyrafter house for future events. Finally a big Thank you to the Sun god for shining down on us these last few days.
On behalf of Jim, Mick and Liam and myself thank you all for coming.

Jo O'Toole  

Editor:  A very big thank you from all Indian Riders members for a really great rally.  Let’s not wait 4 years before the next one!!