Having joined the Indian Riders Club in January this year, and purchased just the motorcycle for the job, we thought it was about time we joined the gang for one of the rallys, so Flimwell was suggested by Sybil ( we are still not sure about all this camping business and we were reliably informed that the T& J Motel would be warm and dry with all mod cons! )
Having bought our little Scout Bobber in April, we soon realised that these special motorcycles do not really like being ridden to the events, but would rather pose behind a towing vehicle on a smart trailer, so a stylish trailer had also been purchased to allow 'BOB' to arrive fresh and clean to his first rally. All our stuff was slung in the back of the van and off we set to Flimwell.Allthough events had begun on Friday with erection of tents and a fine chilli dinner being served up, alas we could only get to the rally for the saturday. We arrived at the T&J to check in and due to an error we hadn't been allocated a room and they were full! A mild moment of stress at the desk and the nice couple in charge explained that a guy hadn't checked in to a suite so we could have his room at the double bed price, Great at least we knew we could stay! The only oddity was that we were in the renowned Water Bed Suite, Mmmm we thought, havn't experienced this before! Off we went to check out the room, and yes it's true, you could quite easily catapault your partner out the window of the room if you jump hard enough on to the bed! The room was great and at least it wasn't made of canvas and had hot and cold running water!
We nosied down to the rally site to find a few new faces, and soon Phillip was talking 'Bike' and engrossed in conversation. The others we were told, were all still on the ride out, but Mike and Sybil were on the way back to camp. It didn't seem long before they returned  from the ride, poor Sybil having had a close encounter in the side car with a wall, minor damage Mike said ( I think he meant the side car and not Sybil! ) Soon the kettle was on as it had got quite cold on the ride out, sausages in rolls were cooked up and suddenly there seemed more familiar faces around to talk to.
As always any problems with the motorcycles can be rectified at these rallies with lots of men holding cups of tea and sharing the knowledge they have acquired with a novice to the sport. This was truely the case when Phillip mentioned the minor reason for not having ridden his scout much, we can't start the bloody thing!! Soon thoughtful expressions and mugs of tea were pondering over the little scouts problems and he was opened up for further investigation!!

 

 

One thing Nobby mentioned at this point was that one of the great pleasures in having his 741 is indeed starting it! Phillips face lit up when he was offered a 'go' on Nobbys 741 and he looked a very happy chappy as he took the motorcycle around the campsite, 'What fun' he exclaimed, ' thats the furthest I've ridden an Indian!'
It was lovely to see the rest of the ride out arrive in a very stylish and sedate manner, giving the Royal wave and smiling with either the joy of having been on a ride out or the relief that they made it back, I couldn't tell!!!
By early evening the beers were being passed around, the warmth of the sun had diminished ,but the rally camp fire was glowing and the excellent fish and chip supper was being fully appreciated by the members, the dogs didn't get much in the way of leftovers!! As the temperature dropped we all migrated towards the fire, allthough not as close as some of the dogs!!
As it got a bit colder, I decided it was time to retire to our waterbed, which I thought was going to be freezing cold, but as I climbed aboard, to my delight it was on a timer and was now as warm as, well hot water!!!! Oooer!!!! I did think about our tough, real indian rider campers out there, and well, I knew I was in the right place, I take my hat off to you all, you need medals or an OBE or something!
We awoke to a glorious sunny morning and wandered over to base camp to see what was happening, Mmmmm the smell of sausages wafted over and Alan kindly presented us with a full cooked breakfast and a cup of tea, our timing he said was not only perfect but lucky too!! With breakfast over and re fuelled we all set about dismantling the camp and squeezing it all into the back of Mike and Sybil’s car. We were off, and followed Mike through some lovely country roads towards home.
We both thoroughly enjoyed our time at the Flimwell rally, although only for 1 night, we both felt like we had been away longer. The members had made us both feel so very welcome, and we feel we have made a great decision to become Indian Riders!! So a Big THANKYOU to everybody for making it such a Great weekend!!

 

Sascha and Phillip (and BOB)