Arrived at Dover had to ride down in the rain but no hiccups B&B was great with full English breakfast.
Arrived at Zonhoven 2-30pm really hot loads of people and bikes there already many old acquaintances and new ones made, the evening meal was beer of course with chicken and apple sauce (don?t ask) later on the Friday night a beer tasting was laid on with a verbal explanation of how Belgium beer was made and all the different types that were tasted. then back to the bar Do not underestimate Belgium beer I was crippled in the morning and felt really bad however after having a bowl of cereal I felt able to tackle a good cooked breakfast I felt as right as rain after that except for the headache which departed lunchtime our group decided not to participate on the run out but settled for a run into the town of Zonhoven and had a snack and drink at one of the local bars sat out in the brilliant sunshine of course I was on iced tea the rest of the weekend.
Later on there was some silly games which I missed due to walking around the site talking to all and sundry (even three old codgers from the Warrington BSAoc branch) there was also a jumble during the day where I purchased to resale later an A65 head in really good nick and a complete SRM 7 plate conversion with the three spring centre, springs, bearings and needle roller lift plate, all at a price that beggars belief. Due to the weight they will be brought back to the UK later on by a very helpful pair from Ashford it really is good to have friends like that.
The evening meal was I believe attended by over 400 people and went extremely well all three courses then a group which was well received, later saw me sitting and chatting around the log fire until 2-30am.
Sunday saw us take a leisureable ride to Dunkirk and the 6pm ferry to Dover where Graham and I rode back to Wiltshire arriving home at 11pm; Colin rode to Yppes with another group and stayed untill Monday the other three stayed at a pub in Ashford and rode back to Swindon and two to Wales on the Monday.
All the bikes went well with no breakdowns except for Grahams A10 which suffered a broken wire to the coil on the way down on the Thursday which was easily repaired and misfiring on the way back home hence the early ferry but was due to bad plugs but frequently changing them when hot saw him back safely home.
The Belgium group work really hard and always put on a good weekend and if any read this a big THANK YOU from me
A good weekend with some good riding about for me 34o miles each way with Polly getting the long distance award with over 500 mile one way on a 1952 B31 which ran like clockwork which is more than I can say for Polly.
enough ramblings for now
Richard
