Easter getaway, oh no it’s going to be the M5/M6 carpark, well to our surprise the run up was just about trouble free but it went all downhill once we hit Derbyshire and the Peak District. Pot holes everywhere, they need to bring out a sat nav with a pot hole avoidance radar as the roads were dreadful the worst I have seen for some time. The amount of money they extract from us one would think a little more could be spent fixing some of the holes. Recent news article stated; Roads in the Derbyshire County council area were the worst affected, with 90,596 potholes reported and in Stoke-on-Trent there were 4,111 potholes reported and the longest fix time was 567 days. Anyhow with a café stop we arrived suitably refreshed by Thursday lunch time to find members of the South Yorks Club battling the winds putting up club shelters.
I guess by Thursday evening, there were about a dozen tents on site, but by Friday more arrived and the field looked like a proper rally. This year is the South Yorks Sidecar Club 65th Anniversary, they had some special coasters made to commemorate the event and gave one to all who attended, except when we signed in someone forgot to give us one, so I haven’t got a picture to show you what they were like.
The weather over the weekend was good, but it was very cold overnight with a sharp frost. I just made sure I had enough alcohol so I didn’t freeze up. The local pub had some really good ales on.
We had to leave on the Sunday as I had to go to work on the Monday but we were there for one of the awards. This was the “Phil Cheswick Award” This is awarded to the rallyists that the South Yorks committee think is the most deserving and it was awarded to the Battye family (hope I have spelt that right). Jonathon, Mel & Saskia.
As for the other awards Long Distance” won by Norrie, “Oldest Outfit” Pete Ellis, and “Best Club Attendance” This was won by the “London Sidecar Club” They had 2 units at the rally, same as the Viking Club & Tri-Anglia Wheels clubs. But London took it as they covered more miles.
