Bill Hancock's Rider's Rally 2010
I thought that this year, to give my riding a bit more of a
Vincent focus, I would try to attend some of the VOC
rallies. The riders rally this year was at Normanby Hall, just
north of Scunthorpe. Normanby is around 100 miles from sunny Hinckley so I
thought that was just a nice mileage to make this a day trip. (Gloria and
myself used to do quite a lot of camping years ago but now prefer the comfort of
our own bed or at least a bed in a B & B or hotel.) I chose a route to
give me a compromise between riding time and riding pleasure. The A46
Fosse Way is an ancient roman road that heads in mainly straight lines up to
Lincoln. Above Leicester the Fosse Way is largely dual carriageway
allowing some quick if rather monotonous miles to be put on the clock. We
passed around Newark before turning off the A46 and onto the A1133, a more
interesting road that loosely follows the meanderings of the river Trent.
The weather forecast had predicted rain showers. When we reached Leicester
the showers started. The forecast didn't indicate how frequent or how
heavy the rain showers would be. I can now confirm that the showers were
heavy and that the gap between showers was small or almost non existent.
This proved a good test of Gloria's new riding kit with a baptism by deluge
rather than by fire. Had we somehow strayed off the road and into the
Trent?
The A1133 becomes the A156 at Torksey Lock and the A159 at Gainsborough where we
pulled into fill the petrol tank on the Rapide. A fill up here would allow
us to complete the outward trip and the return journey without further
refuelling. We passed easily through Scunthorpe and were soon out into
pleasant countryside again. Normanby Hall was well signposted and on
entering the hall grounds we were directed to the old stable yard where around
two dozen Vincent HRD machines were parked for display. Riders that
had made a camping weekend of it told us of the pleasant sunny conditions they
had enjoyed on Friday and Saturday. The rain showers continued so we went
into the café for a hot drink where we shared a table with Alan Jennings, Tim
Kirker, Reinhard Augustin and their partners. Rheinhard and partner rode
from Germany and easily qualified for the furthest travelled award. The awards
were presented by Jack Lazenby who was employed in the race shop at Stevenage
where he and Stan Duddington worked under the control of Denis Minett.
Denis was in charge of the Special Engine Department.
Paul Ennis was there on his twin making it three of us from the Coventry section
and Peter Bromberg from the E. Midland section and his son rode in in the early
afternoon. We had a walk around the Victorian walled garden during a fine
spell. This garden had a great number of varieties of vegetables planted,
many of them that would have been familiar to the original Victorian
gardeners. The hot houses were all still in use with exotic flowers
blooming and peach and other delicate fruits trained against the walls.
We retraced out outward bound route to go home enjoying better conditions but
not escaping the showers completely. Less rain and not having to refuel
saw us back home in a few minutes over two hours. Later at home over a cup
of tea we reflected over the day and although the weather could have been we
still enjoyed the ride. We also enjoyed meeting new people and talking to
fellow Vincent Owners. Thanks to the Lincolnshire section for organising
on the rally.
Eddy.
The bikes parked in front of the old stables.
Jack Lazenby (3rd from left) presented The Augustin's with their long
distance awards. Chairman Kirker looks on.
Jack Lazenby built the engine on this Montlery bike.
One for the gardener's. There must have been 20 different varieties of
potato in the walled garden.
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