The Alternative this year was held at Bishop Auckland Rugby Club which was the venue of the larger Jampot Rally a few years ago. There aren’t as many North West section members who are as keen to camp these days and so it turned out to be Bob and yours truly who set forth from Osbaldeston fuel station on Thursday morning. We made our way through Gisburn, then leaving the A59 to Gargrave. The weather changed a bit and we had a very heavy shower, so the roads were very wet until Kettlewell where we stopped for coffee and toasted teacakes. Bob was regretting not putting his over trousers on sooner as we carried on towards Aysgarth and witnessed some very strange weather. The sun was shining through curtains of rain and the streams and many waterfalls were all a shining brown colour. The rain eased off as we neared Leyburn and we had a pleasant ride on dry roads through to Richmond, stopping for coffee and cakes at Piercebridge. We turned into the carpark of the rugby club and David Laycock was just arriving too. The organiser, Ron Walker, welcomed us and then said we couldn’t put our tents up until 9pm that night as the ladies rugby team were practicing there until then. So after signing in we went for a walk around the town and an early tea at Weatherspoons.
Putting the tents up in the dark wasn’t so bad as the floodlights were left on, though the ladies team weren’t interested in helping! The clubhouse was open so we sampled some of the beers before retiring to the tents. Next morning, we set out for a look around Durham and to top up with fuel. Shortly after setting off we noticed we had picked up another rider who tailed us for a while before asking us if we were heading for the rally site! When we explained what we were doing he was happy to tag along. John Moon is a retired farmer who lives near Settle, so he may become a NW member. We visited Durham Cathedral and had a coffee before returning to the site with full fuel tanks. Chris Moore arrived before we set off on a short afternoon run. The drop-off system was used and we managed to lose a few riders but most got the hang of it.
The evening meal in the clubhouse was lasagne and a few beers were downed before tent time. We had a super breakfast with lots of good coffee before leisurely getting ready for the main run. This was to be to Sheldon Loco sheds which has some lovely old trains, engines and memorabilia. The drop-off system was used again and only about 25 riders got lost this time! I was quite surprised at one stage that I recognised some landmarks. It was part of one of our runs from Hawes to Stanhope! The half -way stop was at a nice country pub near Middleton-in-Teesdale that made us very welcome and served us very nice sandwiches and coffee (all pre-arranged and included in our meal ticket). A very nice run and not too long at about 60 miles.
The evening meal was roast beef with Yorkshire pudding and all that, followed by an excellent sweet, chocolate gateau with cream! Yes, this camping’s hard going sometimes! The usual awards were given out and we were quite surprised there wasn’t a prize for the furthest trailered! After the next morning’s leisurely breakfast was finished, we thanked Ron for all his efforts in putting on the rally. Then after the usual feeble attempts at tent drying, it was time to shove it all into any available space before setting off for home. David and Chris were making their own way home and John came along with Bob and I. We stopped off in Kettlewell for coffee and toasted teacakes (of course), and we had a very pleasant run home after a very enjoyable rally.
Dave