Paul’s Visit to East Anglia
The story started last year when a group of friends decided to go on a 2 – 3 week camping trip to Lincolnshire and Norfolk. The intention was to tow Jeeps behind motorhomes, and me to tow my Matchless behind my 1986 ex-military Landrover. I was to be the only one sleeping in a tent, an ex military 9×9 command tent. We intended taking in two 1940s events, one at Severn Valley and the other at Woodhall Spa. Unfortunately our plans were cut short as Severn Valley cancelled due to the Ukraine situation. The less said about that decision, the better.
However the rest of the plans went ahead so at the beginning of July we set off to a camp site outside Woodhall Spa. During our stay there we visited the 1940s event in the town, but more importantly for me, a visit to the Lincolnshire Aviation museum at East Kirkby. There is a Lancaster there that used to reside at Blackpool airport. It has been restored to running order but not yet deemed airworthy. It can taxi around the airfield and take paying passengers. Our highlight was turning up at the gates in Jeeps and my Matchless, and being shown to the front of the hanger where the Lancaster was housed, and asked to park there as an addition attraction. As can be seen from the photos, opportunities were taken to photograph plane and bike together.
While in Lincolnshire we also visited the Thorpe Camp museum which is also an RAF based museum containing a English Electric Lightning amongst other artefacts. We were allowed to enter for free as we were in Jeeps, though on that occasion I was not riding the Matchless.
From Lincolnshire, we moved on to Norfolk for a week of relaxation. No 1940s events, just time to chill by the water and experience a day on a boat on the Broads. The Matchless was ridden to Potter Higham and parked up next to a Jeep while a friend and I explored the boats for sale. Quite a bit of interest was shown and we later discovered the local public CCTV saw the vehicles and zoomed in on them for a closer look.
During the 2 weeks the weather was actually too hot to ride the motorbike. Adding protective clothing and a helmet was too much so it was not ridden as much as I hoped. However my confidence in the bike is growing though a repair to the fuel tank is required as filling past about half way results in a leak over the engine. Not good. Plans are in hand for repairs once the weather worsens.
For interest, I used a Dave Cooper single bike trailer, bought at the beginning of the year. It performed well and I hardly noticed it on the back of my Landrover. The only bad comment is the number plate board was punctured by the metal supports on the trailer, causing it to flip from the vertical while driving. I will probably have to screw a small metal plate to the board to stop this happening again. Anyone else experienced this, and how did you fix it?
Paul Higgins