The last ”active” Indian Rider’s meet of the year was held at Little Chart, in the field opposite The Swan pub run by Wendy and her husband, who looked after us very well.

Evening meal on friday was fish and chips, excellent, always a favourite, best enjoyed sitting round the camp-fire but the interior of the 400year old Swan came a close second.

The event was organised by Stuart Alexander, last year’s top Wanker with lots of help from Pete and Anita. The weather was great, we seem to strike lucky with the club events.

The ride out was some 50 miles around Kent’s hidden lanes with stops for the usual refreshments etc. Mick, Sybil and I had the use of the old cottage attached to Stuart and Rachael’s place by the mill stream. Rachael as usual looked after the elderly, for which we thank her. I’m writing this sitting outside the loaned hacienda in southern Spain, looking forward to a week’s riding the mountain roads of the Alicante district.The temperature is in the 90’s and the “Sam Miguel is ice cold.I would like to warn anybody planning on using the Portsmouth/Bilbao ferry who is not a good sailor to think twice. The weather in the Bay of Biscay can be pretty rough and it’s not a short crossing! We’ve decided we can’t face the return crossing and are planning to drive back to Calais. A long drive but better than trying to turn yourself inside out!!

Anyhow, back to the rally report, the Saturday evening meal was a buffet.O.K but not to everyone’s liking. Ian and Kate Hatton rode up from Hassocks, Ian’s Power Plus with sidecar loaded with camping gear, no fun trying to stop 500lbs with 19th century brakes.!!! As I live quite near to Ian and Kate we managed to find room for the sidecar and all the camping kit in my van. This gave him a better than sporting chance of getting home un-scathed.

All in all I would say the weekend was a sucess.

I must mention Sybil’s sterling effort’s in ensuring hot tea and coffee was available all weekend (self-service) Finally, getting the marquee up and down is still proving just as difficult.

P.S.The winner of the Wanker award went to Pete Selby for putting petrol in a diesel or vice versa, I’m not sure which!

BRIAN "RAT" BARRETT                 

Editor: At the beginning of the rideout the trophies were awarded. The much coverted Wankers Trophy (proudly received by Pete Selby and worn for the whole weekend) and a special award for the non-Indian rider who has made a bit of a reputation for himself by picking up the pieces at the tail end of the ride outs and running roadside repairs on stragglers, non-starters and those plain old breakdowns. Peter Hall arrived on site with his “Old Gits On Tour” luminous vest, only to be presented with a special “Paramedic Pete - Indian Rescue Service” jacket. A new nick-name and new jacket meant that Nobby Melrose perloined the original “old gits” vest and ride out proceeded with much chaos.

Notes for future rideouts. The VMCC operate a good system where only 2 people need to know the exact route - the leader and the last marshall (tail end Charlie). At every junction, roundabout, crossing or intersection, the person behind the leader stays to point the rest of the group in the right direction. This person only leaves his/her post when they see “Tail End Charlie”. This way no one gets lost, there is no need to race to catch up if you have a slower machine and everyone goes at their own pace. If you dont want to wait at a junction, make sure you are not behind the leader. Unfortunately, a few got confused on the ride out and left their posts early. Paramedic Pete had to go chasing over the Kent countryside to pick up stragglers which all added to the fun but not exactly the planned route.
On a lighter note, Keiths tapework had an outing (see centre photos), Kate managed to stay awake past 8.30pm on Saturday night and Stuart was playing army Captain again organising the event. Great Stuff