Hibernation

27th January 1989 - Hedgehog MCC

For my second trip to Bolton Abbey I was without the rest of my club to keep me company and without a girlfriend to keep me warm. Luckily it wasn't too cold, (no snow this year), and I had got to know quite a few of the others up this way.

Not a lot happened on Friday, but this is not unusual. Local bikers had been there drinking for quite a while and further travelled riders were recovering after the journey.

Since the weather was unseasonably warm on Saturday morning, I decided to go and try to add to my amusing place name file by visiting nearby 'Blubberhouses'. I saw the name on a map (remember them?) Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be a place name at the actual location, (just like 'Twatt' on Shetland), so I had to make do with a rather grubby sign pointing towards it, some 2½ miles away. Foiled at this task, I made do with wandering around the ruins of Bolton Abbey, since we were, after all, using their - overflow - car park to camp in. Most of the bikes remained in the actual car park, the tents went in the overflow.

Come the evening session in the pub, that's where we all went for the rest of the night. It being in a pub, no riotous behaviour was evident. The beer flowed music was played by the Juke Box and prizes were handed out.

Puker of the Twits MCC, and Helen, formerly of the Twits MCC, won male and female long distance. After closing time, attention was diverted to the small marquee in the camping area, where burgers and such were still being served, and there was a limited supply of canned beer.

One of the organisers, Carl Walsh, led a few singsongs, as he usually did, which kept us amused for a few hours, until our sleeping bags were calling us.

Sunday morning was what is usually called 'brisk', but this soon cleared in the winter sun. The ride home was a bit chilly, but not excessively so.

- Phil (the Spill) Drackley