Ides of March Rally
My girlfriend and I organised two Ides of March rallies in the 1970s. I think 76 and 77.
... bikers managed to drink the pub dry...
- Spyder
The first one was at the Travellers Rest pub on the Buxton to Leek road in the peak district. The major selling point was over 100 different draft ales on the bar but the bikers still managed to drink the pub dry. The camping was on the other side of the road about 300 yards down. Minimal facilities.
The second rally was held at the Moorcock Inn above Littleborough on the Rochdale to Halifax road. The farmer let us rent his 12 acre field for £35 and hundreds turned up. Once again the pub was drunk dry but the landlady was solid and kept us all going. When it rained she took us in and opened the bar again, cheese toasties and bacon sarnies. Fantastic atmosphere and loads of locals getting friendly and sometimes intimate with the bikers.
Highlights of the evenings were the wet (no) t-shirt competitions, two topless girls trying to ride a bantam into the pub and when the barman fell down the trapdoor into the cellar.
It rained, boy how it rained on Saturday night and on Sunday morning we had to tow the bikes out of the field of mud with a landrover.
- Spyder
This rally was reputed to be the oldest continuously run rally in England....
This rally was reputed to be the oldest continuously run rally in England....
- Phil Wilkinson
(From Phil's intro to the Ides of March 1979 passage in his book "It's Only The Dirty Ones We Don't Want.")