Husbands Bosworth Fete Thanks go to Paul Ollet for this report on the joint Encmcc and Vjmc clubs ride out to Husbands Bosworth Fete:
They say 'the sun shines on the righteous' but maybe the full quotation should say that it shines on 'the righteous and sinner alike'. Any road up it was a beautiful day on Saturday for a ride out to Husbands Bosworth and if indeed the sun does shine on sinners too that would account for us enjoying some 'dry miles' through the country lanes to our destination at Bosworth Hall.
Those of us who made the trip last year will recall what a dismal day it was with rain of biblical proportions and consequential flooding across many of the little lanes and with a depressing scene to greet us at our Leicestershire destination.What a contrast this year as the group gathered at Finedon bike dealers Ansells in preparation for the 12.30pm departure. The group from the two clubs totalled 17 riders (if you didn't include the bikes awaiting repairs in Ansells car park!
Dougie gave us a briefing before departure on using the 'drop off' system to ensure that nobody got lost with Matt as the 'Sweeper' on his Moto Guzzi and we were promptly away on a route through quiet Northamptonshire villages aiming to keep roughly parallel to the revered A14 as we headed for Leicestershire.
Our very pleasant journey was only interrupted by a hint of cussedness from a Super Rocket and an unscheduled stop when Dougie insisted our glamorous lady photographer takes pictures of the sail planes of the Coventry Gliding Club at Husbands Bosworth airfield even if she didn't really want to!
This year the Fete was as different as chalk from cheese with a remarkable turn out of bikes and a host of other vehicles including a strong representation of VW customised camper vans and a smattering of vintage military vehicles. The local HomeGuard also had a display of second world war weaponry and really looked the part in authentic uniforms of the period. The bar proved popular with many but in competition, presumably for the'righteous' was a little café with tea, coffee and home made cakes and fancies. Notably the queue for the ice cream van was longer than the burger van just another indication of how warm the weather was. There were many stalls with everything from arts and crafts to, well just plain junk! I do concede that one man's junk may well be another's treasure but.........!
The Fete is sited in the grounds of Bosworth Hall and early in the afternoon a tour of the Hall was available, but later on and of interest to some was the guided tour of war time aircraft crash sites of which there are two on the estate. Due to the distance from the Fete field the organisers had arranged transport in some of the military vehicles to view the locations and some of the perhaps less active members of the tender gender had great fun in their attempts to climb in and clamber out of the transport. All good fun and at least one natural 'sinner' managed to keep his instincts under control!
A brief history was given of the events and consequences at the time of the crashes by Mr Robert Turville Constable Maxwell who looked for all the world like David Attenborough but is in fact the present owner of Bosworth Hall and Lieutenant of Leicestershire.
The afternoon wore on and our group had filtered away in twos and threes leaving only Matt's Guzzi in the parking area.
It was a wonderful afternoon out and many thanks to Dougie and all at the VJMCC for inviting us to join them. I rode home again through the villages but by a different route and of course observing the speed limits all the way home. Well you surely didn't have me down as one of them 'sinners' did you?
See Gallery 2 of this website for Pauls photos.
ps: More photos from Amanda added to the gallery 2
They say 'the sun shines on the righteous' but maybe the full quotation should say that it shines on 'the righteous and sinner alike'. Any road up it was a beautiful day on Saturday for a ride out to Husbands Bosworth and if indeed the sun does shine on sinners too that would account for us enjoying some 'dry miles' through the country lanes to our destination at Bosworth Hall.
Those of us who made the trip last year will recall what a dismal day it was with rain of biblical proportions and consequential flooding across many of the little lanes and with a depressing scene to greet us at our Leicestershire destination.What a contrast this year as the group gathered at Finedon bike dealers Ansells in preparation for the 12.30pm departure. The group from the two clubs totalled 17 riders (if you didn't include the bikes awaiting repairs in Ansells car park!
Dougie gave us a briefing before departure on using the 'drop off' system to ensure that nobody got lost with Matt as the 'Sweeper' on his Moto Guzzi and we were promptly away on a route through quiet Northamptonshire villages aiming to keep roughly parallel to the revered A14 as we headed for Leicestershire.
Our very pleasant journey was only interrupted by a hint of cussedness from a Super Rocket and an unscheduled stop when Dougie insisted our glamorous lady photographer takes pictures of the sail planes of the Coventry Gliding Club at Husbands Bosworth airfield even if she didn't really want to!
This year the Fete was as different as chalk from cheese with a remarkable turn out of bikes and a host of other vehicles including a strong representation of VW customised camper vans and a smattering of vintage military vehicles. The local HomeGuard also had a display of second world war weaponry and really looked the part in authentic uniforms of the period. The bar proved popular with many but in competition, presumably for the'righteous' was a little café with tea, coffee and home made cakes and fancies. Notably the queue for the ice cream van was longer than the burger van just another indication of how warm the weather was. There were many stalls with everything from arts and crafts to, well just plain junk! I do concede that one man's junk may well be another's treasure but.........!
The Fete is sited in the grounds of Bosworth Hall and early in the afternoon a tour of the Hall was available, but later on and of interest to some was the guided tour of war time aircraft crash sites of which there are two on the estate. Due to the distance from the Fete field the organisers had arranged transport in some of the military vehicles to view the locations and some of the perhaps less active members of the tender gender had great fun in their attempts to climb in and clamber out of the transport. All good fun and at least one natural 'sinner' managed to keep his instincts under control!
A brief history was given of the events and consequences at the time of the crashes by Mr Robert Turville Constable Maxwell who looked for all the world like David Attenborough but is in fact the present owner of Bosworth Hall and Lieutenant of Leicestershire.
The afternoon wore on and our group had filtered away in twos and threes leaving only Matt's Guzzi in the parking area.
It was a wonderful afternoon out and many thanks to Dougie and all at the VJMCC for inviting us to join them. I rode home again through the villages but by a different route and of course observing the speed limits all the way home. Well you surely didn't have me down as one of them 'sinners' did you?
See Gallery 2 of this website for Pauls photos.
ps: More photos from Amanda added to the gallery 2
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