Breighton Ferry – York SC – September 2016
Boats, beers and bullied Vespas... these are three phrases which spring to mind when I think of the shenanigans at York SC rally at the Breighton Ferry. I think most in attendance would agree that the whole weekend was a little unhinged and slightly crazy, but this just made it more memorable.
I’m trying to avoid the hole I rode over on Saturday morning and got wet blah blah. However, the truth is I did ride over on Saturday morning and I did get wet! Anyway, as I erected my tent to the sound of Jim’ll Fix It, I was already wondering what kind of rally I’d come to. Not only because I’d been warned off camping in the first spot I’d selected, due to someone’s overuse of a loud PA system ridiculously early in the morning, to the point people were moving their tents!
The rally was operating a ‘strict scooter only’ policy, and it was great to see a campsite rammed with scooters and only scooters. The turnout was fantastic which to me justifies a demand for more of this kind of event on the scooter scene. The venue was right on a river and was obviously a popular boating spot. Leeds Central SC managed to exploit this and had sailed their own private party boat down the river! I was offered a chance to captain the boat, but politely declined due to the fear of the tabloid newspaper headlines if there was some form of horrific accident!
Darrell Taylor had brought along his dyno and it was keeping the masses entertained for hours. There were some seriously impressive scooters giving it some welly, from bike engined monsters to crazily tuned scooters! And this brings me to the bullied Vespa. Rob Skipsey and co was trying their best to destroy an old Vespa they’d brought along. I personally felt sorry for the poor thing. They were spraying it different colours, lobbing glasses at the flywheel, doing burnouts, pouring whisky into the carb... you name it, and they did it to the battered old thing!
The evening do wasn’t much calmer either! The punk cover band that were performing really set the tone and got people jumping around. There’s nothing better than being right next to a band in a small pub with a good crowd! I was a lightweight and called it a night at 11.30am, but Lydia stayed out much longer. By all accounts there was an insane amount of alcohol consumed which led to some rather dodgy dancing, to a point where it had moved onto the tables! It was nice to see a venue that was happy to stay open late, as it can often be the case that far too many rallies wind down before they really get going (not that it mattered to me, I was out for the count!).
It’s safe to say I’ll be back next year and I’ll have my party hat on next time!