Hedgehogs at it again!
Back in OBM439, we brought you the tale of how a group of friends called the Hedgehogs set off on a tour around Yorkshire. That trip was because they couldn’t get to the Isle of Man, but now they – and the Island – are back, as Dave Dixon reports.
The long-awaited Hedgehogs migration to the Isle of Man for the Classic TT events had been repeatedly postponed over the past three years. The group booking was rolled over for us by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, but practice and race dates had been changing.
The outcome was that we found ourselves booked in for practice week and the week before that. This presented us with a dilemma – at a late stage would we try to amend the booking? But that was complicated with many elements involved, including time off work for our juvenile members, van hire, ferry, flights for the privileged elite (me), and accommodation. So no, we decided to go anyway and just enjoy the Island and the Classic TT atmosphere.
And so it proved. Thanks to organiser-in-chief John, the travel arrangements went smoothly and any guilty feelings which I might have had over being flown painlessly to the Island were soon replaced by smugness when I arrived at 4pm just in time to see the end of the van being unloaded. We were soon out and about on the four classics on which we had spent endless preparation time.
This is a day’s report from our WhatsApp group postings (yes, we can use this modern technology – when we have to!): “All okay. Dynamo end bearing collapsed on the
A10. Chris’s clutch cable has broken. Enfield front brake plate loose and the Vincent has a broken rear spoke.”
Everybody will now be sniggering at our erratic old clunkers but if you cast your mind back a mere 60 years or so, the thought occurs that things like this were a fairly normal part of our regular cleaning and maintenance routines. Such failures in the teenage Rocker years were often quite spectacular, born of enthusiasm and ignorance. No, nowadays we cosset these old things with a strict regime of enthusiasm and ignorance. Anyway, back to the saga.
Once ensconced in the neat chalet at Laxey Harbour we were able to catch up with friendly natives Dave and Jenny. Dave is a talented guitarist and singer of folk ballads. He accompanies himself on a harmonica while playing his guitar, too. So, suitably fortified by a degree of amber nectar, we spent several hours on an almost rain-free deck enjoying our friend playing ballads such as Whisky in the Jar and Put Another
Log on the Fire. Oh well, Shenendoah too, if you must. We all joined in and were beautifully discordant.
Some may already be feeling that there is more in here about people than there is racing? Sadly (for some) so it is – but some erudite soul might write a later piece for Old Bike Mart about the actual racing. As well you know, these trips are as much about the friendships you make, the people you see, and the roads you ride as the proper event!
The following day we intrepidly rode a challenging 20 miles in blazing sunshine to Port Erin and the Hedgehogs’ favourite place of safety, the Bay Hotel. The Vincent was parked next to the Bay promotional vehicle, a much-modified Citroën 2CV.
The Enfield Crusader was running two-up and overheated, but it cooled off well after a pint or so while we enjoyed watching a solitary cop trying to not ticket several illegally parked vehicles. “What, us officer?” Absolutely not! Our machines lend themselves to being stashed in tiny spaces, and nooks and crannies.
On the return trip we were forced to stop at The Sidings on the outskirts of Castletown to let the little Enfield cool off again. This machine is freshly rebuilt and at the start of the holiday things were a bit tight. But, apart from the heat, the Crusader (Sport) ran magnificently and improved through the next two weeks. We did keep a close eye on the engine oil level though…
John took Alice, my granddaughter, for her first glimpse of racing at the Sulby Glen Hotel. She was mightily impressed by the speed of the bikes as they roared past on their practice laps at about 160mph, as I had also been when seeing the same on my first visit to the Island back in the 90s – and at the same viewing spot, too.
Chris and I couldn’t resist the temptation for an early ride to the famous Creg Ny Baa hotel on one of the famous TT course bends, just after the road descends from Kate’s Cottage. This is normally a very fast downhill straight with a dramatic right-hander at the Creg, but for us normal beings we were subject to a 50mph speed limit during racing weeks. Of course, it depends on who is looking … but a radar check is frequently in place. Boo!
However, the Creg was very wet and shrouded in dense mist. In fact, it ruined Chris’s hairdo, making him look like Cat in Red Dwarf on a bad (hair) day. We took refuge in the pub, where we soon found a pint or so of damp dispersing liquid. No, not WD-40 on this occasion.
Around this time, Mark, our A10 pilot, reported that he had returned his machine to base because it was “making a rubbing noise”. Wise man! It was that dynamo. Initially, thinking that the demolished brush end bearing could be replaced by a plain bush, we found that the end casting was fractured, so we decided to simply remove the dynamo drive chain. The battery was well-charged and there would be next to
no need for riding in the dark. Maybe this is one of the benefits of technology and methods originating in the 1930s? Most breakdowns can be fixed – albeit temporarily – with a short-term bodge, then repaired properly as soon as convenient. We sometimes meet people who point to vastly improved Japanese manufacture, but you can’t always bodge that in an emergency. Still, times change, decades pass, and our passion is indeed a broad church.
Later, outside the Trafalgar pub at Ramsey Harbour, the Vincent and Chris’s Dominator 99 café racer were being much admired (probably) by several other visitors when Ken turned up on his mobility scooter.
Ken is a sprightly 91-yearold local who motorcycled for decades on Royal Enfields. Yarns were exchanged – isn’t it usually the way when enthusiasts meet that the stories begin to flow? That old saying comes to mind - ‘the older I get, the faster I was’.
But it was a treat to chat and reminisce with Ken. Long may he roll!
A very wet eight-mile ride from Ramsey to Laxey was quite a pleasure after the extreme heat we’d experienced on the mainland. Having slid home over innumerable nicely polished wet drain covers, we walked damply to Lady Isabella, the great Laxey water wheel, where we saw the very last ever performance of the Purple Helmets display squad.
This magnificent group, made up of mainly expolice and firemen, have entertained crowds for 27 years with their bizarre and deliberately inept stunt riding.
Long-time commentator, 74-year-old Derry Kissack, had many gems, such as “You will now see stunts performed at speeds of over a hundred miles an hour” (on Honda C90s) and “Our star rider – he died twice last week.”
A day or so later we used the Dominator and Vincent to visit Murray’s Motorcycle Museum. Established in 1964 near the Bungalow on the TT circuit, the museum is now located near Fairy Bridge, just off the A5.
The collection is indeed eclectic, including British, Japanese and Continental machinery. Extending through the prosaic to icons and race machinery, this exhibition must appeal to all – even to those with only a passing interest in motorcycles. I was particularly struck by a very battered Honda 90 that a Swedish rider had used to travel thousands of miles.
The following day found us in Port Erin again, where son John had a contact who could give him some of the coveted Bushey’s commemorative stickers. These are produced each year for the TT racing period and the humorous format changes with each edition.
On the way back, Chris on the Dominator ran over a new and unmarked traffic island on Douglas promenade. Although filtering at a fairly slow speed, Chris’s injuries saw him helicoptered a few days later from Nobles hospital to the Liverpool
Heart and Lung hospital for further treatment. He is now recovering slowly.
The major Vintage Motor Cycle Club gathering took place in Laxey toward the end of our holiday.
Have you ever been to a show where the variety of machinery was almost overwhelming?
And so it was this time – a lovely array of just about anything you care to name, with condition varying from rat bike to concours. Some random pictures were managed just to give an impression of what was there.
On August 25, towards the end of our holiday, the statutory Hedgehog barbecue took place at the chalet. Apart from awesome organiser John, we are lucky that number two son Mark is an exprofessional chef so nobody was poisoned. There was more of Dave’s lovely singing, with unfortunately raucous Hedgehog accompaniment, and we all survived to the next morning, when the early realisation of imminent packing for home struck us.
So, here we are, another venture drawn to a close.
Well, almost - “One of our number is missing.” We had to leave Chris in hospital, although I can report that he is now recovering slowly at home after having fragments of his collar bone removed and a steel rod inserted (he grumbled that the surgeon used metric nuts and bolts).
Our next adventure would be the Tiddlers Rally in Portugal, but you’ll have to wait for a future issue to find our whether we made that!