Dawn

Drinking til the early hours of the morning is never a good start for a day that you know will end with drinking til the early hours of the morning. But those were the cards that were dealt and the hand I had to play. Saturday night was a clubhouse type of affair with a bunch of cool guys 20 miles away and was a landmark journey for Ol Blue the camper van. She buzzed along nicely there and back and mostly protected us from rain over night. She's got a lot of work that needs doing but she's mobile and legal right now and that is good enough for me as I've got a couple of overnight gigs shortly and she will be my home from home.

I hadn't realised how rough I felt til the adrenaline from the return journey had worn off; good call to stick to back roads I think. After a little time spent getting our heads together we packed and set off for Hesket Newmarket which is the the first big event of the new riding season. The turnout of vintage machines was lower than usual presumably because it had rained horribly for a couple of days and when you have exposed tappets or a leather drive belt i'm not at all surprised. The procession of well used vintage bikes came and went as the sun slowly set and the beer started to go down easier. Before I knew it last orders had been called both for beer and conversation. We covered some really interesting topics and it was nice to talk to people with common interests and similar problems. New friends made, old friends remembered and allegiances forged. Drifting back to the campsite we made yet more new friends around the campfire and sang all the campfire songs we knew until we had to make some up. As usual it was dawn as we went to bed. It has been said that one should watch a sunrise at least once a year. After a bad start to the year it felt wholesome.