2010 RBR

Well, we're off for this year of the Round Britian Rally (RBR). Since I can't blog about the sites during the season this is merely a marker to keep track of how many landmarks we've done, and what our running total is. The hope is that after the season is over I'll be able to go back and fill in more specifics about the LMs, or at least the more interesting ones that I remember

         RBR#   Points      Date Done    Running Total

#1        05      15              2 Apr               15
#2        02      15              2 Apr               30
#3        22      20              2 Apr               50
#4        44      20              3 Apr               70
#5        46      20              3 Apr               90
#6        23      15              3 Apr              105
#7        03      15              3 Apr              120
#8        49      20              4 Apr              140
#9        01      25              4 Apr              165 <- The Annual Rally Start Event (ARSE)
#10      20      20              4 Apr              185
#11      34      20             10 Apr             205
#12      33      25             10 Apr             230
#13      43      20             10 Apr             250
#14      19      20             10 Apr             270
#15      26      20             11 Apr             290
#16      45      20             11 Apr             310
#17      25      15             11 Apr             325
#18      30      20             25 Apr             345
#19      04      15             20 May            360 <- Thurs night start heading down to Cornwall for the Lifeboat Run
#20      17      20             21 May            380
#21      14      20             21 May            400
#22      15      15             21 May            415
#23      16      15             21 May            430
#24a     08     15             21 May            445
#24b     08     15             21 May            460
#25       07     30             21 May            490
#26       09     30             22 May            520
#27       41     25             22 May            545
#28       37     20             24 May            565
#29       29     20             24 May            585
#30       51     25             24 May            610
#31       47     20             24 May            630
#32       60     25             25 May            655
#33       71     20             25 May            675
#34       64     20             25 May            695
#35       57     20             26 May            720
#36       55     30             26 May            750
#37       72     25             26 May            775
#38       67     50             27 May            825
#39       65     50             28 May            875
#40       56     25             28 May            900
#41       73     25             28 May            925
#42       62     25             28 May            950
#43       12     25             29 May            975
#44       10     25             29 May           1000
#45       27     20             29 May           1020
#46       31     20             29 May           1040
#47       81     20             29 May           1060
#48       89    15              29 May           1075
#49       75    25              30 May           1100
#50       80    20              30 May           1120
#51       76    30              30 May           1150
#52       82    25 (12.5)    30 May         1162.5 <- incurred 50% penalty
#53       39    20               31 May          1182.5
#54       32    20               31 May          1202.5 <- Gold by my count, but too close for comfort--need to get about 100 more points to be safe!
#55       28     20              19 Jun            1222.5 <- 55 and 56 were done on the way to pick up my 'new' bike! Great fun riding back but didn't have sat nav hooked up to do any LMs on the way home, so just got these two on the way up.
#56       13     20             19 Jun             1242.5
#57       21     25             10 Jul              1267.5 <-LMs picked up over the Hayfield weekend
#58       06     25             10 Jul              1292.5
#59       42     20             11 Jul              1312.5
#60        35    15             11 Jul              1327.5 <- We fittingly ended with the LM that we suggest last year!

That's us done for the year. Should have enough points to safely put us in for another Gold award. We could go out and get a bunch of points in South Wales and go back up north for more, but we'd need a considerable amount more for the next level and with a trip planned to Switzerland and over the Alps in late August/early Sept, I think we'll just stop with the RBR LM's for this year.

We're also doing a charity rally which is raising funds for the Air Ambulance. It is run by a friend that was hit from behind and evac'd out by his local Air Ambulance crew. It probably saved his leg, and maybe his life. He now runs an annual charity rally. Last year was to all of the British National Parks. We only hit about 6 of them. We're trying to fit in as many of the Battlefield sites in this year's rally as possible, in between the RBR LMs. Here's what we've done to day:

#1 Barnet               2 Apr
#2 Maldon           10 Apr
#3 Hastings          11 Apr
#4 Winceby         25 Apr
#5 Stratton           22 Apr
#6 Sedgemoor     22 Apr
#7 Flodden          25 May
#8 Culloden        26 May
#9  Naseby          31 May
#10 Bosworth     09 Jul <- we met up here with Philip on Vera (the Varadero 125) and me on Dixie, my new MP3, for our first ride out on two bikes this year.  Philip was coming from work in Milton Keynes and I came from home. The Pan had decided it didn't want to go so Oscar wouldn't start that morning. We had a mad rush on Friday morning to get everything switched over to Vera so Philip wasn't too late for work. During the trip I enjoyed the fact that he was behind me with less power for once . He kept cursing me because I didn't build up a lot of speed going down the hills as I was able to keep up to speed on the up hill portions, where poor old Vera was struggling under the weight and could barely get to 40! What a hoot! Aren't I a meany...

April Rides

10 April - On my birthday we decided to do a nice run out to two Norfolks landmarks: The War Memorial Lampost 1919, in Castle Rising

Behind that sign was a load of people out having some food and drink on a nice spring day. Poor Rufus fell over the brick wall and one of the nice guys from the restaurant came over and picked him up--saving me the trek around the fence with a load of on-lookers.

After leaving this landmark we were on the road to our next landmark, the Old Buckingham windmill (in Old Buckingham, of course) when who should we see going the other way, but Jim Josey--a fellow rally participant. I knew he was going to be out in the area that day so wasn't complete surprised to see him going the other way but then had a good laugh when we found out later that another fellow RBR'er, Steve Thorndale, had just been and gone from the windmill. A couple of close encounters--but two folks that we generally meet up with at other rally events anyway.

We lucked out and there was a couple parked by the windmill for a walk, that kindly took our picture
together at this landmark.

18 April - A few more day-ride landmarks today - First in Harrold, Bedfordshire, the Butter Market

From there we rode up a great biking road between Bedfordshire to Leicestershire to go to the
Church Rebuilding Memorial in South Croxton.

We arrived just as the main caretaker of the church was unlocking the gate
and she invited us in the sign the guest book. I like sites that have guest books
so I can document our rally visits!

The Welland Viaduct in Harringworth, Northamptonshire was next and this ended up being
one of Philip's favorites. I think as an engineer he was quite taken with the size of the structure--I just
thought the scenery and the ride was great!

The last landmark for the day was our local county landmark - the Barograph Monument in 
Bluntisham, Cambridgeshire. The thing about this landmark is that because it was between our
two houses we actually went to it more than once, on three of our five bikes:

The Deauville -

The Varadero -

and finally, Liz's 1982 Honda Melody 50cc moped -

We never made it on the CB500 or the Pan.

We ended up April with a weekend outing.

25 April - Saturday (no landmarks on Friday night on way to hotel)
- Kemble, Gloucestershire - The 'Beehive' hydrant 19

- Chew Stoke, Dorset - Irish Bridge and Pack Horse Bridge 04

- Nr Horningsham, Wiltshire - Heaven's Gate 47

- Castle Cary, Somerset - The Return 39

- nr Holwell, Dorset - Barnes Cross-Oldest post box still in use 16

- Eastney, Hampshire - Yomper 21

- Cocking, West Sussex - History Column 44

26 April, Sunday on the way home
- Windsor, Berkshire - Air Mail Post Box 03

- Beaconsfield, Buckingham - Tithing Stone 05

RBR 2009 Wrap up

Well, I haven't blogged about my Round Britain Rally adventures for the last two years because I've since realized that I wasn't suppose to be posting anything during the season (like I did in 2007) and by the time the rally is over, I can't remember enough to post what happened. I did make an effort in 2008 to write up our trips in a separate file so that I could copy/paste it all into a blog at the end of the season, but that didn't last long. I just found I didn't have the time any more.

So, now it is November 2009 and this year's rally is over. After only obtaining a Silver in 2008, mostly due to bike issues--Philip had to re-do the front forks and one of them ended up needing to be replaced. The timing wasn't good so several of the trips ended up being canceled or turned into car adventures. This year, I figured we'd probably only obtain a silver again, but it came down to the last planned trip in Sept and according to my calculations we were only about 60 points, or so, short of a gold. So, I worked out a route to go out to Wales and pick up potentially another 100+ points. By this time I really needed to decide if I wanted to keep the Deauville (we'd purchased the bigger Pan European ST1300 in May) for my bike--or sell it. Since it was a last minute trip I couldn't get any good deals on cheap hotels, so we decided to take two bikes out and camp. We rode out to the camp site on Friday on the two bikes, then do a circle route on Saturday just on the Pan. We'd then hit one final site on the way home on Sunday--the only site we'd done on two bikes since the first year when we went out on the Deauville and the Varadero to two landmarks close to home.

It was a very nice trip, and to spend a weekend in Wales with the only precipitation that you see is the dew on the grass in the morning, it is a damn good weekend in Wales!! So, with that weekend being a total success, we again made gold--confirmed when we met up with folks at Conkers in October and Graham scored our pictures. However, as much as I loved riding the Deauville on the highway, the bike was just too heavy for me at slow speeds, or just trying to move it around the driveway. So, I concluded it just wasn't a good bike for me.

It has been a great year, and as nice as the Pan is, I miss the Deauville. It brought us a lot of joy and was very good to us. We just sold it today and while I was very sad to see it go, it went to a very nice fellow from an ebay purchase, and I hope they will have lots of good times together as well. I'm happier to see it out being enjoyed than wasting away on Philip's drive not getting ridden.

I will try, in subsequent blog entries, to recall as much of this year's fun as I can--mostly for my own sake as I enjoy looking back at my blog entries, but also with the hope that others may enjoy reading about our trips, and might even think about joining the rally themselves.

Hope all of you have had a great run during 2009--I know I have!

The Final Entry for RBR07

Well, the 2007 RBR concluded long ago, but I'm finally getting around to putting in my last picture of the year--the Trophy.

It isn't big or terribly spectacular, but it isn't about the actual trophy itself but the loads of fun we had earning it.

So far for 2008 we've acquired about 700 points but I have to abide by the rules and not cover it in a blog page during the actual season--so, I'll have to do a final wrap up at the end of the year when things have closed out. They have raised the point amounts needed for each level so while I'm hoping to earn another gold this year, it is going to be a lot harder.

In mid-May we took a 10 day trip with about 10 other rally members hitting the most northerly (Dunnet Head), southerly (Lizard), westerly (a lighthouse in Scotland that starts with an A) and easterly (Euroscope in Lowestoft) points on the Island, along with the two points furtherest apart--Lands End and John O'Groats. And just for good measure we also got a group picture at a place that claims to be the most central point, Haltwhistle.

Because two of the point are actually part of the rally this year, I can't show pictures of those sites, but when I get my act together I will write up that trip as well, which is where we accumulated most of the points we have so far this year.

The first three weekends in July we're going to out hitting RBR landmarks, then one trip in August and one final one in September. If we get all that I have planned we should be within the point region for gold, with hopefully a comfortable margin for errors!!

Enough said--here's the final picture for RBR 07--the trophy:

Article from Stars and Stripes UK insert-5 March 2008