| Round
Britain Rally |
Author
- Bikergran
|
You
don’t do rallies? Well
hang on a minute - the Round Britain Rally isn’t about camping – unless you want it to
be – it doesn’t involve silly games, and beer is
optional. It’s all about seeing places, riding the roads
less travelled, and not least, finding out about Britain.
It
starts in April, when entrants receive a list of ‘landmarks’,
a score sheet, control card and instructions. By the end of October
they will visit as many (or as few) of the targets as they choose,
taking a photograph of their bike at each place. At the end the
photos are packed up and sent off for judging and the wait begins – was
it the right celtic cross? Will I get points for a photo of a
gate because I couldn’t reach a building?
There’s
a landmark in every county in England, Wales and Scotland (some
have two) - they’re known as landmarks but that doesn’t
mean they stand out – some are easy to find, some are difficult.
They might be a castle or a milepost but they’re always
interesting, and wherever you live there will be several not
far away. So it doesn’t matter whether you spend all your
spare time and your two weeks holiday on the bike or just a weekend
here and there, this rally is for everyone.
The
awards start at 100 points (about 5 or 6 landmarks) and go up
to 1900,
so you choose your own level. I decided to go for Bronze the
first time and achieved Silver, as I enjoyed myself so much I
just kept doing it! And I’d never been more than 40 miles
from home on my own before my first trip from Dorset to Wales.
Having done
the RBR three times I now reckon to ride an average 250 miles
a day, taking in three or four landmarks, and spend some time
seeing the places and chatting to people I meet. Others spend
hours on the bike, only stopping briefly for the necessary photos,
for them the points are more important than the places
One
2003 entrant did part of his Gold award on a Buell X1 Lightning – bet
he didn’t stay on that seat for 250 miles!. The bikes vary
enormously – apart from the usual suspects for touring
- BMWs, Pan Euros, Guzzis, there was a Laverda Jota and one rider
got a 100% all-rounder on a 100cc Chinese 2-stroke which he bought
in a box and put together! Surprisingly, mine was the only Kawasaki
GT550. Anyone lucky enough to have a choice can register more
than one bike for the rally.
As
soon as the list drops on the mat, the research begins! Some
get on the ‘net,
some head for the library, some have loads of reference books
and maps! Some just visit the area via the tourist information
centre - not always entirely succesful!
My first move is to plot all the landmarks on a table-top
sized map of Britain I made by photocopying pages from
the atlas (ok as long
as it’s for your own use) and sticking them together. With this
I can see how the places relate to each other, which ones are on the
way to somewhere else and which will need a special trip.I usually
combine the RBR with other trips, going to rallies and in 2003, going
to the TT. So as well as seeing the country, I’ve revisited relations
I haven’t seen for years, rekindled old friendships, and also
found some great B&B’s
The
best maps to use are without doubt the Ordance Survey Landrangers
but they
do cost a bob or two and I've found a useful substitute is a
large scale road atlas based on OS maps. As I’m always
at the computer anyway I use that for route-planning and research,
but I can’t see any disadvantage in doing it the old way.
I love finding out about all the places and if ever I don't have
the time or the money to do the rally, I'll probably enter anyway,
and do the research as a pastime!
Ah
yes, the cost - well of course that depends on you, on how many
points
you’re going for, where you stay, and whether you make
special trips. The 2003 entry fee was £23 which pays for
the paperwork, the awards and posting photos back after judging.
B&B is about £16-£24 a night depending on the
season, camping can be as little as £4, and staying with
friends or relatives is cheaper still, though they tend to expect
you to spend some time with them!
Then there's fuel, but hey, you're a biker, you'll be riding
the bike anyway……
For
me, the Round Britain Rally has opened up a whole new world of
biking.
I've discovered that I love travelling on my own and places that
seemed far away are nearer than I thought. I've visited small
castles like Skenfrith, next to cottage gardens down little lanes.
I’ve broken down on the north Pennine moors, I've seen
the old Norton factory in Birmingham, and stood on a Cornish
hilltop with a few wet sheep for company, surrounded by the almost
surreal monoliths of a wind farm - eerie but rather beautiful.
And I can’t wait for the start of the 2004 rally!
For
more information write to:
Round Britain Rally, c/o David Hancock,
2 Elias Close, Lichfield, Staffordshire WS14 9TX, or visit www.roundbritainrally.co.uk
Other
useful info:
Tourist Information centres – www.britainexpress.com/TIC or
0870 400 22 300
OS maps from bookshops or www.ordsvy.gov.uk/mainhome.cfm
Online maps also at www.multimap.com
Loads of internet sites about castles, church inscriptions, industrial
history etc, easily found by a search on www.ask.co.uk or www.google.co.uk
Where to stay – local
guides from adverts in Sunday papers or try www.a1tourism.com/uk .
Youth Hostels are open to adults, and not as basic as they were – www.yha.org.uk ,
01629 592 702
Campsites are everywhere.
Bobbi White..
A
version of this article first appeared in ‘Motorcycle Voyager’ and
is being reproduced by kind permission of the editor.
www.motorcyclevoyager.com
PS – if
you want to know my result this year you’ll have to look
at the RBR website!
From
bikerdave - a
big thankyou to MV for allowing this article to be published.
As a reader, I am pleasantly surprised everytime I pick up an
issue and read a magazine for real world riders. Keep up the
good work folks.
