August Bank holiday

"Bank holiday comes six times a year, Days of enjoyment to which everyone cheers, Bank holiday comes with a six pack of beer, then its back to work A-G-A-I-N"  Blur 

The final bank holiday is the line in the beach sand to signify the end of summer proper. Sure you might get an Indian summer mid September but the penultimate weekend in August is full on sillydom.   

It's also the tail end of scooter rally season, there'll be Brighton and the biggest and best rally anywhere on the globe Isle of Wight. Thousands scooterists mods et al will head down to the small island off the Southampton & Portsmouth coast.   The usual get up is six of your friends, as its safety in numbers along the major roads and possible motorways.  Setting off from say London 82 miles or Birmingham 160 miles, you pack everything you are going to wear for the 3 day jaunt.  Prey you get your hands on the B&B iron and ironing board at reception before the other crease obsessed mods staying at your place. 

First you have to get there on your 70 year old Italian shopping bike, maps or directions taped to your sleeve or handlebar headset. A lead rider with a good sense of directions is advisable, with me at the front you'd end up in Southend. 

Through experience the bigger the group you are guaranteed a breakdown.  I've seen a lead riders back wheel just sheer right off - how no one hit him as his Lambretta ground to a halt with sparks flying I'll never know, we all just darted inches away from him like an amateur red arrows display. 

The next biggest hurdle is the herding cats element, where parts of the group miss a turn on a major road or just vanish in a plume of two stroke, I've noticed in this situation if one goes AWOL there will naturally be a second. I don't know why but its a rule of thumb, you never just lose one.  Its as if the second person gets lost thinking they can go and find them on a road in a small English hamlet they have never ever been to before.

Broken down or lost there is an unspoken rule, you have to utter the immortal war film line 'you go I'll be alright' unless you are the solo lost rider you pass the message by telepathy, its the law. If you've got a flat tyre, snapped throttle cable sure everyone will hang on and help out, but an engine re-build outside a Little Chef motorway cafe in the rain is not happening.  The lost tip too, a country lane is one thing, but if you missed a turn off on the M27 motorway, you might not be able to turn back for double digit miles. With a timed ferry ticket, time is against you especially on the August bank holiday.  Plus you want to check in early doors so you can get first dibs on that Bed & Breakfast Iron.

When you get to the ferry terminal you are hemmed in riot police style to your allocated ferry ticket time slot, you turn off your engine and pat yourself on the back.  If you are lucky the 'sailors' will wave you onto the sooner Scooner and you fly up the ramp, getting the final spots a real bonus, last on first off. Next stop battle cruiser (boozer).  If you are late and your mates are on deck waving at you, one thing you must not do, is go into hero mode, ride full pelt past the 'halt ! halt!' sailors and try to go under the closing barrier and the moving ramp onto the back of the ferry. All I'm going to mention here its a good job his pillion was wearing a helmet. 

Technically the most expensive ferry crossing in Europe (scooters get a discount) but who cares the weather reports always fib about this sunny island. I'm a firm believer Solent weather reports lie to the rest of the country to keep us land lubbers away.  I've been a good few times to IOW and got drenched on the ride down only for mid water on the ferry into Ryde glorious sunshine to dry off my smock, its almost as if the upping of the anchor has a pully system to the clouds and it exposes the sun.  The Red Funnel ferry always make an announcement to all the pesky scooterists to not start their scooter engines until the ferry had docked, er yeah ok matey. The noise of one ferry alone with tons of scooters is music to the ears, the plumes of two stroke exhaust fumes overriding the ferry diesel & suntan lotion all contribute to the six senses of August bank holiday.

Isle of wight is bombarded most weekends in the summer with tourists on some sort of tour, clogging up their roads: Bikers, Speedway, Bestival the IOW music festival- but the locals seem to take it all in good spirits and have a laugh at us trying to fix oily engines on the roadside in our white jeans.  The back drop of Isle of White and its towns of: Ryde, Ventnor, Shanklin and Sandown are ideal for old scooters visually and the sweeping country lanes you can hurtle down.  No there is nothing quite like hurtling down 8ft hedge row roads with a blind corner at 50mph with 1964 drum breaking technology.  Have no fear I'm not writing this for the Isle of Wight tourist board, its just that the atmosphere and look of Isle of Wight is perfect the pubs and cafes are just in the right distance from one another to warrant a ride and when you get there they are good old pubs, not a neon in sight and its probably on a beach!

So you make the ride with your mates on a historic vehicle, so old even the DVLA don't make you pay road tax as its supposed to be in a museum.  You've remained mates, no one got hurt and spend the next 3 days having a good time.  Then of course with hang overs you have to do it all again in reverse not in reverse per se, head home and "back to work  A-G-A-I-N"

I've been going to IOW since 2001 and my original 1960's spare wheel cover has finally perished.  The pouches on inner leg-shield spare wheel covers are ideal for daily run usage. Just enough for a laptop, newspaper, baguette, 7" records etc.  All is not lost i've made some here with a couple of modern adjustments:

• 100% Nylon
• Zip close pouch, everything below the zip is storage
• Web strap with clip hook 
• Draw cord attachment
• Vinyl pipping
• Fits a 10" scooter wheel
• Made in London

The colours are

Black Yellow 

Cappuccino Kids - Cafe Racer

Solent Blue - The Anglozine company scooter colour

If you are off on a run this weekend, ride safe and remember if you get lost or break down don't fret the last ferry is 11.59pm......