Pack Ride to the Heddington & Stockley Steam Rally and Country Fair 5th July 2009
After the rigours of the 2-week, 2,500-mile ride over the French Alps to the Mediterranean and back, the first Pack ride-out on the following Sunday was designed to be a more relaxed affair. With a civilized 10 a.m. departure, 9 people turned up at the departure point on 6 bikes and set off along the M4 in warm sunshine. On the way along the M4, we picked up Howard on his Thunderbird at Junction 30 and then Martin & Fay on their 1050 Tiger at Junction 23A to swell the party to 8 bikes and 12 people.
The distance to Stockley, near Calne, Wiltshire, was only around 80 miles and so to enable the later start, the first 50 miles of the journey were quickly polished off on the M4. Once off the motorway, we routed via the A46, and then the A420 through The Shoe and Ford, almost to Chippenham. From there it was down the A350 to Lacock, then through country lanes to Sandy Lane, before finally taking more quiet country lanes into the sleepy hamlets of Heddington and Stockley, where we arrived at around 12.30 lunchtime.
The countryside around Heddington and Stockley is beautiful and the gorgeous sunny weather made it all the more so. The short walk to the entrance took us past the thatched village pub, which of course we would return to for refreshments before leaving!
We hadnt been inside the grounds of the Fair for more than a few minutes before Dee announced that she had won a bottle of white wine on the school tombola stand. It transpired that this was not strictly true, but she had won a kids toy and exchanged it for the bottle of wine that the little girl next to her had won; everyone was a winner, but the little girls dad didnt look too happy!
The exhibits included vintage traction engines in full steam, fair-ground organs, stationary engines, tractor pulling contests, classic cars and motorcycles, falconry displays, shire horses, kite-flying displays, lawn mower racing and much more. Indeed, the whole experience was a step back into yester-year, to a time when Health and Safety had not been thought necessary. Where else could we have stood next to a totally un-guarded, belt-driven, four-feet diameter circular saw as it effortlessly cut planks from tree trunks? For that matter, where else could we have stood in a field, close to a Rolls Royce Merlin aero-engine, complete with propeller, as it was being run on the back of a small trailer, staked to the ground? What a sound!
After an enjoyable afternoon, we had refreshments in the garden of the local pub, before making our way back to the bikes. The route home was a direct reversal of the outward journey, but as we got onto the M4 and headed towards Wales, there were threatening black clouds in the west. Sure enough, these soon unleashed copious, torrential rain for a few miles, and may have been responsible for the traffic accident and consequential traffic jam that we encountered just east of the Newport tunnels!
Everybody appeared to have enjoyed their step back into yester-year, in the sunny, quiet hamlet in the Wiltshire countryside. This event may not have been the most obvious choice for a R.A.T. ride, but it looks as though it was a certain success.
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