Merlin's Land Rally

14 October 1983 - Lliw Valley MCC

As you can see (or maybe not) from the title this was the Lliw Valley MCC rally held in Carmarthen Wales.I think Rali Bro Myrddin means Merlin's Rally.

Of course it rained all weekend, well, we were in Wales.

                   

- Phil

The rally was held in the middle of nowhere with a pub on site. The pub was typically old fashioned, slate flag floor, open fire (which was great and everyone wanted to dry out by it) and real ale. I don't remember a jukebox. I do remember going out on the Saturday for a ride through the Welsh hills.

I think 'Crunch' was one of the organisers of the rally and I'd met him at a few rallies, he's a really nice bloke. Lez Lumps was there as well.

I don't remember any silly games but there could of been some. This was a great rally despite the rain.

As usual I have no photos of it. Perhaps someone else may have.

- Phil Nicholls


Seeing the other Phil's report on this, I thought I'd get my oar in and supply some visuals in the process.

If he was reporting on the 1983 rally (was there another?) I can confirm it was wet. Very wet. And then some.

I was, on this occasion, accompanied by my friend Christine, whose family still lived not too far from the route to the rally. Due to various reasons, not least the distance, we didn't arrive there until nearly dark. In Wales, in October this means around 4pm.

It had been raining all the way and we tried waiting for a let up in the falling wet stuff before setting up the tent. This didn't happen, so I was sent out to do it myself. I found what I thought was a suitable spot, (I later found there wasn't one on the whole field), and put up the edifice, then returned to the pub, there being nobody in the marquee.

My camera was damp, so not much photography was possible that night, but nothing happened worth taking pictures of. Everybody was a bit subdued due to the weather and we crashed out quite early.

The accommodation was allegedly a three-man tent, but this has no meaning when two large-ish people are absolutely encased in waterproof clothing. I don't think either of us took anything off and I had to keep rushing out into the night to re-peg a guy rope or two. The tent leaked a fair bit and we didn't get much sleep, (and no question of anything else, either).

Quite early in the morning we extricated ourselves from the wet nylon mess and went down the sloped field to the marquee. Several other tent escapees were already milling about and most of them were dragging their tents inside to pack them up (yes, it was still raining!). After a quick discussion, Chris and I decided to do likewise and take refuge in her parent's house to dry out before heading home. When I pulled the pegs out, I am convinced I saw spurts of water coming out of the ground!

This was quite a decision on my part as I hardly ever give up on a rally once I have arrived. There were rivers in the streets as we drove across to Swansea and I heard later that the rally was abandoned during the day when the adjacent river burst its banks and washed much of it away.

Luckily there was a garage available with joists from which we hanged the tent, bedding and much of our clothing to dry.

- Phil (the Spill) Drackley