Holy Divers Treffen

17th May 1991 - MC Holy Divers

After going to a foreign rally in the company of several hundred fellow Brits, and going to a well known one in the company of just a handful of friends, but which had many British bikers in attendance, what next? Well, obviously, going to a relatively unknown one, on my own, where there are only a few people with whom I could expect to hold a coherent conversation, (until the ale took over, of course).

I do not recall whether or not I was the only bike on the ferry, but I am certain there were none going to this rally. It wasn't all that far to Pepingen, near Waterloo, and I don't think I got lost, having a fairly reliable, although old, map.

After 'inscribing' in the quite impressive Clubhouse, I made my way down a side road into the field and found a group of British rallyists to camp nearby. It turns out we had seen each other at other rallies in the past, so we weren't complete strangers. I think they were from the Three Counties MTC. It turns out they were going to visit a friend of theirs who ran a bar a few miles away, so I got invited along.

It seems that quite a few bikers in Belgium believe that the fictional rock band 'Bad News' are real and the bar owner was one such. He proudly showed off the LP of the Band that he had managed to locate after quite a search, apparently. We spent a couple of hours there, and then popped back to the Holy Divers' Clubhouse for another few hours, the marquee not having much use made of it on Friday.

On Saturday there had been a massive increase in the numbers of tents and people. My new chums and I went off to a local cafe for breakfast and when we got back there was quite a large bike show going on. The whole town turned out to have a look.

The locals eventually drifted off and the normal rally type things were going on, although the huge marquee seemed only to house the bar. The food was on a table outside as it had been a fairly warm, if not sunny day. Most rallyists stayed outside around the bonfire.

It was here that who should I see but Lez Lumps who, not being in charge of anything for a change, seemed to be in a rather more serious mood than usual and I think his son was there with him. It seemed a very much lower key affair than a Brit rally, with hardly anyone getting covered in anything messy.

Sunday was very much like any rally I have ever been to. Packing up, saying au revoir and rumbling off in the general direction of home. Again, I don't remember anyone riding along with me, or being on the same ferry, but it wasn't an unpleasant ride home. Being unencumbered by anyone else's plans, I was home at a reasonable time.

- Phil (the Spill) Drackley