Pilgrims Rally

47th Pilgrims Rally, August 2024.

After checking several times to see if I had packed my passport, I drove alone to the ferry in Calais on Thursday, August 1st with my BMW K100RS.

My plan was to arrive a day early to help the Mayflowers set up around the tent area.

On the P&O ferry in the food court, the same drama as last year. All food in cardboard boxes at inflated prices.

Axel Bodeit and his wife Bettina (BMW K100LT with sidecar) also drove to England on Thursday via the Eurotunnel and had an overnight stay near Bodiam Castle.

When I drove to the tent area in the afternoon, all the work had already been done except for minor details.

In the evening, the committee had reserved two large tables in the local pub and we had a lovely evening with great conversations.
(At least that's what I understood)

When I asked Paula what work still needed to be done, she replied, "nothing, you are on vacation".

Thanks to all those who had already done the work.

On Friday, August 2nd, the following motorcyclists met in our village at 5.30 am for this year's England tour: Walter Trappe (BMW R1200GS) and Thorsten Bodeit (BMW R1200GS).

At the St Ghislain motorway service station in Belgium, they met Heiko Werner (KTM 1190 Adventure) and Kurt Remmel (BMW R1200RT) from Trier and drove with them to the port in Calais.

After a hearty breakfast in Chippenham I took a short trip to Avebury that Friday morning. Here I looked at the stone circle.

Back at the venue, I went back to the local pub and enjoyed a delicious lunch and Guinness.

In the afternoon, Axel and Bettina were the first to reach the camping area.

A little later, the rest of our group arrived. After everyone had put up their tents, we were able to devote ourselves to the finer things in life, a cold pint of beer.

From left to right: Hans Mondorf, Walter Trappe, Thorsten Bodeit, Axel Bodeit, Bettina Bodeit, Kurt Remmel, Heiko Werner

On Saturday morning, after a hearty breakfast, we set off to drive to the Sammy Miller Museum. Dick Allen remarked that he lived nearby and that it was about a 2-hour drive. He was right.

On the way there, we had the impression that all the residents were rushing into the cities in their cars to go shopping. It took us 3 hours to get to the museum.

The annoyance of the traffic jams was quickly forgotten in view of this great museum. An overwhelming number of motorcycles and exhibits relating to motorcycles were on display there.

On the way back, we drove through a beautiful landscape, with the signs reading "New Forest". The animals lived freely on and next to the road. A few horses warmed themselves on the warm asphalt.

When we arrived at the venue, we had a little grooming and then it was time for some fun. Unfortunately, we missed the delicious cake made by the country women. And also the talk by Sam Manicom. But we wouldn't have been able to follow him anyway because of our poor English skills.

Thanks again to Sam for his generous beer donation.

That evening Kurt Remmel received the prize for the furthest journey overseas.

In the tombola that followed, Axel and I won a new hat. A good band played and there was plenty of cold beer.

Sunday morning, after taking down the tents, we said goodbye to the Mayflowers.

As we had already noticed the many long construction sites on the motorways on the way there (the construction sites looked like Germany. Cordoned off for kilometres, but no one was working), we drove straight towards Dover.

Here we headed to St Margaret's Bay, enjoyed an ice cream and chilled out.

It was only a short to the Premier Inn Hotel above Dover at the start of the A2.

We spent the evening in the nearby restaurant with delicious food and a few pints of beer.

On Monday morning we also had our beloved last English breakfast in this restaurant.

On the P&O ferry, when looking into the food court, one of our motorcycle friends asked, pointing to the cardboard boxes, whether this was an Amazon Packet Shop.

There were no technical problems on the outward and return journeys.

- Hans Mondorf