Pointed Nipple Rally

22nd January 1993 - Free Spirit Riders MCC

Once again we set our sites on the Willowbrook Sports club near Braintree, for the Pointed Nipple Rally. I say we, but I was riding alone today, and other club-members would be following later. I had to wait until I finished work, and the time of year being what it was, it was dark by the time I got there. It was also wet, and had been raining, off and on, all day.

There was a chance that the girlfriend of one of my companions would need some tent space, but that was not a problem. I have lent girls space before now without issue and, if they are already in a relationship, I do not interfere with such arrangements. It turned out, however, that the relationship had just ended abruptly, and 'M' was explaining this to me over one too many bottles of Newky Brown, and one thing led to another and, well, you get the idea. This more-or-less took care of Friday night.

On Saturday, my colleague arrived with new friend in tow. (Also a club member and, in fact, had previously borrowed tent space, and I maintained my promise-to-myself that time.) This meant that we could share the tent without restrictions tonight!

As usual at this rally, the afternoon was spent with most of us in the pub down the road, as they did good food there. The field back at the site was very muddy, and there was more rain coming down. The wind wasn't all that vicious, well below the Force 10 my tent was alleged to be OK for, but with the state of the field, and the pathetic pegs my tent still had at that time, it joined the legion of other tents, and collapsed into the ooze.

This was unusually depressing for me, but there wasn't much I could do, apart from get the luggage back in the panniers, the tent could wait for daylight.

The usual rally antics went on, and a familiar face displayed her still impressive charms. The rally fizzled out in the early hours of the morning, but a surprising number of people stayed in the bar. The familiar cry of, "Ain't you got a tent to go to" was met with a resounding "NO!", so we were allowed to kip where we could around the room.

The rain and wind had dropped by Sunday morning, so the remains of the tent were packed away, and we shuffled off to our respective domiciles. At least 'M' came with me, and stayed in my dry room that night, and I managed to get her stuff washed and dried before she went off early on Monday. The tent took a couple of days longer, and the pegs were upgraded a lot!

- Phil (the Spill) Drackley