A 200 mile round trip to stand in a pub car park for a couple of hours. What better way to spend a scorchingly sunny Sunday afternoon? People who don't ride classic motorcycles probably wouldn't understand...

The day didn't start that well, to be honest. My brand new bike boots had all the feel of a pair of bedside cabinets, the Sunday traffic was already building up by the time we got going, and then The Destroyer's Morini shed an exhaust nut on the A14.

Hint; always travel with an airhead BMW rider - not only will he have c-spanner that fits, but he'll have a bottle of water to cool the exhaust pipe as well.

From then on, things got better. Quiet b-roads snaking across the rolling midlands, blue skies, green fields, yellow sun, black tarmac.

And the Bull's Head car park already full of bikes.

A65 with Attitude

RealClassics - in this case a 1000cc 1930 BSA Model G30-15 - are meant to be ridden.

And by way of balance, we bring you the CFMOTO CF250T-5

The Manki again. It was the talking point of the day

Manki build Martyn Roberts basking in the sunlight

We wouldn't want all the attention to go to Martyn's head...

Plenty more Nortons on now...

Just a perfect day...

Isn't the internet brilliant? How else would you inspire a group of people who'd never met to ride a hundred miles or more to stand in a pub car park, gently frying in the sun while shooting the breeze about old bikes. A couple of people who were just passing asked if this was an organised club meet.

No. Well, yes. Well, kind of. Organised by Mad Mike sticking a pin in the calendar to choose a date, and then selecting his local as the destination. But not organised in the sense of need a committee, or even a plan.

So a big thank you to Mad Mike for the pin sticking, to the Bull's Head for hosting us in their car park, and to everyone who turned up, for turning up.

Words and Photos: Martin Gelder

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