The
Isle of Wight Scurry - August 2009
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the
photo to see a larger picture - then just click your back button
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Terry
H and Dilys with their Ariel, along with Jean myself and our Indian
were booked to ride in this event. It was based at the Whitecliff Bay
Holiday Park and whilst Terry took his Motorhome, Jean and I had booked
a chalet. Entries had to be in quite early and we sent ours in back in
April. This was mainly due to the need for the IOW section to
be
able to negotiate free ferry crossings for us all and to organise
everything else, of course. We booked our chalet
and received our free ferry confirmation, so it was then just a case of
waiting for the day. Saturday the 19th arrived and we set off for
Lymington and the Wightlink crossing to Yarmouth. Jean and I were soon
settled into our accommodation for the next four nights, all a bit
sparse, but comfortable. Terry and Dilys had managed to get on an
earlier boat and had been on site since mid morning.
There
was a limit of 50 entries from the mainland, topped up with more riders
from the Island. Saturday evening saw a get together in a room arranged
just for us. A buffet was provided and I must say we had a pleasant
evening. Sunday morning dawned nice and bright and after Jean and I had
had a breakfast in 
the
camp restaurant everyone gathered for a drivers briefing before setting
off at minute intervals to ride the 80 mile Scurry course. This wasn't
a road trial at all, just a pleasant ride around the island - as Reg
Glading said "It's not so much a run more just fun". There was a lunch
stop organised in Cowes where we all had an excellent ploughmans lunch.
On the return to the Holiday park we stopped at a local pub
and
booked a table for an evening meal. Must say that the steak that I had
that evening was one of the best that I've ever eaten.
Monday
was the day when we travelled from one end of the island to the other.
We were to see the 'Needles Old Battery' and the Rocket test site and
have guided tours of both. They are places that are owned by the
National Trust and well worth a visit if you are on the Island at any
time. Riders assembled and set off in groups being led by one of the
local members. I decided that I'd make my own way there as the Indian
with it's foot clutch and only one brake - that also worked by a foot -
was not an easy thing to manage in the middle of a bunch of other
machines all wobbling about in front as we negotiated Sandown, Shanklin
and Ventnor. I legged it back to the chalet to get my map of the island
and by the time I was back at the bike everyone else had
gone. I
plotted our route so as to miss the towns and Jean and I had a very
pleasant ride out through Godshill and on to Chale the other side of
Ventnor. As we joined the coast road we found ourselves right in the
middle of one of the bunches of riders that had left long before us.
Must say that the ride along the 'Military Road', as it's called, on
the south west side of the island, was most pleasant, especially as the
Indian motor was bedding in nicely and taking us up all the hills in
top gear.
Soon
we were at Alum Bay car park and waiting for the rest to
assemble
so that we could be escorted up to the Old Battery and Rocket site.
Normally there was a shuttle bus service but we had permission to ride
our bikes up to the headland, provided we went in one convoy. I started
off, on the flat, at the bottom of the car park and headed uphill
whilst trying to dodge the other bikes. 
One
prat, riding a BSA and sidecar decided to go left as I was coming up on
that side - and he nearly had us off as he did a sweep of the
car
park completely oblivious to our existence and the fact that I couldn't
stop. Still, after me shouting a few expletives at him, that he didn't
hear, we made it all the way to the top of the headland. We
had a
long walk downhill to the Battery, which wasn't a problem - it was the
walk back uphill that was knackering - hence me not looking too good in
the picture that Terry took - I shall still talk to him
though.
The
guided tour of the Old Battery was very interesting. It was built in
1862 and last manned during the last war as a lookout post. The rocket
test site I found even more interesting as I never knew of its
existence before. It operated from 1956 to 1965, testing and
developing the Black Knight rockets that were then shipped to Australia
and launched at Woomera. The site closed and then re-opened in 1969 to
develope the Black Arrow rocket - one of which is seen in the photo on
the right. All work was stopped in the seventies after the satellite
'Prospero' was launced on the 28th Oct 1971. Just in case you're
curious you can read all about Black Arrow and Black Knight here
After
the visits we headed for the Pottery at Chessil and a well earned late
lunch. Both Terry and I decided that we'd head back to the
other
end of the island and Bembridge, where the holiday park was, by
following the coast. That meant negotiating Ventnor, Shanklin and
Sandown. Ventnor was interesting and as we were coming out of the other
side there was a hill that went up and to the right before turning left
uphill around a building. What I didn't know was that the left uphill
was a 360 degree corner. As we were heading uphill I had to keep the
power on and it was a bit disconcerting to see the stone wall that we
were heading to as we rounded the blind corner. Not being able to
throttle off it was a case of scrapping the footboards to miss the wall
- all very exciting. Shanklin and Sandown were a doddle after that, I
can tell you. We rounded the evening off by eating on the camp and the
food turned out to be quite palatable.
Tuesday
dawned all nice and dry yet again, although there was a bit of cloud
about. We were to visit the Ventnor Botanical Gardens and then the Isle
of Wight Glassworks for a guided tour. The gardens enjoy a
nice
warm micro climate and various rare plants are grown. After a short
walk about we had a coffee and then headed back to the bikes for our
short ride to the glassworks. We were warned that the road to the
glassworks was full of potholes - my comment to Reg Glading was that it
wasn't too bad as most of the roads on the island were worse. If you've
ever been to the IOW then you'll know what I mean. The council don't
seem to re-surface roads, all they do is apply patches. Anyway, the
Glassworks visit was very interesting, I must say. We headed back up
the pot-holed road and on to Niton and the Buddle Inn for lunch. It was
a good feed and nice to sit out in the garden to eat it. After lunch we
set off to walk to 
St
Catherines lighthouse as a request to ride the bikes there had been
turned down by Trinity House - a prime example of a jobsworth saying
'no' as it was the easiest option. Both Terry and I climbed the
lighthouse and listened to a very good talk by one of the 'Friends of
St Catherines'.
Then it was back to the bikes and ride back to the camp. This time I
was ready for the 360 degree corner in Ventnor and again managed to
avoid running into that wall.
Tuesday
evening and there was a cold buffet laid on that did leave a bit to be
desired, but we had a good time with over 100 present as everyone sang
'happy birthday' to our Terry. I won't say how old he is but he looks
younger than he is. Funny thing but it wasn't until we were on our way
home the following day that Dilys said that we had all got it wrong and
that his birthday wasn't on Tuesday, it was the following day. Oops!!
Certainly
the IOW lads put on a good event and I'm sure that Terry and us will
have our names down for next year.
BP
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