wully
Brit Butt Tour Admin. Retired.
It’s been 2 weeks since our win in the BBR and a number of you have asked me for our route and experiences on the rally.
Firstly in early December I was taken ill and was taken to hospital, unfortunately when I was released no one could say what was wrong and further investigation was required. So since December I haven’t ridden much around 1000 miles if that. Me and Hil went to Ruropean ride to eat in Namur to celebrate on 35th Wedding Anniversary, but if I’m honest it was to much and took a time to get over it. Feeling a bit better we entered the South West Peninsula Rally the weekend before but riding down on the Saturday I started to feel unwell and had to stop at Gloucester Services and decided not to carry on and return home when feeling up to it. It cost me a jumper for Hil to apologize for the early start for nothing.
Seeing the social media and facebook postings for the BBR I started to consider entering, so discussed it with the other member of team Melling Hil and we decided too, the feeling being that we could a an absolute minimum and claim the sleep bonus and still be a finisher. So we entered about 10 days before the Rally started. Preparation was easy all my rally kit is pact and easily placed on the bike, Tyres were new for the ERTE Namur as was a bike service. It was just a case of charging batteries, updating GPS and making sure I was ok with computer procedures. Finaly we went for a short ride to practice checkpoint submission.
So Rally day arrived, had a relaxing start, got the bike out the garage and loaded her up. So we are ready to leave which we did around 11.30 after Hil had treated me to breakfast. The journey to Burton for the M6 was uneventful the usual congestion at the M62 junction but nothing held us up, a lorry had brokendown on west bound A50 which caused a long traffic jam but didn’t effect us.
We arrived at Rally HQ and signed in straight away and given my Rally Flag come bag of 27. Now we could just relax until the meal and meeting. Said hello to other competitors and had a conversation with the Rally Master, Martin and Phil Weston who was competing on a crom with Gerald in a team.
Up to our room this was when things started to unravel, I set up the computer and checked the GPS would connect, no problem. We then found that the toilet didn’t work, spoke to reception and had to pack up has we were moved to another room. In the new room first thing check the toilet it was fine. Set up the computer again.
The period before the Rally meal is always my favorite meeting old friends and catching up it what makes Iron Butt so special to me.
So the time came and were called in for the pre-Rally meeting when the Rally Book was given out and corrections to book were announced and questions were answered. Off to the room to plan.
The Checkpoints were emailed, I downloaded them and looked at them. Now I looked at the combinations and only the combinations. Routed each combination and then looked at them to see which I could do and if I could combine 2 or 3 combinations. I kept being drawn to combinations CB6 and CB7 but the mileage and weather forecast was an issue.
In the end I chickened out and decided on building a route around CB7, while I did this Hil read the Rally Book to understand the checkpoint icons, submitting checkpoints and the sleep bonus. She also researched the Rallymasters challenge. Planning was hard, time had to be factored in to walk to them also a lot gravel and off road riding could be involved. You could say checkpoints were on roads less travelled. Any way a couple of hours I plumped on my first route, Hil wrote it down with page no’s and bonus points for each checkpoint, I packed up and we went to bed to wake at 4.00. I didn’t sleep well just thinking about what I missed.
We woke as planned showered and prepared ourselves, I loaded the bike took the locks and chains. We were ready. Other riders started to appear, and the start procedure began mileage was taken discussed with other riders how they felt, Hil is a good photographer and took a great picture of me, Phil, Gerhard and Arjen.
The start of the Rally for me tends to be a bit of a disaster, this was time was same for some reason the Bluetooth connection between my Carupride and headset was lost and I nearly went the wrong direction but I realized the error and corrected on the roundabout, some repairs on the move and it all started to work again. So we made our way to our first checkpoint COE, Centre of England. My next problem a car decided to change lanes on M6 with indicating and for no reason as we overtook them, thanks for my sound Bomb horn the drive jumped and move back. Then on the approach to checkpoint a car just drove on to a roundabout looking at his phone and not at what was coming. After that no issues.
Next check point was RES Royal Enfield no issues here, rode straight to it.
The next checkpoint was our first Rallymaster challenge a E11R postbox ERX
The next check QHC, Quaker House, no issues until in the area of the checkpoint, google maps sent use down a gravel track to the main entrance which was locked. R1250RT don’t have reverse gear, mine dose Hil, she got of and pushed me to help turn around. I read the sat nav and was directed to the side entrance.
Our next checkpoint was some distance away ETP Eton Letterbox, I had visions that this may be difficult due to parking but real issues. Eton was busy, It looked like there was a parents event at the school.
Our second Rallymasters challenge GRV letterbox GVIR.
Our third Rallymasters challenge GRX letterbox GR.
We decided to take a break, need some fuel so we stopped on the edge of Windsor, the stop was for about 40 minutes, It a chance for a reset, although no major errors lot silly mistakes. So after the break we made our way to Oxford to SKR, Shark in Roof. This went smooth.
Our next checkpoint looked like it may be a problem Google maps was indicating a crash and was going to lose 40minutes, the incident seemed to affecting the oncoming traffic as well so we offsided the jam only losing a couple of minutes, nice ride to STF Shilton ford.
Our next checkpoint involved a ride through the Cotswold’s, once again a car decided not follow the rules pulled out of a junction hitting a car just ahead of us. We also saw a squadron of B52’s, they are as big in real life. The checkpoint MAG Malmesbury Abbey Grave was found. We had a break here as our next checkpoint was 4 hours away.
The ride to our next checkpoint SBG Sambo’s grave was uneventful, radar controlled cruise control is great thing. The Rally book said you would need to walk to the checkpoint well we rode right up to it, we rode down a footpath as wide as the Rt mirrors going through the bushes and the path was sand deep in places. I know this checkpoint very well visit 2 or 3 times a year.
The next checkpoint COB Centre of Britain, again I ride these roads weekly but have seen them this quiet, pure joy. Rallies shouldn’t be this fun.
Again local knowledge, ANS Alice Nutter Statue again a great ride but it was starting to rain. Leaving the checkpoint the rain got heavier. We made our way to our sleep bonus, home we went. 2 miles from home we have a 24hr Shell petrol station.
8 hrs later back to petrol station by the way it’s raining, off to Liverpool FFS Fab Four Statue near the checkpoint lots of roadworks, as it early I rode over the pavement. Next to the checkpoint was a statue ofEdward the 7th and Queen Victoria. Hil asked me who they are so I told her. She said if they have a statue then they should have letterbox’s. Quick look on google gave us 3 more Rallymaters challenge
EVR Edward VIII
ERV George VI
VRX Queen Victoria
Our next checkpoint LSG Light House shaped Gravestone was on Anglesey, no issues just be careful of speeding. The rain stopped about 10 miles from Bangor and the sun came out on Anglesey that’s a first. It was while we had a short break Hil had an idea and did a search for the last Rallymasters challenge, letterbox bearing CIIIR. All my searches came up with one in Cambridgeshire; Hil found one in Weshpool. If we found it 5200 would be scored. At this point I dropped two checkpoints as they were worth a few hundred points, I didn’t want to jeopardies DNF.
Our last checkpoint BGG Beddgelert’s Grave another great ride. I had stopped riding in Wales because of the horror stories of speed enforcement, but I had a really great ride.
Just as google had promised the final Rallymatsters challenge was found CRX Charles III Letterbox. So some fuel was need a quick stop to fill us and back to Rally HQ and the final Bonus a picture with a member of the rally team.
The last bonus a picture with a Rally team member this had to done before our final mileage was taken. XXX so the picture was taken with Steve Westhall and we were finished.
We knew all our pictures had been submitted, so it was case of being told if any had been rejected. Our basic goal is not loose any on the table, once again we didn’t loose any. Our system had not let us down everything claimed for was accepted. GREAT.
Scoring 23700 points and 936 miles was good but finding out we’d won was unbelievable, for someone who was at best a bottom half finisher and often the person who was laughed at the BBR and other Rallies have been hard on the soul. Things changed when Hil decided to do the 12 Day Euro, we have become a team, each of us has our jobs to do and our systems work. Kevin Weller explained the importance of working together. One last member of or team Freya our R1250RT, without her we wouldn’t have achieved the win.
Firstly in early December I was taken ill and was taken to hospital, unfortunately when I was released no one could say what was wrong and further investigation was required. So since December I haven’t ridden much around 1000 miles if that. Me and Hil went to Ruropean ride to eat in Namur to celebrate on 35th Wedding Anniversary, but if I’m honest it was to much and took a time to get over it. Feeling a bit better we entered the South West Peninsula Rally the weekend before but riding down on the Saturday I started to feel unwell and had to stop at Gloucester Services and decided not to carry on and return home when feeling up to it. It cost me a jumper for Hil to apologize for the early start for nothing.
Seeing the social media and facebook postings for the BBR I started to consider entering, so discussed it with the other member of team Melling Hil and we decided too, the feeling being that we could a an absolute minimum and claim the sleep bonus and still be a finisher. So we entered about 10 days before the Rally started. Preparation was easy all my rally kit is pact and easily placed on the bike, Tyres were new for the ERTE Namur as was a bike service. It was just a case of charging batteries, updating GPS and making sure I was ok with computer procedures. Finaly we went for a short ride to practice checkpoint submission.
So Rally day arrived, had a relaxing start, got the bike out the garage and loaded her up. So we are ready to leave which we did around 11.30 after Hil had treated me to breakfast. The journey to Burton for the M6 was uneventful the usual congestion at the M62 junction but nothing held us up, a lorry had brokendown on west bound A50 which caused a long traffic jam but didn’t effect us.
We arrived at Rally HQ and signed in straight away and given my Rally Flag come bag of 27. Now we could just relax until the meal and meeting. Said hello to other competitors and had a conversation with the Rally Master, Martin and Phil Weston who was competing on a crom with Gerald in a team.
Up to our room this was when things started to unravel, I set up the computer and checked the GPS would connect, no problem. We then found that the toilet didn’t work, spoke to reception and had to pack up has we were moved to another room. In the new room first thing check the toilet it was fine. Set up the computer again.
The period before the Rally meal is always my favorite meeting old friends and catching up it what makes Iron Butt so special to me.
So the time came and were called in for the pre-Rally meeting when the Rally Book was given out and corrections to book were announced and questions were answered. Off to the room to plan.
The Checkpoints were emailed, I downloaded them and looked at them. Now I looked at the combinations and only the combinations. Routed each combination and then looked at them to see which I could do and if I could combine 2 or 3 combinations. I kept being drawn to combinations CB6 and CB7 but the mileage and weather forecast was an issue.
In the end I chickened out and decided on building a route around CB7, while I did this Hil read the Rally Book to understand the checkpoint icons, submitting checkpoints and the sleep bonus. She also researched the Rallymasters challenge. Planning was hard, time had to be factored in to walk to them also a lot gravel and off road riding could be involved. You could say checkpoints were on roads less travelled. Any way a couple of hours I plumped on my first route, Hil wrote it down with page no’s and bonus points for each checkpoint, I packed up and we went to bed to wake at 4.00. I didn’t sleep well just thinking about what I missed.
We woke as planned showered and prepared ourselves, I loaded the bike took the locks and chains. We were ready. Other riders started to appear, and the start procedure began mileage was taken discussed with other riders how they felt, Hil is a good photographer and took a great picture of me, Phil, Gerhard and Arjen.
The start of the Rally for me tends to be a bit of a disaster, this was time was same for some reason the Bluetooth connection between my Carupride and headset was lost and I nearly went the wrong direction but I realized the error and corrected on the roundabout, some repairs on the move and it all started to work again. So we made our way to our first checkpoint COE, Centre of England. My next problem a car decided to change lanes on M6 with indicating and for no reason as we overtook them, thanks for my sound Bomb horn the drive jumped and move back. Then on the approach to checkpoint a car just drove on to a roundabout looking at his phone and not at what was coming. After that no issues.
Next check point was RES Royal Enfield no issues here, rode straight to it.
The next checkpoint was our first Rallymaster challenge a E11R postbox ERX
The next check QHC, Quaker House, no issues until in the area of the checkpoint, google maps sent use down a gravel track to the main entrance which was locked. R1250RT don’t have reverse gear, mine dose Hil, she got of and pushed me to help turn around. I read the sat nav and was directed to the side entrance.
Our next checkpoint was some distance away ETP Eton Letterbox, I had visions that this may be difficult due to parking but real issues. Eton was busy, It looked like there was a parents event at the school.
Our second Rallymasters challenge GRV letterbox GVIR.
Our third Rallymasters challenge GRX letterbox GR.
We decided to take a break, need some fuel so we stopped on the edge of Windsor, the stop was for about 40 minutes, It a chance for a reset, although no major errors lot silly mistakes. So after the break we made our way to Oxford to SKR, Shark in Roof. This went smooth.
Our next checkpoint looked like it may be a problem Google maps was indicating a crash and was going to lose 40minutes, the incident seemed to affecting the oncoming traffic as well so we offsided the jam only losing a couple of minutes, nice ride to STF Shilton ford.
Our next checkpoint involved a ride through the Cotswold’s, once again a car decided not follow the rules pulled out of a junction hitting a car just ahead of us. We also saw a squadron of B52’s, they are as big in real life. The checkpoint MAG Malmesbury Abbey Grave was found. We had a break here as our next checkpoint was 4 hours away.
The ride to our next checkpoint SBG Sambo’s grave was uneventful, radar controlled cruise control is great thing. The Rally book said you would need to walk to the checkpoint well we rode right up to it, we rode down a footpath as wide as the Rt mirrors going through the bushes and the path was sand deep in places. I know this checkpoint very well visit 2 or 3 times a year.
The next checkpoint COB Centre of Britain, again I ride these roads weekly but have seen them this quiet, pure joy. Rallies shouldn’t be this fun.
Again local knowledge, ANS Alice Nutter Statue again a great ride but it was starting to rain. Leaving the checkpoint the rain got heavier. We made our way to our sleep bonus, home we went. 2 miles from home we have a 24hr Shell petrol station.
8 hrs later back to petrol station by the way it’s raining, off to Liverpool FFS Fab Four Statue near the checkpoint lots of roadworks, as it early I rode over the pavement. Next to the checkpoint was a statue ofEdward the 7th and Queen Victoria. Hil asked me who they are so I told her. She said if they have a statue then they should have letterbox’s. Quick look on google gave us 3 more Rallymaters challenge
EVR Edward VIII
ERV George VI
VRX Queen Victoria
Our next checkpoint LSG Light House shaped Gravestone was on Anglesey, no issues just be careful of speeding. The rain stopped about 10 miles from Bangor and the sun came out on Anglesey that’s a first. It was while we had a short break Hil had an idea and did a search for the last Rallymasters challenge, letterbox bearing CIIIR. All my searches came up with one in Cambridgeshire; Hil found one in Weshpool. If we found it 5200 would be scored. At this point I dropped two checkpoints as they were worth a few hundred points, I didn’t want to jeopardies DNF.
Our last checkpoint BGG Beddgelert’s Grave another great ride. I had stopped riding in Wales because of the horror stories of speed enforcement, but I had a really great ride.
Just as google had promised the final Rallymatsters challenge was found CRX Charles III Letterbox. So some fuel was need a quick stop to fill us and back to Rally HQ and the final Bonus a picture with a member of the rally team.
The last bonus a picture with a Rally team member this had to done before our final mileage was taken. XXX so the picture was taken with Steve Westhall and we were finished.
We knew all our pictures had been submitted, so it was case of being told if any had been rejected. Our basic goal is not loose any on the table, once again we didn’t loose any. Our system had not let us down everything claimed for was accepted. GREAT.
Scoring 23700 points and 936 miles was good but finding out we’d won was unbelievable, for someone who was at best a bottom half finisher and often the person who was laughed at the BBR and other Rallies have been hard on the soul. Things changed when Hil decided to do the 12 Day Euro, we have become a team, each of us has our jobs to do and our systems work. Kevin Weller explained the importance of working together. One last member of or team Freya our R1250RT, without her we wouldn’t have achieved the win.