Centre 6 Jump Start Party

This was a different one for us, the girls all stayed at our house, and amazingly let us go off on our own in search of merriment.
The sun shone, must have been 17 degrees, no wind, almost height of summer weather. So off we set, Big John, Les, Rod, and me.
Fantastic biking weather, this is it, summer at last.
As we were approaching Junction 24 of the M1, I became aware of someone waving at me from a passing car.
It was Wendy, Chris and Wendy were off south and saw some bikes in the distance,
Chris said, "I thought, that's Rod, and Les, Big John, hang on there are no pillions, Terry on his own too, I bet there's going to be a heavy night ahead."
How right can you be.
We made really good time up to Golbourne, a shade over 90 miles, it was a superb run.
On arrival, it was pleasing to see so many had supported C6, and came to the party. The camping area was really full, and loads of bikes in the car park.
Tents up, cans out, down to the serious business of having a damn fine night out.
We found a chip shop a matter of 5 minutes away, and had a chip supper the only real way, sat on a corner, out of the bag, HEAVEN.
Having made it into the hall, it was meet and greet old friends time, it is good to be back.
We got over the disappointment of being the only FOUR Lost Riders there, and looked forwards to the worst attended trophy.
But Barry won that, he came down from Durham on his own, God bless you Barry.
The bar staff were fantastic, we never waited more than a minute all night, and take note other hostelries, the beer prices were not over-inflated to rip off the punters, total result.
The main band of the night were, The Truth. Really good band, all the old favourites, even got us up on the dance floor.
Otto, true to form, did, one hell of a burnout on the terrace, now that was what I call smoke.
After the band finished, we had some fire-eaters outside, I did take some pictures, but they are all dark, so sorry no record.
We had a right old session, and staggered happily off to the tents.
I don't remember going to bed, but when I woke up in the middle of the night, with no clothes on, freezing, wondering where I was, I thought it was time to break out the sleeping bag, and slept until the sound of pouring rain worked it's way through the fog, typical.
Rod woke up with his tent full of wet?
Les realised he had left his tent open,
and Big John, with his tent being a full 15 inches shorter than he is, just woke up wet.
Great night.
Not for the first time, we packed away in driving rain, smiling at the poor sod who came with no wet gear, still only 100 miles home.
Talking to the folks at home, every one said, the sun is shining at home, forgive us for not actually believing this.
Even though the first 50 miles were very wet, we had a terrific ride home.
It was a miniature road trip, one to talk about for years. Having missed the Jump Start for 2 years, I had forgotten how good a party it is.
Thanks to all the organisers, we had such a good time.
See you all around.
Terry

PHOTOGRAPHS