INTERNATIONAL RALLY IN DENMARK

13/8 – 20/8 2005

The rally was held on the island “Mors” in the northern part of “Jutland” not far away from the city “Nykøbing” and about 300 km from the border to Germany.

We were on the campsite at Jesperhus Flower Park, among the best sites in Denmark.

Hello my name is Shaun Gibbons and I’m a member of the BSAOC Kent branch. I ride a 1956 BSA M21 with a Watsonia Palma sidecar, this I loaded with camping gear and plenty of Whisky and Brandy, not forgetting the wife Janette and left England for the very rough North sea to attend the Danish international. The ferry had loads of BSA’s and their riders, so as soon as we left the port of Harwich the party began. Plenty of Hof and other drinks and lots of very good food, after a long crossing the ferry got us all to Denmark safe and sound. We had a quick look at the map and we were off on our adventure into the beautiful Danish countryside, I noticed BSA’s were on all of the roads heading north south east and west, very strange as we were all going to the same place? Our trip took us along the coast road along the Klit, but the wind along this road was very strong, and I could only ride at 55kph, I had about 5km of traffic behind me but not one thing in front of me. We stopped for some food at a place I have no chance of pronouncing but the food was good. My companions said it might be a better idea to get away from the windy coast, and go in land they were on two A10’s and an A65 and I think they were getting fed up with the slow progress of the mighty M21.

Once in land the wind dropped enough for me to get 80kph out of the beast, so everyone was happy. All except the cars on the other side of the road? Every now and again someone would flash their head lights at me, I couldn’t think why but all became clear when someone told me that in Danmark I was supposed to ride with my lights on, trouble was my dynamo wasn’t working when I left England, so we continued with people flashing me. I knew there would be someone at the rally who could fix my problem, that’s what happens at a BSA rally.

Once we arrived at the venue we found a very beautiful flower park, the camping ground had everything you could wish for, and once we booked into the rally we were given chairs, the Danish club had thought of everything. As I write this at the very start of the rally I know that this rally will be a very good one, the organisation is fantastic and I’d like to say a big THANK YOU to the Dansih club for making such a good rally, the M21’s dynamo is now working, this turned out to be the fiber gear wheel had lost it’s teeth. The meal we had in the green house was brilliant, and the cheap beer was even better! So now I’m going back to drink some more and look forward to the rest of this wonderful rally, I’m hoping to also learn some Danish but EVERYONE speaks English, I just hope the Sun god brings out the warm Sun just to make a perfect rally better.

It is Sunday August 14th 2005 a fairly normal day for us Scots, with usual weather, the only difference being we were not in Scotland. but in Denmark at the 42nd BSA International Rally. It was very nice of the Danes to make us feel at home with specially imported rubbish weather.

Pamela woke quite late feeling a bit hung over as a result of the previous evenings meeting and greeting festivities. where we strenghtened bonds with old friends and commrades and forged new bonds with other like minded peoples. Pamela found the tent empty as Stewart was up at the crack of dawn and away for a run in the crisp morning fresh air, his way of curing a hangover.

The day began with the childrens Olympics, which Pamela decides not to take part in. Stewarts mum had thought of entering him in the competition, but thought that he was to old, probably just as well really as he would probably have brought disgrace on Scotland by getting beat. So these next couple of hours were spent hanging out talking to the neighbours. This was followed by some preperation and organisation for the main event, the ´Official Opening Ceremony and Line-up`. With our C10 not running we up graded to an A10 and joined the procession of motorcycles which made their way along the 1 km route and into the Flower Gardens, giving us all a tantalising taste of what was to follow on a full trip to the gardens, at the moment the monkeys, Lemurs and the gaint flower Peacock are what stands out the most. With the bikes lining up on the grass area in front of the Circus Tent, and time to spare before the Official Opening speech the girls had time to mingle and chat about such important things as shopping and what would be worn to the D&D, the boys done more important things like walk round admiring the bikes and speak of past motorcycle problems and ailments,

With everyone gathered in the Circus tent the Official Opening Ceremony took place, the speech was as we say short but sweet, yet informative and covering every aspect of what the BSA Rallys are all about

The day progressed with a photo run where, on a bike those silly enough to take part are sent into the countryside with a series of photographs of ever changing senery which they had to match up, where they then follow the directions of some bloke on a bike who only appears within the photo itself and not in reality. With neither of us ever having done anything like this before it and was with utmost concern beleiving that it would involve an arrgument that would go down in history as world war three, and nervousness we stupidly decided to participate. Having signed up and gained clearance to to move out, we let the roar of the newly aquired A10 be heard and we rode off into the sunset probably never to be seen again. Our tastebuds were further tantalised by what the garden had to offer when the start of the photo run took us part way round the gardens themselves.

As the run progressed and we got the general idea of it, it became a very engoyable day out seeing us only getting misplaced once and having our arrgument only reaching a meer ” Do you what to get off and walk home then?” we managed to return to the campsite safely and in one piece. We are not sure over what distance the photo run took place but the senery was beautiful at some points especially at the lake where the first of several fun challenges took place, this consisted of placing the correct nuts onto bolts, being a nut we thought this a task best suited to Stewart, however this proved to be our let down as the task had to be done wearing gloves which in Stewarts case were about 5 sizes to large. Another challenge was a puzzle of pieces, which also managed to get the better of us. From what we have seen at present the countryside in Denmark looks similar to that back home in the south west of Scotland where I live.

We were able to arrive back at the campsite before Stewarts parents (Toast & Mogie), who said that they only got lost once. Somehow we find this hard to believe as they left to start their journey before us. The rest of the afternoon was spent chilling out and learning how a BSA works, in this case not very well as our C10 keeps cutting out. The boys tried to fix it as I (Pamela) watched on in amazement as they managed to take the simplicity of a C10 and turn it into a complicated piece of machinery. After several moments of near starvation and a breakdown in the communication system between men and women, a solution was reached and dinner was to be held in the campsite kitchen area. A further breakdown in the communication system lead to what should have been chicken curry, turned out to be some kind of (meat)balls in a curry sauce, still when in Denmark do what the Danes do, and try something different which turned out to be surprisingly excellent.

Sunday night after all the excitement if the day found us in the usual place to be at a BSA Rally and that was in the beer tent, this year apptly called the Rocket Free Inn, and free to get in is the only thing that is true about it, however the prices are very reasonable and we would rather Beer here than Beer at home.

The whole day was very good and well planed, from the organisational point of view.

Ab 11 Uhr geht di8e Ausfahrt zum Bunkermuseum los. Sogar die Bantam spingt (wie immer) an. Die Tour geht ueber kleine Strassen. Die daenischen Mashalls arbeiten perfekt. Jeder findet das Ziel.

Unterwegs ein Ehrenrunde vor einer Dorfschule mit ca. 100 begeisterten Schuelern.

Dann passieren wir einen Unfall. Ein PKW ist gegen einen LKW gefahrendas war der Schatten des Tages.

Am Ziel, dem Bunkermuseum konnten wir die bleibenden Hinterlassenschaften unsere Gosseltern sehen. Danach fuer viele Mittag am Hafen. Der Rueckweg durch eine schoene Duenen und Heide Landschaft.

Zurueck auf dem Rallygelaende stelllt Axel an seiner A65 ein groesseres Kupplungs Desaster fest.

At 11 o clock we start to the Bunker Tour. The Dansk Marshalls are working perfekt – everybody arrives at the target. On the way we pass a school with ca. 100 children cheering the BSA,s and drivers.

Later we pass an accident – car against a lorry – the dark point of the day.

klokken ligger i bilen, langt borte hører jeg hanen, den lever enda, det er utrolig. Vi kunne skrive boken 100 ways to kill the cock. Den galer ca. en gang hvert femte minutt mellom 06.00 og 19.00, og det har den gjort en uge. Han er sgu da en Mann. Menn er det også her på internationalen, jeg talte til i hvertfall 6 Rocket 3’er i går. Og så har jeg jo en der hjemme.......

Solen skinner som den har gjort nesten hele ugen. Det ligger an til en rolig dag med stor sitte-aktivitet og en del is. Øl tenker vi ikke på nu, de får vi i aften.

Her i den norske leier.......Camp David ( Mr. President kommer en gang i mellom forbi i sin golfbil) setter vi stor pris på besøket av Frode og May. Frode har vanskelige tider, og vi gleder oss over at de to samlet alle krefter og sitter her og hygger seg sammen med oss og snakken rundt alle de herlige historier fra tidligere internationaler.

På dagens tur til Hjerl Hede deltar der kun nogle få nordmenn. Det var visst ikke full fres i håndverkerne på museet, men hva gjør det, hvis man vil hygge seg med gamle ting, arbeidsmetoder og verktøy.....så finnes det her på campingplassen.

Os der var interessert i at nyde sommeren og en is tog en tur til byen der vi fikk en flokk kæmpelæsker ( Ice cream) og en kopp kaffe. Uheldigvis blev Alice nesten spist af en hund, men til hendes fordel var hundesnoren ikke lang nok........

En bilpunktering, en kicstarter rep, sylinderskifte, en magnetventil til BSA-bilen er rep, en camingstol er kvæstet, en veltet B33/GS, der er pantet flasker for 80 kr i dag, og vi er stoppet af formanden to gange for musikk efter 24.00 men det kom ikke til håndgemeng. ha ha. Så vi kan ikke klage.

Grillaften forløp helt som vi ønskede, ventede og håbede. Dejlig mad, musikk og diverse. Det var derimod trist men morsomt at den danske grasiøse dame innhentede oss i kampen om 2 plassen i silly games. Men en god 3 plass var meget mere enn vi forventet. Vi har trenet og trenet, men det holdt ikke til premier league denne gang. Men kom til norge neste år så skal vi løbe om kap på alle fire............

At nine o’clock, as usual the rooster from the nearby animal farm woke us up and everybody starts performing their morning rituals: showering, tinkering, checking if the engine still starts, eating and preparing for today’s the line up. On one of the fields taken by the Dutch, the cosy one with all the tents standing within one meter from each other, there was even time left at this early hour, for a practical joke. At eleven o’clock everybody nervously started their engine and gathered in front of the Rocket Free Inn (our beloved local tavern). As we BSA drivers are used to we didn’t take the shortest way to the line-up, but the way which leads across the smallest roads with the most sand and gravel in the corners. After that loveable route we arrived in the Great harbour of Nykøbing, where the BSA’s got perfectly lined up for being watched by the locals and our colleagues of course. As we are used to from the Danes, we got a small waiting queue for a big luxurious lunch, which we speed devils of course like. Together with a real nice temperature it was ideal to relax on the lawn, visit the town or for some of us, catch some hours of sleep we missed the eve before. After the line up there was plenty time and nice weather left to enjoy the beautiful local roads trough cornfields, cornfields and cornfields, or just drive back to the campsite to take a dive in the nice, refreshing swimming pool. The day goes along much like the other days. People eat end take a power nap to be in a nice mood for today’s eve, when there is promised us a band, called Bad Taste. We think that name refers to there clothing and not to their music. It was a typical ‘’Bantam Band’’, the produced a lot of sound and smoke on the stage, but their speed was a bit low. Ideal for the rally participants with dancing skills. So it didn’t take long before they got the dance floor filled with dancing couples. There also was some special entertaining by one of our BSA friends, who could perfectly imitate the sound of an A10 (I think) driving uphill. There flowed once again a great amount of beer and ‘a great evening is reborn’ (would Mark Evans say, discovery channel addicts know what I mean).Twelve o’clock this very nice rally day ended for the most of us, some extended it by sitting and talking by their tents (against the campsite rules), others took the party to the campfire place. Especially the youth uses this possibility. What reminds me to say, as 19 year BSA raised youngster for the first time want to be driving at a rally (some severe piston trouble made it impossible to really drive), that the IR is a great mean to get your children buying a BSA instead of Japanese soundless rubbish. Which has as consequence the rally could be organised for many years and maybe we get the mean age lower than 53. Which is a nice but tough goal I think, but with the right effort, its accomplishable, I am sure of.

As a all time first BSA-Rally visistor I had a lot of expectations and I have no ideas what to see or meet. But I am really surprised about the friendly atmosphere which plunge through the camp and Rally..

On thursday it was the really first hot day in the Rally an also no tours planned so everybody could just relaxe and do the sufficient maintenance needed on the bikes

After breakfast it was the competition called the ”Olympic Leker” where teams from the different countries should do some ”silly games”.

I dont know if this is a tradition on every Rally but I think it is not representative for us adults to do it. Alright for the kids !

Although the swedish team did not participate in the games because we think it was so silly.

Later in the afternoon when some have black fingers and others did not, it was time to get ready for the Dinner and Dance party.

We have to pick out the finest dresses and customes from the baggage and get ready.

This took place in the beautiful Junglerestaurant in the Flowerpark. It was a fantastic buffe, the food was really fine, but I missed a glass of wine included in the price.

Then it was time for the dance so 2 muscians started to play from the scene. They were at first awful slow and not inspired for the job, they totally destroyed a Hank Williams song ! How that is possible ?

But as the evening went on suddenly they started to play a Pink Floyd song and it was as dynamite , all who were still in the location sung together. Then the ice was broken and the orchestra played several more good songs that was on everybodies taste, Sorry for those of you who had left already.

I missed was a better organised lunch on the tours so we did not miss time in queing instaed of enjoying the tours.

Alas. poor Yorick. Anyone who thinks of Denmark as nothing but Shakespear’s Hamlet or Tivoli Gardens, is missing the best part of the country. The Danish BSAOC is showing us just how wonderful the country and the Danish people are.

As the Rally turns the half way point, we have been shown an amazing time. The line up and ride to Nykobing Harbor was a showpiece of organization. That short ride was just a tease to demonstrate the wonderful countryside. Even the local residents are getting in the act. We spotted a farmer with his Gold Star t-shirt watching the procession of BSAers ride by. You could almost see his pride that we BSAers chose his town to visit.

Today there was almost too much to pick from. The ”O” ride, the BSAOC wedding and tonight’s Lucas night run. Many of us have smiles on our faces that many not be erased for many weeks. We spent a couple of hours touring the Jesperhaus flower park only to realize that flowers were just a small part of the part. The displays of small animals, snakes and birds was breathtaking. And don’t get too close to that American Alligator, he may take your breath away permanently.

The night life is something to marvel at. Walk into a room with Dutch, Norweigians, Swedes, English, Americans and others all talking one language ... BSA. This is one American who is proud to have a second, nationality ... BSA. I only hope we can show our BSA family the same hospitality next year.