The weather was quite cold on the morning of the run, I was riding my 1970 Bonneville and was hoping Brian would be on his 70 Bonnie as well, as our bikes are only 2 of 200 made for the UK market in 1970, so it would be quite a special thing to have them together on the run.

Steve was already at the meeting point in Denham at 8.45 am and was riding his Kwacker side car outfit. Rene and Sam came next on a Kwacker custom and Harley Sportster. Brian and Pat had running issues with a fouled plug, but eventually came roaring along on the 70 Bonnie. We had a good ride to Fleet on country lanes through Windsor, but the traffic was quite heavy and eventually we got split up, I managed to stay with Brian, Pat and Steve, there was already loads of classic bikes parked as we sorted our entry and then had egg and bacon rolls and coffee.

At 11am the run started and I followed Steve on his outfit with Pat in the chair, we had a great cruise through some wonderful countryside in the cold chill air, Brian had got delayed talking to people and missed the start of the ride, but he did eventually do a shortened version of it. At the pub stop for lunch there were 2 pubs used next to each other, and it was a fantastic sight seeing all the classic bikes arrive, lots took a pack lunch as the food and drink was very expensive, Karen and Steve arrived on their lovely 70’s Yammy 250 in yellow with expansion pipes.

Back at Fleet we all had to park in sections in different decades for the judging. There was even a few 60’s scooters with their mirrors and lights, mod style, all the machinery made a wonderful sight. There was an amazing Indian 4 cylinder from the 20’s which I really liked. It was fascinating to see the Japanese bikes in the 70’s section, and think that in a few sort years they completely dominated the market and completely closed down the British motorcycle industry! Very sad!! Why didn’t our government at the time step in to save them? Like the Italian government did with Ducati and Moto Guzzi ! But I think British motorcycles will always dominate this type of event as they are more cherished and easier to restore than the Jap bikes.

After ice creams and coffee it was time to ride back, it was a really good meeting and day out, and my Bonnie performed faultlessly so I was very pleased with that.

Pete Barton.