Ali Cameron and Ann Weir from WIMA GB shared their memories of the rally.
The Rally was organised by Mary and Tim Stevens. Fort William has some high mountain roads around it. And, during the reconnaissance stage, Ali had ridden in such cold weather that she developed hypothermia on her bike and had to spend a night in hospital! However, the rally in July had stunning weather and was very enjoyable.
Ann Weir rode in on her Jawa combo with her Labrador dog, Deno as ballast in the sidecar. A rider from Eastern Europe arrived – either Czech or Hungarian who was also a national canoeing champion. She could only stay for three days because she was only given permission to be out of the country for a week. If she didn’t get back in time, members of her family would be arrested – clearly Iron Curtain days.
The rally started with a welcome lunch of traditional food including haggis neeps and shortbread at the Highland Hotel. A busy affair with a male singer of traditional Highland Scottish ditties and naturally he was wearing a kilt. The German girls thought it was a great sport to attempt to take ‘upskirted’ (as we now call it) photos and these were deftly avoided by said chanteur kneeling as soon as he saw a hand wielding a camera coming towards him.
Tuesday included a fun gymkhana with tyre changing, caber tossing and silly games. Wednesday, they headed off to the Highland Games to see the real caber tossing and more bagpipes and kilts. The ride out headed to Mallaig on beautiful roads, the views now famous through Hogwarts Express train ride. The weather was very warm, and the Germans showed us all how to keep cool by wearing their bikinis under their leathers, stripping off at the check points along the rally route. The off-road trials at Kinlochleven were on the final day – Ali ‘s bike went off-course down a steep valley, where her leg hit a tree, she ended up back in hospital again – with a cracked tibia.
In the evenings they had a barbeque, games, film shows and campfires. Prizegiving on the final evening was at a local hotel, where the top winner, Jutta Hieronymus, was presented with a pair of deer antlers as a prize! She headed home to Germany with them strapped onto her top box.
