There were about 100 participants altogether from the UK, Germany, Holland, France, Belgium, Japan, Australia, Spain and Sweden.
With no WIMA Spain division, the rally was organised by WIMA members from the UK and Germany (Linda Bootherstone, Hilary Walker, Wendy Abbot and Birgit Auchner) who were living in Spain, with help from Pat Thomson and Sheonagh Ravensdale in the UK.
Linda Bick (Bootherstone) wrote this report.
The venue was Campamento Jarandilla, a delightful spot which had camping and huts by a small stream and easy access to the local village of Castellar for shops, petrol etc and to the 11th- century Moorish castle up the hill.
Though it was the height of the summer heat, we were able to organise many exciting events, both day and night and these were as follows:
- A historic ride across the runway in Gibraltar, led by a rider from the Armed forces who had a big smile on his face. This was followed by a bus trip around Gibraltar to the summit.
- A bus trip to take the ferry to Morocco to visit Tangiers.
- A treasure hunt with clues from the camp to Tarifa, finishing at a beach bar. Birgit wrote clues in three languages for this.
- A cultural night where participants from the various countries dressed in their relevant costumes and performed a dance or sketch.
- A flamenco dance group who came to perform and give a dance workshop.
- An evening in the village organised by the local council to meet the mayor who presented us with a trophy.
- An invitation to plant a tree in the Campamento to be named in our honour.
- A gymkhana and an exercise to find the number of deliberate faults on Linda’s bike. (Sheonagh adds: Linda was surprised when more faults were found than Linda was aware of!)
There were bars on the campsite run by the manager Pepe and his crew, and we organised silly games in the swimming pool. We were very grateful for that pool in the heat. We also had a goody bag with various items and T-shirts with the rally logo. On the final night, handmade trophies were presented to various participants, including a long-distance award which I believe went to a woman from Sweden.
A woman from Mallorca, Cati Coll, agreed to become the Spanish WIMA captain to start a new division there. The rally was a huge success, despite the heat, and it was hoped that the new Spanish division would organise another one in the future.
