Big Andys Scootering Site

A couple of months prior to this rally i had been offered a spare room at the hotel that the Mansfield Monsters SC were going to stop in, but having been told it was £65 for a basic family room myself and Dawn decided we would stick to the old canvas erection. As the rally neared and the thought of carrying not only Dawn and the luggage on my 'trusty steed', but a tent and sleeping bag as well, we decided to see if we could get a B&B after all. So just 7 days before our arrival in Cleethorpes i spent a couple of hours fruitlessly phoning around all the B&Bs i could find on the internet. Each call had the words "sorry we're full for that weekend, it's the scooter weekend" in it somewhere and i was just about to give in when i had a stroke of luck. "Oh we've just had a cancellation so yes we've got a room free". "Great" said i," can i book it". Then came the sting. £75 per night. I was now wishing i had taken the Monsters up on their offer. But, and its a big but, its a four poster room with a Jacuzzi. Now were talking, so having decided to pamper ourselves we took it.

So just after 3pm on the Friday, myself, my gorgeous wife and the luggage set off on my 'trusty steed'. Having had quite a few problems with my scooter recently the first thing i packed was my AA card. I needed of bothered as my PX210 ran like a dream and 2 hours and 15 minutes later we were pulling up outside our hotel. As i stood my scoot on its stand we got a shock. Hanging out of one of the windows of our hotel was a couple of the Monsters. No, it couldn't be, surely not, of all the hotels in Cleethorpes we ended up in the same hotel as the Monsters after all. Not that i'm complaining as they are a great bunch and we'd got a better room than we would have had.

Having dumped our stuff in our posh room we made the short walk up to the Bootlegger to say our hellos and were soon encamped outside with a few of the Blues SC and trying hard to catch up on the alcohol consumption. Inside, Circa took to the stage and belted out their covers of Jam, Who, Small Faces and Kinks classics as well as a few punk ones too. I had been told they were a mod band but they covered a good array of songs and i thought they were very good. Before long myself and Dawn made our way down to the Winter Gardens for the Main do. We walked down with a few of the 'off duty' Monsters just in case there was a queue outside but we needn't of worried. We were soon busy catching up on the gossip and helping to empty the bar of Newcy brown ale and lager. I also found out i was down to work on the Saturday even though i thought i had got a work free weekend. I had offered my services at Shires, but as i hadn't received a phone call i assumed i wasn’t needed. The rest of the night was a blur and before long it was kicking out time and time to return to our four poster, but not before we tried out the Jacuzzi.

Next morning, after a hearty breakfast and a couple of hours more kip, we made our way back to the Winter Gardens for the trade stalls and the custom show and after whiling away a couple of hours we wandered back up into town to Bootleggers as The Sex Pistols Experience took to the stage. These guys are excellent and put on another good show for us as they belted out the 'Pistols' classics. We remained at Bootleggers most of the afternoon before returning to our hotel for a power nap ready for the nights jollities.

Dawn went back up to Bootleggers as i made my way down to the Winter Gardens to report for duty. One good thing about Cleethorpes is that there is no stage duty as they don't have bands on stage, just DJ's. Saturday night was spent very much like Friday night was, ie drinking and chatting. I don't know if the owners had improved the air conditioning this year but it didn't seem as hot and sweaty in there this year as it had the previous few years. Before long it was time to say our goodbyes and head back to our hotel.

All that remained the next morning was to load up the PX and head off home. Again the Vespa ran like a dream and we were soon home. At one point, near Lincoln we saw the Brewers SC up ahead so we set off to catch them up and ride with them but just as we caught them they turned off into the services so we just carried on. One thing i was annoyed about was that i couldn't find a single garage from Cleethorpes to Nottingham that sold high octane fuel so i had to do with ordinary unleaded.

So big thanks go to all the Mansfield Monsters SC and Birmingham Olympics SC for putting on another great weekend and for ordering all the great hot weather. Thanks also to Tony '1 shirt' and crew at the Bootlegger for some excellent entertainment.

See ya all at Brewers Droop in August

BIG ANDY

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