Rick on his T’Bird, Dave M on his 1200 Bonnie and me on my T140E met at the Thatch on Friday morning, 19^th August and headed to the Venetian Marina near Nantwich for a cuppa and a bite to eat. We then rode via Stoke on Trent, Castle Donnington and Melton Mowbray, arriving at the Big Branch Bash around teatime. Along the way we kept seeing a little guy on a Tiger who kept popping up in front of us then disappearing for many miles before making another appearance. We met him at the do, his name was Alan from North Wales branch (although he was Scottish!).

After booking in and being directed to the Wirral camping area (each branch had its own spot) we pitched our tents next to Paul, Gill and Harley who had arrived earlier. First impressions were that the field seemed to be almost entirely occupied by caravans and campervans with bikes being few and far between. We walked into the village of Greetham and found a pub called the Plough where we enjoyed a pie and a pint or two before wandering back to the Community Centre, where Mike, Colin and Jan had by now arrived. There was a nice real ale at the bar there, so we didn’t bother going into the function room to see the band.

On Saturday we had a hearty breakfast from the catering stall on site, then walked to the outskirts of the village where we discovered a pub called the Wheatsheaf which served a good selection of Shipstones real ales, which I’ve never come across before. We walked back, stopping at the Plough again en route, then sat outside the Community Centre for a while enjoying the sun and chatting to old friends such as Dave Porter from Manchester and John Thomas from Beacons branch.

Later we listened to ‘Let there B/DC’ in the function room. There was a very tall, short-haired Angus in this band; previously I watched an AC/DC tribute at the Farmyard Party with a very diminutive Angus! The singer had definitely mastered the Brian Johnson screech and we had a great night.

                                                                                         

We left around 10am on Sunday, stopping at Castle Donnington and the Venetian Marina for a cuppa. Uneventful run apart from Dave M’s glove turning inside out when he took it off and refusing to go back properly – he had to ride home gloveless through the inevitable monsoon! Apart from this interlude we had great weather all weekend and the bikes behaved impeccably. We will definitely be going again in 2023.