Sit back, and picture the scene; you are out in the open on the wilds of Exmoor, it is 6:30am, and the sun is just starting to cast a pale glow in the skies over the cool mist-shrouded moorlands. Twilight begins. The stars are starting to lose their luminance as the sun competes for attention on the distant eastern horizon. It is totally quiet, except for a few enthusiastic early birds chirping out the notes of the dawn chorus.
Then a distant low pitched hum can be heard which gradually, over several minutes, increases in volume. Suddenly the peace is shattered by the staccato barking of an old motor cycle as it crests a rise on the road and descends gratefully and quietly into the next moorland valley. Peace and quiet gradually returns and the sun rises a little further, illuminating the dew soaked scenery, but then there comes that mechanical crescendo once again.
Then a distant low pitched hum can be heard which gradually, over several minutes, increases in volume. Suddenly the peace is shattered by the staccato barking of an old motor cycle as it crests a rise on the road and descends gratefully and quietly into the next moorland valley. Peace and quiet gradually returns and the sun rises a little further, illuminating the dew soaked scenery, but then there comes that mechanical crescendo once again.
This time there is more than one of them, with their exhaust notes rising and falling in and out of synchronisation. They bellow as they crest the rise and then ease off into the valley, and now there are many more, some ridden solo, some in pairs or groups, all with their headlights seeking their way carefully through the gentle rising mists of the early spring morning. Westward they pass, riders pleasantly tired, nearing the completion of their over-night trial run to the restful sea-side waters-meet of Lynmouth. Then they are gone, the syncopated rhythm of their passing dulls into the dawn as nature once again heals the wound of their westward rush.
The Westward Ho motorcycle reliability run has hit the road once again!
The Westward Ho motorcycle reliability run has hit the road once again!