F V M C C


Forth Valley Motorcycle Club

Established 1966

The Ogri Rally 2004



A wee visit to the Ogri MCC's most excellent Ogri Rally.




"Yet again the Sandancer lived up to expectation and was a fantastic weekend. Last year we did fifteen rallies, although all of them were brilliant we reckoned this was the best and this year we think it will be hard to surpass."
That’s what I wrote at the end of the Sandancer write up.
Well it was hard to surpass but I think the Ogri just tips the scales. This was the best rally of the year for us. Big enough to be a big wee rally and small enough to be wee big rally and capturing all the atmosphere and personality of both.
Its 400 miles away and as the temperature rises by a couple of degrees every 100 miles South made it by far the warmest and well worth the journey. We left Falkirk on the Friday morning and drove through gales and hurricanes which lasted until about Carlisle. Nothing strange there then. God might have given us the scenery, fresh air, clear water, good pub opening hours, quiet roads for biking, friendly people, oil, and all manner of other things good but he certainly forgot us when dishing out the sunshine. The rain always seems to stop at Carlisle. Or start there depending which direction you go. The rest of the journey down the M6-M5 being as usual, 300 miles or so of boredom. Makes you wish you'd headed North instead despite the weather. When you get off the M5 there’s about 20 miles to go and all of a sudden the mood picks up. Proper roads again through proper country side and the spirits are being raised. A feeling of anticipation starts to build and having been here before, great expectation. the Ogri's a great rally at a fantastic site. Plenty room and an awesome flat campsite.
Arriving at the gate and trying to excuse the fact that we had to come in the cage (bike being written off) we were greeted by a high spirited Mr Manby of the Ogri MCC. Intent on not letting me and Carol off for not being on a bike we had to try and book in quickly and make our escape down the campsite. Andy and Mark, who'd travelled down earlier in the day came across to help us with our gear. They were there that early they'd started on the "swally" and were themselves ready to party.
Tent built amidst the usual stressful battles between me and Carol and it was time to open a few tinnies and start to party. And Party we did.

After being settled we wandered over to the marquees and the rally site proper. The Ogri have it sussed here. A great site, well laid out and decent bars in the marquee. There was the usual drinks bar with all manner of beers and spirits. the baguette bar selling all sorts of, well baguettes I suppose, and the real ale bar. Spoiled for choice.

One good thing about the Ogri is the beer tickets. I like these at any rally because it means you spend a nice round sum of money and everything you buy is a division there of. (obviously) Spend a tenner and get twenty tickets. 50 pence divisions. We never quite managed a repeat of Marks performance last year when he bought a hundred quids worth of tokens in one go. To be fair it was between four of them but they had to buy more on Saturday morning.
After a wee wander round the multitude of trade stalls, (omitting to purchase anything)(we are Scots after all) it was back into the main marquee to continue on the piss.

We bumped into Mark Manby again, or did he bump into us? Extremely pissed by now and well into lager lout mode but having a great time with it so we joined him for a while. Or did he join us?

Mark'n'Mark Must be a name thing !!



We partied on until the bars were closed (I think) it all got a bit bleary, before staggering back to our tents. I've no idea who, what or where the bands were but I'm sure I was doing the usual lead footed bounce around at some point.

One good thing about being so far South is you can sleep in one sleeping bag, as opposed to the two or three with extra duvets thrown over that we usually need.
Saturday dawned just as I remembered it from before. Too bloody warm inside a tent. That’s the thing about tents, come here for a rally and they're too warm. Take them to a rally like the Thistle and they're fekin freezin.
Mark, Andy, Susan and Katy, being on bikes headed into Cirencester in search of grub and headache crunchers. As we were in the cage and the car parking meant it was trapped in the cage park so we headed up to the marquees to get fed and take in the atmosphere.
It’s always a great rally if you don’t feel the need to piss off on the Saturday afternoon and the Ogri is one of the best for this. Good food, good beer and with all the trade stalls, bike show, silly games, hot air balloon rides, aeroplane rides and street performers there’s plenty going on to keep you amused. I love it. Just sitting around with some real ale and taking in the atmosphere.
Another wee wander around the abundance of trade stalls (I've been to bike shows with less than this) (Oh! and Carol did spend a wee bit of money buying a souvenir for the sprog at home) and it was round to see the silly games. These are always good at the Ogri. The blindfolded knights on the moped trying to kill the bottles on the traffic cones raised a laugh. Especially the ones that fell off or careered into the crowd.

The tug of war (never worth trying to beat the Ogri MCC) was the usual excuse for drunken men grunting and groaning and having a laugh. The big water filled rubber barrel thing is always something that nobody wants to start but when the first person falls in and gets soaked every body wants a go. I'd have had a shot but Carol wasn't up for letting me beat her and give her a good dunking.
Bowser got into the spirit of the games and prepared for his dunkin by removing his cap

Andy and co returned from town and it was time to go back round to the courtyard created by the marquees.
There was a wee woman doing some kind of street performance that passed a wee while, then there was Stevie from MC Rottum (One bloke One mandolin) playing mandolin and singing a tune or two. An absolutely excellent set that got a few feet tapping and folks singin along. Well done that man.

The mood was set. Chillin, Beer, Chillin more beer and more chillin.
Then it was the Steve from the Ogri's turn with his guitar. Kicking out tunes like the Stray cat strut and the Proclaimers 500 miles and a blitzin Stairway to Heaven had every body singin along and enjoyin themselves. Fantastic especially when the rest of the Ogri started takin the piss by putting down a begging bowl in front of him, chucking in some cash and then stealing it back. A great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
I'm sure I got fed at some point but I can’t remember where, when or what. (must ask Carol sometime)
Saturday evening came and we were already half pissed. (Half????). I'm sure we saw some of the bands and were jiggin about a bit but again it's all a bit fuzzy. We retired early (jet lag caught up with us) and missed the awards, raffle etc but had a great time all the same.

Sunday morning and it was melt time again inside the tent. When we climbed out we were surprised to learn that our club had won two awards. Andy won the furthest travelled male and at this point I must mention Susan was riding pillion. She wasn't happy when I sent out a congratulatory email to the club and omitted her name. I suppose she does deserve mention coz she was on the back of a VMax for about seven hours. The club got the UK mileage award cos of the accumulated distances. That must be the benefit to living in the frozen wastes North of Hadrian’s Wall then. Well done our club
Sunday morning and we were all packed and ready to go surprisingly early. We had a debate about going to the food marquee or heading to Tescos for breakfast. The biggie at Tescos won the argument and off we went. We arrived at about half past nine to find the store closed. Downside to living down here coz we've got 24 hour Tescos up North. We fuelled up and decided to hang around waiting for the store to open. A half an hour is an age when you’re hungry and hung over. We got in bang on opening time and sought out the restaurant only to find a sign saying no hot food today. Bummer! the old geezer at the door might have said coz he knew what we were waiting for. Never mind we went round to Greasy Joes cafe just round the corner where we had a hearty breakfast each. As we came out the first spots of rain were starting to drip. Realization!! Coming in the cage was all of a sudden worth the slagging we took from Mr Manby at the gate. Anyhoo the rest is now history. 20 miles of road followed by 400 miles of motorway. Didn't dampen the spirits one bit though and we'll be back again next year.

Big Thanks to the Ogri MCC for yet another great rally.

Special thanks to Mark Manby, Col and Bowser for making us welcome

See you all next year if not before

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