Dene Rally 2015

The weekend of 20th & 21st June we spent a lovely weekend at The Dene Rally, now in its 4th year and this being its 2nd year at this site.

We had a good trip over on Friday although the route to the rally is not the best, its what we would call difficult to get to. Climbing a few big hills, the biggest is called Galley Hill which is a 1 in 7!! Then through some lanes and onto a main road before climbing another long hill and onto the site. We made it in good time though and soon we were set up and ready for the weekend ahead. Jack had come along to with his tractor and this year he had fitted a tow bar so brought along his first tractor which is a Westwood garden tractor. This is the first time that his tractor had been running right as last year at this rally it started to run ruff, spiting and popping but he was now back to running like a sewing machine and Jack was a very happy chap!!

Saturday was a bit quite with visitors but I think this was because the weather had been forecast for heavy showers and in the afternoon they weren’t wrong but it didn’t dampen our time, we had a gazebo full of people, some we knew others we didn’t but we had a great time all laughing and chatting. By 6pm the rain had gone and the field was dry so we got Victoria off her boards and took her for a chuff around the site, Jacks mate Elliott had come along for the weekend, the first time he had ever been to a steam rally so we let him have a steer round and we have to say he was good, we will know where to go if we need another steersman!!! We had tea and then made our way to the beer tent, were there where already a few engines outside. We had a good evening chatting with lots of people and before to long we were back at the wagon having a nice glass of wine, then it was time for bed…

Sunday the sun shone and the public came in the gate, it seemed quite busy with a good atmosphere. We were going to go home on the Monday morning with all our vehicles but the weather looked like it was going to be wet so decided to come home on the Sunday afternoon. Before to long we were packing and about 4.30pm pulling off the field, we had a good 2 hour trip home and then another hour or so parking up engine and wagon and cleaning her down. There is a bit of an art to put the engine and wagon away, its not simple!! There is a video of it on our Facebook page if you want to see how we do it…

We would like to thank all the Dene Rally team for putting on the event and look forward to 2016…..