A day at the
races
11 – 18 May
As owners of a
new Autotrail, we were automatically entitled to a year’s free membership of
the Autotrail Owners’ Club. We had perused the book of rallies at the end of
last year and one had particularly caught our eye. This was the annual factory rally based at
Market Rasen racecourse and we thought it would be interesting to see how our
new acquisition had been built.
So we were back
in Lincolnshire for the second time in six weeks! This rally is very popular and there were
nearly 150 units – with hindsight, it probably wasn’t the best one to choose as
a first rally. However, the organisation
was superb.
An unexpected bonus on
arrival was to find that a company was operating a mobile weighbridge so that
those who wished could check out whether they were carrying too much or had
capacity to spare. It was a nice
surprise to find we were well within our limit.
At additional
cost it had been possible to attend the racing on Friday afternoon. We hadn’t opted to do that, but sneaked a
look at a couple of races from the rally side of the track. We also managed a
cycle ride around some of the nearby villages.
On Saturday a
fleet of coaches transported us to the Autotrail factory at Grimsby. We felt very “loved” by Autotrail, who
provided everyone with a goody bag, a tombola ticket and a free barbecue. We chose to follow a factory tour, rather
than look around on our own, and it was enlightening – mostly (but not always!)
in a good way. Imagine how thrilled we
were when our tombola ticket was a winner, but oh, wait a minute, everyone won something!
Entertainment
was provided on Friday and Saturday evenings, but we particularly enjoyed
chatting to Jill and David, who have the same Autotrail model as us, and
gleaned some useful suggestions from them.
We had decided
to spend a few more days in Amelia before heading home and went back to
Woodhall Spa, with the bikes this time! En route, we called in at Gunby Hall
(NT) but had to restrict our visit to the house as it was a very wet day. The house had narrowly escaped demolition
during WW2 due to the expansion of the nearby airfield. We had an interesting morning at the
Lincolnshire Aviation Centre at East Kirkby, but again it was very wet and
although most of the museum is undercover, we did have to dash from building to
building and got somewhat damp. The museum is home to “Just Jane”, one of the
few surviving WW2 Lancaster bombers.
Currently restricted to taxying on the
airfield, it is hoped to have her airworthy in the not too distant future. There
is also a small, but interesting part of the museum devoted to escapes from
prisoner of war camps, including the famous “great escape”. The
final outing of the trip, once the weather cheered up, was a cycle ride of
about 18 miles along the Water Rail Way, following the River Witham to Bardney.
