This is Geoff's post of what he thought of the Dent meet, being his first time...

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Over the years I have often wondered what went on at some of these meets . So as I went to my 1st ever meet . Dent 2010. I thought I would give you my personal view on it. Hope its not to long and bores you .

Started off from home fully loaded with all what I think I will need plus more for the trip to dent approx 235 miles .
Meeting point Lancaster service station M6. Pulled into car park and a car pulls up opposite me . Guy gets out opens rear doors of an estate car and a lady shufflers out the back. Then he calls over are you looking for Ray Birch ? Is Ray that well known up here
Yes I say, wells he's over in the smoking area. Well he must know ray then I think. We go over and yes there he is,a cup of tea in his hand and a roll up.
We leave with 3 bikes and a car heading for Devils bridge. On route we stop of at a Lay-by / public toilets and pick up another member loitering there. I looked at the other 3 bikes and thought they were lightly loaded .I feel I've got an HGV bike .
Arrive at Devils bridge where more members are there and arriving, having tea and hamburgers. Devils bridge is a well known bike meet . A police car pulls up. Bit worried as my number plate is an American size i.e. Small. Stand in front of number plate hoping it wont be seen. They go for a cup of tea. Under the bridge is a fast flowing river.2 Teenager's messing about go drifting past in river. Police dash off to rescue them which they did . Safe with number plate now. Thought ray might have arranged this as entertainment for us as he said in his younger days he used to swim there.
We head of to camp-site over the hills and valleys . Slowing down for sheep, cattle grids and debris in the road . Stunning views all the way. Arrive at the camp-site and the lightly loaded bikes head off to large luxury erected tents. I dragged my bag and gear to a free patch of grass .Get my 2 day old brand new tent from tesco's sale price £15. Spent 10 mins feeding poles in here and there.( had tent poles ha ha )A bemused member thought I had struggled enough and gave advice on what to do . Finally looked like the picture of the tent on the instructions. Off to rays tent for a brew and meet members . More turning up as the afternoon went .
5pm off to the pub in the village. 1st one we go in and a member is already there. Not sure how long he has been sitting there. Might still be there from last years meet ha ha . More members come and go ,.Then off on a pub crawl. Easy as only 2 pubs in village.Members taking over lounge bar , nice bar meal in there. A night of swopping stories and putting faces to names after
3 / 4 years.
With some of the lightweights or sensible ones I head of back to the camp-site. Only 5 Min walk back from pub. Snuggled up into my tent . Not camped for 40 years, forgot how hard the ground was. Still awake 2 / 3 hours later. Members coming back saying “ Mines a blue one cant find it . Next to Rays one I think “ The sounds of the countryside is keeping me awake. A chorus of Snoring coming from various tents with timely interjected farting. Is this the dent meet or the Farmyard meet I think. Eventually went of to sleep for a few hours until. The wind , rain and the cold woke me . Found my dry water proofs and put on .Still dry as only few showers on way up.
Daylight comes ,Grey wet windy and damp as I look out of tent .Welcome to dent. Its history of the BA. Com meet has not disappointed us. Same as always RAIN. Heat my tin of all-day brekkie in my saucepan and a few others look like the're cooking as well. But other members are off to the café 3min walk away.( note for next year )
Ride out at 10.30am. I put all my waterproofs on and 6 bikes head of in the rain through the mountainside . More will go later. Stop off high up over looking lake Windermere. Raining hard, but spectacular views. Then down through the valley to a bustling Ambleside town .Park up in street . Some members head for a quaint dotty s café . While some of the meaner ones ( you can take that 2 ways ha ha ) go to a pie shop. Sausage and cider pie for some .( booze again) Question , is it normal for Coffee to be a £1 more than Tea .
Set off around lake Windermere and pass 50 / 100 Monkey Bikes to many to count , Could fit one on my back rest no problem. Cant ride on water so off to the ferry.( although at times it looked and felt as if we were !! ) So get the ferry across look for nessie oops wrong lake / loch . Feel as though I fell in, soaked right through .
Ride back to camp-site . Found myself on my own ( think its the dent initiation, ) The sun has now come out so thought i'd go for a solo ride ( lost). Found sign for dent in the end, great I thought. Started going down a narrow lane, came across sign saying GATE. Dread fills me, but as sunny weather I go for it ( did'nt dare go back ,been lost awhile ).The night before a group of members told me they had come that way and you have to stop and open / shut farm gates . 1st gate car coming towards me so fine they did it. But the others gates its thanks to the info the night before I managed to park further back and got through them safe . It was one of the highlights of my trip going down that lane and side of the valley. Arrived back at camp-site with a lot of relieved members .
Barbecue at rays tent. While a family outside our meet were asked to pick the best bike of all the ones there. No knowledge of bikes . Then the reg of the chosen one was put into a sealed envelope for the awards at the pub, not raining so nice afternoon.
Off to the pub for more drinking and the awards. When all members are there. We have taken over the pool room. Great atmosphere when the Best bike is announced. The family were there to give reasons how they picked it, which was good of them. By default I was awarded for the furthest travelled. As some members who had travelled further than me had left that morning. As it was my 1st meet I was very pleased to get it. A special award was given to a member who had sacrificed more than most, by having to travel there in the back of a car on a mattress due to ill health. A game of pool was held with various rules to who ever it suited best at the time of his shot. The evening was full of laughter and wind ups. Even some entertainment from the local pool player ha ha . I eventually left to go back to my tent, got in my sleeping bag fully dressed to keep warm and layed back listening to the sounds of the countryside again.
As morning came so did the rain and wind. Most members packing up and loading in the pouring rain to set of home. Goodbyes and safe journeys all round
Set of in heavy rain and wind looking for signs to M6 south. After 1hr going through some
stressed out riding through the hills and valleys, found it a few junctions north of the one I came off, coming to the meet. After 2 hrs going south , the rain eased , weather improved and I started to relax. Stopped off for 2 petrol fills. Then at my last roundabout 5mins from home I got pulled into service station by 2 traffic cops . Wanted to give me a £60 fine for illegal number plate. Sorry officer, just come from bike show, didn't get chance to put legal one back on this morning what with wind and rain, got it in back bag. Fine we are going for coffee .let us know when you've fitted it and we will let you off.( coffee not tea Plenty ££) Wasn't telling tales so got it out and fitted it . got them out of cafe ok of you go son. 5min drive home safe and sound. Feel better getting award as I reckon I might have been the one who travelled the furthest home
Great weekend with A Great bunch of people from all walks of life. Father & Son, Father & Daughter, Couples, Singles, North,South,West,East. From Overseas. All travelled buy various means to get there. Bike,Car,Train. Everyone made me feel very welcome and I had an offer to stay with one if I was involved in a trip near them. Thank you all ,and I look forward to next year.
So if anyone has not been before, think about it for next year . Its a great weekend if you enjoy wet,cold, snoring and farting campsites , The good bits outweigh the bad Bits now I'm home

Hoping ray will post the pictures I took of my trip.

FINALLY . A BIG BIG THANKYOU TO RAY AND BONNIE FOR ALL THE HARD WORK THAT MUST HAVE GONE INTO THIS WEEKEND
All The Best Geoff


Ray(UK)