Isle of Wight  - August 27th - 30th 2010

Apart from being our favourite rally, this year's event had a special significance for Lee and me as it was our honeymoon!  We'd got married the day before at Yelfs, had an amazing party at Ryde Castle and then proceeded to spend another 3 days scootering, drinking and dancing our way around the island.   I managed to take a ridiculous amount of photos, some of which are below :-

Friday night was spent back at Yelfs, where Emma Cox was DJing and gave me my rally debut behind the decks for a couple of sessions.  It was great - a slow start but that just meant I had the dancefloor to myself and had a fantastic boogie on my own.  It was Emma's birthday and she was sharing some vodka jelly babies which were fairly potent - Lee couldn't have one being a veggie but that meant there were more for the rest of us!  It got really busy and after my second set I had a great dance and the dancefloor was full.

We then nipped up to the ice rink and caught the second half of Bad Manners' set.   Buster and the gang are rally favourites and the 2000+ crowd were loving it.   After they finished, Daz and co treated us to some great tunes and kept me stuck to the dancefloor until well after 2am - not bad for me!

We finally got some sunshine on Saturday, but sadly a lot of my gang headed home - they'd come a day early and already had two big nights out so headed back to Sussex to relax for the rest of the weekend.   Lee and I headed into town for the custom show which was the best ever.  Dave Dickinson had a special display of all his amazing bikes in the centre of the ice rink and was doing a demonstration of airbrushing on a canvas which was to be raffled.   The rest of the scoots were pretty special too, many of which I was seeing for the first time.

After a quick photoshoot by the sea wall we went to Culver Down with Mark and Karen to have some lunch and appreciate the beautiful scenery.  With the skies so clear we could see the beaches of Witterings, and over to Portsmouth too.  We then returned to Pondwell to the Wishing Well pub where Gary and the Choirboys were having a drink or two in the glorious sun.   Lee then got a call from his brother and family who'd arrived off the Hovercraft with Daniel - so we headed back to Ryde to meet them.  When they'd left I realised I couldn't find my keys - what a nightmare - so after trying all the local bars, cafes and shops I then organised for a taxi to bring my spare from Bognor to the Hovercraft terminal and over the Solent.   It was a very efficient operation, but also an expense that I hadn't planned.  I'm hoping that someone from the council will have picked it up and handed it to the police, but haven't heard anything yet...

And so to Saturday night...  We had a couple of drinks in the Lud and then headed for the ice rink again, this time to see the Lambrettas who hadn't improved since Camber.  We had to evacuate the building half way through as someone had set off the fire alarm, and I was hoping they wouldn't do the second half of their set once we got back in, but sadly they did.    However,  the headline act more than made up for it...  It was Basket Case, old favourites of mine, and this time they were all themed up as the Italian Job.  They played some great tunes, with a sense of humour and the crowd loved them.

Sunday dawned and we were flagging.   It was the rideout and for the first time I didn't start it at the ice rink but took some photos there instead and then rode down to  the Wishing Well to take some action shots.  We joined in near the end but when we were passing the airfield near Bembridge it started to rain, so we peeled off and returned to Ryde to have a roast at Yelfs, courtesay of Nita who'd kindly given it to us as a wedding pressie.

Sunday night.  I was getting quite emotional now, not wanting the weekend to end.  It had all gone by so quickly and we were heading home on Monday so this was our last night.   We started the evening at Ryde Castle, our home for the weekend, chatting with a guy who has been sitting behind me at Fratton Park for 30+ years, and is a soul DJ, but I've never met him before (or recognised him!!).  It's a small world...  Sunday night means the balcony, which I love as a venue - so clean and warm after the ice rink.   And it was my DJ debut there too, thanks to Steve Foster who let me play a guest spot.   I played a few tracks and then realised the crowd wanted some Northern, so I duly obliged and that kept them happy for the next 45 minutes or so.   It was nice to catch up with a few friends that we'd not really seen all weekend, like Sticky, Andy and Al - and the music was really good so I spent most of the night on the dancefloor.  The highlight though was thanks to Disco Daz - who played Double Trouble and the Rebel MC's Street Tuff.  Amazing...  Sticky was giving it his all, as was I, and the punters loved it - an amazing end to the weekend.

And then Monday dawned.  I had to sadly leave my wedding flowers in the bath - what a waste - although I nicked a couple to press for my scrapbook.   We arrived at the ferry port and caught up with Paul and Ali who'd been to see Weller at Carisbrooke Castle the night before.  And poor Jon Ogan's passenger who had the most uncomfortable pillion position I've ever seen, on the back of his Dragster!

I admit I did shed a tear or two when we disembarked in Pompey.   The weekend had flown by so quickly and it had been very emotional.  But it was nice to get home and see the family, especially the children, and after all we did have lots of wedding cards and presents to look forward to.

It was the best Isle of Wight ever, and we can't wait til our first anniversary next year.  Although I'll be popping over very soon; I just can't stay away and want to keep the magic alive...