             |
|
PATRIOT GAMES 2004
I’m sitting here cold, broke and still fairly overhung on a early new year’s
afternoon. The radio and TV are full of ‘Best of 2004’ list. So I thought
back to some of the events I enjoyed the most. It suddenly struck me that one
I’d really been impressed by was Patriot Games, but for some reason I’d not
written it up at the time and it had somehow slipped lower and lower down the
list of things to do. So let’s look back, back, bac....(Cue wibbly wobbly screen
and fade in hot August weather)
Dunno if it’s just me, but I’ve always had nothing but admiration for our armed forces. They do a vital and often bloody difficult job for not a lot of money despite the stupid decisions made by the idiots in Westminster. So when I got the chance to go to Patriot Games, I leapt at it as I knew it would be well organised and friendly. These guys have no attitude, they have nothing to prove, the regimental badges they proudly wear say everything. So we set off on one of the hottest days of last summer riding diagonally down through England along the A46, no need to use motorways as, on a bike, it’s a fast, straightish road with enough bends and things to keep the boredom at bay. Say thank-you to the Romans for a good bit of engineering.
Crumlin is a little town in South East Wales, which must have once been quite prosperous. Then the mines went, followed by the steelworks and then there was bugger all. However, it does have one redeeming feature - a really good pub that does an excellent range of beers and makes everyone, especially bikers and old service personal welcome. Yes it called the Patriot and it’s owned by Patriots M.C.
On arrival we were directed back across the river, down a narrow lane, over the river, behind the railway tracks and onto the rugby field. After setting up the tent and walking up and down the massed ranks of bikes and trikes I suddenly realised that it was quite a long walk back to the pub. No problem laughed the marshals just follow us, climb the embankment, walk along the railway lines and climb up the other side to the rear of the pub. Erm it seems a little risky in daylight when sober but what about at night when you’re the worse for wear. I mean it’s ok for the Patriots as they’ve obviously all had the special training “Enemy railway line, infiltration whilst pissed” but what about the rest of us? As it turned out the railway died about the same time as the rest of the local industry - although they are going to re-open it soon, so it may not be a sensible short cut in future. But it was a quick route to the pub.
First impressions? Busy. Loads of people and bikes. And good music. That’s all I needed. Get to the bar, order a pint and chill out. If you’ve never been to the Patriot it’s worth going just to look at the walls. No, not because some TV decorator has been at them, but because there are loads of interesting bits of British military history on display. A sobering reminder that one of the reasons we can get on with our daily lives is that a group of people are willing to put theirs on the line for Queen and country. It was then that I heard one of the most hypocritical things ever. Apparently the Patriots had arranged to have the whole rally on another local site but, at the last moment, the council and the plod had decided not to let them. They used a variety of legalistic and legislative excuses, but what it boiled down to was that a bunch of dirty, evil biker scum were a possible affront to public dignity and order. Can you believe it? The twats who made that decision are the same pontificating bastards who always claim to support “our gallant forces” when there’s a war on. They are the civic ‘dignitaries’ who stand around looking solemn on November 11th at the local war memorial - then they all bugger off to the town hall for a drink and sarnie at the tax payers expense and they don’t invite any of the ordinary service personal to come with them. In other words it’s ok if you want to risk your life for your country or even die for it, but don’t expect anyone to give a toss about you when you return!!! Whatever, it didn’t spoil the weekend thankfully.
Friday night slowly blurred into a succession of good bands and a longer succession of good beers. I know I had some funny and interesting chats, but funnily enough, I couldn’t remember any of them when I groaned my way back to life in the morning. Saturday was warm and sunny, what dragged me out of my tent was the smell of bacon and a brew. It was proof that Napoleon was right; an army does march on its stomach. There were several ex forces bike clubs there from around the world and almost under the goalpost were a group from Belgium (I think) with one of the largest camp kitchens in the universe. We struggled up to the pub where it seemed the bugler hadn’t yet blown reveille and the sergeant hadn’t yet tipped everyone out of bed. Nevertheless there were a few people about and gradually more started appearing making a bee line for either the bogs or the coffee wagon.
As befits the righteous the sun continued to shine so we went for a ride. Don’t ask where cause we just sort of flowed. But it’s great riding country, not only lots of twisty turneys and uppy downies but beautiful scenery as well . We found a sort of forest track thing that appeared to be for cyclist, but hey, it says ‘bicycle’ on the taxation class, so that’ll do nicely.
When we returned to the Patriot we discovered that due to the
split site nature of the event the custom show was cancelled, but there were
loads of nice bikes to look at so the judges did what the public did -walked
about and looked. One of the Patriots was meant to e-mail me the results but I
never got them (Put that man on a charge sergeant!) so you’ll have to guess who
won what. Saturday afternoon saw some cracking local bands and the evening was
the same. Unfortunately we had an urgent phone call that meant we had to
leave at about (pm so we missed the best part of the weekend, but everyone we’ve
spoken to since tells us it was a cracking night. Anyway, that was me
reminiscing about last year, but looking forward to this year, can I recommend
the Patriots party as one of the best weekends you are likely to have.
Words & Photograph: Laurie
www.100-biker.co.uk 57 56
COPYRIGHT © 2002 - 2005, PATRIOTS MOTORCYCLE CLUB. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALL IMAGES, PHOTOS AND LOGOS ARE STRICTLY COPYRIGHT © PATRIOTS MOTORCYCLE CLUB. THESE MUST NOT BE USED WITHOUT PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT.