It's been the worst summer in Scotland for 50 odd years according the the meteorological office of lies and false hope. as anyone who has been part of organising a rally knows, all fingers and any other suitable anotonomical protuberances are crossed. The offerings and ritual sacrifice of a St Micheals Bridie and faux sushi paid off, and the rain pretty much stayed away.

It's taken the Talisman three whole years of saving up to be in a position to put on our first rally. Confusion over last years F&M and subsequent cancelled rallies and lack of published dates meant that the weekend had clashed with a more established Scottish rally, so nerves were on edge, counting each person as they signed in.

The rally site was a Rugby club in the centre of Stirling, a beautiful spot surrounded by the Ochil Hills with the Wallace Monuments and Stirling Castle over looking the field.

Everyone involved arrived early for the setup, by lunchtime Sue and Jax had brought their caravan to replace the signing-in pasting table, cheers.

By Friday night some one hundred and fifty folk had passed through the gate, not counting the numerous kids, after all it was intended to be a family friendly do.

The site had indoor bogs, waheey, no Sunday morning piles of crap!, a large cheap(ish) bar and a big hall for the partyin' as well as superb catering facilities, indoor, real plates, real forks and a table to eat it at, I don't even know any pubs where I can get a Sirloin steak with chips for six earth pounds.

Everyone headed for the hall where Friday night's bands were Mister Zero, great to see young guys playing Free and Bad Comapny songs that were written way before they were born, the dance floor was already going full tilt by the time Kong came on, who duly kept the party going.

Saturday morning found the bleary headed mostly gathered in the food room, scoffing full breakfasts, except of course those choosing morning sustancence of the liquid variety.

Ho, who finished the mattie sauce?

Those capable of both standing and riding their bikes went off on the run around Loch Earn and back.

A steady stream of bikes flowed in over the afternoon, swelling the numbers to around two hundred. Most folk lying around then heading to the bar when the only drizzle of the weekend came on, it soon stopped, but needless to say that didn't bring the folk out of the bar again.

Whilst they was some very interesting bikes on site only one trike turned up, a bit of a change from doing many of the north east england rallies where there tends to be loads of 'em.

Quite a few folk turned up with kids, all accompanying someone on a bike, but the site had a separate car park which meant that there were no cars on the camping field, which is the way it should be, but pre-booked cars where folk couldn't get the kids in the panniers (I find they tend to pee on the sleeping bags) could be catered for. After all wee Joe from the Nutty Bikers in Aberdeen was 6 or so weeks old and on his second rally, good on yer.

The silly games for the adults was drizzled off, the kids were happy just to be proffered a handful of lollipops rather than having to hunt them down. Ally patiently spent the afternoon painting small and very big kids faces.

Saturday nights partyin' began with ------------ followed by Speed Trap and The Full Hog, unfortunately I missed most of The Full Hog as It was my stint on the gate and security. It can be quite entertaining watching folk making their way back to the field doing the last lager waltz, picking up a few and pointing them in the direction of their tent, or at least what they could remember being their tent.