The 24th - 27th of July 2003 I visited the Rock & Blues Custom Show at Pentrich, Derbyshire, England.
Rode from Nijmegen to Rotterdam Europoort in the afternoon of the 23th to take the ferry to Hull.
Parked the bike on deck 7 and strapped it. As I was early there was still some parkingspace behind me.
The 'MS Pride of Rotterdam' is one of P&O's huge ferries, powered with a 37.800 kW (!) engine.
I shared my cabin with three more bikers, marking 'my' territory with glove and helmet.
Enjoyed whiskey with one of them until the bar was closed.
Next morning, leaving the ferry, I had an unhappy encounter with a Hayabusa which damaged my front fender. Not a good start, but I managed to camouflage it with a nail file and some nail polis. They gave me a strange look at the chemists.
The weather went from excellent (as in: no rain) to worse as I entered the huge camp site. I got me some beer, some food, some music, again some beer and some sleep.
Then the rain started. It rained all thursdaynight and friday. People told me that's very exceptional at this event. Yeah, right; as if I didn't remember the Bulldog Bash last year. It must be me dragging the rain to every event.
Fridaymorning, half past eight, the first bikes arrived in the Custom Show marquee. I finally got to meet Lynne on her brand new bike, both covered in mud; Blue (Back Street Heroes) had told me a lot about her and her friend Vic Jefford, and I was anxious to meet them.
As Vic entered the marquee he was surrounded by friends and press. Modest, friendly and calm he took time for everyone. Vic is the man behind Destiny Cycles, who entered the show with no less than five bikes. All of them turned out to be prize winners on saturday.
No wonder, as all of them are simply amazing. This one, owned by Derek, is a real mixture of different styles: low, long, seatpipes, and a GSX-R 750 engine. A piece of art.
Vic's own new bike, called 'Saracen', was no less beautiful. Just look at this seat.
There he was again, Charlie Beaton, on his Destiny Cycles huge Harley. Just back from Barcelona, Sestao and Faro where he and his friends took all the major prizes. I asked him to smile for the picture; he gave me a perfect Mike Tyson imitation.
The visitors at this event really came for the bikes and the music. From dusk till dawn the tent was jam-packed. The way the bikes were presented was disappointing though: no decent specs sheets, no distance between bikes and visitors and very, very poor lighting. I had to re-bend my number plate no less then seven times due to this. Bulldog Bash did a far better job in that behalf. But: my front fender's damage wasn't noticed inhere.
One of my favorites was this mean Harley with 345 rear car tyre by Simon Harris. It had to be unridable, and yes, it was. Surprisingly it got no prize at all whilst it certainly deserved 'Most Risky Engineering'!
Simon told me he would take it apart after the show because the lousy five miles he had to drive to the show were the hardest of his life.
A lot of trikes entered the show. Like this huge one, inspired by Pink Floyd's 'The Wall'.
This tiny Honda C90 trike was entered, cleaned and polished by a huge biker. Unlike the trike above this one got a prize.
My favorite for 'Worst Rat' was this XS1100. Pure agressive Mad Max style, nicely covered with mud. It got 'Runner Up Worst Rat'.
Outside the marquee, the whole camping ground (and the bikes, and the bikers riding it) got one big muddy mess.
Although the wheater slowly got better I saw a lot of bikes falling; not a pretty sight.
As the sun came out friday evening, two girls entered this beautiful lightweight bike. The specs sheet told it's name: 'Pop The Rubber Rocket' and 'it was essembled in commemoration of the bloody sun finally coming out'. Disappointing to see it just vanished after half an hour.
The girl on the right tries to imagine how it's possible to ride my bike.
Outside the show were some strange machines like this Hayabusa trike.
And it's always a pleasant shock to see a beautiful Spondon bike like this GSX-R.
On thursday, halfway the trip to Pentrich, Max Croot's Walz Hardcore broke down with an ignition problem. He went home, couldn't fix it right away and came by car on saturday morning. This was disappointing but we made the best out of it: we now had portable chairs, a BBQ and quite some Stella Artois liquid refreshments. Which were very welcome and were used right away.
Being organized by the Outlaws M.C. it was a peaceful meeting, as far as I can tell. There was police though; she would surely scare you off, wouldn't she?
At three o'clock pm. the prizes were announced. I won 'Best Engineering' which is just great at this prestigious show. I got a plaque and £200.
After a while they came back for another prize: 'Runner Up Furthest Travelled'. Certainly not a prize to brag about, but nice considering one of the most asked question was: "How can you ride a bike with a seat like this?". Well, it shows I can, and even further than most of them. And the £100 that came with it were welcome too.
Again there was a lot of interest in the bike. Even the prize sheet was photographed.
At the very crowded prize giving ceremony Derek got 'Best Japanese' and a rosette (both stuck in his mouth).
Vic Jefford got 'Runner Up Best of Show' and 'Best Lowrider'.
Like in Barcelona, Sestao and Faro, Logie got 'Best of Show'. Oh yes, and 'Best Paintwork'.
I found this picture at the Bikersweb site. They sponsored a lot of prizes.
Bikersweb covers every big event on DVD or video. All the prize givings are on it. Click the picture to view the 3,0 Mb clip of the Runner-Up Furthest Travelled prize.
Click the picture to view the 3,0 Mb clip of the Best Engineering prize, on the same DVD.
The plaque and the rosette.

Click the picture to enlarge it.
Afterwards some major bands played: Thin Lizzy (though without Thin Lynott), The Stranglers and Stiff Little Fingers entertained the huge crowd.
Some folk stayed at their tent though. You'll have to if you drink these amounts ;-)
He missed the inevitable strip show ...
... and the crowd singing Bohemian Rhapsody as one, and the Miss Wet T-Shirt competition.
Sunday morning woke up with a obstinate hangover. But: I took a shower using 'AXE anti-hangover Shower Gel, stimulating Mg-O2'. Well, I must have overrated its wholesome effect ;-(
Back on the ferry I met four German bikers, two of 'MC Paderborn'. They'd been at Rock & Blues too. We had a good time, drank some beers ...
... until (again) the bar was closed. We stumbled to our quarters about 2.30h am.
Had a little sleep (got up at 6 o'clock am.), had a little breakfast and rode home with Higgy, Schopfi, Porno and Bodo; four Harleys, one self-built. A perfect end to a perfect trip.