Earlier in the year I was reading someone recommending the way of cutting motorcycle holiday costs is to go to a bike rally at either end of a week away and so we decided to start our weeks holiday in August with a rally.

At that point we really had no clue as to where in the country we were going to go and therefore we looked on the excellent motorcycle rally listing by the Cernunnos MCC which you can find by clicking here

One that really took our fancy was the Calstock Bike Show, held not surprisingly in Calstock, Cornwall, over four nights the second weekend in August.

It was a long old ride on our Ural sidecar outfit, Boris, especially as we tend to stick to the less populated routes.  However, Calstock is a lovely village just over the border from Devon, with it’s own quay, right on the River Tamar and it was well worth the ride.

The camping fields lay adjacent to the river and are overlooked by the stunning Calstock viaduct.  The whole village is involved, which until this year was combined with a boat regatta, but sheer numbers attending both events meant that the regatta was being held a week later.  The village is a very short walk from the camping and show fields, with all of the pubs in the vicinity putting on bands each night as well as food.  Therefore there is plenty on offer both of the entertainment and refreshment variety.

The show itself has been going for 5 or 6 years and started as a co-operative event between the village of Calstock and the Harley Davidson Riders Club of Newport, that would probably explain the higher than normal amount of Harleys and Welsh at the rally then.

Everyone was really friendly and there were a lot of Scottish jokes being banded about as the old celtic rivalry came to the fore.

We were blessed with skin burningly hot weather which really added to the general ambience of the event.

On the Saturday a bike show is held on the aforementioned quay and there was plenty of interesting machinery, which you can see in the pictures below, to cast an eye over whilst enjoying a cold pint, a home-made cherry bun and soaking up the rays.

Meanwhile back at the show field there was a marquee with bands on each night, a cut price bar, which had unusual opening hours to appease the less friendly locals (thankfully rare – but you always get them don’t you?) as well as some food and trade stalls. It was an extremely laid back event with everybody having a good time and making new friends whilst soaking up the atmosphere.

As the event was a public event in the village it was good to see that that access to the rally site was only allowed to ticket holders, as evidenced by bracelets, and that it was effectively enforced by the organisers.  Whilst I trust fellow motorcyclists, general members of the public tend to have less respect for our property shall we say.

The Saturday night finished with an excellent firework display, in front of the viaduct, which was made even more of a spectacle when a train with its carriages lit up trundled across. This together with the bacon and egg butties on offer at one of the pubs the following morning rounded off the weekend perfectly.

We can definitely recommend this rally for a great laid back weekend at a great location. One for the diary next year?