Yesterday was one of those rare beasties this year in the UK, a sunny and warm day and therefore perfect conditions for riding a motorcycle.

But yesterday was extra special for us in another way. It was our first trip out on our Ural sidecar outfit Boris since it was rebuilt following it being stolen and burnt in April 2007. Having Boris stolen felt like we had lost part of us so it really was something special to get out on it and start making up for lost time. I can’t remember laughing so much since we last went out on Boris. It is such a fun machine to ride.

It’s been a couple of years since we went to the Stinkwheel show and it’s lost none of its appeal. It is a great little show held each year at Beaumanor Hall near Loughborough and this year was Italian Day.

We met up with Mick Cross from MPC Motorcycles, who had a stand at the show and he and his son Carl treated the crowd to a display on one of their Ural Gear-ups during the course of the day. Boris was purchased from MPC in 2003 and Mick has been an invaluable resource for help, advice and spare parts ever since and he really went above and beyond helping us recover Boris and getting us on the road to restoring him to his former glory, one of the good guys for sure.

When we arrived Boris started drawing a crowd straight away and as soon as the MPC crowd knew we were on Boris then we had to put him on display with the rest of the motorcycle outfits.

Beaumanor Hall is a great location in the heart of Leicestershire and as we sat having our lunch surrounded by motorbikes and motorcyclists with the sun on our faces I had to reflect that there wasn’t a better time to be a motorcyclist than right in that moment.

There were some great machines both on display and in the car park.
This Sunbeam caught Pete’s eye and one of those has definitely gone on the shopping list of future purchases.

In addition there was a great Yamaha FSIE (Fizzy), which received a highly commended rosette and there was an impressive

display of Triumphs old and new, including the Hinckley-built Thruxton with the aluminium tank and the Thunderbird Sport with the after-market kit on it you can see in the photos

. Notice how sunny it was (sigh) by the sun glinting off that tank.

The number of autojumble, clothing and spares stalls were just right for a show of that size and we purchased an all-in-one handlebar switchgear which will fit Boris nicely.

All in all a great day finished off perfectly with a pint of Guinness on the way home – ay a Grand Day Out.