It was a great plan.

Take two teams of three riders, start in different outer zones, meet up in the central zone and then ride together to the finish in Uttoxeter. But it was not to be - well not this time anyway!

With a week to go before the start it looked like I was going to do the Rally on my own. Two had to drop out with bike/insurance problems, then a family commitment took reared its head, and then we had an illness. It was going to be a lonely 500-mile ride. However, at the last minute we managed to get a single team together and three of us turned up at the Newbury control at Tot Hill Services for the 2.00pm start.

The weather forecast for the weekend was mixed; we should expect strong winds, showers and sunshine, at any place and at any time, in fact you could say it would be a normal British summer weekend. The truth of this forecast was amply demonstrated 10 minutes before the off when a large dark cloud wept in from the southwest and dumped its watery contents on the proceedings. 2 o'clock came and went and no one seemed particularly keen to get on with the Rally, with everyone sheltering under the awning thoughtfully provided by the Berkshire VMCC. But the skies soon cleared and we were off down the A343 to Andover and then on to the next control at Amesbury. Our westbound progress from here was reduced to a crawl by an accident involving a coach further down the A303, and we had to filter the mile to the A344 before getting back up to speed, passing Stonehenge and going through Devizes to Melksham.

Here I discovered that the powers-that-be had built a new road and business park that wasn't on my map, but we made a quick recovery and found the control at the Waney Edge Cafe without too much trouble. Still heading west, we passed through Trowbridge and Wells to the Glastonbury control, before turning southeast and making for Shaftesbury down the B3081. I must have missed a sign coming out of Gillingham, as we found ourselves on the Shaftesbury ring road without so much as a glimpse of the A30, which was a real pity as that was where the control was! A quick re-group and a map reading session got us to the Blackmoor Vale Filling Station with only a minor delay, and after a coffee we set off to the Wimborne control at Tarrant Keynestone down the B3082.

When I put this route together, I'd planned for a fifteen minute break at each control and together with the two one-hour rest breaks, this would get us to Uttoxeter at around 8.00am on Sunday. However, a slightly late start, some "relaxed" breaks at the controls, unexpected traffic delays, and Ade's inability to hang on to the drag bars of the Harley Night Train at speeds much over 70 mph had put us well behind schedule. In previous years this wouldn't have been a problem, but I'd forgotten about the revised closing times of the outer zone controls. The reminder was waiting up the road.

From Wimborne we picked up the A31 and made off past Ringwood and Cadnam, across the New Forest and through a short sharp shower, briefly onto the M27 and then back onto the A31 again to Romsey. The next control was three miles further up the road in the car park of the White Horse pub at Ampfield. The South Hants TOMCC had chosen their location well, and the plentiful supply of ale with the rainbow in the background made it tempting to stay, but we had to press on.

Next stop was Andover, after a quick run up the A3057 through Stockbridge and onto the A303 to Weyhill Services, arriving just as dusk was falling. This was the first of our mandatory one hour rest breaks at 180 miles, and we took the opportunity to refuel both bikes and bodies, although none of us were yet really tired enough to want to catch forty winks. It was also getting decidedly cooler so it was time to add some more layers before we set off in the dark of the night for Swindon.

The first time I did the National, I had a few problems finding the Swindon control as it's set well off A419 Cirencester road at the complex junction with the A420. No hassle this time, but we arrived to find that we'd got there within seconds of the control closing and the next one was 35 miles away and we had 32 minutes for the cross-country trip. We also had problems with a lightly tinted visor and sore wrists from one of the team, so now it was just the two of us left for the dash to the last of our outer zone controls. Now I think it might be fair to say that we possibly exceeded the speed limits on one or more occasions at this point of the journey, but it paid off and we arrived with just two minutes to spare. From here on we'd be using controls within the central zone, so we shouldn't have any more problems with closing times, but it had a been a close run thing. We were also seriously behind schedule by now, but we stopped long enough to savour a cup of coffee and a free hot pie from the garage owner before setting off through Cheltenham for the run up the M5 to Worcester.

This time we had no problems finding the control point at Perdiswell Park, although I missed the turn-off on the A4536 and had to take the A449 down towards the town centre before doubling back up the A38. After the mass of snoring bodies that littered the floor when we turned up here last year, the place was comparatively quiet and we grabbed a quick cup of tea before heading off to our next control checkpoint at Cleobury Mortimer. This was a pleasant and straightforward run up the A449 to Ombersley, and then left onto the A449 and then follow the B4202 all the way to the T-junction and the Mawley Oak Garage immediately on the left. We were now well into the wee small hours of the morning and it was time for a chocolate fix and a can of Red Bull to keep the energy levels up and the eyes wide open for the 210 miles still to go to Uttoxeter.

Cannock was the next port of call, so after a quick refueling we headed off towards Kidderminster and then picked up the A449 again which took us onto the Wolverhampton Ring Road. Picking up the signs to the M54 and the M6 bought us to a junction with the A5, where we turned right for the short run up the road to the Hollies Transport Cafe, arriving at the same time as the rain. Fortunately the control was in the cafe itself, and although we didn't hang around to order a plate of chips, eggs and beans, there was a strange reluctance to leave the warmth of the cafe for the damp desolation of the lorry park and the wet run down the M6 to the next control of the National Motorcycle Museum in Meriden. Fortunately the rain cleared up pretty quickly as we left Cannock behind and dawn was breaking as we turned off the M42 into the museum car park, almost two hours behind schedule. There was only time for a quick cup of coffee and another Red Bull before heading off to our second mandatory rest stop at Leicester, taking the quicker motorway route instead of the A-roads through Hinckley in an attempt to make up some lost time.

The sun was well up in a clear blue sky as we turned into the car park at the Leicester control, after taking a wrong turn that saw us navigating the surreal emptiness of Leicester's town centre streets. It was 5.15am when we clocked in, and the lack of sleep and 400 miles of riding was beginning to take its toll on both of us. Never was 40 winks more welcome! Ade found a comfy air bed to stretch out on, but I just sat at a table, rested my head on my arms . . . . . and slept. The hour went all too quickly before we were back on the bikes and taking another shortcut up the M1 to the Moto Services at junction 23A and the Kegworth control. Stopping only to get our cards stamped and fill up the fuel tanks, it was more motorway miles and squared-off tyres all the way to the Chesterfield exit at junction 29.

The A617 took us quickly into the town centre, where we picked up the A61 and headed north towards Sheffield for 2 miles to the next control on the forecourt of Chesterfield Motors. As we were still well behind schedule we didn't hang around here too long, especially as the next part of the route would take us over the Peaks towards Buxton, under clear blue skies and along roads that should still be deserted at this time of the morning. And apart from fellow Rally travelers - they were. We took the B6050 Dunston Road to Baslow from the roundabout, passing through Cutthorpe before dropping down into the Peak District National Park and turning right onto the A619 that took us into Bakewell on a beautiful piece of smooth twisty tarmac. From here we picked up the A6 and followed this to the Buxton control, which probably had the best location of any on the Rally - overlooking the rugged Wye Valley. It would have been extremely tempting just to stay here, chill out and admire the view, but time was still not on our side and we had had one more control to visit at Ashbourne before journey's end at Uttoxeter Racecourse.

The A5270 gave us an excellent twisty ride down to the A515, and from here it was a fast run through to Ashbourne and then on to the control at the Darley Moor Motor Sports Centre three miles further down the road. A quick visor clean to remove the early morning insect suicides from the visors and a final twelve miles saw us turn into the Racecourse with 55 minutes to spare before the control closed at 10.00am. We'd made it!

There was more a sense of "job done" rather than any form of elation, and looking around at the other riders who'd made it to the end I felt that this was probably a common emotion. We were all really just too tired to feel any real form of achievement, only that we'd accomplished something that was just a little bit different from the Sunday rideout or day trip to the local meeting place. Or maybe it was that everyone had realised that they still had to get home. Although the organisers had provided a quiet rest room for anyone who needed to catch up on their hours of missed sleep, many of the riders had just crashed-out on the grass in the warmth of the early morning sun. But for us, the call of a high-cholesterol breakfast fix and fresh coffee could not be ignored any longer, so we retired inside to the cafe to clog up our arteries and raise our blood pressure back to normal "journalist" levels.

So now there was just the matter of a 110+ mile ride home for the two of us, me to Reading and Ade with the slightly shorter journey to Bicester, and the opportunity to crash out big-time before returning to a more "normal" existence on Monday morning.

Once again, thanks to the ACU, BMF and Mencap for organising yet another excellent National Rally, and not forgetting all the clubs and volunteers who made the event possible by setting up and manning the control checkpoints.

Oh yes, and if you're wondering what we got for all this riding and loss of sleep, apart from the knowledge that we'd done it and raised some funds for Mencap in the process, well this is it.