In the UK there is a national tandem club with members from all parts of the country. Each year the club organises a national tandem rally and this year two members of WATCAC were lucky enough to be able to attend. Yew Li and Patrick ‘happened’ to be in the Uk at the right time and Yew Li had ‘happened’ to have reserved a spot at the rally. In total there were 100 tandem pairs signed up – Yew Li and Patrick were just in time with spot number 82. This is their story.
The rally was held in Alnwick, which for some unknown reason is pronounced Annick, a town in the north east of England with a castle where early Harry Potter movies were filmed. From the start, we were treated as honoured guests. Other than a small number of tandems from the Netherlands and Germany, we were the only representatives for the Rest of the World. Nobody bothered to learn our names – we were simply known to all as The Australians. When we first showed up we were instantly identified by a member of the organising committee (because we just ‘looked’ Australian) and guided into the registration tent. A map of northern Europe was displayed next to the registration desk, with flags to indicate where each tandem team originated. When we pointed out that Australia wasn’t on the map, we were proudly directed to a special extra printout for Australia. Even better, they hadn’t bothered to print the eastern states and we assured them that this was the right thing to have done.
The general idea is that everybody camps together, but we had already been cycling around the UK for a couple of months by then and were not keen to spend a damp week under canvas. There were a large number of campervans in attendance, so we were not alone in our thinking, but some foolish people did actually pitch tent. The house we rented was a few km from the campsite, so we probably missed out a bit on the socialising.
The tandem rally runs for one week, with five main ride days. On four of these days there is a choice of three loops to follow, ranging from about 30 km to well over 100 km. Each route is well researched, with notes to identify cafes and places of interest along the way, and the start time and ride pace are whatever you want them to be. No matter what you decide, there is always another tandem or two with the same idea. The remaining ride day is a treasure hunt.
Other activities included a ‘try-out-a-tandem’ day, a coffee-and-cake stop, a couple of group photo opportunities, a quiz night and a tandem skills competition (including tandem limbo). Yew Li even managed to get interviewed by the local radio station because she was considered so exotic. We did WATCAC proud by coming last at the quiz night, but in our defence, we were sitting with the Dutch representatives and most of the questions were stacked in favour of being British. The kids table beat us by a mile, maybe because one entire section of the quiz was Harry Potter themed.
The rally was a great opportunity to meet lots of other tandem teams, compare and contrast all the different variety of tandems and to become accepted into the international community of tandem riders. Everybody was very welcoming, the rides were well planned and enjoyable and we are now trying to work out the logistics of attending next year’s rally in the Netherlands. After helping them to come last at the quiz, the Dutch organisers are determined that we have to be there.
Patrick and Yew-Li
