Malcolm Bridges sent the following report:

On Sunday 3rd, Brendan Walsh and myself decided to do the VMCC Northants Section Navigation Rally, Brendan was on his 1966 BSA C15 and I rode my 1964 Honda CL72. We were supplied before the day a list of 30 villages with unmanned checkpoints and 3 manned points, having entered the 'Early Classic' class we had to visit 12 unmanned and the 3 manned points, a route was plotted using an OS map and Google Maps.  On the day we were supplied with another list of the villages with a question to answer usually about a building or other object in the village.  At the manned points 5 General Knowledge questions had to be answered.

The weekend started badly for me and got worse on Saturday afternoon after refueling and putting the bike away for Brendan to load in his van.  Later I returned to the garage to see a large blister of paint around the filler cap.  It appears petrol had escaped out of the breather got under the paint and lifted it, what a mess!  So on Sunday we set off from Earls Barton but  after visiting the first checkpoint and only approximately 6 miles I had a sudden and dramatic loss of power followed by a screech.  I quickly pulled in the clutch and the engine stopped.  In hope I let the clutch out again. The engine started and immediately stopped locking the back wheel, yes it had seized.  After stopping, having some quiet reflection and using some choice words inside my helmet I explained to Brendan what happened.  After a little pause and in an attempt to see what the kickstart felt like with one easy swing it burst into life, sounded good and Brendan confirmed there was no smoke. It was decided we would continue and see what happens. It ran perfectly for the rest of the run of 97 miles in total.

Despite my troubles we had a good day exploring the lanes of Northamptonshire, and got a Commemorative Beer Mat (other drinks are available) for completing the run.  Malcolm.