RallyMoto Magazine July - August

Jan/Feb 2022 

MAY/JUNE 2022 

THE SUMMER OF 

ADVENTURE RALLYING 

KIELDER TRAINING | DARK SKIES RALLY | NEW NORTH ROUTES | SURVIVING HELLAS

RallyMoto Magazine 

THE HEAT IS ON 


It has been a mad couple of months 

with Kielder training, Dark Skies 

Wales and now we are in central 

Portugal sorting out the Tour of 

Portugal. 

The effort RallyMoto and the team have 

put in over the last couple of months 

has been massive, with route checking, 

roadbook writing, permissions, PR 

work with the public, which is really 

paying off and now we are just about 

to throw ourselves into the Adventure 

Camp weekend at Haggs Bank. 

I am writing this in Portugal, whilst 

sorting the routes and permissions for 

the rally at the end of September. Our 

local partner is Rui, and we have been 

trail checking for the rally class to have 

a bit more technical riding and for us to 

include some stages on all three days. 

I’ll be back in the UK for the Haggs 

Bank and I am looking forward to 

another mad weekend. 

As I said, it’s been a mad couple of 

months. 

5. KIELDER ADV RALLY CAMP #2 

18 happy campers have fun in the forest. 

6. NEW NORTHERN ROUTES 

Creating the ACB Weekend Camp roadbooks. 

8. DARK SKIES RALLY WALES 

CONTENTS 

Just for the Dark Skies Wales event we 

printed 320 roadbooks for the event! 

3 - 2 - 1 Gooo !!!!! 

WRITTEN BY ROBERT HUGHES 

Dust beards, soggy socks and smiles 

for miles. Round one done! 

14. TO HELLAS AND BACK AGAIN 

Member Martin went roadbooking 

abroad and lived to tell the tale. 

17. RIDERS’ RIDES 

Steve dusts off the ol Tenere 

for a new life of adventures! 

19. TIPS & TRICKS 

Water crossings: No need for 

wobbling and wading. 

2 

Cover image: STUART GUMMER 

3

4 

5 



Another weekend in Kielder Forest, another 

eighteen riders now equipped with 

the tools and skills required to navigate 

their way through an Adventure Rally. 

“Fabulous, absolutely 

stunning. Just great doing 

something totally different 

that’s not all about speed. 

When you get into the 

rhythm it’s absolutely brilliant, 

but you’re only one 

little bit away from making 

a mistake! It’s hard work 

but brilliant.” 

- Bob


ROADBOOK + ADVENTURE RALLY 

// ACB WEEKEND CAMP 

the route, the roadbook, 

the recces // 

Haggsbank has some wonderful byways 

and unsurfaced roads around it. It sits on 

the eastern side of Cumbria in the north of 

England and although in Cumbria, most trails 

are either to the west, or north and east into 

Northumberland and County Durham. 

Tony Whitehead, from the RallyMoto 

Team has been trail riding the North for 

almost 20 years. Deciding where to go 

while ensuring all abilities and types of 

bike would get an enjoyable weekend 

really got the team thinking. What is 

easy for one bike or rider combination 

can be a nightmare for others and in 

the far north of England, there are some 

tricky lanes like there are in Wales and 

Yorkshire, while others are pleasant 

green lanes with awesome views. 

Tony and the Team ended up having an 

“easy” and “hard” route for each day. 

The next stage is to check the routes 

and all four of the roadbooks for the two 

days. Tony checks the routes by riding 

them on the roadbook on his own as 

it can be slow going making the necessary 

amends along the way. Tony’s 

usual riding buddies don’t bother riding 

with him as it’s a slow process and what 

might take us 5 hours riding, roadbook 

checking can take much longer, and 

then there are the gates! Tony hates 

gates but there are a few on the route ! 

6 

Adventure Cannonball Weekend Camp 

A vital part of route checkings is finding 

fuel at the right point on the course.. 

This also makes the creation of a route a 

problem at times because petrol stations 

are a bit scarce in places. We tend to 

aim for 65 miles maximum for fuel stops 

so it gives folks a break and easily manageable 

for bikes. 

Once the route has been checked, it is back 

on the computer to make the amends and 

finalise the roadbooks. In the case of the 

Haggsbank weekend, Tony then took the 

day one route and added some extra lanes, 

taking others out to make the alternative 

routes. 

The roadbook is then ridden blind by two 

other members of the team, this time it was 

Gabby and Alex that checked the roadbook 

but they had their own little adventure - 

there may be another tale to tell here! 

For the Sunday route Tony and the Team 

wanted to make it a bit shorter and use 

new routes and tracks as much as possible 

to give a different feel. It would be easy to 

just reverse the route, as riding lanes in the 

opposite direction gives a very different 

feel but rest assured there are some cracking 

views and lanes to ride. 

How easy is the easy route and how hard 

is the hard route? If you are new to trail 

riding on a big bike and are reasonably 

new to these types of adventures, take the 

easy route. If, on the other hand, you have 

a reasonable level of off road ability, have 

ridden your bike in Wales and the Yorkshire 

Dales or Moors, you should be OK on 

the hard route. 

Burt says the hard route is more like an 

Extreme Route in places - so if you are in 

doubt or on a big bike - go for the easy 

route. 

One lane on the hard route is very easily 

MUSIC | bbq | firepit 

2 days roadbooking! 

2 grades of routes! 


cut up so the local TRF try to dissuade folk 

from using it in the winter, spring and late 

autumn. In total, including riding to and 

from home, Tony will have racked up toward 

1,000km, 4+ days riding and many 

evenings at the computer - which is usual 

for creating a RallyMoto roadbook over a 

couple of days. 

The Adventure Camp routes are fantastic 

and you are in for a real treat with the 

whole Haggs Bank experience. 

See you there. 

7

8 

9 



Fantastic weekend, half killed me 

but loved it! 

James Nethell 

WALES 

DARK SKIES 

RALLY 

The sun shone, weather was sweet, so much so that riders seemed to (at least temporarily) 

enjoy wetting their feet in the infamous Nanty Moch water crossing. 

Round one of the Dark Skies Rally Trophy series kicked off on a scorching first weekend of 

August, and with entrants spread across three classes and navigating using their choice of 

either paper or digital roadbooks, it was nothing short of massive. 

Rally Class riders rode two stages on the Saturday, making their total distance to cover over 

400km long. It was a big day for both riders and organisers, but with such lush conditions 

and such a great group of riders, it made for a very enjoyable event. 

Congratulations to Dylan Williams who scored a total of 77 points in total. Second place 

went to Jon Sheppey with 81 points, followed by George Denninson and RallyMoto ambassador 

Rik Griffin both with 83 points. 

Adventure Class Zero Heros awards go to Mark Simmonds, Marcus Evans, Russell White, 

Jon Billings, Daniel Bloom and Harvey Camm. 

Well done all! 

What an amazing event great organisation 

great people, we had so much 

fun. Finding alternative routes with the 

southern Boyz, which will put us out of 

the results but who cares it was a great 

event and Helen is well up for the next 

event, if we are allowed back 2up. 

Thank you Burt and your team again for 

an amazing event. 

Gavin Webb & Helen Wilson 

Probably one of the best weekends I’ve had, even with my 

shoulder playing up. The rugby club and camp site were great 

hosts with good food. The route was awesome Burt, loved 

taking the big GS’s through the technical bit at the end. Have 

no idea where I finished and don’t really care to be honest. 

The weather was awesome along with the company, was great 

to see folks from previous events as well, totally awesome. 

Graham Bush



ROUND ONE WINNER 

DYLAN WILLIAMS// 

10 

6/7 AUGUST, 2022 

11

12 

13 



? 

CLOTHING 

LUGGAGE & 

HARD PARTS 

FOR 

LIGHTWEIGHT 

ADVENTURE 

MOTORCYCLING



TO HELLAS 

AND BACK AGAIN 

“What have you let yourself in for !” 

my mind screamed while stuck on the first steep hill 

only 30 minutes into the first day of the Hellas Rally. 

Totally exhausted and almost ready to throw in 

the towel after dragging my bike out of the ditch for 

the third time, a knight in shiny Lyndon Poskitt gear 

stopped and offered me a hand. Clearly made of sterner stuff, 

he pretty much pushed me up the hill while I gasped a heartfelt 

thanks and then he took off in a cloud of dust. Over the 

course of the week I saw many more acts of kindness that 

epitomised the spirit of the Hellas Rally. It was only 

when I finally made it back to the bivouac later that 

afternoon that it dawned on me what we’d signed 

up for and what the next six days had 

in store for us. Rumours of 

eleven people in hospital 

and a burnt out SSV 

circulated around the 

camp and this was only 

the first short prologue 

day. 

of great mates at a Desert Rose training day 

we made the rash decision to jump straight in 

at the off road deep end and sign up for the 

Hellas Rally. We contemplated waiting until 

next year and spending the intervening time 

getting in lots of practice riding and honing 

our skills in preparation for such a gruelling 

first time event. Then somehow we’d talked 

ourselves into diving straight in ....”fortune 

favours the brave” or something similar became 

our motto. Thankfully I managed to get 

away to Portugal with Desert Rose on a four 

day trail riding trip to practice reading the 

road book and get used to riding trails all 

day. My previous off road experience had 

been limited to a few laps around an 

enduro track, so this was an eye opener 

into the world of rally and what would 

be required to ride off road continuously 

for several hours a day. If you’re even 

contemplating your first rally then I 

can wholeheartedly recommend this 

or something similar to give you a 

taste of what’s to come. I’d ridden 

a few of the Rallymoto Icebreaker 

Challenge routes which had given 

me some much needed road book 

guidance (thanks Burt and team !) but 

when exhausted and still with 100km 

to go, faced with a junction of trails 

where a few options look plausible 

the difference is night and day. Even the SSVs 

with their dedicated navigators got lost along 

the way. 

So, armed with a few day’s trial riding practice 

and a couple more Desert Rose skills sessions 

with Harry, we set off for Loutraki. Walking 

into the bivouac for the first time was pretty 

daunting but everyone soon made us feel at 

home and readily gave us lots of tips. The 

main one was to ride at 70% of your capacity 

and just take each section as it comes.... and 

also liberally apply plenty of sudocrem. By 

day 4 it was a difficult decision as to whether 

to sit or stand while riding depending on 

which part of my body hurt most. I spotted 

a couple of riders riding side saddle on the 

road back to the bivouac after a demanding 

day off road and soon worked out why. Even 

through padded shorts the continuous bashing 

from the unforgiving enduro bike’s seat 

takes its toll, the scars have just about faded 

now ! I did look enviously at those brave and 

skillful enough to ride big, comfy adventure 

bikes until I watched them trying to haul their 

beasts upright for the umpteenth time. Despite 

the fatigue, aches and pains there were 

sections of sheer wonder that made you forget 

everything. The scenery was stunning and as 

we weren’t competing for any of the top spots 

we stopped occasionally to grab some fluids 

A few months 

prior while 

sat around 

with a 

couple 

Despite 

the fatigue, aches and 

pains there were sections of 

sheer wonder that made you 

forget everything. 

14 

15



and take in the views. Much of the riding 

in the mountains was along narrow, rocky 

trails with steep drop offs if you happened to 

stray off line. We passed one rider sitting by 

the side of the trail looking totally dejected. 

On stopping to check if he was ok he then 

pointed to a quad hanging from a branch 

about 20m below, I’m not sure how they recovered 

that one. 

The 3rd day was cancelled after a different 

quad caught fire and the organisers decided 

to inspect all the vehicles again for any 

potential safety issues. It provided a much 

needed day’s rest ahead of the 2 day marathon 

stages and an opportunity for the mechanics 

to carry out repairs. The marathon 

stages ( ~350km per day) were exhausting 

but amazing riding with the bivouac moving 

from Loutraki to Itea for the night. As Hellas 

is a cloverleaf rally with a stationary bivouac 

this gave us a taste of what future rallys with 

a moving bivouac would be like. 

The last day’s route was much shorter but 

still really tough going as we worked our 

way to the finish line. The sense of relief and 

overwhelming joy to finish the Hellas Rally 

with two amazing friends was immense. If 

you’re thinking of trying out a rally then I can 

recommend the Hellas Rally as a great place 

to start. There were lots of first timers of various 

levels of experience all in the same boat 

and plenty of seasoned rally veterans willing 

to lend a hand or pass on some much needed 

advice. Even if you’re a dab hand with the 

spanners (which I’m not) I’d suggest joining 

a fully supported team like Desert Rose for 

your first outing. The prospect of having to 

16 

work on my bike after a day’s riding would 

have been a bridge too far. Hats off to the 

Malle Moto class guys who weren’t allowed 

any form of support. 

Thanks to the team at Desert Rose Racing 

and the Hellas Rally guys for an amazing experience, 

and to RallyMoto for hosting some 

great events. The Icebreaker and 

RallyMoto road book events were 

invaluable training for learning 

roadbook skills and prepping for 

Hellas. 

We’ll be back for another 

Hellas Rally 

and hopefully a 

few others in 

between. 

By Martin Liu 

All images by 

Actiongraphers 

STEVE’S 

1988 YAMAHA 

XT 600 TENERE 

My brother in law was a farmer 

in New Zealand and he always admired 

the cattle ranches in Australia 

- the cattle trails where they used to herd 

the cattle to market 1000 miles. He wanted 

to ride the cattle trails so I said well, there 

are no petrol stations in the middle of the 

desert. So I found a company in Melbourne 

who hired XTs out and they supplied tents 

and a backup truck and all that. We did 

Darwin to Melbourne one year and Perth 

to Melbourne another year through the 

deserts, all on the XTs. So I bought this 

in England to get used to the XT before I 

went. That was 17 years ago and it’s been 

in the garage ever since. But then I saw 

and advertisement in MCN about bespoke 

rallies who are doing a rally to Dakar this 

November from Brooklands Race track in 

London to Dakar, so I’m going to do it on 

this. 

It was only MOT’d about three weeks ago 

so I thought this (Kielder Adventure Rally 

Camp) would be a good test because I live 

»Riders’ 

rides« 

in Somerset so it’s about a thousand mile 

round trip. 

The bike itself is all original apart from the 

suspension. The front forks have been uprated 

to progressive springs and there’s a 

new shock on the back. 

I bought it just after it was imported from 

Italy in 2003 so it was in pretty good condition. 

I’ve stripped it down back to the frame and 

repainted the frame and put new decals on 

it. 

WANT TO CHAT BIKE? 

Tell us about your ride - robert@rallymoto.co.uk 

17

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19 


THE TOUR OF PORTUGAL 

30 Sept – 2 Oct 2022 


TIPS AND TRICKS 

WATER CROSSINGS 

A FULL 3 DAY OFF ROAD 

ADVENTURE RALLY FOR ALL 

RALLY AND ADVENTURE BIKES! 

BIG DISTANCES, FULL 

TRACKING, FULL ADVENTURE 

RULES AND A REAL ROADBOOK 

TREAT THROUGH SOME 

STUNNING SCENERY. 

1. CHECK THE DEPTH 

It seems obvious, but water levels of crossing 

you may be very familiar with can rise and fall 

dramatically depending on rainfall and drainage, 

and they can catch you out if you’re not 

careful! Take a moment to assess the situation 

and find a route around if your think your 

out of your depth (sorry!). 

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH 

2. CHOOSE YOUR LINE. 

The track is still there under the water even 

though you can’t see it! If it’s a 4x4 route, 

then ride in the ruts where it’s most compacted, 

normally either side of the center line. 

Mud and stoney build up will generally be 

pushed into the center and into the sides by 

the bank. 

3 - 2 - 1 

3. PICK YOUR SPEED. 

Who doesn’t like making a big splash? However, pinning it through deep water is 

super risky if you don’t know what you’re riding through. Mud can suck you down, 

an unexpected rock can ping you off, plus you end up soaked which you may or 

may not appreciate later on in the day. Not enough power however can leave you 

wobbling and unstable, and likely to stall. Pick a low gear where you can keep the 

revvs high and the bike progressing steadily through the water. 

GOOOOOOOO! 

4. FIND YOUR FOCUS. 

Watching your front wheel won’t help you when you can’t see 

what it’s riding over, and besides your focus should always be 

directed ahead towards where you want to go, not towards what 

you want to avoid! Keep focused on the exit of the crossing, 

stand up for greater stability and cruise through it like a pro!


@rallymotouk 

RallyMoto: Adventure 

Rally & Roadbook 

Challenges 

RallyMoto: Rally & 

Adventure Riding 

by Roadbook Group 

THANK YOU! 

To all RallyMoto members for providing their continued support 

and for taking part in promoting Adventure Rallying in the UK, 

and to our awesome partners and sponsors... 

If you have any rally stories or news you’d 

like to contribute to the magazine please 

email Burt on robert@rallymoto.co.uk 

20

RallyMoto Magazine July - August

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