20th-22nd August – Women in Motorcycling Exhibition, Tutbury Castle, Derbyshire

Our President, Secretary and Treasurer spent the weekend at the inaugural WIM (Women in Motorcycling) event at Tutbury Castle in Derbyshire.

Meeting at the South Mimms Truck stop, where, if you have time, you can get an enormous greasy spoon brekkie; sadly we didn’t this time.

We already planned not to ride on motorways if at all possible and, as the camp ground didn’t open until 4pm, we took a reasonably leisurely ride up. Stopping for lunch we came across a wonderful hideaway, a converted milking shed.. absolutely unique.

Arriving just after 4pm we signed in and set up our tents. The weather had been behaving itself all day, so luckily not wet yet!

Obviously a good opportunity for some groupies and face pulling….

The main event was on Saturday so this evening was just a chance to look around and meet up with the other Wimmin, some old faces and new, then enjoy sitting in the bar tent listening to a great singer and throwing the body around too.

Some rain through the night but the next morning dawns dry but foreboding…

PC and Pogs have a wander down to the village, very picturesque it was too. They were joined by a couple of Peacocks, who just seemed to be wandering around enjoying a peaceful Saturday morning too.

Back to the exhibition and waiting to go into the centre of the castle… it starts to rain

Inside the area there were a few stalls to mosey around. The event had a full programme of talks and workshops, some of which we attended. We also got to sit on some bikes too

before it really started lashing down. A quick decision and down to the village for an extremely leisurely lunch.. yummy.

Back for a final look at the exhibition, which included a gallery of Wimmin and their bikes

Another evening in the bar and then on Sunday a quick pack up, we had to be off the site by 10am. PC and Pogs made their way back to London while Torchie was off to Wales for a few days with the GBMCC.

A small but interesting event, we wish it well for future years. The event was hampered by the weather, there should have been many more Wimmen there, but guess the weather put them off.