A Motorbike mad father from Sunderland has ridden up to the French Alps as part of the Euro Bike Rally 2016 in Les Saisies, France.
Every year, a motorbike rally is held and this year, Ray Inskipp, from Ryhope in Sunderland, organised an Annual CBX Euro Rally to the Alps.
Inskipp’s journey through the Alps initially involved a three day period of travelling down to Portsmouth and then crossing the channel via a ferry. After the 500 mile journey on the ferry, the bikers travelled down to the Alps. The journey down to Portsmouth was not very pleasant but the remainder of the journey to France was better.
Ray Inskipp is based in Ryhope in Sunderland and is the organiser for the CBX Euro Rally to the Alps. He said: “There were initially 32 bikers who were joining to meet the other members at the Alps. These 32 bikers were British. Then there were a further 120 motorcycles for more members to join this annual bike race.
“There was a good mix of people from all other European nationalities at the annual bike race.”
These members travelled for about 250 miles to Dijon in the east of France before reaching the Alps. During the journey on the Alps, Inskipp encountered many challenges.
He said: “We unloaded the bikes from the trailer and got ready for our journey to the port. George joined us on the trip. Within ten minutes we were already to go. My bike and Norman’s were running and ready. George’s bike was playing up. One of the spark plugs had oiled up so had to be replaced. At last we were on our way to the Port.
“We only covered about ten miles and Normans bike started to misfire. He thought it was the spark unit but actually the bike was going on reserve tank.”
Inskipp continued: “We were all up early for our final part of the journey to Les Saisies in the French Alps where the French Euro was being held, approximately 230 miles away.
“The weather was bad. It was so bad we had to delay our start until the rain eased. Even with the bad weather we made the rally site in good time. The organisers of the rally gave us a warm welcome and we also met up with some of the European CBX family we had not seen since the 2015 Euro in Ireland.”
Inskipp added: “I booked all the ferries so all the paperwork was in my name on arrival at the port. I had to show my passport and paperwork with all our party’s details on. I looked for my passport but couldn’t find it. I went to the Border Control and made them aware that I had lost my passport. They pointed me in the direction of the French Immigration. I turned around to the boys and asked them to board the ferry. I couldn’t believe it when the boys were not allowed to get on as I had booked the tickets.
“The French Immigration were very helpful and sympathetic. They phoned the British Immigration, asked me a few questions and made me fill in a form. I was allowed to board with the boys. On our arrival at Portsmouth the Border Control were very helpful. It took longer than normal to get through but none the less I did.”
Ray Inskipp was the one who organised this Annual CBX Euro Bike Rally club. He said: “The club has got quite a following and it’s great that we’ve got so many people to do the rally.”