The Leyland Festival Bike Procession

Blog Date - 24 September 2012

To be honest I didn't know Leyland had a festival...or that the festival has a procession.  Yet through the power of faceache I was invited to join The Leyland Festival Bike Procession.  All I knew after the invitation was that I needed to be at the Centurian Way industrial estate by 1100.  On the Saturday morning the sun was shining and I thought I'd best get myself there to see what it's all about.

This is what a Rat bike should be, used, simple, dirty and functional.  One of the biker's ride at the procession.

What I learned was that there's a parade right through the centre of Leyland.  The parade, from what I could see, comprised of lots of motorised vehicles ranging from vintage lorries, I hope some of them were Leyland lorries, right through to a bona fide racing sidecar outfit.  I did not learn why any of this was going on or what purpose it served, but I was happy to admire the trucks, cars, lorries, buses, fire engines oh and of course, the bikes.

A vintage fire truck.  There were many vintage vehicles and a selection of modern ones too.

The motorcycle contingent was made up of random bikers, mostly from Millenium BC and the Leyland Eagles, a handful of trikes and some pesky scooters too.  I arrived at 1040 but as is the way of these things we did not move off until after 1200.  We crawled, pipped out horns, waved, overheated and stalled our way through Leyland past crowds of onlookers.  From time to time there was a chorus of horns and a crescendo of revving engines.  It was hot, my bike behaved itself but several fell by the wayside due to overheating. 

Plenty of bikers on their bikes as we pass through the crowds.  This was a quiet moment when I took this picture.

What a strange sensation.  Riding in a pack I've done before but never through crowd lined streets.  My bike's as plain as can be, I was merely making up numbers, but the crowd seemed to enjoy the trikes and the Harley's and the loud streetfighters.  The whole parade finally made it's way to Worden Park and many of the riders followed.  I'd had my fill so I carried on with a detour back home to cool the motor and to charge the battery.  I'm glad I went and well done to the organisers, both of the motorcycle contingent and of the whole parade and festival.  They struck lucky with the weather, I daresay that may be one of the last good days weatherwise this year. 

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