MOTO CLUBE DE HAMMOCKS

or the 27th Moto Clube Faro rally 2008 the biggest ever.

This is a rally that I fully intended to attend on a bike, however the opportunity to have a cheap, short break holiday was not to be ignored. So I packed my holdall and off I went.

Landed at Faro at about 2.30pm and it was hot, picked the luggage up and made the short walk to the site. After viewing several locations a place to pitch the tent was found. Didn't have to pay entry money as it was only Wednesday and the site didn't officially open until Thursday. There wasn't many tents there but by Saturday there wouldn't be any room left.
Caroline had brought a hammock with her and had looked very carefully to ensure we had two trees beside her tent to hang the hammock on, she brought out two screws and I put them in the trees, unfortunately the trees were just too far apart but a piece of strong string sorted it. Caroline jumps into the hammock and she is like a pig in shit and offers me a go, so I get in gingerly and as I'm raising my last leg, the hook gives way and I land  on my back with a thud and it hurt. When she eventually stops laughing she passes me a bigger hook and all is well, I don't try the hammock again.

Caroline and Jude take me to a restaurant that they know where the food is good. We get there to find that it is full but we persuade the owner to set the tables up outside. We order sardines as a starter but the plates that are put in front of us and the appearance of spuds and salad tells us it is the main course, and they were delicious. Store fed we amble back to the site.

Thursday morning see's us queuing for our tickets and goody bag. There's a massive queue but we are told to go to the front, why, we don't know and never found out but we didn't complain. We meet David and Tracy who are going to pitch their tent and join us at a later day. The goody bag contained, pencil, pen, condoms, t-shirt, metal badge, patch, postcard, metal wall plate, 3 meal vouchers and a bin bag. All this for 35 euros. When we went into Faro lots of shops had the Moto Clube Faro flag hanging outside to let you know that you would get a discount from that shop. The town had blocked carriageways off to make room for bike parking, even the town square had barriers up to allow bikers to park and this was for the whole weekend. A free bus ran from the site to Faro every half hour.

There was a free medical centre on site. Constant security going round site as well as a fire tender to look out for fires. When you got too hot there was an area where you could stand under a fine spray of water which cooled you down. There were sand artists, people on stilts and the most diversity of foods you could ask for. When we went round the stalls it was just like any other rally you would go to in England as they were selling the same stuff.

There’s lots more I could write but you need to go yourself. It was a very good rally and I would recommend it to everyone.

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