The day 10,000 bikes descended on Wootton Bassett

Yesterday was a momentus day.

The Ride of Respect is the biking communities’ way of acknowledging the sacrifices made by our troops but also the people of Wootton Bassett and surrounding areas who line the streets and pay their respects every time a repatriation takes place. In a sense, they do this on the nation’s behalf so yesterday was about acknowledging that. This was payback time.

The day itself started with the trip down the M4 from London. This is normally a boring old schlep, but not yesterday. Bike after bike after bike after bike was travelling westwards – a whole movement was on the move. Many were adorned with flags and banners and the obligatory nods, waves, leg extensions etc were made to acknowledge fellow riders. The day felt good.

Bikers are generally a pretty patriotic bunch - each had their own reasons for giving up their time to do this but those reasons don’t need to be discussed. It is what it is and that’s accepted. Anyway, after a short pit-stop at Membury and a meet up with some pals, it was onto the ride starting point at Hullavington Airfield – and what a sight to behold this was. It looked like an army was mobilizing. There were hundreds upon hundreds of bikes of all shapes and sizes - a real show of force. Take a look:

Hullavington Airfield
Moving into position
Let the thunder roll!!! 

If truth be told there was quite a lot of hanging around before the off but the roads to Wootton Bassett are small and windy so a free-for-all was never going to be allowed to happen. Instead, we were let go in batches of a few hundred at a time so this took some time to organize. But it didn’t matter - the atmosphere was great and there was a lot of machinery to look at and admire. Thankfully, the threatened rain didn’t arrive.

The ride itself was what made the day special. The route we took to Wootton was around 16 miles or so and there were people lining the road all the way in. Houses were decked out with flags and bunting and they clapped and waved us through. We reciprocated by hooting, revving engines and high-fiving people as we rode slowly past. Kids in particular were loving it (which bodes well for the future of biking) - this was a very special atmosphere. Of course, these are people who are often sneeringly referred to by the Islington set as “little Englanders” or, horror of horrors, “Daily Mail readers”. The truth however is that they are simply patriotic, respectful and proud – and thankfully, in this miserably politically-correct age of ours, they are not afraid to show it.

Wootton Bassett, when we arrived was packed – and basked in sunshine. Remember that the first bikes had gone out at 9.00am and we were arriving at just past 1.00pm. Yet the enthusiasm with which we were received was palpable and absolutely genuine (although by this time the pubs were open so maybe that helped!). It was a slow crawl through the town – at one point I actually stopped the bike to gently “high-five” a little tot who was being held in her dad’s arms. She beamed with pleasure – another little tick against the reputation of the biking fraternity, I hope. And then it was over - all too quickly in fact.

Overall, I was very proud to have been a part of the event and I know the people I was with felt the same. The organisers, marshals and everybody involved in putting the event on deserve great credit. What will stay with me is the camaraderie amongst the biking community and the warmth of the people of Wootton Bassett. Here’s a little bit of video footage of the ride (courtesy of Patch):

Ride of Respect footage