4th European Cagiva Elefant Meeting/Treffen 2004 UK

When
Where
How to get There
Cost & Booking
Tips & Pointers
Things to Do
Happenings or Days Events
The Actual Event
Who Came

Specially Made for the first 60 Registered Elefants

There will be a special gift for the first 50 registered Elefants so make sure you fill in the registration form on the booking page. It is machined from solid billet and will be supplied with stainless steel bolts to suit. The picure shows an early development version and you can see that this will be a highly prized item so get your registration in early.

When

June 18 - 20 2004

Where

GPS Latitude & Longtitude  N51º 18' 32'   W0º 39' 13'

National Rifle Association Camp - Bisley  Hampshire. The campsite allocated is indicated by the red square.

How to get there

If you are coming from mainland Europe the closest ferry terminals are Dover and Portsmouth. The P & O Ferry line is running a special until 1st march phone them and quote 9632. The riders coming from The Netherlands would benefit from using the Felixstowe ferry terminal and the ride from there is quite good. In my experience the early morning or evening sailing times are the cheapest and advance booking is the way to go. If there are a number of you riding together perhaps you can organise a better rate. If I hear of anything on the go I will put it up on the website at once.

If you are coming from the UK then follow the directions below.

How to get there from the M3

The best approach is to use the M25. Get off at junction 12 and go South towards Southhampton Basingstoke. On the M3 come off at junction 3 onto the A322. Follow the directions for Woking or Guildford. Stay on the A322 until to you come into Bisley there is a small welcome to Bisley sign at the side of the road at the next set of traffic lights (not pedestrian crossings) there is a white and red sign marked Bisley Camp NRA at the junction with Queens Road. You need to turn RIGHT here. Be careful the road is quite windy and at the end there is a sharp turn into the NRA Camp. I will try to put Elefant signs up to help mark the way, have a look out for it. The camp site is just inside the gate up on the right hand side in front of the Hunters Lodge. There is plenty of grass to camp on so move closeup to the Hunters Lodge building. If you can bring some English cash with you on Friday this will be helpful to pay for accommodation and food until you can sort yourself out. There is a supermarket nearby with cash machines as well as a fuel station.

Cost & Booking  click on this link.

Tips and Pointers

•  If you are coming from outside the UK and you have a liking for spirits, bring a bottle or 2 for your own use. Spirits are quite heavily taxed here and so are relatively expensive. this follows for Tobacco goods as well. The duty free allowances are quite generous as long as it is for your own use. Don't bring beer as the best in the west is brewed here and is heavy to carry.

•  June weather can bring some showers but is usually quite warm. The camp site has hot and cold showers and the hot water is not metered. A tent is advisable,  but not absolutely necessary. I know that some like to sleep in the open (Marcus - ha ha).

• I am arranging some form of riding event on the Saturday and a meal in the evening. The evening event will not be formal, for obvious reasons but at this stage the type of meal will depend on the numbers coming.

•  Please remember speeding is a problem in the UK especially in the slower zones. The speeds are marked in MPH and not KPH so here is a rough guide. Most speed trapping is done by camera some hidden and some obvious. They do use manned traps so be careful.

Generally speaking all built up streets with lights are 30mph unless marked and single lane country roads are 60mph. Motorways (M**) are 70mph but most people travel about 75-80 so just keep an eye on the other traffic. Helmets have to be worn at all times but headlights are not compulsory in the daytime (only advisory). Fuel is not a problem to get but is more expensive that in France. Unleaded is approx 78p (1.3 Eur) / Litre.

•  If you want to tour the country before or after the event accommodation will vary quite a lot but I would expect you to be able to get reasonable Bed & Breakfast  for approximately £50-75 per night. In some areas B&B can be as low as £30 so perhaps a little browsing on the web will help. Camping is very cheap and most villages & towns have very good facilities. a lot of camp sites will take bookings but usually if you are touring and only staving 1 or 2 nights most places will find you a spot. There are quite a number of Elefant Riders in the UK so email them and ask them for advise in their area.

The Actual Event

The event went relative smoothly but as the organiser I did not have enough time to spend with everyone. My wife Ronelle was a great ambassador for me and I must mention that for any future events the organisers should appoint a person whose sole responsibility is to meet and greet everyone and see to their needs. Here are a few images that I have and perhaps some of the riders will send me some to put up on this page.

Click on the images to get a more detailed view but please be patient as the images are quite large.

Who came