VSCC Lakeland Trial 2013 Old Scales Hill

It's a long time since we've seen two five o clocks in a day but that's when we got up, grabbed a quick breakfast and loaded the food & cold weather gear into the ZR for a trip to the Lake District to marshal at this great event.

An uneventful run across the A66 saw us arriving at Old Scales hill with enough time to sign on, grab a cuppa & a sarnie before heading up the hill before the nine o clock opening.

The morning was busy with a steady stream of cars and the hill got steadily muddier. Much to our surprise this was better for the contestants as more cars were clearing the hill as the day progressed.

With no lunch break we munched and drank on the hill which was better than having a dead period in the middle of the day.

Time passed quickly until about three o clock when it came to a dead halt. There were six cars that hadn't attempted this hill, but we had no idea if they were coming or not so we had to keep the hill open. Finally about quarter past four we were told we could close the hill, which was 15 minutes early.

By the time we cleared and packed away the hill markers and stuffed the wet muddy gear in the boot it was close to five before we left the hill.

We had a great day, and so did the contestants we spoke to. It wasn't as wet and cold as it could have been which was a bonus.

The other bonus of marshalling at these events is the chance to drive on roads that are normally closed to the public

We stopped off for a weclome hot meal on the way home and got home just over twelve hours after we set out, and put just shy of 200 miles on the ZR.

Weary, we took the essentials out of the boot and left the muddy gear for a Sunday morning clean up.