Ride To The Wall (RTTW) 2021

[Millietant]

This morning I set off with a couple of friends to join in the annual "Ride To The Wall" event. This is a memorial event/service dedicated to the fallen in the armed and emergency services, since the end of WW2.

There is/was no public memorial to these heroes until the National Memorial Arboretum was created back in the late 2000's - and what an awesome place it is. If you guys want to know more about the history of the event and the Arboretum, here's a couple of links.

https://www.rttw.org/

https://www.thenma.org.uk/

Suffice it to say that today was the most emotional, distressing, uplifting and memorable event that I've ever visited. Out of around 10,000 mostly middle aged male, total attendees (8,000 pre-registered and 2,000 pay-on-the-gate), I'd be surprised if there were a handful of people who didn't tear-up at some point, with the tributes, stories and interviews with relatives of those who have been lost.

The Memorial Wall at the Arboretum bears the name of all the service people lost since WW2 - and if not for this, there would be NO public memorial for these souls anywhere in the UK.

We joined the crowds waiting to set off (at Leicester Forest Services on the M1 motorway, where around 450 bikes had gathered) from one of the 11 start points across the UK. Each of the groups set off at various times and along various routes (some of them long-distance, by UK standards) timed so that groups arrived in a fashion that didn't create massive queues and traffic jams. The Police helped massively, by closing roads temporarily to allow each group to safely leave the start point together (the groups ranged from 100 to about 800 riders per site, 1500 who were making their own way there and with an estimated 2000 bikes arriving which had not pre-registered at all), and then escorting us, clearing junctions so that we could stay in out groups, all the way to the venue - in our case, that was only 50 miles, but involved 3 police forces. Their dedication to helping us get there safely was utterly commendable, especially as they totally turned a blind eye to many illegal exhausts and small numberplates.

Words can't express the emotions of the day but hopefully a few photo's and links to a bit of video footage of a couple of excerpts from the Tribute videos shown, might help. The music chosen to back up the videos also voiced the feelings of everyone present...."Brothers In Arms" and "Heroes"  

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qmEoF7T04BeoQYQiTMSkU65D_Hbb91-K/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JGQnjBgz5WD2aatfM8NVad1PrfwDYh63/view?usp=sharing

The only downside to the day was the weather. Some parts of the UK had heavy and rain and Thunder/Lightning first thing this morning. We were lucky in that it started out dry, then started to rain just as our Group set off, then it rain all through the Memorial and Services and then rained even harder on the ride home.

Luckily, I'd chosen to take a one-piece waterproof oversuit which I put on over the two-piece waterproof textile suit I normally wear, for the journey home. Thankfully I was completely dry when I got home, however my pals couldn't say the same and both are regretting spending nearly £800 each ($1,100+) on their posh Halvarsson's suits