Henley Rally, 23–30 July 2026

Sadly, due to work commitments we were unable to join our fellow ralliers until Saturday, missing out on Music and General knowledge quizzes. On our arrival we were met with a very warm welcome from Gill and Mike, the organisers. A game of boules was just about to start in the shade under the trees. That evening we were introduced to ‘Sticky 13’s’ and played bingo. The next day we were treated to delicious bacon rolls and a raffle. Every evening there was a gathering, we especially enjoyed the fish and chips! Gill was very clear that you didn’t have to join in – meeting up was entirely optional. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming and as this is only our 4^th rally we can see why people love the experience of doing them so much.

Henley itself is a lovely town, we were so honoured that they had put the flags up for our arrival (or maybe they were left over from the Regatta??). There is an abundance of independent shops, supermarkets, cafes and pubs to explore. Many people enjoyed a boat trip on the Thames. We went to the cinema (mainly as it was air conditioned) and we went for a swim at the Leisure centre – both excellent facilities. We very much enjoyed the Angel Pub by the river watching the world go by. We went into London one day which was very painless on the train. Marlow and Reading were accessible on easy bus routes.

The wildlife on the camping field, just a 10-minute walk from Henley, was amazing. We have had several red kites flying over, delighting the photographers amongst us. There were flocks of parakeets; nibbling rabbits in the evening and one night I woke to see 20 – 30 deer tucking into the trees on the edge of the field!

This has been a very memorable rally. Thank you to Gill and Mike and their trusty assistant Julie for making this a great rally.

Vicky Hammerton

Durham Rally, 15-22 July 2026

Well I’m not quite sure how I volunteered to write the report for the Durham rally so bear with me...

We arrived at Durham after a foggy journey across the hills from the Lake District to be greeted by Stewards Bill and Jude, accompanied by their assistants Frank and Sue and the expert car parking group of Alan and Pete.

We had a get together the first afternoon where Bill (with Jude prompting him) went through the usual formalities and everyone got a ham and pease pudding bap and a chocolate orange. What a wonderful start to the week!

This was their first rally as stewards and so we were keen to offer support, Sue laid on a selection of lovely cakes to celebrate Julie and Alan England’s 59th wedding anniversary before a lot of us headed over to the Rugby Club house bar, only to get depressed by the demise of England in the World Cup.

The next few days were a mixture of sightseeing and games. Durham is a lovely city and an easy walk to and from. Over the weekend there was an abundance of entertainment, whether you wanted the history of the city through the castle and cathedral, or the vibrancy provided by the many various bands playing everywhere you looked.

Back on site, we were given an afternoon of games, quizzes and laughter followed by a yummy cream tea.

The weather was wonderful and walking around the city centre it seemed that, every way you turned, a fellow rallier wasn’t faraway!

The weekend finished on Sunday with Bingo, the legendary Pete’s Sticky Thirteens accompanied by new elastic bands(!) and the Bottle Game where Sooty made an appearance but alas didn’t win.

We ended the evening with Nick and Loraine’s capybara racing, which was entertaining to say the least, especially when three of five capybaras fell over and the other two just wanted to turn around - but it was all good fun.

We finished on Tuesday with bacon butties. I must say, they were the best I’ve had for a long time, and a great raffle with a fantastic selection of prizes.

All in all a great week was had and we will be definitely back next year.

Congratulations Bill and Jude on your first rally, you did a wonderful job.

Graham Beale

Cockermouth Rally, 8-15 July

Our rally at Cockermouth Rugby Club proved to be a wonderful week, blessed with glorious sunshine and beautiful views stretching across the countryside to the east.

From the moment we arrived, we received a warm welcome from our hardworking stewards and assistant stewards, Jules and Greg Ryan, together with Myra and Ken Stevens. They organised a fun-packed, well-run rally that everyone thoroughly enjoyed.

The week got off to a great start with a friendly evening get-together and an evening with delicious jacket potatoes and chilli, beans and cheese.

Throughout the rally there were plenty of opportunities to socialise, including a horseracing game, coffee morning with tasty bacon baps and a raffle, a savoury supper, and lots of laughter playing the Bottle Game and Sticky 13s and Last Man Standing.

For the more energetic members, ten ralliers tackled the gruelling Catbells Loop, near Keswick in sweltering temperatures, racking up over 25,000 steps each. Their reward was a well-earned visit to Keswick's quirky Wetherspoons, a fascinating converted courthouse complete with its original prison cells!

We took the opportunity to explore the charming towns of Keswick and Cockermouth, with its glorious floral displays running down the centre of the High Street. Some travellers ventured further afield than us, to explore more of the beautiful Lake District countryside.

Football fans gathered in the clubhouse to enjoy the England v Norway and France v Spain matches together, adding to the friendly atmosphere.

It was a superbly organised rally with something for everyone, and the beautiful weather made it even more memorable.

On behalf of everyone on the field, a huge thank you to Jules, Greg, Myra and Ken and other volunteers (Paul and Sandra, to name but two), for all your hard work in making the week such a success. Your efforts were very much appreciated, and we all went onwards with happy memories of another highly enjoyable Auto-Trail Owners' Club rally.

Lindsay Bramble

Rutland Rally, 30 June-6 July.

First Time Ralliers
 
We only bought our Auto-Trail in March and joined the ATOC shortly afterwards. At that point we had absolutely no idea what the club was all about. Fast forward a few weeks and we found ourselves nervously pulling on to the rally field at Rutland where we were given the warmest of welcomes. It’s fair to say we were a little concerned, in our 4 years of motorhoming experience prior to now we’ve rarely stayed more than 1 or 2 nights on a site and here we were for almost a week. We were officially welcomed by our awesome stewards Sandra and Paul Bingham at the intro meeting, survived the photograph and started to meet lots of very friendly people. A couple of beers later and we were settling in to things and enjoying ourselves.
 
Over the following few days we explored the local area including garden centres, Oakham, Stamford, the shores of Rutland Water and every coffee shop in between. Over the last few days we’ve shoehorned so much in, yet everything has been at a relaxed and comfortable pace of life. We’ve consumed gallons of tea, coffee, beer, wine, not to mention the bacon butties and cheese and biscuits.
 
A special thank you to Ken for helping us fix an issue with the fridge on our van, it seems the ATOC really have got all bases covered and have been so helpful.
 
To anyone that’s like we were a week ago and wondering if this is the right club for them, I can only wholeheartedly recommend it. We’ve enjoyed ourselves so much that we’ve already booked a further couple of rallies.
 
Thank you so much to Stewards Sandra and Paul, Assistants Greg and Jules, and Ken and Myra and all the other attendees here, many of which we already consider friends.
 
Finally, I’d like to offer my apologies to everyone at the Rally, it seems Tracy and I won most of the prizes in this evening’s games night (we won’t mention coming last in the quiz) and look forward to the raffle in the morning before making our way home.
 
It’s been a blast

Paul & Tracey Spencer

Abingdon Rally, 24 June-1 July (apologies for the late publication of this rally report, the email got lost in SPAM!)

Well, what can I say? The weather was super hot and sunny with some ralliers seeking shade under the trees. I thought of sleeping outside the van a couple of nights, such was the heat, but the ants put me off!

It was our first time at Abingdon Cricket Club, which had easy access to the town just across the river bridge, so a good spot for the rally. Plenty of places to eat, drink and shop.

The rally organisation by Lorraine and Nick, the stewards, was first class and they both went to great lengths to make sure everyone was well informed of daily activities, which were many and varied.

Meet and Greet on the Wednesday with Sangria or soft drinks and nibbles, and afternoon tea, sandwiches and scones and cream on Saturday, lovely.

The Capybara Racing was a fun event, well participated and enjoyed by all, as was the games event on the last but one night.

Everyone was impressed by the effort put in by Lorraine and Nick to make this a very enjoyable rally. Well done! We'll hopefully return next year.

Gary and Joanna Halford

York Rally, 23-29 June

Unfortunately Clive and I had to arrive a day late, as we had to go home to get new leisure batteries, but I know Sue, John, Pat and Mike made everyone welcome when they had their usual get together where fees are paid and raffle tickets sold and everyone gets to say Hello. Everyone was warned about the friendly old fox who loves shoes, so not advisable to leave them outside or they could disappear and yes, Roger caught him with one of his crocs which fortunately he dropped.

It was a nice free and easy rally as there is so much to see and do in York. People were out most days. A lovely walk by the river or buses stopped at the end of the road to get into the city. Lovely old buildings to see, the magnificent Minster, the Shambles, an old cobbled street with quaint shops, the Jorvik centre, the castle and museum to name a few. We had a sail on the river, something we've not done for many years.

Friday evening we met up for wine and nibbles. How lovely to be able to sit in the sun till late in the evening.

Pete and Sharon organised a couple of games of Sticky 13s and Clive and I organised a couple of games of bingo while the wine flowed.

Sunday morning saw our last get together. Sue had rather a sad and unsettling announcement to make that, during the night, Trevor and Tina had their 2 electric bikes stolen from the back of their van despite being well fastened and padlocked. Fortunately insured, but just reminds us that, in this day and age, nothing is safe. I hope that they've managed to get things sorted and it hasn't put them off rallying, and hope we see them again soon. 

So to the raffle and what a raffle it was. I didn't count the number of prizes but there were two tables stacked with them. Sue ran it tombola style and no, I didn't win the most prizes but, on my second and last prize was a message asking me to write the rally report, so here I am.

A huge Thank You to our stewards who work hard during the rally but not forgetting the work they do before we all arrive. Without our stewards we couldn't have rallies!

Janice Patterson

Skipton Rally, 16-23 June

Firstly, we would like to introduce ourselves as new members to Auto Trail rallying.

We are Nina and Steve from Wigan and although both have travelled extensively in the past , myself in a camper van and Steve in a caravan, we decided 18 months ago to ' go large ' and buy a Fiat Ducato Auto Trail and absolutely love it.

We were in Bude last year having a test drive and met a guy who could say nothing but good about the Auto Trail Owners’ Club, so we joined and here we are on our first rally at Riverside Campsite, Skipton.

As usual the pair of us are always late to the party and when I checked, Skipton was fully booked, which shows how popular this venue is. I contacted Mike Lambourne and he checked and we were lucky to be able to fill a cancellation. Thank you, Mike!

Upon arrival, check in was smooth and we were given a very warm welcome by Mike and assistants. We had an itinerary sheet handed to us and we were advised to get water, shown where to deposit waste and rubbish before we were positioned on site in a corner which was perfect as we have two dogs.

Riverside Campsite is a working farm so countryside rules do apply. However this did not stop the wonderful views and great walks along the river and canal into Skipton.

The train line does run parallel to the site and is busy but it did not spoil our time here. I would describe this site as peaceful.

If you enjoy walking its four miles from the campsite on the canal from Cononley to Skipton town . There is a regular train service back, £4.80 return for two.

You can walk along the river into Skipton, it maybe slightly more challenging underfoot. Steve and I used part of this walk as a circular and walked back through the village where there is a lovely pub called The Railway .The hospitality was good here with a lovely selection of food and beers. These were sampled and enjoyed !

On our week’s stay, we were able to travel short distances from Cononley by car visiting Grassington and Bolton Abbey. We were blown away by the beauty of North Yorkshire.

Bolton Abbey was the favourite of the week for me as we got to do an amazing walk along the river, including stepping stones, and see the Abbey in all its glory. It’s good for families with young children, as there is a great adventure trail all along and a beach by the river. Marty and Oscar, our dogs, loved the walk.

There were bike rides organised and walks if people wanted to participate. (I enjoyed looking at Mike’s white board every morning to see what was going on)

Mike, April and helpers made evenings fun. We had a welcome drink on the first night and were informed of local information, shops, pub, trains, stuff that is very helpful when planning your week.

Every night Mike and his helpers arranged quizzes, bingo (the four corners got a lot of comments and laughter!), Sticky 13s (that was a new one for me!) - I did enjoy it. I also enjoyed winning the bingo and raffle.

A lot of hard work behind the scenes to make the rally fun. There was beer tasting , beer brought in by a fellow rally neighbour, all donations to RNLI - a very worth while cause.

We left the rally on a high, determined to attend more and meet up again with new acquaintances, as everyone that we met made Steve and I very welcome, were very helpful and informative and, more than anything, kind.

Thank you again for our welcome card and first timers’ plaque. They have gone in our memory scrap book.

Nina and Steve

Ripon Rally, 9-16 June

We really enjoyed this rally - it was very well run by Michael and April, ably assisted by David and Linda. We were welcomed on our first night with wine and nibbles and at some other social events they provided cakes for us. There was something organised every day, if you were so inclined, including quizzes, bingo, sticky 13’s, a walk to hear the Hornblower at the Obelisk (something that has been done every day since the Middle Ages) and even a games evening (adapted to our abilities!)

Everyone was very friendly and sociable and Jeff brought along his home made beers for ‘tasting’ and raised over £80 for RNLI.

Though it rained a few times, it didn’t stop all our intrepid adventurers and people got out and about, with walks into Ripon along the canal, other local walks, visits to local restaurants (including Wetherspoons, of course) bus or car rides to local places, like Harrogate or Thirsk, visits to the beautiful Ripon Cathedral (we enjoyed a Thursday lunchtime choral event) and also a visit to the Weir and Salmon Run on the River Ure at Boroughbridge (followed by coffee and cake in the High Street, of course!).

All in all, this was a very good rally, especially when the sun came out!

Lynda Wilson