And then there is the physical sense of touch, not just the seeping damp through your breeks as you sit on a moss covered rock or grassy tussock waiting for cars to appear, or that sinking feeling when you trip over the in the dark and put your hands down to save yourself, only to find that the hie’lan coos have been therefore before you and left their soft brown pancakes on the ground.
As for taste, there is a plethora of on-line social media posts showing a mouth watering array of tray-bakes for rally and service crews and then the Coffee Pot in Salen and other eateries with their constant flow of adverts showing what’s on their sit-in and cairry oot menus. Watching that lot requires a bib for slevvering telly watchers.
There is yet one more sensation that is unique to Mull, the weather. From the sunshine and white sands of Calgary to the white frosts of early winter, rain that can reach parts of the human body that only orthopedists and rectal examiners have previously discovered and wind that lifts and blaws bunnets and woolly hats quicker than an R5 with launch control.
Which just all goes to prove that Mull is a physical visceral experience, not a remote armchair spectacle. You can’t taste the rain or smell the air if you’re not physically there. If you leave the island disappointed then you weren’t really there!
Just forget for a minute the HQ team safely tucked up in their electrically powered and heated offices and remember that there were around 200 volunteer souls scattered across the island out in the elements with their bright orange tabards, radios, first aid boxes and tow ropes who ensured that those participating in the fun and frolics could do so in safety knowing that sustenance and rescue was never far away and as we congratulate the winners we must never forget those who put on the show in the first place.
Of course we all know who won and who didn’t, but the on-event coverage was helped along by the pop-up appearances of the pixie-in-chief Luke Barry who filled in the progress gaps left behind by the large number of commentless video clips posted by other film-makers and fans.
Which all just left a sour taste in the mouth that once again I wasn’t able to be there. And yet there were moments to be savoured even from afar.
For instance, how can Stephen Thompson drive a Mk2 so bluidy quickly? He only gets off his ‘rs’ once or twice a year to do a rally these days, then he and Larry Higton come to Mull and finish not only top RWD car but well inside the top ten in seventh place? It’s quite simply uncanny and Stephen’s performance worthy of the good old days of Calum in a Mk2!
And as for making an impression, I reckon Alan Scott must have been feasting on Mull’s magic mushrooms! Not only top FWD but tenth overall in an MG ZR. That is just nuts. Mind you he had Rachel Matheson on the Notes although perhaps she should have been with regular driver Nikki Addison. Nikki had the ageing, sorry that should read ‘vastly experienced’, Iain Thorburn alongside in the Honda but they failed to finish when the water pulley broke – it surely wouldn’t have happened with Rachel in the car, would it? Mind you, Alan had his troubles too, replacing wheel bearings and then a wee fright before the final stage when they robbed a LR Defender for a couple of bits just to get them over the Finish Line.
It was also good to see young, well I still remember him as a boy, Ally Currie scoring a top twenty finish with the wee Peugeot 106. He and Chris Hamill finished 17th overall scoring their third class win on the trot, but that was no doubt down entirely to the support of Phoebe, Ally’s partner – and she’s 34 weeks pregnant! Some dedication there, eh? Only half a minute behind those two were another relative youngster, Yorkshire’s Lewis Hooper and our own ‘Flee’in Doc’, Steven Brown getting an excellent result in the Ford Fiesta in 18th place.
In 45th place overall was the mighty Metro 4R2 of Innes and Kirsty Mochrie. The self built, prepped and developed Rover Metro looks awfy standard from the outside but the father and daughter team had the wee motor well wound up over the dips and jumps of Mull. Just a couple of places behind were the top newcomers, Andrew Blackwood and Leesa Watson contesting their first Mull Rally in Andrew’s Ford Fiesta. Both of them knew the rally well but coming over for a looksee and bevvy session or two is rather different from coming over with a rally car and taking on the prospect of tackling a 140 mile closed road rally over twists and turns that would have a sober man dizzy!
And another thing, if Jaggy Bunnet was still handing out ‘Flying Bricks’ then Sarah Hunter would have had a new ornament for her mantelpiece. Just three weeks after a terrible tumble at the McRae Challenge at Knockhill, Sarah was back in a rally car contesting Mull – which is just a wee bit different from Knockhill! Anyway she was not only the first woman driver but she and James Bones Braithwaite finished 52nd overall in a hastily built and prepped Ford Fiesta after the Hunter family and friends rallied round to get her back on her wheels.
Speaking of heroic efforts what about Kenny (Big Dread) Watt and Gail Whyte finishing 80th overall in ‘Wee Red’, Kenny’s awfy standard looking wee Leyland Mini. It was Gail’s first time co-driving on Mull which was daunting enough but the thing that puzzles me is how ‘Big Dread’ fits inside ‘Wee Red’? Either the wee Mini is the original working prototype for the Tardis or it’s just plain and simple magic!
As for Team Browns, can we just ignore Doug and Dan’s impressive 16th overall finish and concentrate on Linda’s 83rd finish at close of play. Ater two non-Mull finishes in her Fiesta ST, she and Kevin MacIver romped around the island to make it third time lucky in her Vauxhall Nova. Gaun yersel lass!
Those were the lucky ones of course, 40 crews failed to reach the Finish under the Beatson’s arch in Tobermory and that included North Yorkshire’s finest (although I’m not sure what he’s the finest of) Curly (Toot Toot) Haigh and Sally Peacock in the venerable (ancient?) Mk1 Escort and Owen ‘The Boy’ Paterson who barely got started when the Subaru suffered fuel problems at the pre-rally shakedown and then died completely on Saturday morning putting him and Clare Fraser out of the running. Still there is nothing quite like a session in Mull’s many bars to soothe the after rally blues and aid the recuperation ready for another visit next year, eh?
As for me, I was elsewhere, but I was still able to raise a glass and send some smoke signals to friends past and present. Maybe next year, eh?