AR2014- Closing thoughts
 

After all the fun, sun and riding of the weekend.
The campsite were happy with us and we're more than welcome to go back there.

What did you all think of the AR2014? and;
Would you all come that far North for another one?

Re: AR2014- Closing thoughts
 

I thought the bunkhouse was very impressive. It was obviously a relatively new place. Nice quality lounge, modern downstairs loos and shower. The kitchen was VERY good. Its not often you find one with a double oven range type cooker, large range of cupboards stocked with bits and bobs and all the crockery and utensils in abundance. Along with a hefty sized dining room!
I didn't go upstairs, so couldn't comment.
I had a good wander round the campsite and it was bigger than they described it. I saw there was a relatively modern looking shower and toilet block and the general feel was pretty positive.


There were plenty of facilities around the village.... The pub was great, food was a very good standard :thumbsup:
Local Chinese......mmmmmm prawn toast!!!!

Our B&B was a peach, the cheapest in the village I think. So, it was like visiting your nan and granddad but they were very accommodating and really helpful. Even let me use the phone to ring back home with not having the signal to check up on my young children.

All in all, YES, I would go to Bellingham again, its the second time Pete has been there and both times hes found it thoroughly pleasant.

RECOMMENDED :smt041

Re: AR2014- Closing thoughts
 

Excellent roads, impressive scenery, a nice venue, a good pub and plenty of alcohol. Yep, that was a good weekend.

Thanks to organisers for making it happen, and the EAR guys who bump started my bike when it refused to play nicely at Markham Moor. I'll be getting the voltmeter out shortly to find out why.

If I was going up there again I would want to break up the journey home with a pub lunch. I've just done 300+ miles with only short stops and I'm knackered.

Keith.

P.S. I'll post some photos later

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I thought it was next week! Better unpack my rucksack!

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Thoroughly good weekend! Thanks for organising a really good few days...

The roads were just brill, coming from flat Norfolk it was a great experience riding some of those roller coasters!

The bunkhouse as said was ace and the local amenities were spot on, great little place Bellingham. I've really got to get the wife on the back of the bike and up there again at some point.

The journey up and back was hard going so I'm glad I have tomorrow off to rest a bit, but I would certainly travel that far again...well worth it for the roads alone.

Oh and a big thanks to for the Sunday ride out guys! That was the icing on the cake, and much appreciated! I'm just a bit jealous of what you have on your door step!

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Post AR thoughts (I had a little while to mull over these on the way back).

Camp-site was very nice, the local hotel had good beer and food, all facilities were just great. The Rocky Road Cafe owner did well under fire when most of the capacity of the cafe was filled up before the hob was warmed up on Saturday morning :D

As for technology, opened my browser this morning to see this piece which made me chuckle after people on Orange/EE became the one-eyed kings of the blind for the weekend.

The attendees make the event as ever, and it was great to get a chance to meet people that I'm unlikely to bump into day to day.

The route was a lovely mix of scenic & technical and I liked the option for doing the more tricky bit from the lunch stop but not making it compulsory, a nice solution to the dilemma of putting a lot of bikes up and down a sketchy bit of road.

The 3 groups for the rideout, I'm not sure was entirely needed given the low number of junctions and I think we had at least one point where a turning was missed by part of a group as someone hadn't waited at a turn. I quite like the spectacle of a large group on the ride out, but we had that at the stops anyway. The last section ran marked junctions and meant no one had to be able to see anyone else to get back. I'm only putting it up as a note as we all got everywhere we were supposed to be and had a lovely run. It was clear a lot of thought had gone into the route!

Would I go that far North again? Yes. The argument could be made that the further people have to go the harder it is to travel / the more time off you need to make it enjoyable. I'd guess we have more members in the south / mid-lands than the north so it's easier to get the numbers with somewhere a little further down, but it would be a crying shame to have the AR in the same camp site every year just to play the numbers. When we run them in the south it's a trek for those up north, fair's fair when the shoe's on the other foot, and it was a great motivator for me to go and see some bits of the country I've never ridden :)

As ever, I know organising something this size requires a significant amount of effort and I think the organising team should be very happy with themselves. You've all done a great job and I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend.

The valet parking service offered on the Saturday evening seemed a little inconsistent in approach, but it's hard to get quality staff on short notice, so there's not much you could have done there ;)

Having now surveyed the entire length of the A1(M) in one run, I will not be adding it to my best biking roads note book.

Love & Kisses

Jambo

Re: AR2014- Closing thoughts
 

nice write up Jambo and thanks for the kind words :-)

we done the three groups thing due to lack of manpower.

only one indecent which i thought was not bad considering some of the roads.

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As most people have said.

The bunkhouse was superb, the bunks were comfy. We just need a snorers room for them that snore. :p

Yes, I would go that far North, but as I'm travelling that far, I'd keep the ride out distance the same, or have a bail out point for those not wanting to do mega miles.

My milage was 883 for my trip.

Village was great with all the facilities close to hand

Re: AR2014- Closing thoughts
 

I actually think the group system worked quite well, the first 1/3 or so of the route had limited overtaking opportunities and I witnessed at least one member of the public who was intimidated by the group (or was trying to be helpful but failed miserably) and tried to let us passed by stopping on a near blind corner. An even bigger group would have made that situation worse.

I'd say that marking system works well in small groups where you know everyone in the group or in small enough groups that you can quickly learn what they look like. The two problems that spring to mind is that on popular bike routes you can't really tell whether the guy in your mirror is with you or not and that any error is critical - everyone has to remember at every junction.

The designated marker system is a bit tricky. I'm sure some people enjoy it but having the designated markers numerous enough to cover each turn on a stage is difficult therefore they end up doing silly speeds to get back to the front which personally I think isn't ideal.

Personally I think the 2nd man drop off is the safest and easiest way. Even if the second man forgets in most instances the 3rd man will realise and fix the error with no issue (assuming they see what happened). People not happy about marking can wave someone behind passed. Also has the advantage of mixing up the group, so you don't spend the whole time looking at the back of the same person.

I don't mean this as any criticism though. I realise that is the marking system you guys are most comfortable with and did my best to make it work as smoothly as possible. Ron did an excellent job of spotting the mistake and rounding up the stragglers so no harm was done and I had a very enjoyable weekend all in all.

Re: AR2014- Closing thoughts
 

The base was spot on. Every type of accommodation and every useful amenity within a couple of hundred yards. Even the lack of phone signal was an unexpected bonus. I didn't have to deal with a single e-mail all weekend.

I know a lot of effort went into the route and it showed. The pace was spot on for that type of ride IMO and the three groups idea was generally a success I thought. The addition of a "can't get lost/do what you like" free-for-all bit at the end was genius.

And, yes, I'd be happy to travel at least that far North again. :)

Well done and thanks to the guys who organised it. It's really appreciated that people put their hands up and give up alot of their time so we can all just turn up and drink beer. :thumbsup:

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for them that snore,dont hold back,say what you mean,but in my defence i dont snore that loud,well ive never woke myself up,so i only have your word for it:rolleyes:

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slap a site bar/scoff house on that place, kill every midgy in existance and you have the ultimate AR venue
but saying that its as nigh on perfect as ive had the pleasure to visit


I will point out the elephant and yes the numbers were less that I expected, but that didn't take away from my weekend as I got more one to one time with people than I normally do


would I go again, hell yes , would I put a gun to others heads to get them there too, well you orginise it and i'll lock and load


as for the orginisers , meh , sub standard at best, no free brandy ,no hot blonde awaiting my arrival not even a chocolate on my pillow, must try harder :)


DP

Re: AR2014- Closing thoughts
 

Great weekend, thanks to all.


Special praise to , Andy Smith, Malcolm, Lance. you guys rock


P

Re: AR2014- Closing thoughts
 

+1

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Without reiterating the words of everyone else, I'd just like to say thank you.

I had a fantastic weekend And would definitely go that far north again, but not much further. After a round trip of just over 900 miles, I'm ****ed. Admittedly it would have bee easier without alcohol but it wouldnt have been as much fun.


Thanks again and I'm so glad to have met all those new faces and to have reaquainted myself with the old ones.

Sent from my GT-P5210 using Tapatalk

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Well it's made me consider the twice as long trip up to GM this year if I can get the time off work, wish I had got Monday off work so I could have come on the Sunday run too! It was fantastic! Thanks very much for organising it, think I might go for a bunkhouse rather than camp that far in the future though.

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Great weekend, great everything. Many thanks for the effort put in to make this a belter. Cheers guys and yep I'd do it again ��

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dont worry DP i'll make sure that there is a nice hot steaming chocolate on your pillow the next time :-)

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Chocolate coloured log ?

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Potato in the exhaust

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As has been said before, everything was as good as it could be and many thanks to those involved.

And yeah I spose I would travel that far SOUTH again :)

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The roads were great.The East coast convoy had a bimble around on arrival Friday too!
Essex looks very flat today!
The town has the facilities you needed.
We din't use the camp simply because you can't book it on line.
Boe Rigg is not road motorcycle friendly if im honest you needed a run up get the bike to the tent. Ok yes I could have left it in the car park.
But it's got a tea room and great showers.
Would I go again. Yes but in two half's as 8hrs doing the best biking roads route is a marathon!

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Glad to hear you all had a super time. Me, Chris and Chris did our weekend in Norfolk which was alright as we found a brilliant cheese shop, but the roads are straight and flat and I did think of you all having fun up there while my tyres were going square. So this is just a little reminder to say to them there up northerners that if you want to come and visit us southern softies later in the summer get yourselves down to TOGMIE2 where we may not be able to offer quite such spectacular scenery but we guarantee a warm welcome and we'd love to see you.

http://forums.sv650.org/picture.php?...pictureid=7456

We'll even have a hot blonde waiting for DP.

http://www.gym-talk.com/wp-content/u...aveDraper1.jpg

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hahahahahaaaaaa. those are the GM dates.

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Correct! <<CLICKY>>

http://i1034.photobucket.com/albums/...ps25920323.jpg

http://i1034.photobucket.com/albums/...ps21326463.jpg

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In fairness it's the other end of the country

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Just a pity they've been arranged on the same date. I'm sure everyone at each will have a good time:).

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more to the point what's TOGMIE or the GM got to do with an AR thread....

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Well they are both annual events. TOGMIE has the principles of a good AR.
Now next year what are you going to call the ride out that maybe you could organise again if the AR goes elsewhere? Nudge nudge ;)

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It's just not cricket is it......:rolleyes:

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Sounds as if everyone's had a good time. The three guys that organised it put a lot of work in (or Andy tells me he did it all himself being hindered by the other two) Once again I've missed what looks like a great weekend. one day I'll get to an AR...

So Lance are you gonna put your name down for the GM again? might be the last one. I certainly ain't organising another one and I don't see many people stepping up bar yourself. God we can't even get people to put up a monthly run up here anymore.

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Now don't be churlish. The reason I posted in an AR thread was because those who go to AR are the ones who most enjoy a weekend gathering, and it was just a friendly reminder while you're on the post AR come down feeling, sad and sorry it's over you know that there's another get together planned. Yes it is GM weekend, as I said before, that wasn't intentional, we had a non bike largely Soho thing on that weekend planned that got postponed so decided to nab it as we knew people had the weekend free. Whichever one you go to will be brilliant, we can send each other postcards, but could whoever sorted the weather out this weekend please do the same then, ta?

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anyway... i'm thanking the weather gods for smiling upon us coz if they had frowned then the AR would have been an entirely different event.

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Not really, we'd have just started drinking earlier :)

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You know what was bazaar.
It doesn't get dark up there !!

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Summer solstice :-D

written with a biro

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And more bike time.
I managed to squeeze in a little excursion back to Kilder Sunday evening :)

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yes but in the winter we have to paint the sheep with dayglow paint.

Durness... 23hrs of light 1hr of dusk on summer equinox, 23hrs of dark 1hr of dusk on winter equinox.

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oohhh almost forgot, when did they build the new petrol station in Alston?

Re: Re: AR2014- Closing thoughts
 

Been open about 3 years

written with a biro