Brief report of my 4 day trip (Hardy Bikers included).

[rictus01]

Back in the land of the living, what an awesome few days.

Let me start with some massive thank you’s,

Lou & Pete, I thank you for allowing me to stay at your home, turning a brilliant time into a fantastic one, Lou you are looking amazing and radiant happiness and warmth like a raging fire, done my heart good just to see you, the lovely meal and warm welcome was just what I needed after a long day in the saddle.

Dave & Gemma, I thank you to, only a mile away from my son, allowed me some rest before the trip over to Grantham, felt right at home straight away, and enjoy the reminiscing of old squady stories until 3am as only a couple of old squadies can do (and would have continued had I not been dead on my feet), brought back memories I hadn’t had for a very long time, cheers for that Dave.

Day 1:- 6am Friday Morning, cold bright and clear, I set off through London, cutting across to the A40 and out of the metropolis, have a play on the A413 the down to Bicester, stop at a friends house for Breakfast, done a couple of jobs for him I’d promised and set off again on my way.

I use the back roads to get over to the welsh boarder and travel up until I get to the Elan Valley, unfortunately after a mile or so,I came to the conclusion the road was just to deadly, and being on my own I was worried about coming off and no one else about to help me so turn back to the main road (Oh well worth a try?), Grab a brew from a lay-by tea wagon and head out towards Shrewsbury, round to Stafford and off up to Leek where I’d arranged to meet another friend who’d come over from Chesterfield, we spend a couple of hours racing around the Peaks ending up it Glossop, sometimes the roads were perfectly clear and others decidedly icy, but none the less great fun, north out of Glossop was reported to be frozen up so we took the A57 over to Sheffield, where we went our own separate ways, I hit the motorway, switching from the M1 to the M 62 to get to Halifax, I’d planned to do the Dales that day, but after 396 miles I was beat, so looked forward to a warm Dizzy welcome instead, needless to say I wasn’t disappointed at all.

Day 2:- Bit of a slow start, but then I didn’t need to be to Devils Bridge until 10.30 anyway, after packing the bike I set off, to be immediately confronted with sheet ice across the roads, not to bad; if you taker it easy, however it’s hardly flat around there, so a few times the bike slid sideways down some of the steeper slopes, gingerly I negotiated my way from the top of the hill and the roads cleared nicely as I decended, Across to Skipton it wasn’t bad at all, but then the freezing fog dropped, it was like a wall, one minute sunshine and clear, the next a wall of white, for the first few minutes I was able to clear the ice build up on my visor with a sweep of the finger, but that soon proved useless as it got too thick, I was left with no choice but to flip it up out of the way, the icy wind pecked at my face like a million tiny needles, and it wasn’t long until my glasses suffered the same fate as my visor, so I had to pull over and remove them, off I set again, visibility was challenging and it became a game of speed verses reaction to hazards coming at me from the fog bank in front, great fun….

All of a sudden it just stopped, I broke out into glorious sunshine once again, the roads were mainly dry and it looked a perfect riding day, I got to Giggleswick, but the extra time taken in the fog didn’t allow me to do what I’d planned so I carried on.
The wind was still bitterly cold on my face and as I’d been riding in the sun for 10 minutes I though I’d flip my visor down, unfortunately I chose just the wrong moment to find out none of the built up ice had melted, coming up on the back of a car for an overtake isn’t the best time to find all you can see it a solid white vista………..

That ment I had to pull over yet again clear the visor and put my glasses back on, from there it wasn’t a problem to get over to Devils bridge for the prearranged meet up.

A sausage & egg buttie saw breakfast taken care of, chased down with a couple of mugs of tea, Hmmm nice, whilst waiting for the others to arrive.
I won’t go into the details of the ride itself as I’m sure others will have already covered that, but to say somehow I ended up leading it………

Stopped at the Bluebird café for lunch and met up with the dizzypeg combo there.
The struggle was closed but we went around and stopped at the carpark at the top for some photos, then went down the pass itself.
After a hour at the bottom the group split up most heading back to Ambleside, James Mark & me set off the other way taking in some beautiful roads along the side of Ullswater and back down Thirtmere and Grasmere, getting back to Ambleside just as the snow began to fall, pulled into the backpackers as the rest were just making their way out for the evening, dumped our kit and got changed joining the others for a meal at the pub, couple of pubs later and I was knackered, ambleside not being the flattest of places I headed back ( thank for the company on the way back James) and called it a night.

Part two to follow.......

Cheers Mark.

Sounds like just what the doctor ordered!

[Richie]

Originally Posted by Fizzy Fish

Sounds like just what the doctor ordered!

unless your TimWilky...

Looking forward to pt2 Mark.

[rictus01]

Day three:- started with a rude awakening, the knee was playing up a bit, a couple of hours in the shower settled things down and I returned to bed and awaited everyone else getting up, we all had breakfast, said our goodbyes and gradually drifted off our own separate ways, I wasn’t in any rush having the whole day to myself.
Coming out of Ambleside the snow started to fall fairly heavy and it soon became a case of one handed riding whilst wiping the visor with the other, I took the A591 to Kendal and then the A684/A683 down to devils bridge (as that had been a closed road the day before), from there I headed down the A65 to Giggleswick, the snow became a blizzard and then a total whiteout, the road showed no vehicle tracks at all, only virgin white, leaving me no clue as to what lay beneath, the bike performed faultlessly and I powered on through, even managing an overtake at one point.
I stopped at the Littlechef we used on the AR07 and had a nice fried breakfast and a brew, sat there watching the bike getting covered in a blanket of snow…….

Leaving I shot down to Giggleswick and turned off the main road, finding the first bit to be fairly clear, but a couple of hundred yards in it went to sheet ice, so both feet went out and speed dropped to a heady 15 mph, I passed a broken down 4X4 and stopped for a fag break, speaking to the driver he’d broken down yesterday and walked the couple of miles back from the village that morning, awaiting his mate to bring a battery in a bit, gave him a nip from my hip flask and was once again on my way ( the S4’s good, but no way would it help him I’m afraid), the road cleared and I was able to make better progress soon after, stopping in Giggleswick I took a few photos and then headed up towards Stainforth on the B6479 to do the dales,loads of twisty/turny roads brought me to Dent, and following my satnav through the back roads I crisscrossed the Dales for the next 4 hours, encountering everything from freezing fog, snow/ice, to patches of brilliant sunshine, always cold, and always challenging, but great fun, at about 3pm I hit the A66 by Bowes and followed that back to Penrith, I was able to gain a bit more speed as that bit was in glorious sunshine. I took the A591 back to Ambleside and carried on, unfortunately Wrynose pass was closed, so had to loop round and go down the A593.
I did get to take a small back road and head towards Ulpha and from there around to Wast water.

My time was running out now, so I made best speed back to the M6 and headed down towards Preston.

The motorway miles were a nice rest after everything else and the bike just sailed down without a care, got to Preston and with the Satnav’s help found the house my son shares, pulled up there, he came out and helped unload the bike and stuck the kettle on, nice.

Seemed like a nice enough place typical student though, I mean it’d be pretty hard to tell if it had been ransacked or was just as they normally keep it ?, still found a few clean bits and took some pics (for his mum), I took him out for some food and we had a nice meal, But I was dying on my feet to be honest, it’d been a long day.

Packed the bike up once we were back, said our goodbyes and off I went……..
All of 1.1 miles as I was staying at Dave & Gemma’s and they are just round the corner.
Pulled in to be greeted by big smiles and parked the bike up, Dave helped unload and I was soon comfortable on a sofa with a brew in my hand.

Conversation covered bikes and trikes and all things motorcycling, it wasn’t long before despite not knowing then well; I was feeling right at home, at one point whilst dave and I were gassing; Gemma picked up what I though was a magazine, when I looked I noticed it was in fact the motrax calalog, now that is just class.

The talk turned to Squady stories and of course the best audience for that is an old squady, we relayed back and forth, Gemma went to bed, but the tails kept coming, something Dave would say would spark a memory in me and that tail would be told, hadn’t though of some of that stuff in many year. It only stopped as I was unable to keep my eyes open, but I was having fun (thanks for that Dave), I went to bed; it’d been another good day and like a light switch just snapped out.

Part three to follow.

Cheers Mark.

[rictus01]

Day Four:-

Not so much “bright eyed & bushy tailed“ more a considered movement, but I made my goodbyes and repacked the bike ( must say the Triumph soft luggage system works really well and is so stable), my destination was Grantham, but I had the whole day to get there, so off I went down the A59 visiting Liverpool ( only because I hadn’t been there in a number of years), stopped at a roadside café for the obligatory fryup, then kept a general easterly direction, once again finding Glossop on the edge of the peaks. Had to be done, off I went on the A57 and snake pass for the second time, the road was considerably better this time to, which was a bonus. I kept on until Worksop, then turned off onto B roads to have some fun, no fixed route and just following my nose ; got me to Cleethorpes for a late lunch, around the coast and down to Boston, I could have shot over on the A52 straight to Grantham, but as I had the time I made a detour to Peterborough to see a friend, left there about 5.30 and arrived at my overnight in Grantham at around 6.15 or so, I won’t relay the evenings goings on as Pat & Karen aren’t known on the forum, but a nice relaxed evening was had.

Day Five:-

Today I got my fryup before leaving, so started the day fully recharged and ready to go, although a legacy of the last few days was starting to make itself felt a bit.

Rather than stick to the main roads I used the satnav as a general direction and headed off towards King’s lynn and on from there around the area ending at Great Yarmouth for lunch, passed by where I got the T’bird sport a few years ago in Lowerstoft, before cutting across country to Bury St Edmunds. Another café another brew, then off down towards Clacton on sea and St Osyth.

Back up to the A12 from there and onto the A12 for a bit at Chelmsford the A414 took me across the top of London, to turn down and finally pull into the Ace for a last cuppa before making it home.

I know most won’t understand it and in fact see it as something to be avoided, but wind/rain/ice snow/sleet/freezing fog, blizzards or whatever are just a challenge, adapt to the conditions and it’s all fun, and I loved it, just me and the bike for the most part, step outside the mundane and enjoy some quality time to yourself………..

The end....(of now)

Cheers Mark.

Busy lad eh Mark? Glad you managed to fit so much in, tis good to read you making the most of life on the bike, lord knows you've not had the best of luck of recent months, good on you

[rictus01]

Truth be told Maria, I've decided this is the year of the bike, I aim to visit everywhere I want, a couple of Euro trips planned and even try a trackday with the duke (not expecting to much here, and will bottle it a bit and go in novice), but whatever happens I intend to makeup for the last few years, besides I've an appointment to ride with a young lady this summer once she passes her test.......

Cheers Mark.

Hehehe, glad more than one person's got a wee bit of faith in me, hell we need them positive vibes!

[rictus01]

Of course my love I've no doubts at all, who are these doubting individuals ?

I'm fully prepared to beat them with my stick into a positive frame of mind, as I now seem to not need it for other things......

Cheers Mark

Hehe mainly myself! But I shall just start humming that tune from that musical Sound of music, "I have confidence"