Camping Weekend in the Peaks September 9th-11th

So where is everyone?

[sv4me]

Well, that went well

[flymo]

Originally Posted by sv4me

Well, that went well

fingers crossed Chris will recover. Not a good way to end the weekend eh.

I take it there weren't many of you on the ride in the end then?

[sv4me]

Originally Posted by flymo

fingers crossed Chris will recover. Not a good way to end the weekend eh.

I could think of better ways yep! We were only 15 miles away from being back at the campsite too it will take some time but i'm sure he'll be fighting fit again

Originally Posted by missyorkie_chris

I take it there weren't many of you on the ride in the end then?

There was 7 of us and Dave Numbers joined us later at the Cat & Widdle. Would have been 1 more but Jen had to be my ballast on account of her puncture

Peaks Weekend Write Up

The build up to the Peaks Weekend had promised us a fab route, great weather and lots of fun, indeed even the camp site had decided to co-ordinate with us and lay on fireworks and live music on the Saturday night.

Friday
I set off from a grey and rainy Grangemouth at 12:30, got as far as the petrol station before I realised I’d forgotten my ear plugs so had to go back home. Left for a second time and headed for the motorway. It was wet. My feet were wet within 20miles. Time to invest in some waterproof socks, or you know, just close the vents on my boots. D’oh!
It was thoroughly miserable and very windy and I almost turned back home at Glasgow, but I knew Christopher would never forgive me so I pressed onwards. I was keeping stops to a minimum for time more than anything, so pressed on until the fuel light pinged on just as I went over Shap summit. Stopped at Tebay had a stretch of the legs and fuelled up. Onwards to Lymm where Christopher was meeting me. He was sunbathing on the grass when I got there and I was pretty close to cooking in my textile jacket with all in one drysuit over the top! We set off and took a “direct” route to the campsite. We arrived almost at the same time as SV4ME, who had abandoned his plan to bring his SV and arrived on his dad’s Kwak. Orose was already there and pitched, camp bed assembled, chair up and tv on...

We debated where to put the tents, and decided Olly had picked as good a spot as any. We signed in and set up camp. While perusing best tent spots I picked up a screw and said “best hope there are none of these in anyone’s tyres!” Little did I know. *sigh*

We all waited for Sv4Me to blow up his air bed, while Olly watched in fascination as my “tiny” tent folded out to an impressive 3-man set up. Then we wandered to the pub for some food. I think we were invisible to the waitresses who ignored us for the best part of 20mins. The food in the Red Lion was mediocre. “I’ve had better” as Chris put it. We had a couple of drinks and then wandered back to the site. We sat around on the sofa aka Sv4Me’s panniers and blethered for a bit before retiring to bed.

Saturday Morning.

Up early. About 8am for most of us, it was a bit windy and a bit rainy over night and we’d wondered if the bikes would still be upright in the morning. Saturday morning saw the greyest grey sky I’ve ever seen. It was wet. There was much discussion about yellow curvies falling over/sliding down the road in the rain. I told them to shut it. I was determined Sydney wouldn’t be getting flung at the scenery. We all had some breakfast from the on-site buttie van and then got kitted up. We were setting off at ten and DavieSV and Tarmactester36 arrived promptly.

Sv4Me emerged from his tent and said “Jen, got something for you...” I was immediately suspicious given we’d been discussing my dislike of creepy crawlies and bugs in general so I dodged round the right hand side of my bike, only to discover the head of a screw in my rear tyre. I would never have spotted it unless I’d gone round that side, so I have Dave to thank for chasing me. I never did find out what he wanted to give me though! After much discussion Dave agreed to take me pillion, the roads were wet and we were prepared for a wet day so we were going steady anyway. We all lined up and set off, poor Sydney left to guard the tents.




First call was the fuel station and we all filled up. We picked up Tommy_H here too. We set off and the first obstacle was the diversion which added a good 20 odd minutes onto the run. Some tiny little roads, scary hair pins and steep hills but we eventually found our way, after stopping a few times and passing the same Nissan Micra half a dozen times. We’re pretty sure he thought we were nuts.
I have little idea of the route, I know it was roughly a figure of 8 around the Peak District but there was some amazing scenery and I’m very, very happy and grateful that Dave agreed to take me pillion. We did the top “loop” which took us across the snakes pass and down to Lady Bowers reservoir where we all stopped to remove waterproofs. It was by now sunny and blue-ish sky and rather warm with all the kit on.



Dave was leading the route, Christopher was riding as TEC and the pace was good. We stopped for fuel again and then headed on out past the Devils ****. More big hills steep climbs and hair pin bends. Awesome stuff. Then we were on to the Cat and Fiddle with a clever plan to beat the average speed cameras. We stopped at the Cat and Fiddle pub where we met with Davenumbers and where we had some pints of chips (more like door stops if I’m truthful!) and sandwiches. The pea and ham soup left a lot to be desired, - I’ve seen more appealing pond scum - so I didn’t eat it. Dave had warned me not to be sick on his dad’s bike.





We headed back out and kitted up for the last leg of the route. At this point Ol offered to ride as TEC, and Chris accepted. We set off and again foiled the scamera’s by stopping in the lay by on the right just before you go through them. We set off on lots of little back roads and stopped for a video opportunity up on a moor. Everyone was in good spirits and the rideout had been fab. Tommy_H set off on his own way home just after the video and we carried on. Old Git decided he was quite tired at this point so had a little lie down:



Dave and I were still leading the rideout, we took it carefully because the roads we covered in muck. When we got to the little village and saw diversion signs we waited on a marker to come through. Davie SV pulled up and marked the junction and we stopped at the next one. No-one appeared. We thought perhaps the farmer had let the cows across the road in front of the rest of the group so we waited. We knew however something was amiss when Olly appeared next. He pulled up to us and said very calmly that there had been an off, that Christopher had tried to re-arrange a stone wall and would probably need an ambulance. At that point I’d heard enough and asked Dave to take me back, but not with any heroics, we needed to get there in one piece.

Not knowing how far back the accident had happened meant we were both peering at any hole or gap in a wall, and then we saw the rest of the guys at the top of the hill. The sky was still blue, the roads were dry, I couldn’t work it out. Then I saw Chris. Lying on his left hand side wrapped around a metal pole that holds up the chevron sign for that corner. The chevron sign incidentally later tried to decapitate us (Chris and I) and Steve and Keith had to take it down completely. I hardly remember getting off the bike, I had my lid and gloves off as I was running over to him, and I was just thankful that he was screaming. I knew the second I looked at him that his right shoulder was dislocated. I was trying to support his arm while he was screaming and shouting at me to take his lid off. Of course I told him that I couldn’t do that. Chris was shouting, swearing and screaming and most of it was nonsense. I was told to take my jacket off because someone had stolen his bacon sandwich. He’d had a nasty bump to the head. The guys on the scene, Dave Numbers, Olly and Steve were slowing down passing traffic and on the phone to the ambulance service. DavieSV had managed to find the first response woman who was in the next village doing some sort of fun day so she arrived pretty quickly after Dave and I. She radioed for paramedics and an ambulance and they arrived pretty quick. The paramedics radioed in Helimed, but the weather had other ideas. Big black clouds had gathered on the horizon and were making their way towards us rapidly. As we started to take/cut off Chris’s leathers, gloves etc the heavens opened and it seemed to reflect everyone’s mood. They got Chris collared and immobile on a spinal board – much to his disgust, he wanted to walk! – and into the ambulance where they cut off the remainder of the leathers. Phil, Marie and Ashley were fantastic. Helimed was having issues getting in around the weather so they decided to rendezvous with them at Leek. It made sense for me to go with Chris in the ambulance as I didn’t need to worry about a bike etc, plus he was screaming my name constantly. We got him strapped in. DavieSV, Steve, Keith and Dave all moved what was left of Chris’s bike into the farm yard out of sight, they gathered up his belongings and I imagine set off for the site not long after we’d left the scene.

We met up with Helimed and they got Chris more comfortable. I’m sure Mike the paramedic thought he was shouting at him and calling him names, and he was getting quite irate, telling Chris that he’d put him out the ambulance if he didn’t stop it and let go, but Chris had no idea what he was saying. That got me upset. Someone needs to go back to “bed side manner school”. Ian and Stuart from Helimed were amazing. They are a fab team and were quick and efficient at getting Chris transferred into the helicopter and away.




The Ambulance crew – Phil and Ashley – took me back to the hospital where they had taken Chris. It is astounding the number of people who will ignore an ambulance with blue and twos on. Please, if you ever see an ambulance, get out the way. Be alert.

It was around 18:30 and I was abandoned in a little relatives room and eventually a nurse came along and explained what they were doing with Chris. I could hear him swearing and shouting. I just wanted to see him, but she wouldn’t let me. She asked me to phone his parents. That was a hellishly hard phone call. His mum and dad arrived in Stoke from Chester in probably less than an hour. Trust me, a relatives room is not an ideal place to meet one of your best friends parents. The doctor arrived and gave us the run-down of the initial assessment they’d made. Dislocated shoulder, broken arm, fractured/shattered pelvis, bruising to the brain, probably that was all, but she couldn’t be sure. We were allowed to see him. He was given morphine and was mostly drifting in and out of wakefulness, swearing a lot and still talking nonsense.

Chris’s dad kindly agreed to run me back to the campsite, and after much debate with sat nav we finally got there about half past 10 or 11ish... All I really remember is dropping my stuff and hugging Sv4Me. There were to be a lot of tears. I gave Chris’s dad his stuff from the tent, so that was all going safely back home with him. He thanked us all for being there for Chris, and for doing what we had, I bet that drive back to the hospital was one of the longest for him. We all stood outside in the freezing cold and discussed what had happened. I begged the woman in the catering van to let me have a pie, she was shut and wasn’t supposed to be serving, but she did after hearing our story. We went to bed after midnight sometime and I don’t think many of us slept well at all.

Sunday Morning
Woke up at 4am and debated phoning the AA there and then. Decided that was silly and thought I should try and get more sleep. It evaded me. At 7am I got up to find Old Git eating his porridge in a wind swept fashion. He gave me a hug and we called the AA. Minion in the office insisted that they’d just plug the tyre and send me on my way. I told him about the accident and that I wasn’t riding 300miles, he still insisted that recovery was only if they couldn’t repair the tyre. I told him to send his man out and we’d see. As Old Git mentioned in his post Jon the patrol man was fab, he took one look at the bike and knew that it was fixable, but he took one look at me and knew I was not. He was a complete star and he phoned upper management to get me recovered home on compassionate grounds. Amazing. 60mins later a recovery truck was at my bike and with the help of Sv4Me and Olly Sydney was loaded and we were off.



It took three truck changes – all the drivers were brilliant - and eventually I got home at 9pm.
The Peaks Weekend would probably have been the last “group” ride out of the season for a few of us there and it is a terrible shame that it ended the way it did. Christopher is in very good hands, and is expected to make a full recovery. I can’t thank the guys who were at the site waiting up for me on Saturday night enough. DavieSV and Steve for the offer of a spare tyre and for picking up Chris’s bike. When you need the Org they really are there for you.

Dave - you still deserve a lot of thanks for putting this weekend together, the route was great and the camp site was fab so a huge to you.

[Dave20046]

Cheers for the write up, wish I'd made the whole thing.
.next year eh

Originally Posted by fenjer

I was told to take my jacket off because someone had stolen his bacon sandwich. .

I'll have to apologise to him when he's back on his feet - I get peckish when I'm stressed.

[Ratty]

Originally Posted by fenjer

.

Great write up. Sorry to hear about Christopher. GWS.

I can see my SV in this pic !

Ratty

Originally Posted by Dave20046

I'll have to apologise to him when he's back on his feet - I get peckish when I'm stressed.

That just made me LOL - well done Dave!

Originally Posted by Ratty

Great write up. Sorry to hear about Christopher. GWS.

I can see my SV in this pic !

Ratty

We did wonder who they belonged to, there was one on Irish plates in there at the same time too. You should have come to say hello.

[Ratty]

Looking at your pics. I was sat right next to you all outside, having a brew with my mate. We left at the same time on the Gixxer coloured SV thou.

Ratty