My England and Wales trip!

Hi all, just a little write up of my superb little England and Wales tour.

Sort of inspired by Nick Sanders' “Parallel Coast”, it totalled 1599 miles all in! I don't have an issue with going abroad and riding on the continent, but I'm very wary I haven't seen much of the UK, so a week away with the bike seemed like a good idea to me. I was pretty lucky with the weather, and very lucky with the roads, so here are the highlights. Due to an unfortunate chain of events I only had my mobile camera with me, so these photos are the best I could manage I'm afraid! Thanks to those who offered suggestions to my route before I left, your input was invaluable.

Not many photos from Saturday I'm afraid, I left late so spent more time than planned on the A12 and A140 up through Essex and Norfolk.

Here's my first view of the sea at Cromer,



and Sheringham.



On Sunday I did the great A149 from Sheringham to Kings Lynn, popping down to various beaches along the way.







I came across a Norton owners club annual meet in Hunstanton, so popped in for a look and a cup of coffee.









Blue Curvy anyone?



After Kings Lynn I then headed to Spalding, Bourne and Colsterworth on the A151, which is a great road. It starts with long straights with the odd fast corner thrown in, followed by a brand new and perfectly smooth by-pass type section around the village of Bourne, and then gets a lot twistier before Colsterworth. I then took the B676 to Melton Mowbray, which was brilliant.

From Belper I then took the A517 to Ashbourne (OK), followed by the A515/B5056 and B6012, which were all superb.



On Monday I was heading North East towards the Humber Bridge. The A362/A616/road past Thoresby Park/A614/A620/B1403 and the A161 are all superb. After S****horpe I took the A1077 to Barton which was also brilliant. Ha ha, the spell-checker has starred out the word "****" in S****horpe! I wonder if some teenagers have changed any local signs!?





North of the Humber I took the A1034/A1079/A614/A163 and the B1228 to York, which were pretty good. I visited Fountains Abbey while in the York area, which was pretty cool and well worth the visit. Loads of photos from here, it's a very photogenic place with great shapes and shadows. The B6265 from the A1M is a great road too.















Tuesday was a dash from York to North Wales. The A162 through Ferrybridge was a good road, but I then jumped onto the M62 to Wakefield.

The route through the Peak District after Wakefield was all on brilliant roads. I ran into some bad weather on the A628, so stopped to put the waterproof jacket on. It wasn't raining hard, but the visibility was pretty bad!







The Snake Pass is near here, but I was a little concerned about the mileage today, so gave it a miss. One for the next trip!

I was planning on doing the Cat and Fiddle, but the road to Macclesfield was shut. I headed south on the great A5004 to Buxton, then did the superb A54 down into Cheshire to Congleton.

The A5004.



After Wrexham, I took the A525 to Pen-y-Stryt and on to Ruthin, the weather getting better the further west I went. I hadn't ridden North Wales before, the roads were amazing, with very little traffic.





The B5105 to Cerrigydrudion.





The B4391 to Ffestiniog. (3rd favourite road of the trip!)





The B4410, A4085 and the A498 to Beddgelert were very thin and twisty, but beautifully surfaced, and the sun was out in full force by now!

A pint (one of two to be honest, though can't remember which one this is!) in Beddgelert. Cheers!



From here it was the A498 and the A4086 to Penn-y-Pass.







On Wednesday I was off to the Peak district, so started with a quick blast along the A4086 to Capel Curig, a short stint on the A5 (to put the other roads into perspective, this “main” road is still incredible!).

The A4086 to Capel Curig.



Next was North East up the A543 to Bylchau. (my 2nd favourite road of the trip!).



From here I headed East and jumped onto the M6 to get through the Manchester/Liverpool/Preston etc area. I felt a bit guilty and bored on the M6, so came off early and headed to Lancaster.





After the superb A5092 to Broughton-in-Furness I was due to trace some of my route I took when cycling the coast to coast a few years ago, but had to take a little detour due to another road closure. I had initially thought about doing the Hard Knott Pass, but decided not to. Now it was the Pass or all the way back to the coast road!

Tiny lanes weave their way through the Lake District, so getting places takes a while!



I approached Hard Knott Pass the “wrong” way (east to west) and it wasn't ideal on a fully-laden sportsbike, lots of clutch slipping and leaning forward (I felt like the bike was due to wheelie at any point, but in reality was probably far from doing so!) I even counted on the way down the other side to alternate my time on the front and back brake!

The bottom of the pass.



The top (with the bike turned around to face the way I'd come). I put a teeny little stone on top of the cairn.



After descending the other side it was a few more miles of lanes before I arrived at Was****er YHA. The hostel was right on the lake, with great cliffs rising out of the other side! This is the road approaching the Was****er valley.



And the YHA and lake itself.







On Friday I was off North East to Newcastle. I was initially supposed to retrace my steps back to Broughton, but due to yesterday's road closure I took the direct route from Was****er to the small seaside village of Seascale (unfortunately far more well known these days after the shootings there), and made a donation to their memorial fund.



I wanted to crouch down in front of my bike in this photo and do a hip-hop stylee “eastside” type hand gesture, but felt a bit of an idiot!

The upside of the road closure meant I had to ride the brilliant A595 South to Broughton. From Broughton I then road the fabulously twisty and challenging A593 to Ambleside, which is far smaller, twistier and inconsistently surfaced than it's “A” number would suggest!



Ambleside was a bit of a nightmare due to it's popularity and the fact it was a Friday, so it was a relief to leave over the A592, the Kirkstone Pass.



Unknown to me, a work colleague's mate runs the pub at the top, so I had to forego my undoubtedly free beer. The A592 continues to Penrith, and although is a good road all the way, gets a little busy as it runs along the northern edge of Ullswater.

From Penrith it was the A686 and the superb Hartside Pass (my favourite part of the journey). You pass a twisty road sign at the bottom of the hill, which I think read 6 miles! Some of the road is quite open with great visibility up the road ahead, with some tighter hairpin bends thrown in for good measure.





I then headed north up the A689 to Brampton, which again was superb, but a bit of an anti-climax after the Hartside Pass.

I then headed East on the B6318, with it's dead straight, um, straights I suppose, no doubt something to do with it's proximity to Hadrian's Wall. Not the most interesting road, but great views North and South, and some worryingly deep dips in the road. You can't see the bottom of these for what feels like eternity, before nailing it into the bottom, compressing the suspension and bouncing out the other side!





I then did one little dash North to up the mileage to decent amount. The A68 was OK, with great views and huge skies, before I then headed South East towards Newcastle on the surprisingly good A696.

The A68,







and the A696 to Newcastle,



Newcastle! My most Northerly stop over. (And the furthest North I've been in the UK ever for that matter!)







I was now a long way from home, so decided to call into my Aunt's on the way home again. After brief stops at The Angel of the North and Durham, I headed south on fairly main roads to get it over and done with.



Shortly after joining a dual-carriageway that led to the A1 I felt the tell-tale wobble of a rear puncture, which I just managed to seal at the side of the road using my Cargol Turn and Go set.



I limped down the A1 to Boroughbridge and tried to get the tyre up to pressure at the services but 42psi was a little too much for it, and had to be recovered back to Sheffield.



Bit of a downer to end the trip, but I got a new rear tyre fitted the following morning. I was going to change it when I got home, so it just meant the tyre guys in Sheffield got my money rather than Spannerman, sorry!

[sv4me]

Looks like a good time was had I know what you mean about not seeing enough of this country. We're a small island and i've probably not seen 75% of it! Hartside is something else huh all the roads to get there are ace too, win win!

At least your puncture happened at the end of the trip, could have been a lot worse

Now get up to Scotland next time ya big jessie

Originally Posted by sv4me

Looks like a good time was had I know what you mean about not seeing enough of this country. We're a small island and i've probably not seen 75% of it! Hartside is something else huh all the roads to get there are ace too, win win!

At least your puncture happened at the end of the trip, could have been a lot worse

Now get up to Scotland next time ya big jessie

Ha ha, I avoided Scotland on purpose as the lady and I are going to visit at some point.

I'm going to be swapping bikes with my Dad for his big, maroon, BMW thing with big black boxes all over the back of it.

Originally Posted by sam anon

Due to an unfortunate chain of events I only had my mobile camera with me, so these photos are the best I could manage I'm afraid!

Nice photo's and looks like it was good trip. By "mobile camera", do you mean the camera on a mobile phone? Or do you mean a small handheld point and shoot? Either way, what make and model is it?

[sv4me]

Originally Posted by sam anon

I'm going to be swapping bikes with my Dad for his big, maroon, BMW thing with big black boxes all over the back of it.

needs must though. I do the same! Anytime any touring is on the agenda.....dad i'm stealing your bike see you in a week

I did Scotland for the 1st time this summer you'll love it, we got the ****ty end of the stick weather wise but roads and scenery were still great even in the fog!

[christopher]

Nice pictures, much more of Wales to explore next time as well

Pictures were taken by a HTC Hero according to the EXIF data Ralph.

Originally Posted by christopher

Nice pictures, much more of Wales to explore next time as well

Pictures were taken by a HTC Hero according to the EXIF data Ralph.

Correct, HTC Hero it was!

I was due to be in Wales towards the end of the trip and head south from Pen-y-Pass thorough mid Wales, before heading East towards the Severn estuary, but had to change plans at the last minute. I'll be going back, believe me!

[Geodude]

Now thats a rideout and great pics i like the one of your bike infront of the field of barley or whatever it is. You travel light

Originally Posted by sam anon

Correct, HTC Hero it was!

Well it's taken some nice pics, much better than my 5mp Samsung Omnia II, and until I broke it recently I had a 10mp Panasonic Lumix which was very hit and miss. The Panasonic replaced a 5mp Casio and that was a great camera in any light.

Some lovely pics and a lovely tour, you visited some lovely places but should have shouted out when you were near Liverpool and you could have popped in for a cuppa