A weekend trip had been on the cards with Mark, touring somewhere up North for quite a while, unfortunately I had little holiday available out of this years allocation for time off work, so Friday to Sunday evening would be my only time suitable for a trip away. Looking at the weather forecast a rare rain free time in the Lake District would be possible this weekend with time to ride the Yorkshire Dales and maybe at a stretch the North Pennines too.
We both started looking on-line for cheap hotels or Bed and Breakfast accommodation but soon discovered the prices per night at £80+ single room in high season would bump it up to an unacceptable price and eat into valuable beer money. The solution? Well, load our tents and sleeping bags on the bikes, and find a decent camp site of course!
The River Lune
In the end we settled on the Rugby Club campsite in Kirkby Lonsdale, the small but popular town in Lancashire. An easy reach given the time we would leave after work on Friday afternoon, and ideally positioned between the Lakes and Dales. We soon realised the North Pennines might be a stretch too far when we started planning our weekend rides using the Ride magazine routes as a guide, so decided to drop the Pennines to get the most out of the Lakes and Dales. Mark was super keen to ride the Lakeland area and some of the passes, I wasn't so sure since in July I had visions of it being overcrowded with 'bobbly hat' walking types and families driving around aimlessly in their cars. For me I was more attracted to the Dales with a visit to Ribblehead Viaduct as a must visit.
Mark won out and convinced me the Lakes would be worth it, so with our routes loaded we met at Quatt Cafe near Bridgnorth around 3.30pm for a ride up through Shropshire and on into Cheshire, fuelling up with Samosa sustenance for Mark to aid the drag racing we would join in with versus Porsche GT sports cars near Oulton Park before joining the M6 near Warrington. On the way we became a bit concerned over the sudden transmission whine Mark was hearing from the Versys, and wondered if the weekend would end with his bike on the back of a recovery truck. Nonetheless we took it steady and left the fairly free moving M6 north of Lancaster for a wonderful evening ride into Kirkby Lonsdale and onto the campsite by 7.15. We had soon pitched up by 8.30 and took a walk into town near the 'Radical steps' by the River Lune. A few beers later and a good curry, we retired to our tents for the night. I can't say I had a great night sleep getting used to my lightweight cot again, and I'm sure the sleeping bag had shrunk since I had last slept in it - ouch!
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| Saturdays Loop around the Lakes |
Saturday morning after a trip to the very basic shower facilities we headed out with lighter panniers to the start waypoint at Sedburgh, only to be confronted with a sign saying the main road was closed. I somehow felt confident that on a Saturday we could get around the blocked road but after about five miles was forced to turn around and head to Kendal instead. We had more trouble on that route too, there was rolling road resurfacing that had us waiting for a while before riding on newly dressed roads at a very slow pace in traffic. As we turned off in toward Windermere we were following even more slow moving traffic in what was great countryside but painfully slow. The route took us on to the Ferry crossing Windermere to Far Sawrey just as a ferry was coming in so we decided to board and pay the fee - a relief off the bike for a bit and good to see Windermere. After we docked we took a short ride to Hawkshead, Mark being more familiar with the area than I, suggested we get Breakfast there. We parked up paid the parking fee (just in case) and found a great cafe sitting outside on the street to devour a long awaited Full English with tea.
Windermere
By now I was getting a little dismayed with the traffic and road obstructions and did think my fears of riding around the Lakes in high season were proven, but just as I was getting frustrated behind cars again, the road opened up as we passed the top part of Coniston Water and up the Wrynose Pass. The road surface is not the best, very bumpy and a bit narrow, but no real issue on a GS, before opening up, smoothing out as we climbed up the Hardknott Pass. This was great fun, wonderful scenery, fantastic roads a bit 'nadgery' not like an Alpine pass, but wild and typical of UK mountain roads. Lots of livestock around, sheep and cattle so take a little care rounding bends but great to ride up here at last looking down to the lakes in the distance. Now we were moving, and with great weather had a superb ride up and down the valley roads of the Hardknott I was feeling much better about today's ride, pleased that Mark had got it right. We pulled up near some cattle to get photos and admire the view from near the top. A few of the cattle seemed a little 'spooked' by us wandering up to their hill, and I wasn't too sure if they would tolerate us being there so we scuttled back down and rode off quick before their patience ran out.
Cattle on the Hardknott
Looking back down the Hardknott toward Wrynose
Wast Water
The route took us further North and up to Wast Water via Santon Bridge. The road smoothed out a little by now and we stopped briefly to enjoy the serenity of this smaller lake, with Mark reminiscing over family holidays in the area. I've only ever really been to Windermere and Coniston and never really visited any of the other lakes, so Mark pointed out the highest peak in England Scafell Pike I had never seen before.
Mark at Wast Water and later looking back down the Kirkstone pass from the Inn.
Mid-afternoon we were riding right out West and could see the Sea appear from high up above Sellafield. Quite amusing the area reminded me of that Ready Brek spoof advert back in the 80's of the Nuclear plant that was once called Windscale but renamed for obvious reasons due to the reactor fire there in 1957. Nice roads and area, we stopped to refuel and a break before heading down to to Buttermere. The area around Egremont and on to the next lake of Buttermere is so great on a bike, wilderness roads, topping out on valleys with big skies one minute and narrow stone walled lanes the next. I'm sure I had been along some of these roads before but in reverse - maybe on past trips on the Harley. Eventually, we came back round to Keswick, and passed Derwentwater and then South on the A591 down to Ambleside before taking the back road out up the Kirkstone Pass to stop for a drink at the busy Kirkstone Inn. Quite amusing following Mark, who was rising up over the brow of a hill, then suddenly disappeared as the road dropped away giving the impression he had suddenly fallen off.
Just above the M6 valley on the way south
For our ride back to Kirkby Lonsdale we were keen to avoid the roadblock we had encountered at the start of the days ride, thankfully Mark had identified that we needed to approach on the other side of the river to avoid it, so we chose a point on my Navigator that should force us the right way. This took us down some narrow, high hedged lanes for quite a way, and by this time of day flies and midges seemed to find their way under the visor somehow, so quite a relief to get back to the tent. A quick change and back out for a few beers and arriving just in time before they stopped serving for another good meal.
What breed are these sheep in the field at the back of the tent?
Sunday morning we packed away the camping gear and loaded the Dales route to start at Sedburgh using the reverse of the route we did last night through Old Town and past the electricity windmills again that over look the valley and can be seen for miles around. At Sedburgh we found a great cafe, this time I had a light breakfast - poached egg on toast with bacon and sausage while Mark went for his second Full English. The weather forecast was good so we hoped to ride most of the route but knew at some point we would have to start tracking south to get home. The plan was to skip the Middleton section and drop down into the Forest of Bowland on the way to the M6.
Parked up in Sedburgh
In the toilet at the Cafe I noticed this 'toilet twinning' sign (pictured above). Could this be for real? I thought, I must look it up 😳 Anyway, soon enough we were in the Dales and enjoying the roads and wild scenery. The route took us out toward Kirkby Stephen via Castlethwaite and Nateby then on to Thwaite past the amusing village named 'Crackpot'! We then cut back in across the heart of the Dales back toward Hawes.
The wilderness of the Dales and roads cutting through them are simply stunning, and a lot of fun to ride. Being a Sunday morning there were plenty of kindred spirits out too, motorcycles everywhere! I guess you are spoiled for choice if you live near these parts to get your weekly ride-out fix. Didn't see many bikes with touring gear, so my guess is the local bikers are out having fun and who can blame them.
We pulled up on the top of a Dales peak to admire the view and I couldn't help thinking I'd seen the view before but puzzled since I'd never been here, so couldn't work it out. I took a photo (above), where had I seen the two offset farm buildings at the side of the road? I did wonder if I'd seen the picture in a book and sure enough it came to me later being the cover shot for one of Neil Peart's motorcycle ride series of books. Neil the Drummer and Lyricist for the rock band Rush is a keen motorcyclist and also rides a BMW GS. On my return home I grabbed the copy off my bookshelf displaying the same picture almost identically framed, what a coincidence!
At Hawes we spent a while trying to find a suitable parking spot, the little town being overrun by bikes. I was thinking that if you came here this weekend for a quiet time in the pretty village you would be out of luck with loud Harley custom bobbers pulling in to ruin a Sunday morning lie-in! Some old classic Jap bikes here too like the Z1000 pictured below in front of Mark's bike with a chunk of wood on the back seat to strap on the camping gear in a makeshift manner.
We left Hawes after refuelling at the little garage there, again all the pumps were packed with bikes and I reckon the garage would soon run out of petrol so glad we filled up as we were both running low. We headed out to Ribblehead Viaduct next, and the straight bit of road nearby was packed with cars and the ever present speed camera van. We parked up and laughed at how the sports bikes were hitting the brakes just yards from the camera van, almost lifting the back wheel up to avoid getting a ticket.
Ribblehead Viaduct on the Settle to Carlisle line has always fascinated me for its sheer expanse and engineering quality. In 1876 it solved the problem of bridging the span across the valley because there was no other way to get the line through other than build this amazing structure. Great to get up close at last. I wasn't interested in walking down the lane to see it really close up though since seeing it in its entirety is much more rewarding. Mark went off to grab an ice cream and left me to marvel at it and grab a few photos while also wondering how on earth this was ever built without the much needed EU contributions we can't seem to live without nowadays?
The next leg took us across country in a South Westerly direction through the Lancashire countryside known as the Forest of Bowland. While riding I wondered where the 'forest' was as it seemed more open countryside than trees, yet we had a most enjoyable riding as we headed toward Slaidburn to our next waypoint destination Dunsop Bridge. The weather still ideal, not too hot and cool enough to ride with vents open, the route took us over quite a few small bridges and land features that had my backside leaving the seat, and on occasion the wheels leaving the ground too. At one point we came across a sports bike wreck near a bridge by a bend with Police attending the scene. Obviously someone had over cooked the run in, there was a guy stood up who I assumed was the rider, look like he had got away with it even if his bike hadn't.
The Bowland countryside is different again, some great vistas as we rode up high above. We stopped for a late lunch at a great Cafe that I should mention with great service 'Puddle Ducks' in Dunsop Bridge - right near the bridge, I had a superb Prawn and Mayo' sandwich on local 'Barm' bread. As we left it was now past 4.30, so we joined the motorway at Preston and got off at Whitchurch for a pleasant evening ride home through Shropshire - the reverse of the route up. Thankfully Mark's Kawasaki gearbox noise didn't get any worse since Friday, and we got to ride most of the roads we had hoped. Excellent weekend away in an area that was 'Far' away in scenery but really quite 'Near' for a great weekend ride.
Thanks to Mark again for his company and navigational knowledge of the area. Suberb! 👍
Thanks to Mark again for his company and navigational knowledge of the area. Suberb! 👍
