Remembrance Day Breakfast Meet

 

“A monster bicycle has arrived from Bim, 6 h.p. and only one gear; with commendable courage, never having sat a machine before, I rode it from the station, the only difficulty is that it won’t go slow. Yesterday I ran amok and knocked down a rifleman, however saluting from the dust he apologised profusely, thus showing the glorious spirit of discipline that pervades the British army and will eventually bring the Kaiser to the doom he deserves.”  (Yvo Alan Charteris, 1915).

Many times I’ve ridden past this prominent memorial on the way into the Cotswolds as I did today on the way to meet Steve for our much overdue meet in Burford. Being Remembrance Sunday, I thought it time I stopped by and took a closer look. It’s quite an impressive sight at the crossroads between Toddington and Temple Guiting not far from Winchcombe with the adjacent road leading down to Stanway House. It’s always fascinated me being a bronze sculpture of  George defeating a falling Dragon and it turns out it was commissioned by the aristocratic Wemyss family of Stanway House as a memorial to eleven men who died in the Great War, two of which were Sons of the family; Hugo Francis and Yvo Alan Charteris. With some additional research I came by an excellent blog post that’s well worth a read up about the family and the tragic loss they endured as many families did at that time (Two Sons of the Souls). 

 

 

I continued riding on into the heart of the Cotswolds on this fine and mild (for November) day. The roads were dry with little mud, so I was able to follow my regular scenic run down through the lanes and back roads toward Stow on the Wold and Bourton on the Water admiring the glorious late Autumn colours complementing the yellow Cotswold stone walls and buildings. My favourite route would take me along the Pershore and Eckington side and then on through Toddington and the ‘Rissingtons’ avoiding main roads where possible. A lot of fun, with very little traffic on the roads too.

On arrival at Burford while waiting for Steve I pulled up and got chatting to a very pleasant local lady with her calm and friendly Irish Wolf Hound. The size of breed always seem quite intimidating to me but was attracting all sorts of attention. One guy an ex servicemen from an Irish regiment waiting for the remembrance parade stopped by to have a photo taken and mentioned the wolfhound was the official regimental mascot. The lady was a keen biker too, once owned the F700 GS and now has a Kawasaki in green and took interest in my GS, I was quite impressed she was even aware it was the 1250 engine. She had also toured around Northern France and Belgium, and been down to the off road centre in Wales too.

Always good to meet Steve again who arrived just before they closed the road for the parade. His K1200GT looking pristine as ever, I do envy that sheepskin seat cover looks so comfy and as I understand he has a heated seat too. Our favourite cafe The Priory busy outside today so we chose to warm our bones inside instead and order a pot of tea before wandering up the road to take part in the two minute silence, listening out for the bugle call signalling quiet thought and reflection. Afterwards, catching up over a most enjoyable all-day breakfast we are now both looking forward to next May, riding together again as we join our long awaited Picos and Asturias Motorrad Tour postponed twice from 2020/2021 due to Covid. Hopefully, back to more normality in 2022. I really can’t wait to ride around those Spanish/Portuguese mountains again, in good company with great stopover locations and equally great food and wine.

 

Our meet point in Burford is equidistant from our respective homes, so after another cup of tea we said our farewells for now and I picked a similar route back home, stopping occasionally for a few photos while winding back up toward Stratford, then on through Feckenham, Hanbury and the back roads via Droitwich. A nice ride, still enjoying my bike. Today was everything a motorcycle ride should be for the last ride of the year. I will now pack her away until the Spring and start planning next years ‘adventures’ during these oncoming dark and bleak Winter months. 2021 wasn’t such a bad year all in all, almost 8k miles on the GS in just over 12 months, all in the UK so looking forward to getting across the water again now.

Elan Valley and Claerwen trails

Last Sunday, with fine sunny weather forecast after a busy week at work and some building work going on at home I decided to ride out West into Powys. A late morning start in the direction of Far Forest I was tempted to have a late breakfast somewhere that took my fancy. My ad-hoc route had me stopping for an early lunch at the little cafe in Clun, feasting on their very nice Mushroom Quesadilla with Humus Salad. Plenty of bikes parked up along the road and the car park was full as usual, with chance to have a chat with other bikers and a right mix of machines too that include a few Ducati Multistradas and the now popular Triumph Tiger 900’s, 1200’s and a few Speed Twins. Soon after I was winding down to Knighton enjoying the run through New Invention I couldn’t resist continuing on to Newtown before curling back round over the mountain road and on to Crossgates for a refuel and quick drink. A brief chat to a lad on GS Rallye who’d just ridden up from Rhayader he gave me the idea to ride around the Elan Valley reservoirs and along the Claerwen Valley.

And so it was, since I hadn’t been out that way for a few years, I couldn’t resist taking the trail road that winds around Claerwen reservoir starting just past the huge Victorian Dam. The trail starts out quite smooth but quickly becomes choppy, full of pot holes so I switched my GS to Enduro mode and started to relax standing up on the pegs I was soon humming along nicely between 25 to 30 mph, the softer suspension now soaking up the bumps and ruts and the throttle response calming the power to the rear wheel. The main thing is to let the bike go where it wants by relaxing your grip and try not to yank the front brake too much on the really loose stuff. After a few miles I realised there wasn’t much opportunity to turn the bike around without risking getting the wheels sunk into the soft grass and earth at the edges and getting the big GS stuck or even worse losing it down the bank and disappearing under water!

Eventually, I came across a lay-by next to a pile of slate wide enough to turn around so I stopped to consider if I should continue, grabbed the snack out of my tail pack and sat on a pile of slate to admire the view. In the distance I could hear some bikes heading my way from the opposite direction. Three lads were having a lot of fun on their MX bikes, all from out Coventry way they weren’t just keeping to my trail, instead up and over the fields and hills too. They’d parked a van somewhere nearby, and spent the afternoon just riding around and having a laugh. They confirmed I could continue on and find the road in a few miles on, so we said our farewells after a quick photo of the three together (I’ll email on to them later).

 

I did try and ride the few more miles on as the lads suggested but came across a couple of gates where behind one of them right in the middle of the trail stood a huge bull. I contemplated opening the gate and ‘gunning’ the throttle but I’m ashamed to say I wasn’t quite convinced I could mount my bike and get away fast enough. I remember how fast those bulls could run while over in Pamplona a few years ago, and didn’t fancy playing ‘Matador’ today so turned around and retraced the route I had taken. On the way out I’d been concerned about a rutted incline I’d climbed and didn’t fancy attempting going down it on the way back, now I had no choice. As it turned out my confidence had increased and it didn’t seem anywhere near as bad as I first thought.

It was early evening as I found my way back to the dam with the sun lowering in the sky after a brief stop I enjoyed a nice quiet uninterrupted ride home. Good fun today, and looking forward to visiting the Elan Valley again soon.

Getting back to normal?

I haven’t posted for a while despite several local rides since our Northumberland and Borders trip. It’s been a busy few months and we were lucky enough to get a trip away to Madeira in August - what great decision! A ‘green’ list country perfect for us with great restaurants, wonderful friendly people and the opportunity to get up into the mountains with some off road driving into the wilderness. On our return some family events allowing us to all get together again at last and to top it all two fantastic nights out at long awaited gigs we had tickets for pre-Covid to see Genesis on ‘the last Domino?’ followed a few days later with the wonderful Paloma Faith. I really do believe, though cautiously, we have ‘turned a corner’ with Covid now.

 

 

Last Sunday myself and Mark met at ‘Dom’s Bike Stop Cafe’ in Leominster and it was good to see full of bikes with mask free kindred spirits just enjoying the early Autumn sunshine back to having a bikers ‘brekky’ and chat again. While waiting for Mark I had a light breakfast with Andy who’d just collected his brand new Yamaha Tenere 700 only the day before, having recently passed his bike test. It was good to feel his enthusiasm for the ride and hear his plans to get out and adventure. I’m really looking forward to getting across the water next year, since it’s been a few years now. I somehow think we’ll be seeing Andy again too and maybe meet up for some ride outs into Wales.

 

For this Sunday, Mark and I spent most of the day winding our way through Herefordshire picking up some back road country lanes and alternative roads out across the border into Wales and South West into the Wye Valley. A brief stop at Skenfrith Castle, I do enjoy riding those roads around Pontrilas and Abbeydore and eventually we came down almost as far as Chepstow before winding back up through Monmouth with a brief stop to take advantage of a queue-less petrol station and fill up while we can on these ‘panic’ buying days before passing Tintern Abbey and then taking the backroads to Hereford before peeling off towards Bromyard. A good selection of roads today, on a warm sunny afternoon, passing through some tiny villages and having some fun in between them along the twisties. A good days ride with Mark I must say, to set my appetite up nicely for my home made Cassoulet later. Hopefully, weather permitting, we’ll get a few more in before Winter too.

 

 

Northumberland and the Borders

A few great days was spent touring Northumberland and the Scottish Borders with Mark recently. We both agreed on a four day, long weekend trip up North so I started researching a few routes found in ABR and the Simon Weir Biking Britain book and decided to meet up on the Thursday night at the very friendly Redwell Inn in Barnard Castle. I was first to arrive with an afternoon spent riding through the Peak District, stopping just past Bakewell en-route. Mark arrived about 8.15 following a fast route up via Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales. It was a hot days ride for both of us, however a few beers while waiting for him then a few more afterwards saw us grab a Pizza and more drinks to follow in the bar chatting to the bar staff. The following morning after a hearty breakfast we took the pre-planned route up through the North Pennines, Kielder Forest and on to the Otterburn ranges through the Northumberland National Park to Alnwick and up to Berwick upon Tweed for the second night stopover. 

 

A visit to Hadrians Wall was a must, so we met the A69 near Haltwhistle following the Wall to a stop and view at Steel Rigg to get up close to a section with some magnificent views as it winds its way over the hillside. On the way we linked up with a few other GS riders and tagged on to their convoy before leaving them at a junction to wave and go our separate ways. 

Our next intended route was to take in the Kielder Forest Trail, a gravel 12 mile section through the forest that was fun. It's not too challenging, mostly gravel chippings but following Mark, myself and my GS were soon covered in a fine powdery dust. The scenery was spectacular and the ride to and from the trail through the forest is a good fast road with quite a few twisties. I thoroughly recommend the trail, it is a toll route costing a few quid but well worth it. 

 

Alnwick was our next stop after riding along the Otterburn Ranges out to the picturesque village of Elsdon. I seem to recall us following some scenic moorland too before stopping at the Castle, otherwise known as Hogwarts School from the Harry Potter movies. 

Later in the afternoon we took the steady coastal road up through the seaside town of Seahouses with the wonderful Bamburgh Castle on the horizon looking magnificent overlooking the sea from up high. Another short stop and walk out across the cricket pitch took us to the beach. Excellent sand and a great stretch of coast too. 

 

At Berwick we stayed at the very nice Kings Arms Hotel. Ideal for bikes with an alleyway around to a convenient parking spot just outside the main doors. A quick wash and brush up and we were soon out for an evening meal seated outside in the sun at Limoncello, a really popular Italian Restaurant for some Mediterranean Fayre and Cocktails. A few more beers later and we ended up spending the rest of the night drinking Newcastle Brown Ale in a local night club watching the locals having their fun and games on the dance floor before getting back to the Kings Arms around 3 am knowing full well we would both pay for it in the morning!

 

 

Another Full Breakfast and much in fear of putting back on the three stone I'd lost over last Autumn/Winter we took a slight southerly route across to Holy Island, otherwise known as Lindisfarne riding the bikes over the tidal causeway. There’s a window of opportunity before being closed off from the mainland at around 1.30pm so we changed into shorts and ditched the bike gear to take a quick hike up near the monastery for a view out to sea before leaving the island crossing the border into Scotland and taking the mountain route across Dumfries and Galloway.

 

An afternoon stop near St Mary's Loch at this Reservoir we found one of the largest man made dams in the UK and quite impressive.  A few people were wild camped on the shore and later as we rode through the amazing Border country scenery we saw whole families wild camped along the rivers edge, caravans, tents an motor homes galore. You could tell lock down rules had just been lifted that weekend and with the good weather they had all hit the road with the free to wild camp rules in mind as is permissible in Scotland.   

We stayed the night at the Rivendell B&B in Dumfries, another excellent place with bike safe parking. Nice spacious rooms followed by a walk down in to Dumfries town to try and find a decent Indian Restaurant. The one we did find was ok, but mad crazy service, not the best Jalfreizi but a few pints of Cobra after a stint in the local Weatherspoons hit the spot. Our chosen route was through Alston just past Scotch Corner into the Dales stopping briefly at the car park above with a little thought and strategy on how we could avoid the number plate recognition camera on the way out as we realised we had been there longer than the 20 minute grace period and could be charged £100 fine. Before cutting South East across to ride that twisty Helmsley run and on to Beverley we stopped for a great lunch at an Italian Cafe 'Uno Memneto' in Stokesley where I was served an amazing cheese omelette with some amazing chips. The chips are off my diet these days so I did wonder if they just tasted great because I hadn't had any for a while, but no they were really that good. If you are in Stokesley you must visit the Cafe. Great part of the world but today seemed busy on the road with plenty of tractors in the 23 degree heat meant by the time we got to the Holiday Inn in Hull via the road work diversions I was well tired but after a shower I was back in action ready for us to meet Alex for another good night on the town to include a Gin bar and real ale pubs with burger in the Weatherspoons. Good to meet Alex, and a fun night out. 

 

The following morning after a ride down to Barton upon Humber we both grabbed another Full Breakfast at the nature reserve and discovery centre right on the banks of the Humber overlooking the estuary we tracked south across the wonderful Lincolnshire Wolds to a lunch stop in Grantham before heading down to Melton Mowbray. Unfortunately the ride home wasn't that good, being a Monday it was congested with tractors and trucks  and my dash showing a temperature of 26 degrees at times it was quite arduous and I was pleased to arrive home tired and well cooked at around 6pm. However, all in all this was a great trip and really do recommend the North East, Northumberland for roads and scenery is sublime. The Border country of D&G is often ignored while racing to get to the Highlands so this trip was great to explore some more and get some long overdue touring adventure riding in too.