UK 2019 Tour

[flying_hun]

Kurt, This is bucket list stuff. Keep it coming.

Thank you, Bill! By the way, I'm happy to let you know my approach for riding on the other side of the road if you're ever interested.

When I woke up the next morning the rain had returned. *sigh* I checked the Met weather map, and it showed that I would ride out of as I headed east, maybe even before leaving the island. So I saddled up and headed towards Craignure.

I wasn't sure if I would be able to get on the ferry without a reservation, but figured that it wasn't that much further to Fishnish if I couldn't get on at Craignure. When I arrived at the ferry dock it was still raining, but the guy checking people in said there would be no problem for me getting on, so I made a quick dash into the ticket office to pay for passage since the ferry was already unloading and I was at the front of the line.

The ferry set up was unlike any I've ever experienced, and I've been on a shitload of ferries with my motorcycle. The only motorcycle parking was under stairwells (gangways?) that go from the car deck to the passenger deck, so they can only take about four bikes per crossing. Given the shitty weather, the season, and it being a weekday, I had no competition for the limited spots.

The set up on the passenger deck was better than the IOM Steam Packet, and it was a comfortable crossing. Getting to Oban was a little disappointing. Oban is a legendary town for both scotch and seafood, and is alleged to have the best fish & chips in the UK. Normally, I would have gone looking for the chippie even if it wasn't yet noon, but there was a steady rain and wet streets, and I just wanted to get to where it wasn't raining. Good luck with that. :nchantr

In the hopes of getting away from traffic, I headed south on the coast side in the direction of Inverary with steady rain as my constant companion. I figured I could stop and dry out and warm up in Inverary, but the place was overrun with tourist buses, so I kept going. At this point I could stay west and catch a ferry to get me south of the Clyde, but I still imagined that if I went a little further east that I would escape the rain. Sadly, the rain persisted until I was about 20 miles from Glasgow. I had passed through Glasgow on the way up (against Dave's advice!), and it was a cluster, so I hoped that if I got south of the Clyde before being drawn in, it would be okay.

My plan was to cross at a place called Erskine Bridge, then head south toward the Borders. In the words of Von Moltke, no plan of action survives contact with the enemy, and my plan didn't either. Glasgow is like a black hole of traffic from which it seems impossible to escape, and I must have crossed the Clyde at least three times! :mad I finally relented and got on the main motorway headed south until I was well clear of the metropolitan area, when I headed west again to get to some of the minor roads Dave had highlighted for my trip going north.

I connected with some of those roads, and some fast and empty A roads that were very entertaining. I even got into a dice with a local for a bit that was pretty entertaining, though I lost my nerve a bit when I came upon a hedge someone had poked a big hole through in the day or two prior. That encouraged me to begin looking for singletrack roads I could play on. Have I mentioned that I'm a crap navigator? I ended up going down three singletracks in a row that all were dead ends. Not marked as such, but dead ends nonetheless. :mad

My friend, Stuart Flack was scheduled to meet me back at the Buccleuch Arms in Moffat at 7 PM that evening, so I needed to get on with it so that he would not arrive before me. Some of you have ridden with Stuart, and know what it means. For those who don't, Stuart is a fellow disciple of the late, great Colin Barlow, and he rides in that fashion - really quick, and unbelievably smooth. It was said of the great Geoff Duke that he flowed down the road like water, and that's an apt description for Stuart.

After some fast and fruity riding through the Borders, I checked into the hotel at about 10 to 7, and got a text from Stuart that he had arrived before I had even put my gear down. We met up in the lobby, then I guided him around back to park our bikes before changing out of our damp gear and heading down for a pint.

It was lovely to see Stuart again. We've been friends since riding in the Alps together in 2010. Beer and fish & chips were called for.

 

[flying_hun]

Oh Yeah, the Religious Stuff is Done

The next morning the sky was clearing, and Stuart's job was to accompany me back into England via the most entertaining way possible. Stuart is the guy who introduced me to my favorite road in England, the one that goes over Wrynose and Hardknott passes, and he knows how to get down a wickedly technical road like few riders I have ever known. I didn't think we'd have time for that particular road today, but Stuart managed to find some stuff I hadn't ridden before (Whinlatter Pass) and one I had ridden once before (Kirkstone Pass) before heading for the Dales.

We pounded down the motorway to get back to England before peeling off at Penrith to head into the Lakes. It didn't take long before we got off on to the narrow, nasty stuff that we both find so much fun. Open range with lots of wandering sheep, almost as many hikers, and a few cyclists. We all got on fine, the sun was out, the scenery was spectacular.

Stuart is always a good one to have curate my visit. He took me into Keswick for a creme tea (which is probably not exactly what you imagine, and it's about as English as anything you can imagine, and I love them). He also took me to a standing stone circle at Castlerigg. While the stones are not nearly as big as those at Stonehenge, you can actually get to the stones. It's not so overrun that access has been restricted. The circle is in an absolutely stunning location, and it's easy to imagine why it was significant to the people who built it.

We played in the Lakes until mid to late afternoon before getting ourselves out to the A65 to blast across the top of England, stopping at our usual petrol station to top up before heading up into the Dales, and we enjoyed a great chat with the proprietor who was curious about the American accent.

We struggled our way through Settle, then managed to get ourselves good and lost before eventually finding our way to Sutton Bank where parasailors appeared to be having as much fun as us, so we stopped to watch for a few minutes. It was here that we noticed an RAF training plane, the Tucano flying close by. I don't know if it was the same plane, or multiples, but when we would be on the tops in the Dales we would see them flying below(!) us.

Our path through the Dales included some of my favorites as we worked our way south and east heading towards Stuart's house. We popped down into Hawes, one of the coolest motorcycling towns anywhere, before heading up and over the legendary Buttertubs Pass.

Daylight was a rapidly diminishing resource, so Stuart put his head down for a fast romp between Middleham and Masham before one more singletrack section over the tops before descending into the valley of the Nidd, scooting along at a very entertaining pace until we got to Pately Bridge where a fair was going on, clogging the local roads, so Stuart pulled out an alternative from his bag of tricks to give us our last singletrack fling before dropping down to his house, and a dinner prepared by Stuart's gourmet chef wife, Sue. She even made me a fresh apple pie from apples grown in their garden. Life is good. :thumbup

Let's start attaching pics.

 

[flying_hun]

Pics from Castlerigg and the Dales

Even more pics.

 

[89fj]

I'm so not offended by this thread
Party on, Hun

 

[flying_hun]

saving western civilization so some of us could ride motos ...
god bless him, I say! :thumbup:ride


:laughing:angel

I'm so not offended by this thread
Party on, Hun

Thanks guys! :cool

 

[kneedraggeroldy]

opcorn ort keep the report coming so we can live vicariously through you :teeth

 

[89fj]

great ride, Kurt. I'd like to do a ride report on my second trip to vietnam in november.

 

[flying_hun]

great ride, Kurt. I'd like to do a ride report on my second trip to vietnam in november.

Do it!

My ride back to England with Stuart was my last epic riding day of the trip. I left his home Friday morning and went out to just poke around Yorkshire. With my usual crap navigation skills, I didn't exactly end up where I wanted to, so I didn't make it to my favorite tea shop in Rosedale Abbey. However, I did ride the legendary North Yorkshire TT, AKA the B1257 from Stokesley to Helmsley. I rode this before with Kevin and George, and had a pretty good time, but this lovely end of summer day had a fair amount of both traffic and traffic enforcement. The road itself kind of reminds me of Hwy 9. Not in terms of big climbs or loads of trees, the B1257 is flatter and is surrounded by farm fields. However it's similar to 9 in that it has a decent surface, positively cambered turns, and it encourages riders to believe they are better than they are. It forgives a rider's mistakes until it doesn't.

I had booked two nights in a B&B in a town called Brough because it was near the venue for Dom and Caroline's wedding, so I needed to go find the B&B, then make my way to Dom and Caroline's for the rehearsal BBQ. After a fair amount of messing around in Friday afternoon traffic, I found my way to Brough and my lodgings. I bring this up because this ended up being another remarkable experience. More later.

For those of you who have not heard my back story on this UK stuff, a few things will be useful to recount. First, I used to be married to a Brit, so I have a fair amount of experience with the place due to trips to visit family, and at the same time I built up a network of my own friends there.

More important than the above is something that happened back in 2006. That year I rode in the competition class in an event that Ducati used to put on called The Centopassi (Italian for "100 passes"), a 4 day, time-speed-distance rally in the Alps. When I decided to try my hand I had assumed that there would be other Americans riding, as there had been in prior years. When I got to the event I found that I was the only American riding competition, though there were two naval aviators riding in the tourist class. It would be fair to say that I was a fish out of water, so it was nice to meet and dine with a team from the UK the night before the event began. After a totally chaotic riders meeting in which I thought a riot would break out, the Team UK captain pulled me aside and offered to let me follow their team's navigation and timekeeping since we were on sequential "minutes" in the race order. It was an offer I could not refuse, and I spent the next 4 days chasing these guys all over the French and Italian Alps. By the end of that time, we had all become fast friends, having shared challenges and hardships.

Dominic was a member of that UK team, and I stayed in touch with him, as well as with the team captain Colin Barlow, who died from cancer in 2011. Dom has at various times, hosted me, hosted my bike, helped me sort out getting the bike serviced, and connecting with other people to ride with. I've been back to ride with Dom a number of times over the years, including an absolutely epic ride in Wales with another Centopassi buddy, Ashley (who was the first of the Brits I met there). When the invitation came to attend Dom's wedding to the force-of-nature, Caroline, the timing of my 2019 trip was set. There was no way that I would miss that little soiree.

Dom and Caroline bought a rather rundown horse boarding facility about six months earlier. They had been working non-stop to clean up the place so they could have the wedding reception there. They invited me to come over the day before as they finished all the prep work to share in a BBQ, and meet some of the other guests.

After a lovely evening hanging out around the grill, enjoying sausages and beers and conversation, I made my way back to the B&B. My host, Maggie was getting herself a glass of wine, and offered to get one for me, and we had a fascinating conversation. Maggie's husband, Graham is a VW hobbyist, and he was off at a rally in their 75 Westphalia, so Maggie filled me in on their passion for old VW's and traveling. She had great stories about their times living and working in South Korea, and traveling other exotic places. In the course of the conversation we began talking about pilgrimage and life altering events. It came out that she and Graham are both cancer survivors, having both had incredibly challenging treatment regimens. This brought up the topic of focus that comes from being forcefully reminded of one's mortality. It was one of the most open and authentic conversations I've ever had, but looking back on the trip it was consistent with the experiences I'd had with Paul and Emma on Mull, and Ian in Fort William, and Donald in Dalwhinnie. People have amazing stories, and sometimes we just have to show that we're ready to hear them.

The next morning, Maggie showed me Graham's shop where he is in the midst of restoring a 53 beetle with the oval rear window and semaphore turn signals. The whole shop was a gearhead's delight, and I'm sorry I was not able to meet Graham.

On the wedding day, about 50 of us were invited to meet at the farm to be taken en masse into the city of Hull to the Guild Hall where the actual wedding ceremony would take place. Dom and Caroline had chartered an old double decker bus to move us all around. After a glass or two of the fizzy stuff, the bus arrived and we headed into the city. It was my first visit to Hull, and I was under the impression that it was a sort of rundown port town, but I think that was true in the past. There was loads of new construction going on, and many of the old buildings downtown had been cleaned and refurbished, and on this beautiful Saturday the whole place was glistening.

When we arrived at the hall there was another wedding party just finishing, so it was fun to salute and toast one another before our group headed in four our turn. The wedding was about what you would expect, and it's always an honor to be able to share such a moment with the couple.

Afterwards we headed back to the farm for more drinks, and for the rest of the guests to arrive. Dom and Caroline and all of their helpers had created quite the venue in the show arena, having built a stage for the DJ operation and a dance floor. They had also brought in enough tables, glasses, dishes, and flatware to serve a sit down dinner for more than 100 guests followed by loads of beer and dancing. One of the cool things was that they had arranged the tables by how the people at that table knew the couple. Naturally, I was at the "Bikers and Biker Chicks" table. :laughing One benefit being that I already knew a couple of folks at that table. It was a good night. arty

The next morning we all met up back at the farm for a post-party breakfast of bacon butties and coffee or tea. Lots of hangovers were on display, and we all had a good laugh at one another and ourselves, as we helped pack up all the rented party gear (e.g., tables, chairs, etc.). Then it was time for me to be on my way.

I'm no longer married to a Brit, but I still have family connections there. The man who was married to my ex's sister is still a good friend (and a total gearhead), and Eric had invited me to spend a night at his place in the North Yorks countryside, and to have Sunday roast there so that I could catch up with him, his partner, and his kids, whom I've known since they were pre-school, and who now are in university. It's a precious connection that I am grateful to be able to keep up with.

As the pattern was going for this trip, after the few days of good weather I had enjoyed, the rain returned. It was so good to get to Eric's, get out of my damp gear, and sit down for a lovely meal with people I love.

Enough for now.

 

[Map8]

^^^ This is what I imagine flying_hun's everyday life is like.

 

[budman]

Man some beautiful pics added since I last checked in.

Awesome :cool

 

[flying_hun]

Only a couple of photos left to go, so I'll wrap this up.

After the post-wedding breakfast, I made my way over to Ripon in North Yorkshire to meet up with my ex-BIL, Eric and his family. Eric and his partner made us a great Sunday roast, then the whole family decamped into the sitting room to watch F1 race in Singapore (BIL is a huge gearhead). Then I caught up with the niece and nephew. She's in her last year of university, and he is in his first year. Since I've known them since before starting school, it's great to see them reach this stage of their educations.

Another huge storm blew in that afternoon, and I feared my last day on the bike would be another wet day. *sigh* Fortunately, the morning saw sunshine and clear skies when I looked out the back door of the BIL's house in the direction of Pately Bridge. There was only one thing to do - go riding! :ride

First, I had to get some fuel and wash the bike since I would be taking it back to Paul's for winter storage later that afternoon. After washing the worst of the crud off the bike, I headed towards Pately Bridge, but the fair was still going on, and traffic was a mess, so I headed up towards Masham to have some take-out lunch on the square. It's a favorite hangout spot of mine, surrounded by great roads. It was a good morning and early afternoon.

After that, I made my way over to the other side of York to get to Paul's house. Paul and his wife Annie live in a motorcycle mecca where there is not only a barn full of cool bikes, but there are at least four bikes in the house, including a Triumph Saint police bike and a T150 Trident. We all had a great chat over the kitchen table, then Mike and his lovely wife gave me a lift into York and dropped me off right in front of my B&B. Thanks, Mike!

An evening walk through York reminded me of why it's my favorite city in England. It's beautiful, ancient, full of surprises, and well worth your time to visit. The York Minster is the largest Gothic cathedral north of the Alps, and is one of my usual destinations when I walk around the city.

The next day was a train ride across the top of England to get to Manchester for my flight home. One long day from York to Orinda.

A couple of other observations. First, I usually see some cool cars on these trips, and this trip was no different. There were old Blower Bentleys, and the usual Morgans, including a Plus 8 Aero. One more that caught my eye while I was up in the Scottish Highlands there was a Lotus 7/Caterham coming the other way, and I love those. However, the coolest car I saw was a Lancia Delta Integrale Evo that even had a full cage in it. If you've ever been a fan of rallying, you gotta love those cars.

The coolest bike seen on the road? In past years I've encountered an RC30 and even a Desmosedici on the road. This year the coolest bike was a BSA Rocket 3 I saw in the petrol station in Moffat. The owner was out on tour and it was loaded with luggage. It sounded absolutely delicious! No Buck Rogers exhausts though.

If it's not clear already, I love riding in the UK. It has its problems. It's a small and crowded island, and traffic can be bad, as can be the weather. However, if you're willing to look for the good roads, dress for the weather, and dodge the speed cameras, you can have an EPIC time. Riding on the other side of the road is much easier than you think. Roundabouts are brilliant. If you have California plates on your bike, speed cameras aren't a threat. :devil Try it out.

 

[CDONA]

Oh man, the one thing that scares me to visit my sister in Australia, that "wrong side of the road" stuff.

It is getting to feel like a real "bitch slap" for me.

All this external motivation n' shit :thumbup

 

[flying_hun]

Oh man, the one thing that scares me to visit my sister in Australia, that "wrong side of the road" stuff.

It is getting to feel like a real "bitch slap" for me.

All this external motivation n' shit :thumbup

The biggest risks are when pulling out of a parking lot or driveway. It's very easy in that scenario to head directly to what's familiar, and that's a problem. Once you're on the road, the roundabouts help you stay on the correct side. You have to think about it a little bit, but it's way easier on a bike than in a car, in my experience.