Huge, huge thanks to ken and Jeanette for putting up with us. Great to see them as always. Great weekend, laughed my socks off last night, and food and drink was super. The monsoon for 230 odd miles on the way down was enjoyable... It's weird that warm rain doesn't deter a ride out! Nice chilled ride back in sunshine, with the odd blast and some lazy sunny stop offs on the way back. I ate so much again, that I've burst the zip on my leathers, and had free aircon on the bike all the way home.... Oops. Once again, fantastic company, great laughs and a great hotel to boot. Thanks Jeanette for the breakfast...you are a diamond....and ken, cheers mate for putting up with us. pics up tomorrow, right now I have to save some remnants of my wedding anniversary......
It was, as always our pleasure. Good company, hearty vittals and weather I'd arranged in advance. All that spoilt it was the Fox's lousy reversing...again... Gary tells me it was a 633 mile round trip for him so from now on you guys are... Photoshop to follow...
Gary decides it's all too much for his bowels... He can't believe he's met "normal" people! The usual beverage of the heirachy.... The motley crew Gary is so pleased to meet a famous person: Tom insisted we play a "couple" at tea time... Contentment... You may not recognise the Firebloke without his make up...he's gone for the "nude" look...very in this season... Tom was warned about parking his bike there... And did Martin ever find where i put the ear plug while he was asleep???? Good times, it was a pleasure!
Photo 4 Looks like The Fox has already snuck into position and is seen showing Jeanett some clips from when he was an extra in Dallas .
Northerners run to Devon. 05.00hrs I awoke to the sound of rain. 06.30hrs saw me waterproofed up & Setting off to meet up with “lee” jetmadblade on the M55 at Kirkham. Onto M6 to collect “Steve” thefirebloke, not the best run I’ve had over to the Raven, lots of standing water on the roads & in places covering the whole carriage way. We Fuelled up & began meeting everyone at the Raven. Giv & Elaine kindly came over to wave us off & a friendly thumbs up. After much dripping on the cafés floor it was time to head off, the rain by now is coming down at a steady pace. No actual route had been planned, so we are now in the hands of Si & the satnav. I took the place of last man, you know, just in case. Although wet conditions the riders maintained a good pace which for those that know me & my hate of wet stuff I felt really comfortable with it & if I dare say, actually enjoyed giving it just a little bit more to catch up with the group when the lack of overtakes saw me getting left behind a bit. A couple of stops & wrong turnings along the way & the occasional me chasing thefirebloke down who missed the turn we are getting around 130 miles from our destination. Steve & I got split from the group on one occasion & a couple of broken phone calls from Si later we discovered we’d actually got 6 miles in front & were happily sitting in a layby on the A46 listening to the rumbles of distant thunder. Regrouped we head towards the direction the thunder was coming from, Bath. Heavy rain began to fall it was time to pull in for dinner, as we went over a hill the dull sky was lit up by a humongous flash, to the relief of myself & Tom we soon realised it was lightning & not from a speed camera. We stopped here for dinner The Blathwayt Arms, Lansdown, Bath, Somerset, BA1 9BT - Freehouse and Restaurant The food was good enough, the management, well, they either didn’t like the idea of 7 bikers dripping over the floor, or they were just out & out miserable bastards! Dinner for Lee Steve & Tom was a little later than expected, Don’t get me wrong it was served almost at the same time as everyone else’s, it was just the fact the “waiter” decided to do a full on feet in the air arse on the wet floor whilst carrying their food, Couldn’t really say too much as I’d suspect it was the water was from the 7 bikers brought in earlier. Leaving the pub behind, we are now sitting in the middle of pea soup land, the rain has reacted with the warm ground, & for a couple of miles it was a bit grim. We managed to keep together for the last 100 miles & 30 miles from our goal the sunshine hits us full on, not bothering to de waterproof we continued to our destination collecting Martin Owen in a layby along the way, a chance meeting as his satnav had given up, luckily we spotted him “looking through a car window at the time” it wasn’t actually Martin we noticed, it was in fact the very rare Repsol colour scheme that attracted our attention. Ken, Steve b & Shawn57 was awaiting our arrival, after the normal northern tradition of getting the washing out to dry. It was then time for a shower & a catch up with some new friends. A great meal & we ate & drank like kings. This picture paints a thousand words. You fill in the blanks. Once the meal had been consumed it was time to move to the front of the hotel for coffee’s & alcoholic beverages The banter was as always fabulous, always nice to meet new members, & after a few hours in the company of these people the sides do begin to ache. Relatively speaking an early night was had, we had a breakfast appointment with Ken & Jeanette for 09.30hrs, & we didn’t want them to wait around for us, so legs over the bike we rumble through the village, what an awesome sight & sound it was seeing the bikes together. But before we go, a quick once over of Shawn’s bike, Truly a stunning example & a credit to the owner, this I will guess give Si a few sleepless nights Breakfast consumed we make the tough decision to head back north 2no one ever wants these to end” the forecast is that it will be dry for our journey back up.
Around 80 miles in & after waving martin off on a roundabout somewhere near the A303 we pull in here for a drink Lee shows his better side Tom try’s the local cider An hour and a half passes & we must press on, a diversion gave us an opportunity for a little break “Somewhere” & again just saw us lazing in the sun chewing the fat. Si had a little wardrobe problem & was also having trouble with his posture due the continual head movement up & down looking at the satnav, it was decided to bring myself from the rear to the front “apparently I have a bigger one” thus leading the pack towards the Raven for the last 100 or so miles, I just hope I didn’t slow you all down Other than fuel stops some nice sections of road it was pretty run of the mill, although we had to have one for ice cream.
Getting into Shropshire & 37 miles out from the Raven a dark cloud was coming, with the advice of Steve I pulled into a layby where we waterproofed up, it was a very good call as before we’d set off it pissed it down again for 10/15 minutes. Re fuelled it was time to depart company, I’ve never been a good bye sort of bloke, its always an Ill see you later & with that, it just Steve, Lee & myself finishing the trip as it had begun. Steve Pulling into my garage at 20.45hrs & another 633.1 miles on the clock, & yes, Mrs B was there with the garage door open & a beer in her hand ready. I’ll end by saying Guys, an amazing time, may I thank each & every one of you. You missed it? You missed out!
And a thank you sir for making me/us laugh, you sir are a fookin legend, I'll never be able to look at a T5 now without thinking about this trip
Nice write up Gary, I hope I didn't slow anyone up on the way back, didnt realise how far you went my way as was expecting to break out the pack after 5 mins
I hold the title of holding em back mate. That bike of yours sounds awesome, it was a pleasure to hear it pulling away on a fair bit of chat through the gears. And it was great to meet you finally. Top bloke.
