Kielder Water at Last

Mayhem at Tower Knowe Visitor Centre.

Sunday 3rd April. At work on a morning shift and feeling like I'm deprived of fresh air. Talked my shift leader into letting me finish at 12 instead of 2. Yipee!!!! Home and changed into leathers, the weather looks great and Mayhem is free to come out and play. I owe him a good ride out for all the times I've been out without him! After putting our heads together we decide to head up to Carlisle and take it From there. Thirty four miles later we pull into Carlisle McDonalds with grins as wide as our helmets. That quick blast has got us in the mood for some serious riding so after a coffee, a couple of ciggies and a tank of unleaded its off to the A7 and I decide to give Mayhem a bit of a change of scenery. We turn off the A7 at Cannonbie and get on the B6357 to Newcastleton.
All the while the sun is shining down on us and the road surface isn't too bad either. After blowing out the cobwebs on the trip to Carlisle we are both ready for a good thrash and we "make progress" along this winding and challenging road. After Newcastleton the road forks and it is the right fork that we take heading for the A6088. Mayhem has never been on this section of the road before but I can tell he is enjoying it by the way he is chucking the Bird about and never dropping more than 30 meters behind! A right turn at the junction with the A6088 and a blat along to Carter Bar on the A68 where we have a disappointment as there is no burger van in the lay-bye! Oh well , there is a first time for everything. Kielder Water
After a quick ciggie I decide to head along the A68 as this section of the road is fantastic; Sweeping bends, tight bends and large elevation changes make it worth the trip! Left turning on to the A696 brings us along to Otterburn where we manage to find a latte and a great Bacon sarnie in the towns main convenience store. Ciggies, coffee and food dipatched I decide to try and get round the backside of Kielder Water where I have never been before. Taking the B6320 which crosses the A68 we wend our merry way along some tremendous roads. At last, on my third attempt, I am finally getting to go around Kielder Water! It is worth the wait, being a thoroughly entertaining road with great scenery and surface. The Tower Knowe Visitor center Beckons and we stop for yet another coffee, ciggies and crack with other bikers who have stopped here. I seems very popular with the biking fraternity and it is right beside the Osprey Ferry terminal. There are well cared for public toilets here as well.
As we sit and smoke and shoot the shit, a bit of a breeze springs up. It is still sunny and bright as we saddle up and carry on along this lovely road but looking at the sky reveals a massive black cloud and we are heading right for it! Before I know it ,it is lashing down. I start to feel the rain stinging my fingers through my gloves and realise that the shiny road surface isnt actually shiny but WHITE. Its only hoying down hailstones the size of ball bearings! A car in front of me suddenly decides he needs to slow to crawling pace so I pull over to pass , open the throttle oh so slightly and find myself riding a very heavy speedway bike! That's enough of that, I think and carry on very gingerly until the hailstones give way to normal rain. Mayhem has fallen a bit behind so I pull over thinking that as he has a heavy tinted visor on he may be having visibility issues. Sure enough , he pulls in next to me and changes his visor sharpish.
Two minutes later we are back in brilliant sunshine and dry roads. Talk about four seasons in one day! Normal service resumed we head back towards the B6357 and find ourselves back at Newcastleton having completed the loop around Kielder. Will definitely be doing that trip again,hopefully sans hailstones. Newcastleton to Cannonbie is completed at a good pace and once back on the A7 it is time to think about tanking up. A quick stop in Longtown for fuel lightens my pocket by £26, This hobby is getting bloody expensive! Nearly £50 on fuel. Never mind ,it was totally worth it. Mayhem has really enjoyed it too and we are happy to add this run to our list of Sunday afternoon runs. Longtown back to Workington and put the bike away dirty, I can wash it later inthe week when I'm on my days off. A great time was had by all....

INTRODUCTIONS 12

Bosnia

Age: 26

Years riding: almost 2

Bike: Honda CBR 600f

Mods: erm.. trickle charger?

Previous bike: None.

fascinating fact: Bosnia actually plays on PS3's Gran Tourismo 5 in his crash helmet... and it is also rumored that counter steering just doesn't work for Bosnia...

First Trip of the Year

First of all I would like to say that I am delighted that the blog appears to be widely read and feel a bit remiss about not blogging from the end of last year. So I am about to remedy that. Anyone reading this is encouraged to have a comment and give us guys some encouragment!
The end of February saw me get myself motivated to get the Blackbird ready for the coming season and decided to do a full service , change the front wheel bearings, change the brake fluid and fit new pads. A scotoiler was also added, had been meaning to do that for 2 years! My mate Mayhem decided to take the plunge and buy a set of stainless downpipes for his 'Bird. We managed that with only one snapped stud which had to be drilled and tapped. A visit to the testing station produced an immaculate M.O.T. Certificate and a quick online application supplied 12 months tax.
Over christmas I worked plenty of overtime and decided to treat myself to some new gear as well. Online I found a set of leather pants that matched my Targa jacket and a nice pair of TCX Waterproof boots to replace my comfortable but shabby Oxtars. A pair of winter gloves in blue completed the purchases. Thats it then ,all ready!
I decided to get away for a few days and some old schoolmates organised a mini reunion in my old hometown of Castle Douglas(Scotland) Via Facebook for the 18th of March. Things were looking good for a trip around the Scottish Borders and on Wednesday the 16th I packed up and started my trip with a gentle trip of 80 miles or so from Workington to Dalbeattie to work out the kinks and arrived at my parents house fresh and invigorated . I spent a lovelly evening and night with Mum and Dad and then the next morning I got up early and set off to enjoy the A711 back to Dumfries and turned onto the A709 for Lockerbie. I found a nice little B road, the 7068, that took me over to Langholm on the good old A7. Coffee ,bacon butty and fags at the Whitsheil Cafe and then on to Hawick. I was in no rush as I had all day to meander around the countryside having booked a room in the Famous Star hotel in Moffat for that night. Pulling into the fuel station at the Morrisons Supermarket there I pulled of my helmet and took out my earphones and promptly lost a rubber earbud. After filling up, I went into the store thinking that I would buy a cheap set of headphones for the rubber buds. Wrong! The only in ear type were Dalmation spotted JVC's that cost nearly £20! Still , I do love my music . I tried them in and found them excellent so left them in!
I may have said before but I love the A7. It is fairly fast and flowing and as the weather was dry and bright ,if cold, I enjoyed it to the full all the way to the Edinburgh ring road. I was enjoying myself so much I got onto the A701 and blasted along to Penicuik where i decided to stop for a coffee and fags. I then carried on down the 701/703 to Peebles and on down to Moffat and my hotel. I had a lovely meal and spent the evening in the bar with the locals watching football (Rangers went out of the Europa league) and drinking rum and coke.
Surprisingly, I was up early the next morning in bright sunshine . During the night there had been a heavy frost and the bike was covered. I moved it into the sunshine and went for a leasurely breakfast which was beautiful and then settled my bill. I was slightly dubious about the roads so I decided to wash the bike off and fuel up in Moffat to give the sun time to work its magic. I then set off on what was to be a fantastic day of riding. Down the A701 to Dumfries, along the A75 to Castle Douglas and onto the fantastic A713 to Ayr.Dry roads, sunshine, good music and the fantastic Blackbird had me grinning from ear to ear. A nice lunch in the Morrisons at Ayr then I was ready for a road I had never been on before, the amazing A77. I set off not knowing what to expect and had a total blast down this wonderfull twisting, undulating , scenic coastal road. Stranraer appeared all too soon and it was on to the A75 to take me along to Newton Stewart where I stopped for fuel, coffee and fags. From there to Castle Douglas on the A75 is fairly uninspiring so the A712 to New Galloway and then the A713 back to Castle Douglas seemed a better option. Clatteringshaws Resevoir from the A712 It has to be said that the rough winter and frequent use by logging wagons had left these lovely scenic and interesting roads a little worse for wear with lots of gravel and potholes in inconvenient places. That dropped the pace a little but it was still a hoot. After booking into the Imperial Hotel and showering I had a great meal and then it was time for the reunion. I will not go into detail except to say it went on late and the barstaff were ready to drop when everyone eventually left!
Up at 7.30 after a 3am finsh and lots to drink sounds like a recipe for disaster but I was fine. Delicious full Scottish breakfast, bike packed and ready I had a wander down the main street to see how much it had changed in the last 26 years. Not much! Once the time became reasonable I popped in to visit my neice who lives close by and then went over to Dalbeattie to my Mum and Dads again. My brother came over from Dumfries and we had a ride out together and went to his house for dinner. After spending some time looking at his Project VF1000R I had to head for home as I had a backshift to do the next day. On getting back to Mayhem's to garage the 'Bird he came out to berate me for leaving him at home again! Have to make it up to him and take him out on some new(ISH) roads........................
Four good days spent in my favourite persuit and all too soon, back to work.

Watch this space!

After much consideration I've decided to carry on blogging on behalf of the Ouchmypiles guys. Everyone at the minute is up to different 'activities' and some still looking for there next bike. I am pleased that Scotch broth started to blog, and blog he did! You have posted some bloody great trips and your write ups are inspiring/awesome please feel free to keep documenting your trips, I'd love to see what your getting up to! Also i stumbled across a CaroleNash website which had a article about motorcycle blogging in which they searched the Internet and listed the top 20 blogs in which ouchmypiles featured 5th! so enough of the reasons, i love motorcycles and I'm gonna be 100% dedicated to sharing it with anyone who cares to read this blog! lets start with a new introduction...