Our plans were drawn, we had a start date, a destination, a hotel booked and we were all excited and raring to go. There was just the 5 of us on this trip, myself, Zippy, Grifter, Viper and K.G, what a bloody motley crew.
Kage came up from Sheffield and met with Grifter, they then met me and Zippy on the A66 near Sadberge. The 4 of us set off to Viper's house in Evenwood, when we arrived we were greeted with rounds of coffee and bacon buttees (you're a star Mrs. Viper ) so this officially counted as our first coffee stop. After a fantastic 30 mile blast along the A689 through Wolsingham to Alston, Coffee stop number 2 came about, a much needed break for me 'cos i had a bit of a nappy moment
when my front wheel slipped on a squished bunny while cornering, thankfully this was the only dodgy moment during the trip, actually, there was the bull incident but more about that later.
The next stop after Alston was about 5 miles later at the famous Hartside cafe, about 30- 40 bikers were there, it was cool to see the really wide variety of machines on show and the place had a really friendly atmosphere. Me and Grifter spent a pleasant 5 minutes studying a map which showed all the biker fatalities and serious accidents, a bit gruesome
perhaps but i suppose it gets the point across.
Zippy was going to be the leader for the next leg so we studied the road map and relayed information to Zippy via brail and sign language. "just after we pass Penrith we hit the A6 and cross over the M6 then we take a right straight away, ok Zippy?". Off he blasted in a pink blur totally oblivious to what we had just said, passing penrith we dropped onto the A6 and soon after we crossed over the M6, so, a right turn here then, Oh! wait where's bloody Zippy gone, shit he's shot straight past the turn off, oh well ,the best laid plans and all that.
After a ful
l and commited search by mountain rescue we got Zippy back and we headed onto the tiny little outback roads which led to our digs, the fantastically situated Haweswater Hotel, we checked in and looked over our rooms, which were a bit basic but really suited the surroundings. We gathered downstairs and panic set in as Grifter couldn't find his bike keys but things soon calmed when it turned out the Manageress had found his keys and was hiding them for a bit of a laugh, i'm sure Grifter will agree it was bloody hilarious, hmmm.
We had a coffee (number 4) and headed off on the bikes to the south lakes. The Manageress told us about a shortcut across the moors on an old concrete track so we thought we would give it a go, it turned out to be superb, it was a bit bumpy but fairly fast and flowing and as long as you watched out for suic
idal sheep it was good fun.
Kendal was the next destination before dropping into Windermere, which was jam packed and the roads were chocker, we tried to find some parking spaces near the lake and soon realised there was an Air show going on, that would account for the huge crowds then, i was secretly chuffed as i'm a bit of a plane anorak, ask Zippy he takes the piss out of me constantly for it; The lads decided it was a bit too crowded for comfort so we headed off toward Ullswater and across the famous Kirkstone pass . A fantastic stretch of road this was but it was frustrated by a cock in an Audi who was driving well below the speed limit and we just couldn't get past him, so we pulled into a pub in a lovely setting and Viper got off his bike and sprinted into the bar (don't worry we're good boys, we just had a quick shandy).
A quick blast aroun
d Ullswater and Pooley bridge and it was time to head back to the digs. We reached our nice of stretch trans pennine concrete and set off at a fair old pace toward Haweswater lake, about half way along the road we came across a series of bridges and smack bang in the middle of the road was a bloody huge Bull, "Well, go on then, just ride forward" said Kage, "Bugger off, you do it" i replied. After much discussion and back pedalling the poor bloody Bull got bored and just wandered off without any encouragement from us shit houses.
Back at the hotel the Managaress asked us if we all had big appetites, "you're going to need them" she told us. Well, when our food arrived we were'nt expecting Nouvelle cuisine, you know the sort of stuff, huge plate, tiny portions and looks more like art than food. Don't get me wrong the food was fantastic, just not exactly hearty meals for tired hearty bikers, Oh well.
I think its probably best if we leave Doris the Tranny for another day, bless her/him/it.
Anyway, next morning we devoured breakfast said our goodbyes and headed off toward home. We made our way down the M6 for a few miles and took the Kirkby Stephen turn off and had another coffee in Kirkby town centre. Then it was on to a fast but fun 40 mile blast along the A66 to Scotch Corner, we stopped again for a coffee and Raptor spent 15 minutes drooling over a Yamaha FJR that was parked in the car park.
So, we said our goodbyes and headed off on our separate journeys home.
A really good time was had by all and for our first weekend away i think it was a great success.
thanks to all the guys.
Mr. Bungle
