B road bliss

Don't think I'll reply to the thread "Nice bike roads?" up there because
the poor sod was in a car and in Her Majesty's densely populated South.

BOSM did it's usual trick of clearing the cobwebs. Food and drink care
of the Black Horse Inn was up to the usual high standard. Light
entertainment courtesy of Nige was a little unexpected but it was good
to see everyone again.

Stayed the night in York courtesy of Hog. His attempts at recreating the
fire we had at the Elefant were disconcerting at first but the heat was
welcome come sunset and in the end he didn't burn down next doors tree
or his gazebo. Somehow I agreed to a ride in the sidecar, must have been
something in my drink.

Monday morning arrived far too quickly but was a beautiful sunny day
with crystal clear blue skies. Once the bike was fettled I headed home.

Somewhere near the border a strange urge started to overcome me. Somehow
the bike veered off the main road and I found myself in unfamiliar
territory. I knew I was still in England because there were signs of
civilisation. The urge to grab a sheep and strap it onto the back of the
bike to take across the border abated as a deeper urge started to
surface. These small roads were starting to be fun ! Miles and miles
without sight of another vehicle, just me and the sheep. Definitely
travelling along old Roman roads, some stretched quite straight into the
distance, fortunately a sports bike makes short shift of these when
there is no one else on the road.

Stopped for some water at a Roman villa remains and decided it was time
for proper fun. Didn't take long before the single track lanes started
to have that double switchback feel about them, ha ha Romans we'll get
you round the next bend, definitely crossed the border now.

Ended up in a place called Newcastleton where I had to stop, I was
pretty much frazzled by then. With the sun shining through my pint glass
and that warm rosy glow that only comes from post B road bliss, life
couldn't get any better.

 

Glad you had fun. Bikes really are fantastic, aren't they.

 

Had that on the IOM (Pahnd!) after we got diverted off the course,
right until a lamb made a suicide bid for my front wheel from over a
fence.

The little fucker.

Paul.

 

For the hard of reading or geographically challenged he was actually
50 miles North of you but yes, would also have been 'enjoying' making
good progress on a bike had he not been in a loaded car and the
purpose of the trip.

But you are right on your second point. It's really only when you hit
the comparatively empty roads outside of the major cities (especially
London) that I can even start to enjoy the experience.

T i m

 

I did come across a sign that said "Slow Red Squirrels" and I thought I
bet the fuckers are faster than the lambs.

 

I wasn't using the suvvern poofta reverse definition of the South,
"North is anything past Watford gap", I was using the tried and tested
"When the people outnumber the sheep you're in the South" version.

Scotland population density = 168.2 per square mile [1], England = 1015
per square mile [2]

Nothing worse than being stuck in the car on lovely biking biking roads
in lovely weather with biker after biker zooming past.

I can't even imagine how hard it is to find enjoyable biking roads
outside of the major cities in England which aren't clogged up.

 

Entirely understandable. I mean, have you *been* to Scotland?

Ugh!

 

I thought you'd just found some.

 

Heh, I thought I'd just got lucky, too early in the season for the old
dears to be out, everyone else back at work after the easter break. I
have to say I was very pleasantly surprised to have the road to myself.

 

Even Northumberland and the Dales can get a bit crowded, especially at
weekends, but never to the point of giving it up as a bad job. The
Lakes, however ...

 

I like everything about Scotland except the midges.

Well indeed, however in this instance not that many did? Mind you, it
was a Monday, might have been a different story the day before.

After living in London all my life I'm happy to settle for 'busy'. The
strange thing though was once out of here and ignoring the Lincoln
town centre it all was pretty clear all the way to there (just over
the Humber Bridge and as confirmed by only dropping 4 mins on the ETA
over a ~4 hour journey).

T i m

 

Yes, and it has the best motorcycling roads in the UK

--
Steve Parry
BMW R80RS, 03 BMW R1100S Boxercup, 07 K1200GT SE
95 BMW F650, 87 Yamaha FS1, Sukida SK90PY, 91 Kawasaki AR50,
BMW 330Ci
www.gwynfryn.co.uk

 

On Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:03:19 +0100, Steve Parry wrote:

It's fucking magic for bikes. Srsly.

 

We found a new one on Sunday. I'd been along it a couple of times in the
car, and always thought that it would be a hoot on a bike... and ****
me, I was right.

No, I'm not saying where it was. There were enough idiots on it already.

 

Ok. You can show us instead.

 

The odd thing is, Scottish rural roads get so little traffic that even
when wet they seem to have loads of grip.

 

It's still not awful when it is.

Unless you're on the A816 south of Oban, and the road's 2' deep in
water.

And you don't notice, cos it's dark.

 

I went there a while back, to photograph the Milnholm Cross.

And Hermitage Castle. By 'eck, it were wet.

 

Sure.

Start there <fxoints NW, about 30 miles away>, and head generally
south-ish to there <fx: points WNW, about 8 miles away>.

Okay?

 

I think so, although if it's the one I'm thinking of, which we did as
the start of a large clockwise loop a couple of years ago, it was fast
rather than bendy.