Lucy & I had our first weekend free for a long time this last weekend, so we decided to make it a biking one!!
I'd guess that all of them were a little riding unfit too as rocky lane after rocky lane was covered, some sweat was lost in the beautiful sunshine and a couple of falls were taken by Simon and myself...
Saturday saw us meeting up at Penruddock near Penrith with friends on a mix of bikes... 3 triumphs, a Suzuki and Lucy's BMW.We made a vague plan and headed off for fuel, cash etc and then set off to enjoy the sunshine and dry tarmac.
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| Brough Cafe, nice food! |
First place we hit was Pooley Bridge to ride over the replacement army bridge, then round to Bampton with its lovely views of Haweswater, High Street and the eastern fells off to our right.
This took us onto the fast A6, where Nigel disappeared into the distance on his 675 which he usually rides on track days!
Kendal was its usual glut of traffic which we quickly bypassed heading to Kirby Lonsdale and Devils Bridge for a cuppa...
Some of the lovely Dales roads followed upto Sedbergh then Kirkby Stephen, where Jo & Richard left us to do chores. The 3 of us left took the Brough road to the bottom of Middleton in Teesdale, then up the valley past High Force and into Alston.
We finished the day on the road to Carlisle and a stop at Lloyd Honda, where we saw a beautiful old Ducati. I bought some new Alpinestars gloves for trail riding then back home for beer and Moto GP practice on Nigel's TV!
Sunday was planned to be a laning day doing a run over towards Hexham in Northumberland.
When we got up Lucy didn't feel to well so bailed which left me and 3 of the Cumbria TRF lads heading out. Nigel, Simon and Ernesto... A good mix of bikes with 2 KTM 500's, the CRF 250 of Nigel's and my 400.
When we got up Lucy didn't feel to well so bailed which left me and 3 of the Cumbria TRF lads heading out. Nigel, Simon and Ernesto... A good mix of bikes with 2 KTM 500's, the CRF 250 of Nigel's and my 400.
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| Homemade with tie wraps and a sling! |
We met up near Melmerby, took in a couple of lanes in the valley and then began the climb to Hartside. Simon's bike died on a hill climb and needed some TLC on the battery but ran fine thereafter, some kind of loose connection on the battery we think...None of the guys had ridden this route before although Ernesto had ridden a few of the lanes on the Northumbria TRF Hadrians Wall Adventure weekend last year.
I'd guess that all of them were a little riding unfit too as rocky lane after rocky lane was covered, some sweat was lost in the beautiful sunshine and a couple of falls were taken by Simon and myself...
There has been lots of changes to several lanes this month with water levels really low, Tynehead has had a big tractor re cut the ruts on the ascent from the house, which is a good thing as hopefully more people will use them rather than spreading across the moor, (something that is causing a headache for the farmer on his quad, he & his wife have rolled their quad in the ruts apparently).
Limestone Brae has been completely remodeled with all the good tricky rocky bits gone and a super easy in/out now.
Slaley Forest has begun to dryout and so Blanchland Common, both really good areas to ride around... has all good stuff.. There were loads of bike teams on the round today too, always good to see others having fun on the trails!
So I'm suitably knackered after two long weekends of biking, the 400 is in desperate need of an overhaul and new tyres, so hopefully this week or maybe next for that.
Great weekend rounded off with beer and roast chicken for dinner...
Happy days on two wheels!
