Another planned route for this summer was to complete a Coast to Coast from Cumbria across to Scarborough in North Yorkshire. Enlisted into this little escapade was a mate Nigel, who wanted to try out his KTM 790 Adventure on a longer camping trip. The route turned out to be 750 miles of all types of green lane, B & C road and a tiny amount of faster A road.
Day 1:
We met up on a damp Friday morning. Grey skies and a little bit of drizzle hung heavy in the air. Our route took us down the west coast of Cumbria to Stubb Place on the west coast, just south of Ravenglass. Here, there is a railway bridge that goes over a tidal section of road, so make sure you get the tides right to start there!
As we both know the Cumbrian lanes pretty well, we knew the day should flow nicely, so were both quite relaxed. A rhythm soon developed of gate opening, picture stops, gossip stops and a bit of banter with the regular supply of walkers on the lanes these days. The ferry over Windermere wasn't as busy as expected and the stop at the cafe was a bit of a giggle with the two folk working there. This one is a bit of a regular stop for the Cumbria TRF folk.
The afternoon turned warm and sunny and we finished the day with a wild camp on our highest point of the day. A bit of breeze saw off the midges and we sat and talked the day through over a bottle of wine and a variety of camp food.
Day 2:
We were traversing across the southern end of Cumbria, crossing into the newly appointed Westmorland Dales area. A stop for fuel at the busy little farm garage at Nateby, saw us fueled up for the roads to come. This particular route was a good mix of beautiful and winding fell road mixed with the odd unsealed road on our way towards Barnard Castle. (We tried to book an opticians appointment, but they all seemed to be booked with politicians from London for some reason). I especially took a shine to the road that wound up through West Stone Dale to the Tan Inn. Great views and a stunning road on these types of bikes!
At Scar House reservoir, we met a lovely young couple out for the day in their little Jimny and watched the Curlews flying over the moorland for a bit. We also found a field lane blocked by big straw bales. I managed to sneak past with a bit of swearing and effort but the 790 had no chance, so had to re-route.
Once through Ripon, we crossed the A1m and entered into the rolling hillsides to the south of the main North Yorkshire moors. We'd set off at 6am, by 5pm, we were flagging a little and starting to look for camping spots. The area was a lot of farmland and quite populated so at 6.30pm, we decided to head for Helmsley and get some food, then sort out a camp place. We ended up in a beautiful place with a great view over the moors. A farmers wife walking her dogs came to check what we were upto, but with some good gossip and exchanges, she was convinced we weren't upto anything nefarious and wished us a good nights sleep. We sat and drank more wine,whilst reliving the day and the lanes and enjoying the view before turning in for the night.
Day 3:
The day started early again at 5am and with getting eaten alive by midges, no wind, a warm sun. Usually a blessing on this little island. But for midges, it's heaven sent and out they came in their thousands to feast upon the two of us for the time it took us to rapidly pack up!
Once back on our route, we wound along the southern edge of the moors, dipping into the forest north of us on regular intervals. I nearly got took out by a deer at one point, as it leapt out of a bit of woodland. Nigel had to deal with his fears of fords again and we ended up in Scarborough at 10am.
After eating crab sandwiches on a very busy beach, we headed out again on our return northern loop. The lanes were all pretty good until we came to a steep lane that was heavily rutted. After the initial start up the hillside, Nigel was having a mare. I rode about 2/3 rds of the way up, then stopped to go back to help Nigel. After seeing the next sections, I knew he wouldn't get up the lane on both that bike and with the tyres he had on. So some nifty reversing on slippy steep ground got him back to the flat and he left to find a way around, with the plan to meet up at the top.
1.5 hours later, he found his way back down to me where I'd gotten stuck in a deep wet clay and tree root lined rut. I'd managed to get from my stopping point to about 30 feet past there in that time. I was on the edge of getting out of the thing, but had the back wheel spinning on a tree route and the bike was just to heavy for me alone to pull it up onto the harder centre line. Once Nigel turned up. Three little shoves and I was free again, then it was upto the last bit before a romp to the top. The car park, ice cream van and good banter at the state of me with several folk in the car park lifted my flagging spirits immensely.
Once we had both recovered and I'd got rid of some of the clay that was stuck to the bike, we set off again. Plenty of nice lanes followed, several fords and some great views. My bike however, wasn't happy. The temperature light had come on and the thermometer gauge was flashing. We stopped and I topped up the fluids, thinking it had over heated whilst trying to extract it from the mud. It was OK for a little bit then the lights all came on again, but this time the fault code light as well.
We ended up bailing on the rest of the route, I crept home, regularly topping up the radiator and riding at 30 mph all the way. Once home at 9.30pm, I unloaded kit and put the bike away to give it a good wash tomorrow and find out what the problem was. Turned out the radiator had split at the top. A mere £411 from KTM!!
Still, another trip of memories and lads of new areas and lanes explored. Green lanes do take you to some great places!
