Peak District Bimble...

A lovely guy called Hugh Cleary has been coming up to the Lakes over the last year and each time has been going out on the lanes up here. Through a mutual friend, he contacted me to sort out information from a local source and over time we've now chatted a bit but never met. So this weekend I thought I'd change that. I contacted Hugh and asked if he was free to go for a ride as I was coming back from down south this weekend, once he said yes, I then asked a couple of other people to see if they were free and low and behold, overnight, we had four of us ready to ride.

We met up on Sunday morning near Whaley Bridge, Hugh, Mark, JP & I. All kit was checked, bikes fuelled and so after some chat, we were off.

A few of the first lanes, I'd ridden before, so knew what was coming, then Hugh took us on a few I'd not ridden but which took us to some lovely places.

There were groups of kids out doing their Duke of Edinburgh Awards, loads of walkers and hundreds of cyclists, both on the roads and the trails, so all in all it was shaping up to be a busy day out in the Peak! The bonus was that everyone was smiley and waving, we each stopped for a bit of a chat finding out what each of us were doing for the day. A proper summer's day out for all!

It's funny, but for me the Peak District is basically a big manicured farm these days, with a lot of quarries, roads and people. It's landscape has been changed by human management drastically over the years and now more than ever, the 'natural' scenery we see is actually a bit like someone has sat down and planned out a garden at a stately home, then set out to make it that way. Somewhere in man's drive to completely control our enviroment and extract anything that is useful to us, we have lost sight of the fact that there is no more land around, what we have is what we have and so in reality we need to find out how to work with it and not just draw a picture in our minds eye and hold the place in that image forever. Something all of the National Parks seem hell bent on doing. 

We almost had a moment when Mark's rear tyre decided to part company with his wheel rim. It turned out his son Leigh had broken the bead whilst fitting the new tyre the previous night and as time was short, Mark had decided to risk it. We ended up shepherding him back to the van, where he decided to bail and go home.

Hugh took us on a some tarmac to get back onto his planned route, then we picked up the lanes again and  started winding our way down the western side of the region, via many of the classic areas. All the way, Hugh kept chatting about the lanes history, something I'm always keen to hear about.

A lot of the lanes around the area were old Roman roads or later Turnpike roads, and some of the Turnpike roads were toll roads where you paid at either end to support mainteneance of them and they had large coaching places where horses and carriages could be rested, repaired etc. A good example of this is the A515 at Newhaven, where the old coaching inn is on the left as you head north. This was a Turnpike road stage. The roman road runs nearby and through some trees now.

Nowadays, they are almost lost in lots of places as modern roads have buried them under tarmac or seen them bull dozed, quarried or farmed out of existence. The remaining lanes are all under threat from the prevailing mentality of the current management of the Peak District National Park Authority and some very biased people who appear to have an overwhelming desire to make the Peak District into their idea of a utopia and anybody who doesn't fit or agree is either castigated or painted in an unfavourable light! When I ride around here, I am very much conscious of the conflict that the lane users are facing in this area and that we are ambassadors of our past time, so taking it steady and chatting to all is just a part of the day.

At the moment, there are plenty of lanes still there though and I would highly recommend anybody go to the Peak and ride as much as you can, after all they need to be ridden to fully appreciate all that they have to offer.

We met up with a lovely family at the Three Shires, they all lived local and next to a lane, their son, who was only about ten, was super keen on his bikes and we got chatting about his KTM 85 that he's planning on having this year. A little font of knowledge in one so young...

Lunch stop was at Hartington, a lovely little village, where a load of Harley Davidson's were parked up, all the riders having food/drinks, we stopped at the local village shop and had coffee and a huge Peak Pastie! Well worth the £2.50 that was...

After this it was down around Biggin to some of the lanes around there before heading back north as the day was now getting on. Our last lanes were a bit muddy which was a surprise as most places had been really dry, which was interesting after the recent heavy rain we've had.

We got back to the vehicles on tarmac, winding through the Goyt Valley, back to Whaley Bridge. Hugh left us to head back home and JP & I stopped off for some food before saying bye and driving to our homes.

Another lovely day out on the lanes, some more nice folk met and chatted with, a little more knowledge about some of the lanes tucked in my head and plans for some more visits to come!

Trans Euro Trail - Time to go see some of the world again...

Well, the sun is properly shining in the UK at the moment, a taster of the weather to come I hope...

I've now set my leaving date for June 03rd, all the chores and responsibilities at home have been done/handed over, the bikes are prepped, the van is serviced and we're good to go!

The Trans Euro Trail is a concept by a guy called John Ross, a military doctor who lives in the north of England. His idea was simple, ride unsealed roads as much as possible around Europe on trails suitable for bikes upto a KTM 690/Yamaha Tenere size.  It is a community led project and not out to make lots of money, that said some kind of donation to keep the website running and deal with the admin is always welcome!!

I have no idea how long it has taken to get to get to where it is now from it's original discussion, but I've been involved for the last year and this has been the time of a rapid period of input from the 30-40 people in all the different countries so that now the TET is ready to have it's own website. John is now in the process of finalising various routes and cleaning up the many GPX files submitted by all of the people based in the individual countries. this alone takes hours of work! It iwill then be all ridden and checked before going 'live' so to speak.

I've taken various parts of the route GPX files to create a long, almost continuous, trip. Now is the time to go ride as much of it as possible this summer. Alongside this Lucy & I plan to visit a lot of places and meet a lot of people to get the most out of our time.

I doubt we'll get to ride it all in one go, but it's something to aspire to and, as if it is needed, it is an excuse to go ride my bike!!

One idea I've just hit upon is to visit all of the Wolrd Heritage Sites as we travel. I was looking at their list of sites around the world and it occurred to me to add this to any future trip! There are 1052 sites currently in many countries around the world. Some countries have more than one site so it's a reaosn to travel the whole country to get to them,now that's an education process!
814 are 'cultural' sites, so man made at some point I'd guess. 203 are 'natural' and 35 are 'mixed', whatever that means! When I looked at the list I've laready been to loads as I've travelled previously, so this is more of a continuation of that really!! 

So with this and the HelpX website info, we have more than enough to keep ourselves busy when not on two wheels...

First stop for me will be Romania, then head south after this and slowly wend our way back west as the weather turns cooler... mmm starting to get a little excited now that things have finally fallen into place after months of killing time and waiting for various balls to line up!

Planning a Europe Trip - 4-6 months of riding & other things...

So because of a mixture of circumstances, Lucy & I have a period of free time where we can take some time out from the humdrum of UK life and go enjoy ourselves in them there 'foreign lands'. The plan has developed over time and actually shrank in concept from a Round The World trip as life things have gotten in the way. So the latest plan is to travel around various countries across Europe with a bias towards Eastern Europe as neither of us have ever been there before.

We've bought a van, which has a garage & a camper bit, then updated the bikes. We've sold off the previous stuff to help with the funding of things and generally spent time getting things ready. Lucy leaves her job this coming Friday, then heads to Peru for five weeks in early May on an internship studying birds/animals on the edge of the Amazon towards her planned career move into the natural sciences. I'm planning to leave the UK around the same time and head into Europe, van, dog, bikes and all in the back of the van, we'll then meet up once Lucy has completed her Peru stuff.

I've been lucky enough to have been working with a bunch of some 35 - 40 folk on a project that has been developing a route across Europe over the last twelve months. The Trans Euro Trail, (TET). Each country has somebody who either lives there or knows the trails really well, some GPX files have been collated by a guy called John Ross and they need checking, so that will be the basis of the trip from a bike point of view.

Alongside that Lucy wants to start a project that will work towards her eventual PHD and I want to learn some of the more traditional methods of land management utilised in other countries. For this bit we have found a great website called HelpX.

HelpX is a website where people can post requirements for help etc on all kinds of small projects from around the world. You pay a minimal fee for a membership and then get searching for the areas you want to go to and get in touch with the local folk. It's usually an exchange of work for food and/or accommodation type of scenario. We're gonna try it out as it reduces some of our costs and also helps us to both learn some new stuff and finally meet a whole load of new people as we go with the added benefit of helping others too.

Bike Prep
We have now bought two of the KTM 350's four strokes, mainly to simplify the whole thing about carrying spares etc plus we both like them as bikes to ride.The right weight vs power and all terrain type of travel. Also there are KTM dealerships all over the world, so it's easier to find parts so long as we have the parts manual with us. Both these bikes share many parts in common too so that makes life so much easier and I've drawn up a list of stuff we need and they are on their way this week.

Lucy has decided she didn't want anything changed on her bike, she prefers it as standard as possible, so we've just added a GPS set up, whereas for me I've made a few changes to mine, (see this POST for more details). Spares to be carried are:

Bikes - £450 (TBC)

Wheel bearings - Front & Rear

Head Bearings

Air Filters - pre oiled

Oil Filters

Brake Pads - Front & Rear

Clutch & Brake Levers

Spark Plugs

Inline Fuel Filters x 6

In tank fuel filter x 2

We can pick up the fluids as we go, as they are too heavy to carry anf the rest will all get packed up into labelled boxes etc and stored til needed.

Van Prep
The Mercedes Sprinter vans are pretty reliable, engine wise anyway, so basic spares for them, air filter, oil filter, fuel filter, bulbs etc are  all we're taking. Again Mercedes dealerships are all over so less of a hassle. I haven't come across a repair manual for one as yet, so still hunting for one. The biggest issue with them is the bodywork, it is a properly shite & cheap paint job on all of the early ones. This is a 2003 and it's just the same as all the other Mercedes vans I've owned. A bloody eyesore to look at, but lovely to drive. (Personal RANT to Mercedes - Sort your crap paint jobs out then these would be the best vans out there!!!). They all rust up in exactly the same places too, bottom of the doors, rear light fittings, under the windows, bottom of the headlights and the side runner for the panel door. Mmm runoff areas I wonder??

These vans have a chain driven cam, which is one less item to service and reduces the costs considerably. All of the above service parts are straight forward to do on the road too, the hardest thing is to get rid of the waste oil! They are absolutely useless in any mud though, so I may have to add some all terrain tyres if it looks like we'll be on more dirt roads than tarmac ones.

This van cost us £4700 with 140k miles on the clock and all of it's history. It's a completely local van in Cumbria, bought, sold and owned in the county since it's first registration and it's generally been well looked after. It was professionally converted to a race van by it's second owners as a sponsorship deal for a local rider, with power, garage and all! All we've had to do is add some personal stuff and update a couple fo things. We've added a Solar Panel setup to charge the leisure battery when it's standing for any length of time, a fridge for the warmer climates and some extra cupboards etc for storage of kit. This lot cost around £400 as the fridge was Lucy's sister's and it's on loan for now!


Insurance has been the biggest and most painful issue to sort and we still haven't found the answer for the van as yet. With the bikes, there is a company called MCE that Lucy has insured her bike with, they have a high excess at £575 but they allow six months of overseas travel rather than the standard 30 or 90 days, none of which are any good for our trip. I'm calling these today.

The van is proving to be a pain to sort at the moment. I found one company who wanted £1600 for upto 8 months insurance, so on price alone it was a no go.

Part of the problem with this area is that I have a real issue with insurance companies on the whole as I've had some really bad experiences with them in the past and it has always ended up costing me far more than if I'd not bothered with it in the first place. Some of the ones I've spoken to about the bikes have been truly awful to deal with, condescending, rude and extremely patronising, treating you like you're a liar and an inconvenience rather than a potential customer. If it wasn't a legal requirement half of them would be out of business buy now just for their customer service standards!!

Vehicle Travel Requirements
Each country has different requirements for vehicles travelling through them, as an example, France wants a breathalyser kit, a warning triangle, spare light bulbs and for vans, a high viz jacket in the vehicle at all times.

In Western Europe there is now a reciprocal set of PNRC cameras operating too, so if your vehicle isn't legal in your home country or your caught speeding, it is transferred to your home country database and then you're prosecuted upon your return. (So much for all those folk who used to go to France & Spain for a blast on their bikes now!). Having the van makes it more difficult as there are different rules for each type of vehicle too!

Navigating this lot for a trip is a nightmare to be honest, so I'm currently putting in hours on the computer looking all this shite up. I'm trying to sort out a pack of kit which is easy to access and covers the lot in one fell swoop, then when we're stopped I can just go to the one box for it all.

In certain countries you pay a toll/tax as you enter the country, so in Romania, you get a sticker for the window showing you've paid your tax, but if you don't have the receipt, when you get stopped a mile or so down the road by the poilce, they charge you again. (and pocket the cash).

No doubt there will be loads of this to take into consideration as we go and I'm sure there wil be some days when I'm spitting feathers at the injustice of it coming from a country where this type of small corruption is almost non existent thses days. (now it's just done on a huge scale in an office by someone wearing a suit generally and the sums involved are staggering!).

Once I've sorted all of these things I'll set up some kind of costings post with links, I'lll also name some of the appalling companies I've had experiences with. Hopefully others can avoid that experience then.

Lucy has to be back in the UK mid September to start her Masters course in Cumbria, so from there I'll have to decide what I'm going to do as another wet & cold winter is not an appealing idea, but there is plenty to happen between now & then I'm sure and who knows what life will throw our way en route!

KTM 350 EXC-F

So we now have two of the KTM 350 EXC-f's in the stable, Lucy's 250 EXC-f has found a new home, my 400 EXC is about to follow suit once I've finished servicing and putting it back to standard setup.

Lucy's is a 6 days and a 2015 bike, I've picked up a 2012 standard bike, so it's ideal to look at any differences and also compare the earlier model bikes. For the 2012 one, I've stripped it and changed a bunch of things, nothing major but it needed some additions and I also wanted some of the stuff I'd put on the 400 to test out which have worked out well.

First thing I've noticed about these bikes in comparison to the 400 carbed version is that there is more vibration, I can feel it on both bikes, more on Lucy's as the chain & sprockets need replacing urgently, but it's also on the 2012 too. The 250 was very buzzy all the time, so tiring to ride for a full day, it'll be interesting to see how we fare over time with the 350's.

Injection systems are still a little bit on/off, again on both bikes, but definately better on Lucy's. Carbs allow for the idle speed to be lower and thus the bike runs on at a nice level when you're playing in tricky stuff. The injected bikes both run the rev's higher and on the first couple of days out in Wales, I stalled mine loads as just not used to it as yet. Now 5-6 days later of riding, I'm getting more used to it, but I still prefer the carbs!

Fuel range is better, the 250 had a 7 litre tank, we got about 10 miles to the litre, 70 miles range, the 400 had a 9 litre tank, same mpl, so 90 mile range. The 350's both do around 120 miles to a 9 litre tank, so about 13 miles per litre.  This helps us to relax a bit, especially after the 250.

Suspension is lush on both bikes. On the older bikes, even after a service at a KTM dealer, they were both a little stiff and notchy, the 350 versions are just better, period. Lucy had hers lowered by 10mm through the yokes at the front and then softened off at the back, this means she can now 'dab' when she needs too and has booosted her confidence on the bike loads.

Brakes are better, both bikes have a smoother set of brakes, front and rear. Now to be fair this could be down to my shite servicing and also both the 350's are on soft pads rather than the syntered ones. These don't last as long but they grip better and don't wear the discs out on the bikes anywhere near as fast.

Engine braking is much stronger. When you throttle off, the bike stops. With both the 250 & the 400, they just rolled on, so that has taken some getting used too and I've almost gone over the handlebars as caught out faffing around!

Saddles - These are much softer than the old bikes ones, for the 2012 bike, I feel like I'm sat on the frame whereas Lucy says hers is too stiff, so we may well swap and see how that goes, if that doesn't work I'll get mine redone with a more comfortable bit of padding!

Things I've added so far are;
1. Zen Overland Garmin AMPS mount - I liked Lucy's so much I bought bmyself one too!
2. KTM 13 litre tank - I had an injected KTM tank in the shed, so fitted this for the trip, range now 170 + miles.
3. In tank fuel sock - to add another layer of protection to the fuel pump.


Things to add;
1. Long neoprene fork gaiters - hopefully these will make the fork seals last longer
2. Tank protectors to the sides of the 13 ltr tank - need to find these!
3. Trailtech sidestand - The stock one is shite again, even though I've added a stiopper plate, Lucy's is better but it's been used less too so far!
4. Trailtech X2 Headlamp unit - I want to try the stock one out first, then most likely make the change.

Other than this lot, I don't see the need to change much more on this bike for the upcoming trip, happy days, almost time to ride away for the summer!

Next up is to try a 3 day ride with the panniers etc and see how that goes, then full service, load the bikes up and bugger off to the sunshine!

Haggs Bank March Moto Madness Weekend - 2017

Danny at Haggs Bank Bunkhouse near Alston held is annual March Moto Madness weekend this weekend, so Lucy & I got out the bikes, the van and the dog and headed off up there for some fun on two wheels.

The Friday night was a night of bonfires, beer, music, chat and plans. We met up with a couple of guys we'd ridden with before, plus got chatting to a few new faces. One lad had ridden up from London on his 125cc monkey bike, he turned out to be a hoot and well up for some fun!

Saturday morning dawned bright with some sunshine, which was ironic as either side of the Penines was getting a real soaking, lots of stranded vehicles and heavy flooding all around apparently! There was a bit of dithering about who was doing what, lots of people indecisive for various reasons, eventually the groups all got themselves sorted though and out...

Ride options were, 1. tarmac only, 2. trail rides for big bikes, 3. trail rides for trail rides, 4. total beginners group. Shaun's trail bikes for big bikes was the most popular, but only for the first hour, then several people had bailed off back to tarmac when it was found out that trail riding does not mean flat gravel roads!

Our group consisted of three 2 strokes, two 400 Ktm's and Lucy's 350 Ktm. The pace was really gentle with of plenty of time for gossiping or as Lucy labelled it, the Womens Institute gathering! We also managed some tea and cakes at the Chatterbox Cafe which made the most amazing cakes!

We rode a fair bit of the Alston loop, as Mike was leading and I was tail ending Mike managed to show me a few trails I hadn't ridden before which is always a good thing!!

Lucy Moss hunting for her latest project

 The old Yamaha two strokes had a couple of problems, the side stand fell off one, the kick start off both of them! Still we managed to cover a fair bit of ground, even joining up with the beginners group in a couple of places, which was great...

A little blackage on one lane!

At one point where we met up with the beginners group, we all gathered together for a gossip and to chat all things bikes, then as we set Brian, their leader for the day, caught three of us with a cracking splashing session, on his back wheel through a puddle!! Soaked - err yes!!

We finished off the day day just below Hadrians Wall, having a ride over some of the really long straight and flat lanes that are around there, then it was back to the moorland lanes, passiong by a couple of 4x4's late in the afternoon, obviously enjoying their time on the lanes too!

Some great riding as always, plenty of lovely folk from all over the UK and a fun filled weekend! Danny has a couple events more planned for the rest of the year with the next one in June.

Wales: A Weekend Around Barmouth

I organised another weekend in Wales,this time to the Barmouth area... a quick email around some of the TRF lads saw Ian, Graham & Mike meeting up with Gareth & myself for some riding and a bit of a craic!

As it turned out I had to miss the Saturday as the carb on my 400 had a hissy fit and was running awful. I took the bike to Martin at MHB Motorcycles in Kirby Stephen and we sonic cleaned it and changed the plug cap and the spark plug. This made the bike run better but it was still a bit hiccuppy now and then. But I decided to drive to Wales that night anyway!

Meanwhile the lads had a terrific day, playing all over the lanes to the south of Barmouth and I found them in the bar at the Hotel Min y Mor reliving their escapades of the day, videos, photos and smiles all round!

As our dog had been couped up in the van for most of the day, I took her for a run on the lovely long beach at Barmouth, then duties done returned to the bar for beers, some dinner and some gossip.

The next morning arrived far too early as we didn't leave the bar until 1am, kicked out by the hotel staff!

Bikes were prepped, kit sorted, the dog fed & walked, then we were off...

The first lane was a proper wake up call, steep, slightly damp cobbles. Graham had a mare on it for some reason and I managed to blip my throttle which dumped a ton of fuel into the carb and flipped my bike out from under me and upside down! Ooops... After this though the bike ran better albeit not the gentle beastie I was used to, it had become pretty savage off the bottom with the standard jets in it.

Gareth led the way again, having an encyclopedic knowledge of the Welsh lanes from his many previous visits. That said he still managed to find a few he hadn't done before. The clouds were low hanging, it was a bit damp and cool in the air, but for us it was great, no hot sweaty moments, even with some of the technical lanes.

Graham left us after a couple of particularly bouncy rough lanes as his arms were burnt out from the previous day, so that left us back to a group of four for the remainder of the day.

 

We passed through some fabulous scenery, small rushing streams bubbling over rocky waterfalls, superb woodland, down long forgotten lanes to the newer larger tarmac roads that are crisscrossing the country more and more in the chase for 'improvements'. Some of the houses in these areas have been here for centuries, tucked into places to shelter from the prevailing weather and built of whatever the local stone is nearby. I love the places you get to see in the UK when you trail ride.

We came through one lane with a plan to do a loop in a bit of forest, but a large tree down over the trail had us diverting back to a flatter forest track. As we passed through the forest and onto the single track section, we met a large group of mountain bikers, who were all cheery and happy to see others out on the trails.

Then we were back out into the fields and uplands before heading back down to refuel for the final ride back over some of the morning lanes and back to the hotel car park to finish the day out.

 A load of new lanes added to the list, a ride with a bunch of folks I only know a little and as usual plenty of laughs, memories and plans to get out and ride again.

Trail riding is an amazing sport for so many reasons, the places you go, the people you meet and the memories you create as you pass your life by. It's almost as good a travelling overseas!