Neil's in…

Hi all, after a great couple days in the lake district with my friend Noel, it was time to move on, seeing the weather was good due east (running theme of this trip) Noel and I road across the Yorkshire Dales to part ways at Ripon.

My original idea was to head to York and amble along the slow roads due south, Noel and I even discussed that I free camped on the Yorkshire Moors. But as things are in my little world of spontaneity, as Noel hopped onto the A1 due north, I decided to hop on due south, and stay cruising at 50mph for an hour, which I did. At Doncaster, I pulled over, studied the map and saw just south by Blythe was the hundred acre wood.

Studying the map on a layby

Being positive, I rode to the location and cautiously looked around, thankfully it was 8pm by this time and the last of the dog walkers were returning to their cars.
Meanwhile I sat in the car park, made myself a cup of hot chocolate and watched the cars vanish.

Then it was time to sporting into action, with little daylight left I rode the bike to a clearing in the woods I had stalked out, pitched my tent and cooked dinner.

Yesterday saw a fantastic improvement on the journey! The cosy bunkhouse saw a slow start to the day which gave me plenty of time to study the map, noticing that Stockport was a destination on the map, remembering that my uni friend Georgie lived there, I sent out a text message which was greeted with an enthusiastic reply saying that she only got back the day before.

Georgie and her parakeets

A few hours later, we met up for tea and a game of swing-ball and lunch in the sunny garden before I headed off up north.

Becky the retired sheep dog

The journey up to Kendal was via Bolton, Preston and Lancaster which I quite enjoyed driving through on the smaller roads. Eventually, I arrived at Noel’s house and before I knew it we were emersed in chatter about this and that and everything else.

loading the trailer

Today, so far, I’ve helped Noel (if you can call it that) with a few odd jobs, before he set of to go of to another job.

In a bit, I’ll dismantle Daisy again and try and solve the judder problem I’ve been having since the other day, I think it’s something to do with what my friend John did to my spark plug, but then again out could be water in the carburation. Either way, I shall delve.

Hi folk, after saying our farewells yesterday in Shrewsbury, the guys from motovlog.com and I separated our ways. I set forth for the hills…

breakfast before setting off

After what seems a relatively short drive in a gradually worsening weather day, I found myself dreading this whole trip. About 3 miles from Buxton, I pulled into a bus shelter to get out of the rain and fog, my 2 layers of waterproofing were not working and by this point I was drenched down to every item of fabric.

I sat in the shelter for about 40 minutes, before returning to Daisy outside. Only to discover, I left the fuel tap on (I had been desperate to get out of the weather I forgot the basic of most basics). Thankfully, the weather held out, and after cooking myself lunch, I set about starting her up. Unlike most times, this time she was not starting.

broken down just out of town

I took Daisy apart took the spark plug out and it was dry, put get back together again, and as I did so finally someone saw me turned around and came to offer me help. John, who was a old boy riding a Yamaha Serow, offered his help and stayed with me until we got her started. This involved, rebuilding Daisy, packing her up, pushing her half a mile up hill to the brow of the hill that descended to Buxton…there on the 2 or so mile descent into town I tried starting her, she was not happy.

After pulling over in a petrol station, John and I took daisy apart again, this time the cylinder was flooded with fuel, the spark plug wet, the HT head was according to John passing a shock a he checked for a spark. Suffice to say 4 hours or so later after pulling over, I finally got the bike started again.

Then with little time left in the day and the weather ever worsening, I tried to locate somewhere to stay for the night. I was far too wet and tired to camp any more. I found myself a bunk house on Google maps and tried to locate it… Well that was a mission in itself! Having driven most the way back to Leek from Buxton and almost every wrong turning imaginable… 4 phone calls later I finally arrived at the Roaches Bunk House, which is named not for the insects or the drug connotations but for the rock formation it backs onto. At £10 a night with all the facilities I needed, I was happy.

a Bull and a Bullock state at me through the fog

Today I hope to make it to Kendal where Noel is awaiting me to show off his new blow-dryer motorbike a Honda NC700X, I’m not too convinced by an automatic!

Hi all after the very heavy rain we had the night before in Snowdonia we slowly meandered (in convoy of 7) east and ended up circling in the area of Shrewsbury.  With just a few dramas on the way we finally made out into the dry and instantly felt the relief of having dry feet and clothes. 

In the usual manner of travelling in groups the stops were both often and long and before we knew it the sun was setting and we were still looking for somewhere to sleep.

Today I’ve woken both dry and warm and happy and wondering where I’ll end up today. I’ll give my uncle Arthur a call later and see if he is about and if i cam crash at the windmill tonight, otherwise I’ll head somewhere else random.

Well, what a day it has been! Last night’s campsite turned out sour, the road passing the campsite wad in constant use all night by trucks and the neighbouring helicopter airfield was doing night ops most of the night. Ooh well!

This morning, I set off with Oxford in mind (having forgotten my breakfast supplies) to buy a few bits for breakfast comfort.

On route I stopped in Evesham for a for a hot drink (the rain was getting me down), the service station had nowhere indoors to sit and drink so I sat on the floor in the car wash shelter…

A little distance after Evesham I saw a group of bikers stopped with a couple of bike wrecks. I realized these were the guys I met at the motovlog London meet. I pulled over and joined them. They were heading to Snowdonia were waiting for recovery of the two wrecked
bikes.

We then, carried on to Snowdonia where the weather progressively got worse.

Anyhow there is no network available to publish this tonight so I’ll do so in the morning.