George Posted October 1, 2005 Share Posted October 1, 2005 Kathy and I got back on Weds from a quick 5 day tour of the south coast, Thurs is a rest day and on Fri we are off up to the borders area of Scotland for the weekend. We had great weather, a quick shower on Bodmin Moor and the rest was dry and sunny(ish). Saturday was an early start, we left Notts at 0500, and stopped at South Mimms services for a coffee, where we met up with John Bentall, AKA beemerboy9, who also has a R1200RT. We had a quick breakfast and joshed about the RT and biking in general, then we were soon on our way. Great to meet you John, will have to meet up with a few others next summer. Our first Round Britain Rally clue, was in Broadstairs, in Kent, that was duely photo-logged, even managed a smile Through Canterbury, passed the walled city and cathedral, down toward the coast again, passing loads of apple orchards and oast houses, through Romney marshes, the lovely town of Rye, and into the east of Hastings. I was interested to see the old net huts, where the fisherman used to hang their nets to dry, when they were made of natural fibres. The Net Huts Note the upturned half-boat, used to sell fried fish from. Old small time fishing boat. Our RT, on the sea front, great having a bike, you can park anywhere!! The sea front was busy.... Onto Shoreham on Sea, saw the old enemy, looks like an old Recce Plane, anyone know what type?? Wednesday was up onto Dartmoor, where we met up with Mike and Helen, they were more than kind enough to put us up for two nights. Mike showed the way home on his trusty BMW R60/5. Lovely ride over Dartmoor, then into Plymouth for a first class guided tour, fantastic. Where new meets old Mike rode out with us to do the two clues we had in Cornwall, and guided us back through Plymouths quite busy roads. Tues morning we said our goodbyes to Mike and Helen, James and Rebecca, we could not thank them enough for putting up with us for the two days, we were well fed and watered, and even the bike was in a dry garage. Over Bodmin Moor, a quick shower caught us and cooled us down, onto Tintagel, but Arthur was not in, along the north Cornwall coastal road and into Bude for lunch. We then rode onto Exmoor, approaching from the south on one of the many small minor roads. It has not changed, so quiet, peaceful, roads are very narrow. We threaded through Simonsbath and up to Porlock Hill. Now there are two roads here that are toll roads, they take you down to Porlock, and Porlock Weir, I have always wanted to do one of them, so we did. Big Mistake!!! The road is not too bad at first, but as it goes through the tress, there is a fine layer of MOSS, growing on the road. It was like riding on ice, you had to be so smooth, and really take your time... Made it down to Porlock Weir, for a beer.... Got buzzed by the Navy's new toy, a Merlin... We did the RBR clue on Exmoor, and spent a lovely peaceful night in the deepest darkest Exford, at an old hunting lodge. Weds morning, up with the lark, and we leave Exmoor and head for Bristol for our 90th and final RBR clue, we go over the brilliant Clifton Suspension Bridge, Brunels classic design.... And along to see the SS Great Britain, sorry for the bad pic, in a bit of a rush, and we did not want to spend £15, to spend a few minutes on the boat, so being Thrifty, I took this one over the fence....... We did just over 1100 miles, the bike ran great, had a fantastic time, again thanks to John and Mike and Helen... Link to comment
Francois_Dumas Posted October 1, 2005 Share Posted October 1, 2005 Great report and good pictures George !! Oh, the plane is a Buecker 181. I caught it a few weeks ago in Goodwood, Chcichester.. not too far from where you were ;-) Francois Link to comment
Marty Hill Posted October 1, 2005 Share Posted October 1, 2005 George, Great pics, thanks. Francois, You do like those old birds, don't you? Link to comment
Francois_Dumas Posted October 1, 2005 Share Posted October 1, 2005 Yup, always have Marty .... pioneer genes somewhere ... <grin> Link to comment
bigboy Posted October 1, 2005 Share Posted October 1, 2005 WOW What a brilliant ride and the write up was great the pics superb But you left out wales ive always got the kettle on . Link to comment
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