FBOC Lakes and Dales Excursion 31st May to 5th June 2009
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The idea for this trip germinated during the Long Trip last year when Ken Booth suggested we did a horizontal rather than vertical trip of the country, this in the time available proved to be difficult so Ken settled for a 300 odd mile trip around the North Yorkshire Dales and The Cumbrian Lakes. This turned out to be an excellent decision as the scenery was stunning, supplemented by glorious weather.
My brother and I started out from Essex just after 9 o clock on the Sunday only to find that 100m up the road one of the bikes a had moved on the trailer which was on its first outing. After some 60 minutes sorting out the strapping I decided to ring the wife and say that after 1 hour we were just 100m up the road. This turned out to be a good move as it was found that I had left my Hi Vis Jacket and Helmet behind!!.
After this the journey was quite uneventful except for navigating the Indian Bazaars in Bradford, arriving at the Dalegate Hotel about 4 o clock to find Willy Wilson already there having explored the local hostel and sampled their wares. It did not take to much persuading to join him just to verify his assessment of the Ales on offer, having settled in with our liquid refreshment the pub was invaded by a crowd of lager drinking youngsters, the girls dressed or was it undressed in a manner similar to those of a red light district, they then proceeded to kick up such a row that the Landlady called the police. Willy Reg and I just sat there demurely drinking our Ale whilst all this was going on around us a mere police raid was not going to distract us from what was a good pint. We then returned to the hotel and some 70 minutes later the rest of the bunch arrived which now consisted of:-
Ken Two Boots Booth on his Falcon 87
Willy The Flying Scotsman Wilson on his Falcon 87
Les Smoking Barrels Heaton on his 250 Twin
Mike The Sheath Dakin on his 250 Twin
Reg The Hedge Grigg on his Falcon 58
Brian The Clutch Grigg on his Falcon 58
Paul The Supporting Hamster Dancer with the Mercedes Vito back up vehicle and trailer
Despite the earlier experiences it was decided that evening to eat down the local pub The Roebuck a somewhat Hobsons choice as the Hotel did not do food on a Sunday, possible due to our calming influence? there was no incidents in the evening.
Monday saw everyone up and bushy tailed ready for the off, first however we had to unload the bikes and make the cars and trailer secure as apart from the Merc we were to leave these behind. After the previous nights experiences Reg was somewhat apprehensive as to whether his Rover 75 and my trailer would still be there on our return.
The weather was absolutely brilliant and sun glasses rather than goggles were the norm and after a picture around 9 o clock we were all off disturbing the not so peaceful neighbourhood with the phut and roar of six Fanny B's
The first leg of the journey took us up past Skipton and along the A65 to Gargave at this point concentration was on the traffic rather than the scenery although I did notice the way the Leeds Liverpool canal was cleverly built up above the River Aire. Gargave saw the first failure of our erstwhile leaders navigation skills either that or he has the same problem my daughter has of knowing what is left and what is right as he insisted on going left when he should have gone right to Eshton. Just beyond Eshton we crossed the Pennine Way and started to get a flavour of the scenery we would experience over the next few days. We proceed ever upward through Malham and past Malham Tarn which Mike reminisced over his youth having camped there in his younger days, a little further on a comfort stop was dictated and various members of the group went off to inspect dry walls and converse with the local sheep. We continued through the beautiful moorland highlighted by the sun with its hills and dales shown up to their best advantage all the bikes humming along nicely. A little further on however the left hand navigational bias came into play again and at Henside we turned left instead of straight on, no harm done as the scenery was spectacular no matter which way you went and we were able to get back onto our route fairly quickly at Settle.
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