Random rides

[O.C.]

You say "nothing stunning" but the pictures of the House are stunning, I like a bit of architecture...thanks for sharing again      

[Rynglieder]

20/01/2021 Much Wenlock Windmill (c. 45 miles)

Strictly speaking, it was not the first ride of 2022 as I had taken one of the bikes out for an hour earlier in the month, but it was one of those quick blasts where I never actually got off the bike until I was back home. I know I went to Worcester, down one side of the Severn and back up the other, but frankly I can't even remember which bike I took – I need a souvenir photo these days to aid my memory...

But it was time for another run and the Z1000 was at the front of the garage so that seemed the obvious one as I was not planning to go far.

My ride took me up to Much Wenlock where my idle browsing of Google Maps had revealed a ruined windmill that I did not know existed.

Just over an hour on the bike all in and a bit of a walk up a hill, at least it was a chance to blow the cobwebs away.

[O.C.]

The weatherlooks great, the bike looks great, the pictures are great...what's not to like

Again, thanks for sharing      

[pross]

20/01/2021 Much Wenlock Windmill (c. 45 miles)

Strictly speaking, it was not the first ride of 2022 as I had taken one of the bikes out for an hour earlier in the month, but it was one of those quick blasts where I never actually got off the bike until I was back home. I know I went to Worcester, down one side of the Severn and back up the other, but frankly I can't even remember which bike I took – I need a souvenir photo these days to aid my memory...

But it was time for another run and the Z1000 was at the front of the garage so that seemed the obvious one as I was not planning to go far.

My ride took me up to Much Wenlock where my idle browsing of Google Maps had revealed a ruined windmill that I did not know existed.

Just over an hour on the bike all in and a bit of a walk up a hill, at least it was a chance to blow the cobwebs away.

A few years ago mine was in for repair after a young lady 🤬🤬 hit me and the insurance company delivered me a hire bike👍 It was a Z1000 with only 7 miles on the clock they hadn't even fitted the wing mirrors in position I had to run in the tyres it was an awesome bike 👌

[Rynglieder]

A few years ago mine was in for repair after a young lady 🤬🤬 hit me and the insurance company delivered me a hire bike👍 It was a Z1000 with only 7 miles on the clock they hadn't even fitted the wing mirrors in position I had to run in the tyres it was an awesome bike 👌

It's certainly good fun, enough for me to hang on to it even though it does not do may miles to earn its keep.

[Rynglieder]

27/01/2022 Erddig (c.150 miles)

Time for a real ride, one worth digging the GTR out from the back of the garage for.

A fairly decent January day was forecast, there was supposed to be a bit more sunshine to the north of me than the south so I started looking for destination options. A lot of places that I had been eying up are closed at this time of year, many historic sites seem to be weekend only until spring which limits choice a bit.

In the end I settled on Erddig, a National Trust estate on the outskirts of Wrexham. I chose to push up through Shropshire on the A41 which I had used last summer on my run to the Wirral, The sun shone as promised and I had a steady run up to the Raven Café at Prees Heath which provided the usual biker-friendly mug of tea.

After continuing on to the Whitchurch bypass I then took the A525 in the direction of Wrexham until I picked up the NT tourist signs for Erddig. The bike was parked up and the membership card waved at the entrance before I set about my customary walk. That done and fortified with a pasty and another cup of tea I set about my return journey, and this is where my nice day out on the bike started to unravel...

I joined the A483 just south of Wrexham and was initially making good progress down the dual carriageway toward Chirk when traffic ground to a halt. I spent about 45 minutes sat in the queue as a procession of ambulances and police cars shot down the outside of the line, occasionally creeping forward a bit as vehicles in front of me were presumably turning round. Eventually I found myself third in the queue approaching the bridge over the river Dee which was clearly blocked. The air ambulance was circling and I could see that given the terrain its only chance of landing would be the road that I was standing on – sure enough the police walked up the line and directed everyone back in the direction of Wrexham.

I left the northbound A483 at Ruabon with the intention of going west and cutting underneath the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct – inevitably I was not the only one who had this idea and the road to the village of Trevor was heavily congested with the volume of traffic. The turning down into the valley below the Aqueduct was snarled up as HGVs totally unsuited for it were struggling to pass each other – I decided to give it a miss (the GTR is no fun to reverse up a hill if needed) and push on further west to Llangollen.

Llangollen was just as congested as trucks took it in turns to cross the bridge from either side, plus there were upgrade works going on at the A5 which further restricted flow. I'd lost a lot of time but I reckoned I should have an easy run home once I got back to Chirk.

And so it was – for a while... All was well until I left the A5 at Shrewsbury to take the A458 back home. Upon reaching the village of Cross Houses I found myself stationary once again and seemingly no traffic flowing toward me on the other side. Another crawl ensued and I eventually found myself confronted with the Culprit.

It seemed that a waste carrying wagon had shed it load on the westbound side of the road completely carpeting the carriageway with something that looked like ground glass or plastic. It looked as if every resident in the village was out with brooms or snow shovels trying to clear at least one side of the road so that the east-bound traffic could crawl past. The debris extended all though the village and started to thin a little at the other side, but it was far from clear – all the time traffic on the other side was throwing it up and I could hear it beneath my tyres and bouncing around under the bike's fenders.

With all of the delays I was now riding in the dark. I (and everyone else) was taking it very steady not knowing what we were riding on and we were often confronted by opposing traffic "off-siding" to avoid the biggest clumps. I became very aware that my visor was long overdue replacement; I can't remember the last time I did any night riding and vision was not great with the oncoming headlights. And so it went on, at the village of Cressage a police patrol was dealing with another large mound on a sharp bend in the village under blue lights and trying to direct traffic through. The torturous ride carried on to Much Wenlock where the problem cleared (and presumably had originally started) a total of eight miles from where I first encountered it.

Feeling the need for a break from the concentration of riding through it all I stopped at the service station in the town for a coffee and to ring home and let he wife know I was still intending to come back. I suppose if she was cooking fish tonight she could put it in the cat...

At least the final few miles were clear. I'd had a nice run up to Wrexham and an enjoyable visit to Erddig, but what a long day and sh1t ride home.

[O.C.]

Well that was an eventful ride out      

[Rynglieder]

12/03/2022 Bradgate Park (c. 140 miles)

The weather had not been great since my last decent ride, not even a proper winter, just cold dull and windy and other than a quick trip on the Z1300 to the local café I hadn't been motivated to get out.

This day promised to be better with some sunny intervals for the right hand side of the country so it felt like time to pull out the GSX and head for the Middle East. (OK, the East Midlands).

At the risk of repeating myself, I tend to leave that side of England alone as the first chunk of the ride is either a commute through Birmingham or a motorway drag. I chose the motorway, pulled down the visor and got on with it for 45 minutes until I could leave the M6 at Coleshill.

This was then the decent part of the ride, some nice roads through north Warwickshire and into Leicestershire, nice countryside and villages with the chance to stretch the GSX's legs past some slower traffic here and there.

My destination for the day was Bradgate Country Park, just north of Leicester. You may know by now that I like a ruin and I'd spotted that it had one... The bike was parked up on the car park and first job was to head into the café and "facilities" to set myself up for a walk.

There then followed a three quarter mile walk along the tree lined banks of a small river until I reached the remains of Bradgate House where I took a few shots with the camera. Much to my own surprise I felt I still had a bit of energy left so decided to walk across the deer park, up a hill in the direction of Old John Tower, a folly on the summit. The truth of it is that I didn't make it all the way up there, the sun had gone in spoiling the chance of decent pictures and I'd also been distracted by some deer that had wandered into the range of my lens so I spent a bit of time on those instead before returning to the car park.

As is so often the case it was later than I intended when I started back; a combination of heading out later than I should have and spending too long at the pace I was visiting, so to get home at a sensible time it was going to have to be motorway all the way home. At least I had escaped from the car park without paying, the barrier is about a GSX width shorter than the exit road it was guarding. The extra money in my pocket was squandered on a coffee at a service area on the way back.

In terms of a motorcycle ride it was not the best, only the section between Coleshill and Bradgate was really enjoyable, my car would have done just as well for the rest of it. But, I'd had a nice day out, done a bit of walking and there was at least some pleasure to be had from the bike along a section of the route.

[O.C.]

     excellent      

[pross]

Lovely pictures and write up once more enjoy and keep safe 👏👏👌

[Rynglieder]

17/03/2022 Llandovery (c. 190 miles)

After my previous mostly motorway excursion it was time to go and find some proper riding roads and impose myself and the GTR on the Welsh, even though we hadn't been invited.

It's always a pleasure to start a ride out from home in the direction of Tenbury Wells and beyond and although very familiar it passes quickly. I crossed the A49 and continued west on a series of B roads through Herefordshire and crossed the border near Prestiene. Picking up the A488 I mixed it with the free-range sheep a bit before dropping down to Crossgates where there is a bike-friendly café at the rear of the service station at which I took the coffee I had earned and topped up the bike.

From there it was a case of following the A483 southwards, this has to be one of my favourite roads for riding a motorcycle, drifting through the hills and valleys. The full-on sunshine that the BBC had promised me never materialised but there was a bit of hazy sun through the high cloud and at around 12 degrees was pretty comfortable for the time of year. Somewhere in the middle of this the GTR finally rolled over 17,000 miles, it seemed to have taken a long time to get there on this bike but lock-downs and travel restrictions had curtailed many European adventures so I suppose it is no real surprise.

Eventually I reached my destination, Llandovery Castle, and stood the bike on the car park below the ruins. I could see there was not going to be much to explore so I decided to have a walk round the town first and pick up something for a late lunch. Back at the castle I took a couple of photos and then prepared for the return journey.

I varied the middle section of the return ride by taking in Leominster, in order to get back home before it got dark it seemed preferable to stick with the main trunk roads and skip the B Roads, this worked out OK and I made very good progress home, there seemed to be very little traffic in my way.

All in all a real pleasure to have had the day out, in many ways the opposite to the last ride – perfect biking even if there was not much to remember at the actual destination.

[O.C.]

Another good ride out and interesting report...thanks for sharing          

[pross]

17/03/2022 Llandovery (c. 190 miles)

After my previous mostly motorway excursion it was time to go and find some proper riding roads and impose myself and the GTR on the Welsh, even though we hadn't been invited.

It's always a pleasure to start a ride out from home in the direction of Tenbury Wells and beyond and although very familiar it passes quickly. I crossed the A49 and continued west on a series of B roads through Herefordshire and crossed the border near Prestiene. Picking up the A488 I mixed it with the free-range sheep a bit before dropping down to Crossgates where there is a bike-friendly café at the rear of the service station at which I took the coffee I had earned and topped up the bike.

From there it was a case of following the A483 southwards, this has to be one of my favourite roads for riding a motorcycle, drifting through the hills and valleys. The full-on sunshine that the BBC had promised me never materialised but there was a bit of hazy sun through the high cloud and at around 12 degrees was pretty comfortable for the time of year. Somewhere in the middle of this the GTR finally rolled over 17,000 miles, it seemed to have taken a long time to get there on this bike but lock-downs and travel restrictions had curtailed many European adventures so I suppose it is no real surprise.

Eventually I reached my destination, Llandovery Castle, and stood the bike on the car park below the ruins. I could see there was not going to be much to explore so I decided to have a walk round the town first and pick up something for a late lunch. Back at the castle I took a couple of photos and then prepared for the return journey.

I varied the middle section of the return ride by taking in Leominster, in order to get back home before it got dark it seemed preferable to stick with the main trunk roads and skip the B Roads, this worked out OK and I made very good progress home, there seemed to be very little traffic in my way.

All in all a real pleasure to have had the day out, in many ways the opposite to the last ride – perfect biking even if there was not much to remember at the actual destination.

This is one of my routes when I have a care free ride to stay with a friend who lives between Lampeter and Abereron ( before covid 🤬🤬) really miss that staying down there when a long weekend off 😥

[Rynglieder]

This is one of my routes when I have a care free ride to stay with a friend who lives between Lampeter and Abereron ( before covid 🤬🤬) really miss that staying down there when a long weekend off 😥

Give us a shout when you have a free day, I'm sure we could do at least Crossgates and back 

[Rynglieder]

28/03/0200 South Warwickshire (c. 94 miles)

Despite being retired and having time on my hands I think I have become fundamentally lazy and it seems a bit of a chore to dig out the Z1300 from the back of the garage. At least the effort is a bit more worthwhile now, since the last work was done on it I feel a bit more confident in its reliability and minded to take it a bit further.

I picked out a couple of spots in south Warwickshire as destinations, for no other reason that it was the opposite direction to my last ride-out. Not too many miles were intended as it was well into the afternoon before I set out.

It all started with a fairly dull dual carriageway ride up to Redditch but from there it was possible to take some fairly nice roads through to Warwick, which being a smallish town is not too much of an ordeal to ride through. From Warwick I picked up the old A41 London to Birkenhead road which since the construction of the M40 is now downgraded as the A4100, but still an easy ride. Just before reaching Gaydon I left the main road and picked my way through the country lanes to the remains of Chesterton Mill.

The old zed was parked up at the side of the gated field and I took a fairly gentle walk across to the old windmill and absorbed the views including a sizeable earth mound in the middle distance which if it was not for a handy information panel I would not have realised that was the site of the Roman town of Chesterton.

Disappointingly the mill was without it sails which I believe are out for repair, it may well be worth a return visit in the future for another photograph or two when it is all sorted out.

At this point I decided that I would extend the ride a little further south to Dassett Hills Country Park just beyond Gaydon. This destination offered another hill, another old mill and another set of views. The approach to this one was over a cattle grid, a bit of a hill climb through sheep fields to a car park at the summit.

The return run included a stop off for coffee in Leamington Spa with the remainder completed on the M40 and M42 which was the price I paid for extending the ride and still getting home on time.

Not a bad ride and good to get out on the Z1300 a bit more this year.