Random rides

[O.C.]

Great to see the big Z out for a run and once again some lovely pictures for us all to enjoy

Thanks for sharing (again)   

[pross]

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

Will do just rubbish at the moment 👍

[Rynglieder]

Wroxeter Roman City (c. 60 miles)

Having wasted a morning trying to fit what turned out to be an incompatible new fan to our oven I decided that I needed something worthwhile from the rest of the day and rolled the Z1000 out of the garage. There is nothing quite like a hyperactive lightweight 1000cc bike for clearing a few cars and releasing a bit of tension

Only around 30 miles from home is Wroxeter Roman City, one of the few local English Heritage sites that I had never visited and today seemed as good a day as any, it's just about the right distance for the little zed.

Okay, most of the road out there is one that I can say without exaggeration that I have ridden hundreds of times but when you want a blast that's just fine, every overtaking opportunity, bend and possible speed camera location is logged in the memory allowing you to focus on the inevitable new potholes and MAMILs.

The truth is that you can see most of the Wroxeter site by looking over the fence if you are just passing by and don't want to put your hand your pocket, but for ten quid you also get to look around the museum with the usual collection of broken pots and pointy metal things. Also across the road is a reconstruction of a Roman town house which also can take your attention for 15 minutes or so – there is no plumbing, electricity and it is very badly insulated, however it is significantly bigger than other houses in Telford.


What I did learn is that Wroxeter was originally as large as Pompeii even though there is just about a football pitch sized area that has been exposed to view. Shropshire does not really have an equivalent of Mount Vesuvius but the mound of the Wrekin a couple of miles away does at least add a bit to the topography.

As Wroxeter lacks a café I took a trundle over to Ironbridge to find a coffee and for the sake of making a loop out of the afternoon I returned via the "Rabbit Run" road between Telford and Dudley.

I felt much better when I got home but still have a duff fan to package back up and return...

[pross]

Wroxeter Roman City (c. 60 miles)

Having wasted a morning trying to fit what turned out to be an incompatible new fan to our oven I decided that I needed something worthwhile from the rest of the day and rolled the Z1000 out of the garage. There is nothing quite like a hyperactive lightweight 1000cc bike for clearing a few cars and releasing a bit of tension

Only around 30 miles from home is Wroxeter Roman City, one of the few local English Heritage sites that I had never visited and today seemed as good a day as any, it's just about the right distance for the little zed.

Okay, most of the road out there is one that I can say without exaggeration that I have ridden hundreds of times but when you want a blast that's just fine, every overtaking opportunity, bend and possible speed camera location is logged in the memory allowing you to focus on the inevitable new potholes and MAMILs.

The truth is that you can see most of the Wroxeter site by looking over the fence if you are just passing by and don't want to put your hand your pocket, but for ten quid you also get to look around the museum with the usual collection of broken pots and pointy metal things. Also across the road is a reconstruction of a Roman town house which also can take your attention for 15 minutes or so – there is no plumbing, electricity and it is very badly insulated, however it is significantly bigger than other houses in Telford.


What I did learn is that Wroxeter was originally as large as Pompeii even though there is just about a football pitch sized area that has been exposed to view. Shropshire does not really have an equivalent of Mount Vesuvius but the mound of the Wrekin a couple of miles away does at least add a bit to the topography.

As Wroxeter lacks a café I took a trundle over to Ironbridge to find a coffee and for the sake of making a loop out of the afternoon I returned via the "Rabbit Run" road between Telford and Dudley.

I felt much better when I got home but still have a duff fan to package back up and return...

A very nice little bimble on a beautiful bike 👌

[Rynglieder]

14/04/2022 Gloucester (c. 100 miles)

My initial plans for a run out were to take myself further south, I had Malmesbury in mind but in looking for a suitable interim stop I started to look at the city of Gloucester. It turned up a number of places that interested me and although I had visited the city a number of times during my working days I'd never really had the chance to explore it so the fair city of Gloucester became the final destination.

Having extracted the GSX from the garage my ride down there took me through Worcester and down the A38 which I always enjoy. Parking the bike up in the centre was a case of trial and error, cruising the streets until I chanced upon a bike park near the cathedral quarter. First job was a walk to the ruins of Greyfriars scooping up a takeaway coffee as I plodded through the main shopping streets. I sat myself on a bench overlooking the ruins with a hopeful squirrel looking over one shoulder and a seagull looking over the other.

Greyfriars did not take long to view so it was off on foot to do a lap of the cathedral taking in the architecture and it its attendant close and gardens. Another five minutes on foot brought me to what is left of St Oswald's Priory, another monastic ruin now hemmed in by busy roads.

I fancied a different route back and managed to follow the western side of the River Severn up to Upton upon Severn, a road that I don't think I had taken before and all the more pleasure for being "new". The remaining part of the run is at the foot of the Malvern Hills which is nice riding until the fight through Worcester city centre.

A decent day out and Malmesbury will keep until later in the summer.

[O.C.]

excellent as usual....    

[Rynglieder]

30/04/2022 Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings (31 miles).

A short run was in order for the Z1000 and somewhere I'd always intended to visit was the Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings. It was barely a ride out being just over 30 miles all in, but there is so much more fun doing the run on a bike than in the car.

I had a good couple of hours around the site where a charitable trust has dismantled several "at risk" historical buildings from around the midlands and re-erected them where they can be conserved and enjoyed – well worth a visit if you are in the area and like a bit of history.

There's a wide range of building types there, a good few were picked up by my camera and a lot more photos can be found on my Flickr stream (link in my signature strip below).

The return journey home was less direct, just because I could. 

[Rynglieder]

05/05/2022 Shrewsbury (c. 70 miles)

There was a bit of sunshine around and it felt like time to take the Z1300 out again. After years of little use it seems right to keep it moving regularly since I spent a few quid on it last autumn. Having taken it out a few times this year my confidence is growing in it a bit now and I'm even inclined to overtake traffic on it now and again without fear of it spluttering and dying halfway through a manoeuvre.

That said I'm still a bit reluctant to go too far from home on it, the GSX or GTR are a after bet for a long run but I was happy enough to point it in the direction of Shrewsbury so that I could enjoy the full complement of six cylinders for a couple of hours.

I pitched up the '13 by Shrewsbury Abbey and then walked over the English Bridge to take a photo or two. It was a bit too warm to slog up the hill into the main town in the bike gear so I returned to the bike and after a brief pause to view Lord Hill's Column made my way to Cantlop Bridge, a little off my usual route but another place I had been aware of for years but never got round to visiting. Of historical significance due to its design and association with the engineer Thomas Telford, it is at least possible to pull up by it for free even though you've seen it all within two minutes.

A very routine ride home was made more interesting by chasing down and passing the traffic built up by a couple of slow HGVs, the Z13 is still singing to me at the moment.

[O.C.]

the big Z1300, sure is a beast ,,,, nice to see it being used though 

[Rynglieder]

07/05/2022 Woodchester Manor (C.139 miles)

As the GTR had recently done the run to the National Memorial Arbouretum to meet up with m'colleagues from the GTR forum the GSX got the gig this time. I think I'm also being mindful of a forthcoming trip to France and wanting to conserve the GTR's tyres a bit.

Now I have time on my hands for riding I'm finding that there's a lot of repetition in the roads that I'm covering, especially close to home – there are only so many directions you can chose to turn at the end of your drive (in fact as I live at the end of a cul-de-sac I have no choice at all). I've bitten the bullet now and decided to spend the first hour of some rides on a motorway, it's not enjoyable riding but it gives a chance to get out to somewhere new as a starting point for some proper riding.

And so it was that I came to belt down the M5, past Glouscester where I had been a couple of weeks ago so that I could exit at Brockworth and start to dig straight in to the Cotswolds. I parked the bike up in Painswick as it is a pleasant little town to search out a coffee and having catered for that need continued on some lovely roads through and out of Stroud.

The destination chosen for the day was Woodchester Mansion near Nympsfield. The mansion is owned and operated by a charitable trust and sits inside land managed by the National Trust so it was a case of tracking down their car park – I didn't enjoy this bit, a long loose gravel drive that had un-compacted and over large stones that were sending the wheels of the bike in any direction but the one I was trying to point it in.

Once the bike was secure I was in for a three-quarter mile walk along a woodland drive down the valley to the Manor. Woodchester is a Victorian pile in the neo-gothic style that was never finished as the owner had run out of money. The roofed shell of the building stands and it is watertight but very little of the interior is anywhere near finished, still it was interesting to see what might have been... Not for the first time a scaffolder had got there before me to spoil my photos.

The walk back up to the bike was more challenging being uphill and I have a few health and fitness issues at the moment but I made it back with some time to spare for a return ride home leaving the motorway out.

[O.C.]

Well done for making the effort with your bike along the tricky driveway and also for making the walk back.  ....Great pictures BTW   

[Rynglieder]

20/12/2022 Croft Castle & Shobdon (c. 80 miles)

Just a day off the shortest day of the year but at least it was bright and mild after the two weeks of severe cold we had been through and I was feeling in the need for some Motorcycle Therapy.

The GSX had not been out since its new chain and sprockets and because of the grumbling from the old ones I had left it alone for much of the autumn, it seemed right that this was the bike to pick for a couple of hours out.
I didn't go far, just a blast along familiar roads out to Croft Castle near Leominster where I had a walk round with the camera and took advantage of the coffee shop.
From there, just a few miles further to the village of Shobdon where a private drive lead me to the parish church – very ordinary looking from the outside but the interior has been given the "Strawberry Hill Gothic" treatment by Walpole and is a lovely example of this type of architecture.

I left he bike parked outside the church and trudged uphill along a grass tree lined avenue to the Shobdon Arches. This is a collection of stone arches salvaged from the original medieval church before it was demolished and incorporated into a folly on the hilltop that also gives some good views over the Herefordshire countryside.

The ride out had been a bit odd, one of those days where I was not entirely at one with the bike – nothing wrong with the GSX itself, the roads seemed to have a lingering damp sheen despite the bright day and I seemed to be over-reading the road conditions, bends and potholes. Perhaps it's just that I hadn't been riding much over the last month... The ride back along the same route was much better, I was back in the zone and I didn't let much get in my way.

Back home before dark, but not enough time to attack the bike with the pressure washer, which would be tomorrow's job.

As usual there are more photos of this visit on my Flickr photostream.

[O.C.]

Once again, great report and lovely pictures.....thanks for sharing with us      

[Rynglieder]

29/12/2022 Lake Vyrnwy (c. 170 miles)

It looked like there was going to be one useable day between Christmas and the New Year and I was minded to take advantage even in the bleak midwinter. A message from my mate Mike who was also in the mood to shake off the blues sealed the deal.

Usual thing, he proposed a rough idea of a ride and then as it was my side of the midlands I tinkered with it to include some roads that I knew he would enjoy – it works the other way if we head to the south or east midlands, I'm happy to bow to his superior knowledge of that patch.

The intention had been to use the GSX but as it was not looking quite as dry as the BBC had promised me I decided to hide behind the GTR fairing and bask in the heat from the grips. Having rolled of my drive at about 10:00 with his Multistrada behind me, we took the "Rabbit Run" toward Telford and dropped into the Severn Gorge at Coalport, ran along to Ironbridge and parked up for the café overlooking the bridge. Whereas I'm usually happy with a couple of cups of coffee on a day out Mike likes to be fed, so this is always factored into a joint ride.

A bit of "B Road" work brought us to the outskirts of Shrewsbury and we then had to tolerate the rather dull dual carriageway that orbits it, but it passed by quickly enough and we were back into some enjoyable riding through Knockin and into the land of the Celts.

Whilst we never got properly rained on the roads were constantly wet which encouraged a bit more caution in our riding but we eventually pitched up at Vyrnwy where I stopped long enough for a cigarette. (Mutual tolerance, I hang around during the double breakfast sandwich and he politely waits whilst I feed my own habit).

It was then time to tackle the mountain pass across to Dinas Mawddwy. As soon as we broke away from the road around the lake shore I stated to wonder if we were doing the right thing – the road is steep, narrow and there are virtually no passing places. Add to this a ridge of winter mud and debris up the middle of the road surface and a good deal of concentration is required with speeds down to a crawl at times. Once we had got above the tree line of the mountain the road surface became a lot cleaner and we could at least see a little further ahead for oncoming traffic.

There were still rivers running across the road here and there plus the obvious sheep infestation to deal with but eventually we were descending through the valley farms and into Dinas Mawddwy village we could park up for a quick break.

The return journey took us on the A458 where we could get along at a decent pace - I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed this road and have now placed it on the list for a run out to the coast when spring arrives. Another stop took place in Welshpool where Costa Coffee had a bit more of my money and suitably refreshed we pushed on back home. It was the A458 all the way for me, Mike broke away at Shrewsbury to pick up the M54 and M6 and get him home without getting involved in the evening rush hour around Birmingham.

It was a lot more miles than I usually do at this time of the year but thoroughly enjoyable none the less. No photos this time as there was not a particular "destination", but here's a couple of screen grabs from the Innovv...

[O.C.]

Good to see that you are making the most of any riding opportunity....I can see what you mean about the gravel down the centre of some of the roads

Once again thanks and I enjoyed that