Terry Arnold
5 UK National Parks
Riders:- Clappo, Terry, John, Paul & Gareth
Background:- Covid restrictions severely limiting European travel – so toured in the UK.
- Digs:- Alston, Cumbria. Pleasant ancient rural town
- Quirky converted chapel hall, with plenty of space.
- Off-road parking down a steep slope
- Only 1 attempted murder in the street while we were there
- Couple of nice pubs serving good food
- Nice and central for exploring the parks/moors
- Routes selected daily depending on the weather forecast
- Terry’s clutch slave cylinder was failing so needed increasing top-ups of fluid and bleeding (every stop at the end)
- Approx 1900 miles covered by all, additional 520 by Gareth & Terry
- Paul & Terry &then Clappo Met at Cambridge Services on M11 and West Barn before travelling onwards together
Wear, Tyne & Tees Valleys
- North out of town and up to Brampton
- Local road closure re-cobbling the market square gave 5mile detour on all eastern routes
- South to Langwathby, back through Alnwick and up to Corbridge for coffee.
- A loop round on the lovely A68 bishop Auckland and on to Barnard Castle
- John joined us at lunchtime day 2 in Barnard Castle
- Through Romaldskirk and into Eggleston
- Here we encountered a procession of over 50 tractors, as a mark of respect to a deceased local farmer. 15 minutes watching them all pass by.
- Through Newbiggin and over the single track moor road to Westgate
- Through Allenheads and back to the digs
- Dinner at the Alston House Hotel
- Through Romaldskirk and into Eggleston
- Route back to digs through market square blocked by Police tape where there had been a non-fatal stabbing
Yorkshire Dales
- South down to Appleby in Westmorland
- Down near Hawes and a big loop round to the west via Sedburgh and back to Hawes for lunch
- On to Reeth where Gareth joined us in the day 3 afternoon at a very nice coffee stop at a place frequented by SAS
- Up to Brough and Middleton in Teesdale, and back to Alston
- Very good dinner at the Cumberland Inn
- Drinks after at the Turks Head, excellent beers – very friendly barmaid
Lake District 1 – North
- Over through Penrith via the fantastic A686 Hartside Pass
- Stopped at the top for a cuppa and a chat with some gathered bikers
- Across to Keswick and around Bassenthwaite lake
- Held up here by an accident blocking very narrow road, waiting for the pick-up truck to collect the car
- South through Keswick, past Derwentwater and Borrowdale
- Stopped at the Honister pass mine for coffee
- Past Buttermere and Loweswater, looping north over the Whinlatter pass and round to Keswick for lunch
- Hearty lunch at the Filling Station cafe
- South down to Ambleside and along the eastern shore of Coniston water
- Coffee stop at the Lakeland motor museum, amid some lovely 70’s bikes.
- Up west of Windemere to Ullswater, Pooley Bridge and to Penrith
- Along the A686 and over the Hartside Pass in the opposite direction – Brilliant
- Drinks in the Turks Head, our new local and purchased food & supplies
- Eat in at the digs
Northumberland and Kielder forest
- North East in a pretty straight line up to Alnwick, coffee at Bamborough and then up the A1 to Holy Island
- Drove onto Holy Island as the tides were favourable
- Stopped at the farthest end of the road for an ice cream
- West to Wooler and down the A697 past Cragside and towards the Otterburn military ranges
- Roads across the ranges were closed due to ongoing exercises
- Stopped for coffee at Otterburn
- Man in Range Rover barely able to walk let alone drive properly, told us he was a surgeon and had mended many motorcyclists – Don’t you just love these people?!
- Used the Kielder Forest, Forest Drive – a 10 mile dirt track, E-W
- Didn’t realise you are supposed to use an honesty box for payment
- South on the excellent B6320 wide sweeping road past Kielder reservoir
- Paul nearly had ‘SCANIA’ embossed on his helmet during one late overtake, but strongly denies it. We 3 who saw it were all mistaken.
- Over to Greenhead and then south to Alston
- Drinks in the Turks Head
North Yorkshire Moors
- East over to Barnard Castle and skirting south of Darlington
- Across to Stokesley and here the roads improved again
- Down the B1257 which was an excellent fast flowing road
- Stopped in Helmsley for coffee, sat outside in market square
- Chatted to couple who had sadly lost their son to a bike accident
- Through Pickering and up over the high moors, through Heartbeat country/Goatland to Whitby
- Very good fish & chips lunch and a stroll round the busy town. The swing bridge broke down and blocked up the flows.
- Headed for Middlesborough for a mystery tour – to see the famous ‘transporter bridge’ down at the docks
- Back through Bishop Auckland and to the digs.
- Arriving back, Terry had an altercation with a very big fair-haired man as he walked across in front of his bike pulling in. Loud, rude words were exchanged
- Meeting later at the Turks Head, there was a very big fair-haired man sitting at a table across the way. I went over to ‘clear the air’ with him and offer him a pint. He said he would gratefully accept the offer, but it wasn’t him!
- Another very good dinner at the Cumberland Inn
Lake District 2 – South
- Over through Penrith via the fantastic A686 Hartside Pass again
- Turned south at Penrith for Shap and Kendal and west to Storrs
- Used the chain ferry across Windemere
- Stopped for coffee and cake on the far shore
- Up to Hawkshead and the beautiful Tarn Hawes lake
- Down the eastern side of Coniston water an lovely narrow lane weaving along the shore
- West over to the Irish sea coast and north to Gosforth before turning east
- Over the excellent Hardknott and Wrynose passes
- Gareth had a small tumble on a hairpin when encountering other traffic
- Up to Great Langdale and stopped at one of the very few the National Trust pubs
- The ‘Sticklebarn’ was closed for a NT training day!
- We had a drink instead next door at the open ‘New Dungeon Ghyll’
- East over to Clappos-gate (Clappersgate), Ambleside and then up the Kirkstone pass and over to Ullswater.
- John took a tumble when pulling up for a comfort break and the roadside soil was soft. Unfortunately it pinned him against a stone wall and needed help to lift the bike off him.
- Through Penrith and along the A686
- Stopped at the New Inn at Melmerby for a couple on the way home
- – and again – over the Hartside Pass to Alston.
- Last night dinner at the Alston House Hotel
- Bought their raffle tickets and John later won a prize of a free stay
- Watched Emma Radukana win the US open tennis on TV
- Next morning we headed in seperate directions, Paul, Clappo and John heading south for home and Gareth and Terry riding north to join friends at Abington, Scotland
Scotland
- North up through Greenhead and into the border counties
- Stopped for coffee at Hadrian’s Wall at Gilsland
- Rode across the border and up gentle valleys and hills and forests
- Stopped in Hawick tourist info for coffee and cake
- Surprised to need face masks still in Scotland
- Watched a charity procession with a bagpipe marching troop
- Over more lovely hills into Moffat, a surprisingly well appointed town
- Clappo is right- it would be an excellent base for future rides
- The roads north from Moffat, A701 for 10 miles is as good as anything in Europe – Superb – then into Biggar
- Huge ice creams and eventually found a food shop for sugary supplies for the next day’s 27 mile walk
- Last short run into Abington M75 motorway services Travelodge
- Hid and chained bikes behind high wall as would be left all the next day.
- Joined friends doing a Lands End to John O’Groats walk for Charity. The aim was to walk a 27 mile section with then from to Abington to Hamilton.
- Had evening food in grim motorway services
- Went for drink in tiny Travelodge foyer that already had 2 elderly guests sitting drinking
- Turned out he was a fairly minted business man with terminal cancer on a late tour. They very kindly gave generously to the guys’ charity collection – unprompted.
Day of the long walk.
- Set off at 4mph pace!!! Up and down BIG hills we tramped
- Walked mostly along the B7078 which runs parallel to the M74
- Companions did not wait for you at Pee stops, needing yet faster pace to catch up and sweet bars and drinks were taken on the hoof
- Eventually stopped for a bite after about 20miles, I had a Haggis sandwich
- Gareth’s and my legs stopped bending or moving in a forward direction after that stop
- We let the other two go faster and hobbled on at a snail’s pace to the finish line at Hamilton Racecourse Hilton. Thank F*** for that!!
- Race meeting was on, so was bustling. We sat in the bar and had pints of Stella delivered on repeat.
- The long walk to the men’s toilet was agony
- After the racing the bar filled with glammed up ladies and men in dinner jackets. 2 pissed ladies plonked themselves down on our sofas and would not leave, even whilst we had our meals.
- Taxi home on the motorway took 25 mins at 70mph – incredible that we had walked so far.
- Found a wheelchair in reception and took photos of each other in a disabled state. Wifey did not appreciate that photo from a bike trip with no explanation.
- Slept well.
Journey Home
- 5 more bikes hidden with ours, blocking us in
- 370 mile ride home, it was fine sitting on the bikes and, being on motorway, we didn’t need to put our feet down much, but when we did – it hurt.
- Lunch and fuel at Boroughbridge.
- Afternoon coffee at OK Diner near Stamford
- Home at last.
