North and South; June 2024
Gallery and Video
Ride
I fancied taking a trip up north which took in some of the less crowded and scenic roads you can find around Yorkshire, Northumberland, The Scottish Borders and Cumbria. As I’ve also been doing the Carpe Diem challenge this year the route I planned to do took in any Carpe Diem location that was nearby. The theme for the 2024 Carpe Diem locations is well known biker places, e.g. cafés frequented by bikers and biker meet ups. I discounted going as far as The Highlands because the thought of encountering all those impossible to overtake camper vans slowly meandering down Scottish single track roads didn’t appeal. Somebody came up with the idea of the North Coast 500 and the Highlands have become busy (and expensive) to tour which no longer makes it an attractive destination for me.
It’s been a busy 2024 with one thing and another (I’m a grandad now) but the week beginning Monday 24th June was free. On Monday I headed North East to Grantham taking in a few Carpe Diems on the way. Chris Walker The Stalker’s Kawasaki dealership was Grantham’s Carpe Diem. So it was an overnight stop at Grantham’s Premier Inn after a fairly uneventful ride in the sunshine from Dorset to Grantham.
On Tuesday I headed off to the Lincolnshire coast via my first Carpe Diem at Boston. Tuesday was another fine day and next came Maplethorpe’s Carpe Diem, the Seaview Café, where I enjoyed a full English breakfast in the sunshine. After breakfast I took the Lincolnshire back roads to the Humber Bridge and that turned out to be a nice ride. After crossing the bridge and arriving in Hull I visited Hull University and the places where I lived during my time there many moons ago. Things have changed a bit. After Hull I headed to the Seaways Café Carpe Diem and my overnight stay near Driffield. Seaways Café was a nice spot with some nice vintage bikes on show. An old Suzuki GT550 two stroke triple was immaculately turned out. I can’t say the same for my overnight stay at a very tired old Inn although I had a nice curry at Driffield.
On Wednesday it was still good weather, a tad on the warm side to be honest. It was a nice ride to the Helmsley Bike Meet Carpe Diem and then on the B1257 across the Yorkshire Moors (poor man's TT I'm told) to the Altberg (I swear by their boots) Carpe Diem at Richmond (Rishi’s constituency). The only thing that spoilt it was the closure of the B6271 a couple of miles from Richmond forcing me to backtrack to Catterick to get to Richmond. Highway Inconvenience had neglected to advertise the fact that they had closed the road until I was almost at Richmond. After Richmond I rode to my overnight stay at Haltwhistle via Castle Barnard (famous for eye testing) and the North Pennines. I nipped over to Crawfield Quarry to see Hadrian’s Wall when I arrived at Haltwhistle. A lovely ride that was, especially the road from Castle Barnard to Haltwhistle. I stayed at the Centre of Britain hotel. A very pleasant stay that was too. Safe and secure parking for the bike, a giant Cumberland sausage for dinner and a lovely breakfast.
On Thursday the fine weather came to an end as I crossed into The Scottish Borders. I rode from Haltwhistle through the Northumberland Park passing by Kielder Water and stopping off at Steve Hislop’s cairn at Teviothead. Lovely roads and it stayed mostly dry but it was very windy. From Hawick I rode to Selkirk and then two Scottish Carpe Diems at St Mary’s Loch, the Glen Café, and Moffat, the Buccleuch Arms Hotel. It was blowing a hooly and raining hard by then. I stopped at the Glen Café to get out of it for a while and have a coffee. Then it was a quick ride down the A74(M) and the A66 to Keswick and from there to my overnight stay at the Glamara Hotel at Borrowdale. It was a comfortable stay, lovely setting, quality dinner and a tasty full English breakfast. It was good to be out of the wind and rain.
On Friday it was still blowing and raining on and off as first I rode Honister Pass followed by Hardknott Pass. I got a bit near the edge of the road on Hardknott owing to a combination of a strong gust of wind, a horrible road camber and having to avoid people on the road. I left The Lakes via Ambleside, Windermere and Kendal to get to Kirkby Stephen. Then it was due south through the Yorkshire Dales via Buttertubs Pass, another Carpe Diem. I passed the Simonstone Hall Hotel on the way where one Jeremy Clarkson infamously assaulted his producer. The roads were great but the weather was grim on Buttertubs Pass. I tried to take the B6160 to Skipton but the road was closed after Kettlewell by the police owing to someone rolling their car. This meant a torturous detour down a one track road to Skipton. My overnight stay that night was at the Premier Inn at Bingley which was comfortable enough albeit Bradford and Bingley were a bit of a stark contrast to the Dales.
Saturday came around and the weather was overcast but dry. I continued heading south towards home trying to keep off the motorway as I navigated between Leeds and Manchester to get to my first Carpe Diem at Macclesfield, the Superbike Factory (a “pile them high and sell them cheap” outfit). Unfortunately avoiding the motorway meant going through the centres of Halifax and Huddersfield but the ride from Glossop to Macclesfield was nice enough. After that I entered the Peak District and headed west on the A537 to the Cat & Fiddle, another Carpe Diem. A famously nice piece of biking road but also heavily speed enforced. I continued west across the Peak District to the biker town of Matlock for the next Carpe Diem, Riverside Fish and Chips. Matlock was full of bikes. After Matlock I turned south and went through Ashbourne and over Blithfield Reservoir to get to the National Motorcycle Museum Carpe Diem. Blithfield Reservoir brought back the memory of crossing it at night on a National Rally I did years ago. I have never been in the museum so I took the opportunity to spend a couple of hours having a look around there. The bikes on display are immaculately turned out. Norton and Triumphs raced by the likes of Ron Haslam, Steve Hislop and Trevor Nation. I spent that night at an agreeable guest house at Nuneaton where I had a tasty Biriani at the local Indian restaurant. There was another guy staying there who was returning from Spain on a Tracer 900 GT.
For Sunday I had booked myself in for the 10 am Triumph factory tour as I was visiting there anyway for the Triumph 1902 café Carpe Diem. The Triumph factory was impressive but I think it would have been better to go on a weekday when the workforce is there. Seeing something being done is better than having it described I think. After that I headed back to the busy south visiting another five Carpe Diem locations on the way home. (Contrasting Chipping Norton with Halifax did show the big inequalities in the country.)
It was a trip of 1400 miles. The weather was lovely the first three days, windy and wet for the next two and overcast but dry for the last two so that wasn’t so bad. Lovely scenery and roads in the Scottish Borders and The Lakes but windy and wet also. A very nice trip which took in some lovely roads and scenery, and allowed me to visit 25 biker themed Carpe Diem locations. The Tracer performed faultlessly although the whine from the drive chain and sprockets means that they need to be replaced soon.