After cleaning my bike yesterday (first time since before the TT 
) I thought I'd make the most of the good weather, so me an a mate came up with a plan to go for an excellent Sunday Lunch at Cartmel (foodie heaven spot in the lake district). It's about 65 miles taking the direct route, but we made a 140 mile one way / 225 mile loop out of it.
That meant setting off early at 7am, but 15 miles into the ride I came around a gravel strewn corner to find a load of road debris and an then a bike (Yamaha cruiser) in a hedge. We stopped the bikes and looked around for ages to check there wasn't a rider around, as the engine and exhaust were hot, so must have just happened. Eventually we thought we'd better call the Police just in case, but presume the rider must have walked off to the nearest village. Bit of a sobering start to the ride!
Anyway, excellent route via Fleet Moss, coffee stop at Hawes and then into the Lakes and another stop at the top of the Kirsktone pass before pressing on to Cartmel for lunch at 1pm. Purchased some obligatory Sticky Toffee Pudding to bring home
Return route via the legendary Singleton > Hawes road then over the moors before we got caught in the most biblical of storms. Sky was black and we were pummelled with hailstones all the way home.
Cracking day on the bike (which now needs another wash) on a real mix of roads, from fast sweepers to gated, single tracks.
It was also an excellent first proper trial for the new TomTom 400. After some initial problems loading routes, they launched a recent update which has improved it and it's now got all the functionality of the old one plus some awesome features. The timeline, showing distance to all the petrol stations on your route is great, as is the live traffic info.
We're doing a Euro trip on Friday so should be great for that - also discovered motogolo for mapping, which is excellent for OS X users that can't use Tyre.
Here's todays route: https://www.motogoloco.com/map?route=9388
Couple of pics (didn't take many as we didn't stop much)
IMG_9245 by Dave Wrightson, on Flickr
Kirkstone Pass
IMG_9244 by Dave Wrightson, on Flickr
Gated road somewhere near Haweswater
IMG_9241 by Dave Wrightson, on Flickr
Cartmel Racecourse
IMG_9246 by Dave Wrightson, on Flickr
) I thought I'd make the most of the good weather, so me an a mate came up with a plan to go for an excellent Sunday Lunch at Cartmel (foodie heaven spot in the lake district). It's about 65 miles taking the direct route, but we made a 140 mile one way / 225 mile loop out of it. That meant setting off early at 7am, but 15 miles into the ride I came around a gravel strewn corner to find a load of road debris and an then a bike (Yamaha cruiser) in a hedge. We stopped the bikes and looked around for ages to check there wasn't a rider around, as the engine and exhaust were hot, so must have just happened. Eventually we thought we'd better call the Police just in case, but presume the rider must have walked off to the nearest village. Bit of a sobering start to the ride!
Anyway, excellent route via Fleet Moss, coffee stop at Hawes and then into the Lakes and another stop at the top of the Kirsktone pass before pressing on to Cartmel for lunch at 1pm. Purchased some obligatory Sticky Toffee Pudding to bring home
Return route via the legendary Singleton > Hawes road then over the moors before we got caught in the most biblical of storms. Sky was black and we were pummelled with hailstones all the way home.
Cracking day on the bike (which now needs another wash) on a real mix of roads, from fast sweepers to gated, single tracks.
It was also an excellent first proper trial for the new TomTom 400. After some initial problems loading routes, they launched a recent update which has improved it and it's now got all the functionality of the old one plus some awesome features. The timeline, showing distance to all the petrol stations on your route is great, as is the live traffic info.
We're doing a Euro trip on Friday so should be great for that - also discovered motogolo for mapping, which is excellent for OS X users that can't use Tyre.
Here's todays route: https://www.motogoloco.com/map?route=9388
Couple of pics (didn't take many as we didn't stop much)
IMG_9245 by Dave Wrightson, on FlickrKirkstone Pass
IMG_9244 by Dave Wrightson, on FlickrGated road somewhere near Haweswater
IMG_9241 by Dave Wrightson, on FlickrCartmel Racecourse
IMG_9246 by Dave Wrightson, on Flickr
