A horde of approx 10 Goldwings gathered outside Apppleyards in Keighley at the usual time of 9 o’clock in the warm sunshine ready for the days run to Eden Camp near Malton, not far from York, Julie and I were already there we had come from Doncaster a mere 40 minutes away,  We stopped along the A64 for a pot of tea and met a large bunch of scooters folk from “A club wi no name” It always amazes me that such ungainly machines are so popular amongst young men with their odd colours and festooned with more mirrors that a youth can chuck stones at, to top it all they are powered by minute looking engines that go “put put put” They were kept and loved by their loving owners that was quite plain as I had a look round them. I considered taking a photo but decided against it. Julie came back from inspecting the loo, she would complete a report for Tina’s magazine “The bogs and bidets’ of England” later no doubt! We mounted up and purred of towards Eden Camp.

Chris and Eve arrived from the outskirts of Hull a few minutes before Barry arrived with a nice clutch of Goldwings, ridden by a mix of new and old faces, That old rogue Russ began to wake up as I greeted him and Elaine, he was a bit tired, no surprise as he is 50 and on a diet. We headed for the tea shop for tea and scones then split up and wondered around the place for a couple of hours, it is worth a visit, you need to allow at least 2 or 3 hours if you want to see it all, I flitted around a bit, I knew who started the war and why, it was a pale looking bloke with a hairy lip and longed to be a German, the trouble was he wanted the whole of Europe to be German as well! So I missed some of the early exhibits and flitted around various exhibits in no particular order. We met up at the tea house again and chatted and sucked on ice lollies whilst soaking up the midday sun. It was after 3 now and time to move on to York.

We pulled on jackets and helmets, started up the 1800 and 1500 engines and hit the A64 towards York a mere 19 miles away according to “Sexy Voice.” I sat as Barry’s No 2 Chris on the back door and the rest in between, I have to say it was a bit unnerving as a few folk had jackets on that resembled policemen, very good for being seen but very bad for the nerves! We blew the cobwebs away, I could see Russ was awake and smiling bless him, it was a lovely warm afternoon and full of positive waves as we sliced through the traffic, even car drivers were pulling over without any prompting, wonderful!

“Sexy voice” brought us into York, Barry asked me to lead us to the car park via “Sexy voice who read out the instruction that Barry sent to me earlier on the P.C so dropping down the speed allowed her to tell me in plenty time went to turn left or right. We arrived at the destination quickly only the NCP car park had been replaced by some new flats; I started to chastise “Sexy Voice” until I remembered where the instructions had originated from! Another “Sexy Voice on another Goldwing took up the lead and we doubled back and stopped and obtained help from to wardens, we got good directions and had to perform a u turn easy when you know how but some folk just make right pigs ears of it, with this in mind I waited for you know who to come a cropper, he didn’t bless him but then we WERE on the flat and not high up on some Austrian mountain! We soon found the OTHER car park but it shut at 18.00rs so we parked over the road in a handy bike section, stripped of helmets and jackets and took a stroll in The Shambles, a pleasant afternoon we had, tummies began to rumble as BARI’S eventually opened and we piled in and got settled as eager Italians fussed round us with jugs of water, Barry noted that we got “extra” water and told us so at the end when the tip question was floated around. Aha, well spotted Baz extra water is good so a tip was given. We missed a planned Ghost Walk, we were having such a nice meal that I for one didn’t mind at all, as was pointed out its not the same taking a ghost walk in sunshine and clear skies, it just wouldn’t be the same meeting ghosts in those conditions! Feeling like stuffed piglets we all waddled from BARI’S back to the bikes got dressed, said goodbye to old and new friends and cruised out of York, onto the A19 towards Selby for a short ride home in the cool evening sun, I was smiling to myself because our next ride would be next week down to Portsmouth to catch the ferry for our next adventure in France and Spain.

So until the next time folks don’t get lost, just go a different way!

Dave Sharp