North Yorkshire, James Herriot and beyond 25th May 2008
Barry Walton led the way from Appleyards bike shop in Keighley on this brisk Sunday morning and head out to Ripon to meet with other Goldwingers who chose to meet at waypoint 2 in Ripon market square at 10.15 hrs
This was a mixed bunch of thrill seekers indeed, a Lehman trike “Old yellow” with dad and daughter Amy, Russ and Elaine on their Warburton special, Stretch and Mrs Barnard on their first ride out in ages. Put the red flags out guys he’s back!! Steve and Jane on their new lippy red 1800 trike from lands afar (Scotland). Tony our joint Yorkshire rep and the sultry Hazel on their red glitzy ride. Zoe our other joint Yorkshire rep came with stout hubbi Jim on their new1500. The Snow Queen from America carried Dennis “two dabs” and Lorraine with two r’s. They come from Barrrnsley tha knows! “Fat” Phil and the fun loving Blonde came too, close by sat Mr Ken Beck and better half from Harrogate. Mick Hamby on his “blinged up” blue 1800, oh yes I must not forget to mention Stuart from Halifax with his mystery wife, I know I must have probably missed one or two I’m sorry…Janet.
We could sense the gathering in the winds, the vibes where strong even all the way to Doncaster where Julie and I had just hours earlier returned from a 2,000 mile adventure to Bavaria. How I wish I could have been there but we were faced with the holiday aftershock of washing clothes throwing away meaningless receipts (that one always keeps from abroad) replenishing food stocks and washing the bike of course.
I felt the horde move off at around 10.30 hrs. The Snow Queen took my place at the rear on the look out for problems, everyone adopted a line astern position so the drive bye must have looked endless to pedestrians and Sunday drivers.
No problems at the rear so far as they moved through Masham passing over the stone bridge, up through Leyburn they went. Barry was unusually quiet at the front; it must have felt strange but pleasant in a funny kind of way. Barry, it appears, was having problems with “Mistress” Garmin, his CB had packed up too, and poor Tina had Barry’s running commentary all to herself. It took Barry a while to realise something was not right, but then it would, coz when our Barry gets in his stride there is no interrupting the man!
The group rode on and on through infamous “Park Rash”, a hideous stretch of road as the camber was reversed to allow rain water to run off, had 180 degree bends and felt quite out of place after such a sedate start of the day!
Having survived (I can’t believe Denis didn’t put his feet down) the gang picked up speed and headed in the direction of Carleton and the infamous Foresters Arms, home to those proper bikers of the 60’s. Onwards they rode, finally coming to a tea stop in Kettlewell, the café sits opposite an old garage with a huge pit….I know, I nearly fell down the bugger once when admiring the huge array of spanners on the wall. The garage is owned by Mick and Bill Wilkinson, these two characters are both ex British off road champions, and they own a wonderful collection of old bikes that just has to be seen to be believed. Barry meanwhile fixed his faulty CB helped by Lorraine two r’s shouting into the helmet “CAN YOU HERE ME NOW? Whilst stood not ten feet away from Barry.
Onward they rode through sleepy Buckden before cutting through the Wharfedale Valley and Hubberholme and its valley, then on through Ottershaw, Sleight and on down the long downwards run into Hawes. They didn’t stop in Hawes, it was full of cars and bikes, and it would have been a real nightmare getting all the bikes parked up so they hustled on through presenting the town with a free parade.
The weather was still rain free, the wind was still persistent if not a bit stronger now as they grouped together and climbed up through the Buttertubs, bikes veered a little here and there as the winds began to snatch, pushing and pulling, Muker brought on the first feeling of vertigo for some folk, it’s a strange feeling as you look through the decapitating safety cables looking down into the valley. The wind God must have got out the wrong side of his bed this morning, he was in a right temper huffing and puffing, causing a few beads of sweat to trickle down men’s backs as they struggled against the elements on these tiny tracks heading to Tan Hill and lunch.
The pub had just changed management and with it came all the usual “new broom” problems. The pub was full to the brim with both bike and car folk, dinner was a bit of a farce and took a large chunk out of the day. Barry took hold of a runaway black sheep, perhaps he should have took hold of some sauce too and made dinner for everyone. Personally I think he was trying to make amends for the previous ride out when he and Tina ran a poor harmless pheasant off the road and sent it to the big nest in the sky. Most got dinner except for Tony and Hazel who got their money back instead. Barry noted the road to and from Tan Hill had an unusual amount of “road kill” scattered around, a number of young lamb amongst the number, perhaps Barry was pointing out that he and Tina were not the only one killing innocent creatures? Never mind my son at least we know now who killed cock robin!
The winds were tearing at the land fiercely now, one had to take a firm grip of the tiller to ride the bikes off the brow and downwards, it was a steady 9 miles to Reeth on a steady decline that must have taken ages, no doubt there would be some stiff bodies by the evening! It was here that some of the group began to peel away and head home, because of the time lost earlier the days route had to be amended, the plethora of Sunday drivers caused more than their share of problems too. It makes one wonder how they manage to drive to work and back on the other five days of the week! Trucks caravans and campervans I can understand causing bottlenecks but not these modern “super doopa” tin cans with their supposedly electronic ego metric management ground terrain control danger avoidance doo dah systems!
Leyburn was eventually reached and ice creams acquired for everyone…… except Tony and Hazel who made straight for the famous fish and chip shop for a late dinner only to find it had sold out of famous fish, this was not a good day for these two, Hazel even forgot her yoghurt to snack on.
The group fragmented totally from here and began their respective journeys home in all directions, Barry and co head southsouthwestish, Steve and Jane ran for the Scottish border again, no doubt they would get past passport control without much ado. Steve I’m told took the front seat on their new trike most of the day, is their something wrong with Jane? Perhaps now she has elevated herself to a Harley she feels unable come to terms with Hondas superior but soul less machines? The South Yorkshire bunch followed Zoe and Jim southsoutheastish in the general direction of Bedale. Those that new Jim saw that he had had a good day, he rode their new bike very well, he even managed to poke fun at Barry and his CB malfunction with much glee.
The windy dales run this day just 170 miles, that’s 170 miles of adventure and memories, surely much better that sitting at home drinking tea!
I’m off to make myself a cup of tea and countdown the days before the next run, which incidentally is the day after Julie and I come back from our next adventure to different more mountains, this time the Hartz mountains of northern Germany, so if our bike is a bit grotty its just dirt from a land far far away!
Lateronthen
Dave Sharp (there in spirit, if not in body)