This morning was sunny and warm in Keighley, very unusual for August in England these days, we are more aquatic than sun kissed! Bikes of the future will have bows and their speed will be measured in knots, even “golloshers” will be making a return at the rate things are going!
But not today, it really was sunny and the clouds were nowhere to be seen as Barry and I pulled up outside Appleyards bike showroom in Keighley with the girls. A host of people were there already, these were going to be today’s Appy Wanderers.
From Halifax, regular “rideouters” Russ and Elaine stood with their dark red 1800; Elaine has been missing for the last few ride outs, so it was nice to see her again. Next to them a new red 1800 stood with Tony and Heather form Wakefield, this is their first year with us and they have been on several runs already! In the middle of those two were Tom and Michelle on their “Ace of Spades” a lovely black 1800. Old Geoff and Christine fresh from The Canaries sat like brown rich folk on “Tangerine Dream” their orange 1800. Nick from Bradford stood by his queerly coloured pink 1500, the two bare little stumps on his right hand now open to the sunshine but still very tender, don’t worry mate this time next year you won’t notice them!
“Condorman” Gordon was here again on the council light 1500, he informed me his good lady was mortified that she had been mentioned on the last Whitby run as being the cause for Gordon not having any burn for the pipe, on the back of that she toddled down to the shop and bought plenty for his ride out today! Bless her! Did I mention I had run out of lager from the fridge missus?
Evelyn wishing for a great day!
Mr Mick Conners and Evelyn came along today, they last rode with us on the Matlock run, which incidentally was their first Sunday of being an Appy Wanderer, welcome back guys.
Mr and Mrs Topley from Castleford came for their first ride out with us today. Colin was the chairman of The Yorkshire wing region for three years and has a face to remember from all the posters and mug shots in their monthly advertiser ages ago. He has stopped all that running around now and is enjoying Sundays with wife Anne for what they were invented for.
Those that needed to fill up with fuel did so and flew down the Skipton bypass to catch up with the convoy which was quickly done on the huge smooth empty duel carriageway. Not one bike was waiting at Skipton today so we turned and headed toward Devils Bridge.
A bright and dry Sunday morning meant a steady pace as the council revenue collectors sat in dark holes all along the beautiful A65 Kirkby Lonsdale road looking for easy pickings with plastic radar guns instead of guarding society against lowly scumbags with real guns and the 10,000 known repeat offenders out there going about their business.
At Devils Bridge sat “Purple Pussy” with Mark and Chrissy in good spirits and ready for another great days riding. We stopped here for a mug of tea and to give others a chance to join us. It was a twenty minute stop, this passed quickly as time nudged us in the back, we collected ourselves as a group and pulled away from the thirty or so bikes at the tea stop. We whizzed down a great road (A638) towards Casterton and Killington, I remember this road mainly in late winters or early springtime when the colours are much richer and diverse, the various browns, dusky oranges and golds. Spotted here and there with the evergreen bushes, sometimes we cruise through here and the land has been lightly dusted with casting suger…or was it snow!
We ran alongside the M6 first on a wicked B road, joining the A685 to criss cross the boring M6, eventually we dropped down from the hill side to join it at Tebay. We had a short blast on the M6 up to Penrith before turning west onto the A 66 to Kewick and Cockermouth. We turned off though well before Cockermouth on the excellent B5289 passing Crummock Water and Buttermere. We stopped for a quick break as someone’s bladder could hold no longer, one or two others climbed off and followed Christine to the loo taking advantage of the moment.
Barry lit one up and we chatted a while, it turned just a tad colder now we were in the hills. The weak ones returned feeling lighter now and felt more comfortable, we rode through the Sunday plebs as they hogged the car park pretending to be country folk with daft coloured trousers and noisy brats clinging to them, “Quicker Barry quicker, lets get the flock out of here” I said to myself!
At the foot of Honister Pass
Honister Pass sat above us presently, the mine was at the top of the pass in the crook of the huge V of slate covered hills. Miles back we managed to pass a small shiny Virago trike that hogged the road for ages, it took an age to get around the old fart, he never gave a thought to letting eleven Goldwings pass. Are these things the motorhome of the bike world one wonders? All the same we waved as we passed the old couple, neither had any bike kit on at all except for helmet and gloves, they were so lightly dressed that this was probably their once a month five mile run. I had stoped at the bottom of the pass to take a picture when the trike came by, I started off after them and we reached the mine entrance about the same time.
A sunny moment at the summit
It was an awkward entry to the mine car park, it sat on an uphill bend and was quite loose underfoot, people found at a tad awkward. I on the other hand had stopped earlier to take in the spectacular views. 
Colin and Anne Topley enjoy a cup of tea
By the time we got to the mine just half a mile away everyone had managed to get in and settled eventually finding a spot to park on the loose shale, it is a very poor place to park a bike I have to say, I looked for somewhere solid to squeeze in. The team photo was taken by a friendly passer bye and I feature for the first time in the team photo folk! We had a pastie and tea, choosing to sit outside on the stone wall taking in the magnificent views.
Appy Wanderers at Honiston Mine
Steve and Jane had arrived from Scotland on their 1800 Goldwing trike, to say “Hello “ and hug the English family they’d inherited from the 2005 tour. It looks like they are trying to shake off their “self ostracized” tag, because today they had brought a friend with them! It won’t work Steve old bean, we love you just the way you are, the days just wouldn’t be the same without a fleeting guest appearance from you two! To watch you through the cacophony of mad noisy Appy Wanderers as you toss in the occasional witty comment to quell the yellow shirted headless English chickens is a great leveller. You remind me of my teenage days at school of my mentor Mr Smith, he was my liberal English Lit teacher who encouraged my slightly off the wall way of thinking! To see Jane’s bum again is, well just quite nice and she is so sweet to hug! Jane has become our Gypsy Rose Lee and can see naked men in the tea leaves. No ride out is complete without an appearance from these two characters. Look out Pitlochery in 2010 is all I can say!
An hour or so later we parted company with a nod, wave and a kiss and hauled ourselves up the blind summit and away down the other side into Borrowdale. The road was small and twisty as it ran between the tree lined hill side at one side and Derwent Water on the other, a fast car or two sized me up to pass on this narrow section, but I saved them a whole load of grief and rode slightly more to the middle, and encouraged them to wait a while. Patience was foisted on these short sighted drivers. A bit naughty you might think but I think I saved grief all round and possibly an accident. Minutes later as we neared Keswick the roads improved, they were encouraged to pass, did they say thanks? Did they flip!
Keswick was full to the pavement of happy Sunday city dwellers, a group of lycra cyclists wobbled along at walking pace, before stopping to dismount and pushed their bikes up the presented high street, a horde of pedestrians took their place and wondered about oblivious to my presence. A short swift rev of the throttle woke them up and they got back onto the pavement out of harm’s way. Sheep, Sheepdog? work it out folks! We made haste and caught everyone up and made our way to Windermere.
Mick looks for his wallet.
Windermere was bursting at the gunnels with people too. As we slowly rode through, people stopped and stared as our music machines grabbed their interest momentarily. One day I will come here on an empty day, maybe a Thursday in February? We turned as usual into Bowness-on-Windermere, today there was a fun fare on the green, we cruised slowly to the car park and found a large space between the cars and a grassy mound,
Elaine and Russ with Nick
We disrobed as cars went round and round the car park looking for a spot. It was now mid afternoon and the sun was busy beating down on us, families were enjoying this rare sunny day, folk from all walks of life mingled along the walkways, pleasure boats were doing good business, shops and lakeside pubs looked busy. We split off into groups or couples and strolled along. 
Heather and Tony pose by Lake Windermere
We stopped for an ice cream and people watched for a while, my favourite past time. I find It interesting to see the size, shapes and colours we all are! An hour quickly passed and we slowly strolled back to the bikes, some of the ladies broke away to dart into shops offering 50% off their goods. 
Barry cuddles Anne.
Shopping is a lucrative and worthwhile past time this summer as the recession still bites deep, Julie came back to the bikes with a bag or two of finery.
An alternative ride out of Windermere was offered to Barry by knowing Wingers, as we all craved clearer roads. Sunny shiny days are wonderful but the downside is that EVERYONE loves these kind of days and the roads soon clog as beauty spots quickly fill up. We do very well on alternative roads and made our way to the motorway for a short blast to the exit and a great ride back down to Kirkby Lonsdale and a tea stop. We voted to park amongst the bikes and not in the car park as Barry tried to suggest. He must have been tired to suggest such a thing! It was the best time of day now as the late afternoon slowed to a Mr Kipling pace, the sun turned down the heat and dogs panted less. We sat under cover of the trees on the wall, some of us listened on the radio to the last few minutes of the Charity Shield football game, it had gone to penalties. Manchester United were sweating it out with those “ponces” from London. Unfortunately Chelsea managed to snatch victory from the “Mancs”. Oh well Tom says retrospectively, The Charity Shield is only a tin pot thing, they can have it! As a curtain raiser to the football season this has never really been thought of as a big prize in the football supporters mind, I remember thinking the same when I was a “yoof”
The dog takes its owners to Devils Bridge!
Julie and I said goodbye to Russ and Elaine as they pushed on towards Halifax on their own, we followed the rest of the gang down to Skipton, skipping in and out of the slow early evening traffic before parting company with the group just before the Skipton turning, we called goodbye to each other at the roundabout and as we turned onto the bypass zooming on towards Keighley I reminded folk over the CB that Barry was paying for the fish and chips, It had been a great day on the bike and in the great company of today’s Appy Wanderers. The rideout was just over 200 miles today. We skirted around Keighley centre, up the hill to Cullingworth, Denholme taking in the lovely long views over to the left as we went through Queensbury, we dropped down onto the M62 at the Bradford junction. It was fairly quiet as we gained speed through the quiet traffic, the sun was still in evidence as the warm day turned into a glowing evening, we dropped down closer towards sea level as we crossed from West to South Yorkshire and onto the M18. We rode this motorway a short while south before exiting the motorway at Thorne, the evening drinkers were out and about already as we passed through the old town.
POOKA say’s I’m flamin Hank Marvin!
POOKA sat waiting for us as we pulled into the drive, she stared at us with those hungry eyes meowing loudly like she does, signalling the end to another great day on the bike.
Tilthenextime.
The Scribe