Moto ADV: A Grand Day Out.

It was a sunny if cool spring day. The decision was made to RV in Yorkshire at Holmfirth (famous town where "Last of the Summer Wine" was filmed). Here is the 'flight' plan:

Insert 'flight' plan into sleeve window on jacket. Get bike out of garage and GO ........

Turn left onto B5023 towards Wirksworth. Ride past the Puss-in-Boots.

In this country we mostly navigate by pubs. This is a great pub.

Straight on at The Railway Inn.

Through the picturesque village of Idridgehay.

Idridgehay has a shop and a saddlery.......

....... and a farm opposite the shop.

Next turn will be in the market town of Wirksworth in the Derbyshire High Peak district. Left at The Lime Kiln.

Having exited Wirksworth I am now heading towards Middleton.

Springtime in England means Daffodils and Tulips. Mainly Daffodils.

The views from Middleton are very pretty.

Next on the 'Flight' plan is turn onto the A5012 towards Newhaven...

..... and head for the Holly Bush at Grange Mill.

Ride past the Holly Bush and the road takes you through Pikehall which is just after the turn off to Parwich.

We seem to be more or less on track!

Pikehall is really a farm and a few houses. But very charming.

It also has Daffodils!

Newhaven hoves into view......

At Newhaven there is a caravan & camping site, a garage and a T-junction!

This is the T-junction. Right turn on the A515 Ashbourne to Buxton road.

Ride past the Jug & Glass.

One of these days soon I am going to call in here for a pint of their best ale!

But for now I have to make the RV at 12:00 and all this stopping is not doing my average very much good.

Onward and northward to Buxton.

Buxton is a lovely Derbyshire spa town with a magnificent opera house.

Next village is Chapel-en-le-Frith. Nice name!

And then through Hayfield. This is just before the town.

Actually the road kind of by-passes Hayfield. Here is a farm right on the outskirts.

I can show you the sign post if you like!

Hayfield is the birthplace of Arthur Lowe of Dad's Army fame.

I think that I have a slight perversion! Washing on washing lines fascinates me.....

Finally made it into Holmfirth and the co-ordinates match the 'flight' plan - hooray!

N53 34 14.0 W001 47 10.0

 And, yes, this is Holmfirth!

 And here is Mike! Hey these RVs really work well!

We had a nice lunch and a pleasant chat in the sunshine. Thanks for the rendezvous Mike. It was grand day out. WNTL?

Bus Passes or Bikes?

Q. What do retired guys do when they are not riding a free bus to collect their pensions or shuffling down to the post office with their zimmers?

A. They use the internet to check the weather forecast and consult Google Earth to organise a rendezvous and email to communicate and make it happen.

The Midlanders, from Rugeley, Nottingham and Duffield, have arranged to meet at a convenient RV at 09:15 for a departure at 09:30. The first two TE and JM are here ....... (obviously one of us has to take the pic!) .......

Soon joined by number three ..... TG. Two Beemers and a Triumph. Which reminds me of the World Cup 2010. Honda doing very well. Mobilette and Aprilia have been sent home. BMW v Triumph on Sunday at Bloemfontein 3PM.

TE and TG on the way to the RV where we have arranged to meet the heathen Northerners who are invading Lincolnshire from Ilkley, Holmfirth, Hull and Beverley. Note the poppies in the field!!

At 10:52 we arrive at the rendezvous 53 25 50.8N 001 01 57.2W. We seem to be the first here.

I was hoping to get some pics as the others arrived, but we waited in vain. We chatted amongst ourselves. I kept my mouth shut even though I had nothing to say!

BUT, we did meet up soon enough and all together there were 7 motorcycles ridden by 6 OAPs and 1 honorary OAP. Here are 6 of the 7 bikes. Aprilia Tuomo, Honda CBF1000GT, Honda CBF1000, BMWR1200GS, BMWK1300GT, Triumph Sprint ST1050. BMWR1150GSA out of picture. Riders: CE, RH, MF, TE, JK, TG and JM out of shot.

We had a good ride with a very good leader (not me!). Having visited the Lincolnshire Aviation Museum for a light lunch in the N.A.A.F.I, we rode to Bolingbroke (click) which has a 13th century castle, where, in 1366 King Henry IV was born. The link does far more justice to the castle than my camera can. The village of Bolingbroke has a great looking pub and some pretty cottages and lanes.

This is a pic of TE and JK posing on their steeds by the ...........

......... yup, you guessed right AGAIN ....... The Black Horse Inn!

Dr JK - a late-comer to the motorcycle ball. He thinks nothing of doing 450 miles a day, which is impressive in UK traffic. I seem to only manage about 250 miles a day and then I need a lie down.

A pretty cottage in Bolingbroke.

Another pretty cottage.

Another angle PLUS hanging baskets! We are aesthete hard bikers. Yes, I said, "aesthete."

This is a nice gaff. These pretty village images are mainly for the benefit of my S.A readers. Apologies for the lack of bike pics.

Maybe I could afford this if I sold my place?

I took this pic of some Bolingbroke geese for you. After Bolingbroke we went to Skegness for an ice-cream and to check out the talent. Didn't see any, but then we didn't check the bingo halls.

On the way back to the Midlands, we took the A17 and I noticed a signpost to the village of Heckington. I left my two mates to peel off and have a look.

Heckington has a famous windmill which was once owned by the grandfather of a South African friend of mine - (Hi Brown Bear!)

Taking a decent picture was not easy - so I didn't manage it!! The sun was behind and I couldn't make this any lighter with PhotoShop. The bike at the base gives an idea of the size of this beautiful structure.

I walked around to the west side - into an old disused coal yard - and took this angle.

This says it really!

Finally, I made it home at 18:30 after 255 miles and a good day riding. It was still very sunny and warm. I had a sundowner (although the sun didn't set until about 21:35 and it wasn't dark until 22:05) and sat down to watch Denmark v Japan. Result 1:3 (Keisuke Honda was Man-of-the-Match). Not a bad day in the life of an OAP!

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