The ride, well it started okay…. I had a good run over to Berwick on Tweed and my first break for a cup of tea and one of my wife’s fine bread rolls with pastrami, mustard, tomato and coleslaw……. Even managed not to stop for more than about fifteen to twenty minutes!
Things went quite well for a fair old distance with no holdups, until….
Major roadworks on the A1 at Darrington caused a significant hold up although this was mitigated by some decent drivers allowing me to filter before the single lane section.
There was one numpty in a van who appeared to neither hear or see the blue flashing lights and very loud siren on the ambulance he was holding up by not getting out of the way in the outside lane… I had been filtering and moved out of the way but numpty was either being stupid or just plain ignorant…. So I filtered past the ambulance and politely indicated to the idiot to get out of the way, which he duly did…..
The next potential issue was signage well in advance of the closure of the A1 southbound much nearer London, this made my mind up to take the M11 route.
This was a disaster regarding it being extremely busy and then it rained, I mean Biblical standard rained….. this meant less filtering and again slower speeds for almost the whole M11.
The M25 was “better” so made reasonable progress to Clacket Lane WB services only to find I would have needed to dig deep to fill up if I chose to as petrol was stupidly expensive, so a tenner would do, then a planned stop at Tesco Leatherhead was made and some money saved!
So off to the M3 and A303 south and west…. but that plan was kicked to death when the next sign said A303 closed follow diversion….
If it hadn’t been dark by then the detour through rural Wiltshire and then into Somerset via the A37 would have been quite pleasant.
Off then to Taunton and then the M5, only to find Sainsbury 24hr PFS wasn’t….. so back to the BP station next to the M5 junction…. A welcome wee break and my last roll and cup of tea that I had packed at home, okay the tea wasn’t as hot as I might have liked, but still enjoyed!
Onto the M5 and northwards I go… well for a bit….
The signs started to indicate that the M5 was closed at about the Gloucester area, so off I went to try and follow the diversion signs… there were two, so I followed the north(ish) bound one.
I clearly missed a sign somewhere so decided to take the M50 when I came across it, only to find it was also closed. Okay then Worcester via Malvern, taking some comfort in the number of trucks going the other way!
Eventually regained the M5 and so continued northbound.
Made it to J23 which is one of my much used stops off the M6 in both directions as the have a decent toilet and if you are not too fussy, Costa coffee, I’m fussy so passed on that.
I also had to pass on the use of the toilet as they now lock the door after a certain time, not the toilet, the entire shop….
Ah well never mind, so off I go again.
Nothing much to say really until Cairn Lodge, where I stopped for a break and a morning bacon roll and coffee, also the much needed toilet visit to offload some weight.
Feeling good and clutching a receipt I could use as an end of ride if needed, I headed off toward home along the A70 west.
Two villages in, as I left Glespin, I noted there were some patches of gravel and some other black “stuff” on the road. Maintaining a lower speed I negotiated the shellgripped road to a slight right hand bend, avoiding the black “stuff”, or so I thought…..
At maybe 20-25mph the bike suddenly and with not a hint of a warning, did a hard lowside…. I hit the road right elbow first and didn’t even have time to roll off the bike, so had to kick with my left leg to get my right leg out from under it as it proceeded to slide and pick up damage.
Once I had finished rolling down the road, I got up and went over to my bike, which came to rest on the right hand side of the road pointing at the verge…..
There had been no traffic but a van appeared and the kindly fellow helped me pick the bike up and shove it to the verge…..
Now this is a double white lined, shellgrip coated section of the A70 and my bike has had a number of components ground down a bit, as has my Goretex Dianese textile suit….. and my AltBerg Hoggs…..
Anyway, despite a lot of cosmetic damage, only three fingers worth of front brake lever and a half ground off bent rear brake pedal remaining, I rode off home…..
Didn’t take any pictures at the scene as it suddenly got busy, double white lines, no pavements and big trucks….. not hanging about.
Bike is away for repairs, insurance claim in for bike and gear….
Ride completed though, but I will probably be driving to the Jamboree in the car.
A quick shout for Gerbing heated gear, my jacket and gloves kept my hands and body nice and warm despite temperatures going down to -1 deg C at one point overnight….. it was mostly 2 to 3 degrees down south, but up near Penrith and Carlisle it was…. bracing.
Such fun.
Things went quite well for a fair old distance with no holdups, until….
Major roadworks on the A1 at Darrington caused a significant hold up although this was mitigated by some decent drivers allowing me to filter before the single lane section.
There was one numpty in a van who appeared to neither hear or see the blue flashing lights and very loud siren on the ambulance he was holding up by not getting out of the way in the outside lane… I had been filtering and moved out of the way but numpty was either being stupid or just plain ignorant…. So I filtered past the ambulance and politely indicated to the idiot to get out of the way, which he duly did…..
The next potential issue was signage well in advance of the closure of the A1 southbound much nearer London, this made my mind up to take the M11 route.
This was a disaster regarding it being extremely busy and then it rained, I mean Biblical standard rained….. this meant less filtering and again slower speeds for almost the whole M11.
The M25 was “better” so made reasonable progress to Clacket Lane WB services only to find I would have needed to dig deep to fill up if I chose to as petrol was stupidly expensive, so a tenner would do, then a planned stop at Tesco Leatherhead was made and some money saved!
So off to the M3 and A303 south and west…. but that plan was kicked to death when the next sign said A303 closed follow diversion….
If it hadn’t been dark by then the detour through rural Wiltshire and then into Somerset via the A37 would have been quite pleasant.
Off then to Taunton and then the M5, only to find Sainsbury 24hr PFS wasn’t….. so back to the BP station next to the M5 junction…. A welcome wee break and my last roll and cup of tea that I had packed at home, okay the tea wasn’t as hot as I might have liked, but still enjoyed!
Onto the M5 and northwards I go… well for a bit….
The signs started to indicate that the M5 was closed at about the Gloucester area, so off I went to try and follow the diversion signs… there were two, so I followed the north(ish) bound one.
I clearly missed a sign somewhere so decided to take the M50 when I came across it, only to find it was also closed. Okay then Worcester via Malvern, taking some comfort in the number of trucks going the other way!
Eventually regained the M5 and so continued northbound.
Made it to J23 which is one of my much used stops off the M6 in both directions as the have a decent toilet and if you are not too fussy, Costa coffee, I’m fussy so passed on that.
I also had to pass on the use of the toilet as they now lock the door after a certain time, not the toilet, the entire shop….
Ah well never mind, so off I go again.
Nothing much to say really until Cairn Lodge, where I stopped for a break and a morning bacon roll and coffee, also the much needed toilet visit to offload some weight.
Feeling good and clutching a receipt I could use as an end of ride if needed, I headed off toward home along the A70 west.
Two villages in, as I left Glespin, I noted there were some patches of gravel and some other black “stuff” on the road. Maintaining a lower speed I negotiated the shellgripped road to a slight right hand bend, avoiding the black “stuff”, or so I thought…..
At maybe 20-25mph the bike suddenly and with not a hint of a warning, did a hard lowside…. I hit the road right elbow first and didn’t even have time to roll off the bike, so had to kick with my left leg to get my right leg out from under it as it proceeded to slide and pick up damage.
Once I had finished rolling down the road, I got up and went over to my bike, which came to rest on the right hand side of the road pointing at the verge…..
There had been no traffic but a van appeared and the kindly fellow helped me pick the bike up and shove it to the verge…..
Now this is a double white lined, shellgrip coated section of the A70 and my bike has had a number of components ground down a bit, as has my Goretex Dianese textile suit….. and my AltBerg Hoggs…..
Anyway, despite a lot of cosmetic damage, only three fingers worth of front brake lever and a half ground off bent rear brake pedal remaining, I rode off home…..
Didn’t take any pictures at the scene as it suddenly got busy, double white lines, no pavements and big trucks….. not hanging about.
Bike is away for repairs, insurance claim in for bike and gear….
Ride completed though, but I will probably be driving to the Jamboree in the car.
A quick shout for Gerbing heated gear, my jacket and gloves kept my hands and body nice and warm despite temperatures going down to -1 deg C at one point overnight….. it was mostly 2 to 3 degrees down south, but up near Penrith and Carlisle it was…. bracing.
Such fun.
