Steve Fox reports on his Run Out – 4 April

Calderstone’s Yorkshire Dales ride out – 4th Apr 2009
Firstly apologies for not being able to submit this post report early due to work commitments so here goes:
The weather on Saturday morning at 9am was how I can put it “changeable!”, and therefore myself and my partner’s 14 year old daughter “Heaven” prepared by putting on our wet gear and thermals for the day’s ride. I luckily had fuelled up the night before and checked the bike out and all was in order. We arrived at Mac Donald’s just off the A59 near Clitheroe at 10.25am to find Stuart Ormerod and Bill Squires on their White GL1800′s waiting for us in the car park. A third person a biker on a Dragstar (I believe) was chatting to them whilst having a short break and a quick drink from his thermos flask. The conversation once I parked up turned to “How many are you expecting Steven?” To which I replied “Seven I hope”. As we waited Mel, a female work colleague of mine appeared on her new Kawasaki ER -6N having just passed her test recently and was looking forward to a great day’s riding.
We waited and waited but no-one else came, Stuart reassuringly told me that these things happen, all have good intent but factors stop people making the final decision to ride. Factors that I could think of were, Grand National, Blackburn playing, bad weather, BOGOF at Tesco’s and a tidal wave off Bangladesh!!!!!, Well, at least we were four bikes and after a rundown of the intended route and stops, a few puns at Bill from Stuart which had us all laughing we set off up the A59 in the drizzle. I lead closely follows by Mel, then Stuart and finally Bill to the rear. The pace was a leisurely 45 to 50 mph and I must admit I was thinking to myself that other road users seeing us would be thinking that Mel was getting a Police escort due to us all having White Wings and high vis jackets on, (Opps Bill didn’t have one, just his Storm trooper helmet!).
All was going smoothly and the weather kept changing from wet to dry, then wet again. We eventually made it to the Grassington roundabout and headed up the B6160 towards Kettlewell. The roads started to narrow and the Dales opened up. Heaven looked at the scenery and the little lamb’s bouncing around in the fields whilst listening to my radio through the speakers. I kept checking back to see how Mel was coping and everything was ok. I did lead the group slightly astray by making a wrong turn, but I realised my mistake and put us back on track. Before we knew it we were cruising gently through Kettlewell and onto Buckden.
At Buckden the road (B6160) forks and we followed the road to the right and up higher into the Yorkshire Dales. Passed through some small villages on small winding roads and admired the views which included a few small waterfalls and rolling valleys. The weather became more extreme the higher we got. We all were looking forward to a break as we had been riding for well over 1 hour. Eventually we reached the “T” junction with the A684 and headed west towards Hawes which was 14 miles. As we were planning to stop in Hawes for lunch it seemed like an eternity those 14 miles, but the weather improved enough to let the sun shine through for short periods, which made it all seem worthwhile. After 2 hours of steady riding we reached the Wensleydale Cheese Factory and parked up opposite the site shop which is also the entrance to the restaurant. We took a few minutes to stretch our legs and stow our helmets away then entered the restaurant.
Now the funny thing is I got Heaven to come along as my pillion under the pretence that I would buy her a “Knickerbocker Glory”, but we found out once seated that it was not on the menu so she had to settle for Fish, chips and peas instead!!!!, Typical I’ll have to make a return trip on my wing some other time to get one later on in the year,,,, How bad is that!!!!!!! LOL.
Well, we all had a nice meal even if Bill found a bone in his pie, and Stuart provided the entertainment with comments about Bill, which all seemed uncalled for, but funny just the same. Also Mel told us about her other hobbies, Diving, studying etc and before you know it we were sat on the bikes ready for the return trip.
The next phase of the ride was to turn left out of the car park and along Beggarmans road which takes you up into the dales with some stunning views to the right into the valley, the road being similar to one of those 6 lane wavy slides you go on at the seaside sat on a sack, but instead your going up and up. Once at the top it is winding roads with tight corners, steep descents and cattle grids all the way until it levels out near Beckermonds. Now this next part is my favourite as the road follows the river for about 5 miles and it is so relaxing and pleasant to the eye. The shallow water flows over the rocks and there are lots of places to have a picnic if only the weather was better. I just wish all roads were has nice as this one! Eventually the road becomes Stubbing Lane and this is very narrow meaning passing points and very careful riding. This road leads all the way back to Buckden which meant that we could return back down the B6160, towards Kettlewell, the way we had originally rode up. Stuart had suggested in Hawes that we stop at a trout fishing lake at Kilnsey south of Kettlewell for another break, which we did and this is where Bill made his farewell as he needed to get back home.
Stuart got out his Flask and had a brew whilst I had a final smoke before the return ride back to MacDonald’s, but Mel pointed out that she would be turning off before Clitheroe, so I decided to ride the A59 with Stuart until my turn off came. We made our farewell’s and thanked each other for the company and a nice ride out then it was off we go back to the starting point of our ride out.
I would just like to thank Mel for turning up (definitely not a sugar biker!) and also to Stuart and Bill for their support and assistance in making it all worthwhile.
Steven Fox