Even if you don’t much like mince pies, come and join us for our ‘Festive Mince Pies and Natter’ Club Night in the meeting room of The Town Arms Hotel, South Molton, this Thursday 21st December from 7.30pm.
A good time to reflect on our year of enjoyable club runs, new friends, pub meets and to look forward to more good times in 2024.
A special guest may even arrive to hand out the mince pies, ho ho ho !
Guy Fawkes Run 5th November 2023
Eight determined riders met for our Guy Fawkes Run on the 5th November at the Quay Café, Velator, all ready to defy the torrential showers which were raking across the county in the aftermath of Storm Ciaran.
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Somehow, the Weather Gods had been kind to us as we managed to dodge the heavy showers that were seen sweeping across Exmoor. Everyone headed swiftly home after lunch, Andy’s Norton ES2 suffered a few hiccups which thankfully cleared up after a stern talking to, and Dave and Di Beacham deserve a special mention in dispatches for riding to join us from Whiddon Down in such unsettled weather.
Thanks to Cliff who planned and led this his first go at planning and leading and to John who took our sign on details, brought up the rear and sent me some photos, along with Andy and Pete. Next run will be on the 5th November to start from the Quay cafe at Braunton where we will be led by Andy on his very enjoyable coastal meander.
Club night next week is the AGM please make an effort to attend, it’s your chance to have your say and maybe make suggestions for the way forward, our next run is the Ruby run from Jonesey’s cafe at Winkleigh on the 8th October usual time folks.
Our Aussie friend, John Heather, has very kindly sent us a nice little video of our gathering at Rough Tor/Brown Willy on Bodmin Moor.
Hopefully you can view it through the link below to John’s Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VbPQSclzTzxQhN4svvBMJ1jHdzNPGtZK/view?usp=drivesdk
John, it was great to meet you, thanks for your interest, maybe we’ll see you over here again sometime, you will be welcomed.
After a week of sunshine, the weather was starting to break with thunderstorms and heavy showers tracking north early on Sunday morning. Thankfully, on the ride south to our start at Whiddon Down Services, the skies cleared leaving high Dartmoor looked temptingly clear and bright on the horizon. From Whiddon Down, Ian B led off our very select group of six riders, following his trademark mix of ‘proper’ roads and unspoilt, ancient lanes, which often barely qualify as roads! Fine views were had on the way to our lunch stop at the Fox Tor Cafe, Princetown, where we relaxed and chatted in the sunshine.
After lunch we threaded our way back, taking in more lovely landscapes on the high moor, passing Haytor Rocks and Becky Falls. The run finished in the square at Mortonhampsted, cooling off and taking tea and cake at the Central Café before heading for home.
Our thanks to Ian for treating us to another great tour of some the finest roads and views that Dartmoor has to offer.
PLEASE NOTE: Change of evening pub venue, Thursday 14th September
Owing to an unforeseen clash with an event at the Poltimore Arms, we are changing the venue of our evening pub meet on Thursday 14th September to The Portsmouth Arms Hotel, which is on the A377 about 4 miles south of Umberleigh. There is a welcoming landlord plus easy parking and outdoor seating for trainspotters. Last orders for food 8pm. We hope to see you there!
After weeks of dreary weather, the weather finally came good for our Three Tors Run which was reinstated on special request from Tony, who has a long and very honourable history in completing this challenge. So it was Tony, on his lovely Thunderbolt, who led off eight riders from Torrington Common, which is a 100% increase on last year, so let’s take that as a success! What a splendid selection of classics went thundering off towards our first tor of the day, Brown Willy on Bodmin Moor, (OK, stop the sniggers children). Here we happened to meet a friendly Aussie, John Heather, who was touring on a Ducati Scrambler and who had, by sheer coincidence, already encountered the Dartmoor Section a few days before us. Many thanks to John H for taking our group line-up photos. After Brown Willy, we cracked on towards Dartmoor, taking in a fast blast along the A30 towards Okehampton, including a quick stop for Andy to make a minor adjustment to his mighty Harley.
Our next stop of the day was high up on Dartmoor on the edge of the army ranges, close to our second tor, High Willhays. Apparently, High Willhays and Yes Tor are the only summits south of Kinder Scout in the Peak District to rise above 609 meters (sorry Pete, that’s 2000 feet). Here we relaxed, chatted and enjoyed a picnic lunch while enjoying the wide-open space of Dartmoor with long views over the lovely mid-Devon countryside.
After lunch, Tony navigated us across mid-Devon on those interesting smaller roads, unknown to many of us, via Winkleigh to a quick fuel stop in South Molton. From there we headed up onto Exmoor via Landacre Bridge and Chibbet Ford. The ford was running fast and so was the heart rate of your author on his hydrophobic Moto Guzzi. Fearful of a total black-out of Italian electrics, the throttle was wound on to bow-wave it through without incident, apart from the slightly damp jeans. Our third and final tor stop was high up on Exmoor near good old Dunkery Beacon. Come to think of it, Dunkery ain’t a tor, it’s just a big old lump of sandstone (btw Pete, it’s at 509 meters), but who cares, a grand day out was had by all.
Our thanks and appreciation go to Tony for leading us on this memorable ride.
Andy then took up the lead and after negotiating the holiday traffic around Bude, we stopped for lunch at the Engine House cafe in Otterham Station. Here we were pleased to meet up with a few riders from the Cornwall section, members of which had been invited to join us for the museum visit. It was great to see Gordon who also joined us at the cafe after a long cross country trek from Tiverton via his relatives in deepest Cornwall.
Pete has run the route for our summer run on the 13th from Affinity / Atlantic village leaving 11 am, lunch will be at the engine room cafe in Otterton then on to the Cornwall at war museum. This is one for the more capable bikes, so leave your wheezy Bantams and C15’s in the garage brush off your big boys, get ready for open roads and great scenery with no grass up the middle lanes. Hopefully we will meet up with the Cornwall section at some point, hope to see you there folks.
Lunch was at Kitt Hill, ice creams at Roadford reservoir and a finish at Hatherleigh, a very enjoyable day.
Next evening meet is July 25th at The Grampus Inn, Lee, Ilfracombe and the next run August 13th starting at Atlantic village ( Affinity ) Bideford, meet at the upper car park.
Sadly we have been informed that Stan, a long serving member of the Devon section, passed away on 30th May at the age of 90, his funeral os to be on the 28th June at 12 noon in the All Saints Parish Church Okehampton, Andy received this information from Les, Stan’s son.
As usual all manner of issues were discussed in a very busy pub atmosphere where loads of vehicles were vainly looking for a parking place, we were lucky that two outside tables had been procured by our first arrivals where we had sight of the mayhem of vehicles trying to park and pass each other including two vehicles coming into mirror contact quite noisily. These evening meets are always very enjoyable and I would encourage anyone to come out to them, the next one is on July 25th at the Grampus Lee. Now our next ride is from Jonesy’s cafe in Winkleigh for one of Ian’s runs around west Devon.
