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.
