Global warming clearly doesn’t suit everyone so it was just a select few of us that enjoyed a fine June evening at the Exeter Inn, Chittlehamholt. The food and service were first rate.
Our Chairman Cliff was proudly sporting a nice new BMW which he claimed to have purchased on special request from his wife, although we had the feeling he wasn’t exactly forced into it!
I think at this point I will have a real moan about the state of our roads, the potholes we were constantly trying to evade ( not always successfully!), make our highways and byways look like something you would see in a third class country.
After lunch, Ian lead us back to Hatherleigh for our end of run and the long run home.
Thanks to Ian for the route and to John and Cliff for back marker duties, now don’t forget there is an evening meet at the Exeter inn in Chittlehamholt on the 19th and our West borders run on the 27th July.
Nice to see Cliff on his Puch and Ian on his newly acquired Suzuki, but it wasn’t all foreign as the Norton and Pete’s Velo can still turn heads. The world was put right of course and everyone seemed to enjoy the event.
Next event will be on June 8th to meet at Jonsey’s café for Ian B’s run.
With Nick and Ian bringing up the rear, we set off at 1050. I had a following rider to mark the turn onto the Rackenford road but then there was no one so I had no option but to
Wait at the next turn. Suddenly, hidden by a large vehicle, the remaining riders turned up causing a bit of a queue up, but soon on our way we got to Molland and on to the lower moor. A ride across this took us down to the lovely historic Marsh bridge before the turn up on to the middle moor passing Tarr steps on the way. We dropped then into Exford and on to Wheddon cross and our lunch stop, here I learnt that the earlier hold up was due to a BSA deciding it didn’t want to come out to play.
After lunch things got a bit tricky as the rain came whilst we rode over Dunkery beacon leaving things wet and slippery for our to ride over the ford on the Cloutsham road, where my Honda seemed to loose its grip for a while leading to a bit of shimmying and dancing!.
In Exford we came across a bottleneck of horses, cars and ourselves but once through that things were clearer to Withypool and back over the moor to our finish at the Riverside caravan park.
We have an evening ride out on the 22nd to Wembworthy and next run will be from Jonesey’s café at Winkleigh on June the 8th.
Thanks to everyone who came yesterday for your resilience and patience, and no thanks to the rain makers.
Naturally much of the talk centred around Mike and his accident where he was rear ended by a vehicle at the Roundswell roundabout. John was able to update us to the fact that Mike has been brought home where he must wait until his ankle swelling has gone down before the operation to sort it, we all wish him well and offer any practical help he may need.
Net run will be 11th May at Quince for a trip around Exmoor.
We were lead out of the park on the road to North Molton, then on to the edge of the moor and down the hills to the famous Marsh bridge, then on to Dulverton.
In the middle of Dulverton we were all brought to a halt as Ian’s rear brake was boiling enough to do the Sunday roast!. Once he had released the bleed screw, we were again on the way, or so we thought when just a few miles later, he had to pull in as his front and only remaining brake had run out of fluid. Topped up with fluid we were away again to have a rest and refreshment at Withypool.
A great day out thanks to Ian organising the run, leading and providing the entertainment, also to John and Cliff doing the back marking.
A bright, frosty start to the day saw six of us riding to the show at the Bideford Pannier Market. As soon as Cliff had thawed out his frost-bitten fingers the bikes were lined up by our stand and it was time for coffee and a bacon roll before the doors opened to the public at eleven. We were a bit short-handed as several of our team were unable to make it due to unforeseen circumstances. Despite that, we fielded a nice, diverse line-up of machines which drew plenty of interest from the crowd. It was good see that the show was well attended and it became quite busy around lunchtime. Finally, our efforts were rewarded as we were delighted to see our newcomer, Bruce, receive a prize for second best in show with his immaculate Norton 650 SS. A big thank you to everyone for your support and taking part in the show.
