Evening meet 200624

 

The weather was grand and the football was poor but due to illness and other commitments we were only 4 ( and a cat ), at the Bell Inn Chittlehampton for our June pub meet, nevertheless, we managed to discuss a range of topics such as, when is Andy picking up his all powerful 4 cylinder ( and 4 carbs ) bike?, and which of Ians Harleys does he intend to keep longest?. We learnt that Tony’s Buell has been sold on and he brought his newish steed with which he attempted to block traffic with his parking!.

Well it was an enjoyable evening in the sun, though I won’t sit facing the lowering sun next time!.

So folks next run is 14th July ( what already! ), meet at Jonsey’s cafe at Winkleigh for Ian to lead us around and about.

090624 Exmoor explorer

 

All the weather apps agreed, it was going to be a dry day!, also the weather was not going to be too hot, so 10 riders were tempted out to ride to the Quince Honey farm for this ride.

This run was mine to plan and lead, to this end, with my wife and our dog aboard, we set off to check the route over again on Thursday last which turned out to be a good move as there were 2 shut roads on the way, one was reasonably easy to bypass but the second one just after Exebridge, necessitated a longer main road diversion.

 

The run set off after my briefing with John and Cliff bringing up the rear on time so we first rode through South Molton before turning off to Molland, on the way, we passed the Black Cock Inn which is in part of the now defunct railway station. Once through Molland, we made our way up on to the lower Moor, passing first the memorial stone to Froude Hancock ( a local English rugby player ), and the Marsh bridge another interesting structure. The short narrow road up onto the lower moor proper, caused us to meet up with 3 horses on a corner which required a check of the brakes efficiency on my Honda.

With a moor speed of 40mph we were able to take in the many sights either side of us before we turned off to Exford, then it was a turn on the road to Wheddon Cross and then turn into the Rest and be Thankful where Andy took stock of his Honda’s ailments and lead him to make for home, I was pleased to see that he arrived home safely.

After a great meal we set off to Dunkery Beacon then on to the rather narrow road through Wootton Courtney to Timberscombe, ( sorry chaps no alternative route ). A climb out of Timberscombe took us over the top  

To arrive on the Minehead road A396, just before Exebridge and here we had to leave the route I planned and follow this road to the Black Cat where we turned right towards South Molton, then it was a left turn towards Roachill and the end of the run at the services.

My thanks to John and Cliff for following up the run and to all the riders for exemplary corner marking, another thanks to John for some of these pictures.

Now don’t forget skittles this Thursday at the Town Arms then it’s to July 14th for Ian B’s Ray Rowcliffe memorial run , incidentally, Ray’s son Graham hopes to join us for this one.

South Molton Vintage Rally 2024

Despite our numbers being down due to various ailments and mechanicals an enjoyable weekend was spent in the sunshine on our stand at the South Molton Vintage Rally.  

On Saturday Andy was a real hero and saved our day by arriving in his van to deliver and erect our gazebo before heading home to look after his wife who was laid up with a painful knee injury.   Later in the day our A&E team sprang into action when the Guzzi’s exhaust pipe came loose.  Ian went foraging at the tool stand and proudly came back with the required M8 nuts and delved into his Harley’s capacious panniers to produce a tool kit capable of a road-side rebuild.  Then Mike couldn’t be restrained from demonstrating his engineering prowess, quickly whipping off said exhaust pipe and skilfully repositioning everything with judicious use of our tent-peg mallet.

 We had more action on Sunday when Richard’s vintage Harley unfortunately suffered a clutch failure a mile or two from the gate. Although Richard said he was ready to throw the Harley into the hedge, help was on hand to push it to a safe spot and Richard was able to spend the day with us before being trucked home later that evening.  

All in all, another memorable weekend. 

Gordon took on a managerial role in our quality control department

 

Mike was fully focused on fixing the Guzzi and getting it right