West Devon run photos

 

West Devon Borders Run, May 2024

An unusually warm and dry sunny spell held out long enough for us to enjoy a splendid day out on Dave and Di’s West Devon Borders Run.  Five Devon riders met at Torrington Common for the ride down to Lifton to meet with the Cornwall Section.  It turned out to be quite an eventful day.  Pete’s suspicion that alien geomagnetic forces lurk beyond Holsworthy proved correct as his BSA suffered a troublesome misfire.  Arriving at Lifton after a bit of roadside fettling the BSA was still unwell so Pete had to abandon the ride to nurse his BSA home in the good care of Ian and John.  

The Cornwall Section were out in force, 26 of us set off from Lifton including the hopelessly outnumbered six remaining riders from Devon Section.   The lush Devon countryside was looking at its best in the spring sunshine, although constant vigilance was required to avoid some nasty potholes and loose debris on some of the smaller lanes.  A very well-disciplined drop-off system held up well despite some long splits developing owing to various stoppages including blown fuses, clutch problems and partial seizures, all kept running.  Lunch was taken in the garden of the pub at Lydford where it was discovered one of the bikes had a puncture.  Di impressed us all by coming to the rescue by magically producing a tube of tyre weld and a mini-pump.  

The afternoon ride then continued around the lanes stopping for tea and ice cream overlooking Roadford Lake followed by a parting of the ways on the Launceston-Holsworthy road after covering about 55 miles.  Many thanks go to Dave and Di for managing such a well prepared and enjoyable run. 

PS: 

Pete reported that they made it home after the BSA and riders took time out to cool off and recover at a public house, where they decided that a new condenser was probably in order.

 

 

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Aprils meeting and ride out

 

Thursday 25th was the first of our combined meeting and ride to evenings, this was at the Portsmouth Arms ( sorry if you rode to Portsmouth looking to join us! ). The weather was dry but a shade cool which necessitated some Guinness to address. There were 8 riders attending with a varied selection of bikes, Andy brought his new Honda which is now running ok with a new stator fitted. As usual the world was put to rights during the round table conversations which included Ian telling us his Harley will come of age next year and my Kawasaki being already 26 years old.

We discussed the manning of the checkpoint here at the Portsmouth Arms this coming Sunday, the checkpoint will be open from 1030 to 1700, if anyone can help by sitting at the checkpoint for a while, John would like to know please.

Next run is Sunday 12th May, meet at the Strawberry fields farm shop Lifton for a 1030 start.

I got wet travelling home from the meeting, as I hadn’t brought an umbrella!.

Exmoor bridges run 140424

 

Ian promised decent weather and it was! Not sure how he does it, maybe he puts up such a tobacco cloud that the rain can’t penetrate, either way it was decent weather all day for this first run of the year, Ian’s Exmoor bridges run. John tells me that 15 riders signed up at the start which was at the Riverside caravan park and after a short delay we were off with Ian leading and John and I bringing up the rear. A right turn out of the park had us heading North Molton and on towards Withypool before turning off to investigate West Anstey and Twtchen common.

Soon we found ourselves negotiating Dulverton which is always busy this time of the year then on to the main road to Minehead. We turned off this road to Winford where a turn marker had left his post which meant 4 of us continuing to the lunch stop a different way leaving Richard waiting for us at the next turn which we never got to, ( sorry Richard! ). Lunch was a leisurely affair at the Winsford cafe then on to Simonsbath and our eventual end of run at the Poltimore Inn turn off.

Many thanks to Ian and all who made this run possible, now we have an evening meet on April 25th at the Portsmouth Arms and this will also be our April club meeting, see you there folks.

Club Night with guest speaker Steve Allen

We look forward to welcoming guest speaker Steve Allen to our Club Night on Thursday 21st March from 7.30pm at The Coaching Inn, 1 Queen Street, South Molton.  Steve will be giving us a talk about the eventful life and times of his father, Charles Edmund ‘Titch’ Allen OBE BEM, the Godfather of the vintage motorcycle movement and founder of the VMCC.  If you would like to bring a guest along for the evening, please feel free to do so. 

 

PLEASE NOTE this is a change from the previously listed venue of the The Town Arms.  Our new venue is at: 

 

The Coaching Inn

1 Queen Street 

South Molton

EX36 3BJ 

 

There is a free car park accessed through an archway adjoining the front of the pub. 

Fame at last!

Three of our members’ machines featured in the North Devon Gazette’s coverage of the Bideford Classic Motorcycle Show, including Tony’s Calthorpe, Ian’s Harley and Dick’s ‘snazzy’ best-in-show Ducati.  That selection spans 64 years of motorcycling history. Not bad. 

The Bideford Classic Motorcycle Show 2024

An enjoyable day was spent at the first Bideford Classic Motorcycle Show on Sunday 11th February.  Our Devon Section made a really great display.  A big thank you goes to all those of you who were involved and made the day a success.  Cliff’s lovely little Puch certainly got the most attention and the icing on the cake was when Dick won the Best in Show award with his Ducati.  The drinks are on you Dick!