B & M

Opened my eyes to a lovely Spring day. The sun was shining and I thought to myself "First days of Summer are here". So, up with the larks and out to greet my new toy. Yes, your beloved chairman has a new bike to play with. A quick breakfast and I was on my way to the meeting point. Due to a misunderstanding, some of the riders thought it was a 10am start and had got their earlier than me! But by 10:30 we had 16 bikes and 3 pillions - a record for this year.

A quick chat, admire the bike and we were on our way. Gary was leading and soon got us onto nice twisty roads over to Holmfirth. Everything was fine until we turned right to go over past the Strines pub. Suddenly the roads got a lot worse and we had to be very careful about potholes. Not good! But no-one had any real issues and we were soon back on the fast(er) roads over towards Sheffield. A quick loo and drink stop at a pub about 25 miles from B&M Honda and we than carried on for the last push.

Once at B&M we all (as MANHOC does) made straight for the burger van for our midday refreshments. Then sitting around in the sun, chatting with the Honda & B&M guys and wandering around looking at bikes. Colin actually managed to buy a very nice SV650 while he was there - so for him the trip was very satisfying (if a trifle expensive).

After a couple of hours, we managed to drag ourselves away and prepare for the trip home. Once again, some nice roads and no issues. That is, until Gary kept not stopping at nice pubs. Once I had managed to catch him up and remind him, he did suddenly remember what he was doing and we stopped at the next village. However, by this time Dave & Sheila had missed one turning and we nearly lost them - thank goodness for sat-nav. As we parked up (on a very steep slope - not to Gary, please find us level ground next time), Dave zoomed past and I was able to flag him down.

Drinks in a nearby pub were very welcome by this time and we chatted for a while before moving back to the bikes and setting off home.

A good day had by all - and, of course, the obligatory photos (thanks to Tony for supplying the ones I missed).

The start - note the lovely weather (and, of course, my new bike in the foreground)
First stop and Tony insists on a group picture.
Keith decides he's too hot and shows us what Sam gets all excited about.
Drinks all round.
Then, off to B&M and more sunshine and silly hats. The burgers were very pleasant - in fact some people had more than one (I was holding it for a friend - honestly)
The B&M showroom was impressive and the rideouts fully booked.
Then, back on the bikes and off to our last pub stop. Note the happy walkers.....
Some of us found a childrens playground and felt right at home.
Dave turned up after missing a turn (not his fault).
I managed to snap a couple of bikes going past while I was changing my visor.