The Manchester Honda

Owners Club 2013

The Giants descend

Woke up to sunshine and the promise of a dry ride..fantastic! First hitch of the day was arriving at Haslingdon expecting to fill up ready for the ride and the shell garage was out of action. A quick check on satnag and nearest fuel stop found, out and return to the meeting point. A few bikes were already there having encountered the same problem, yet more turned up and turn round. Eventually we all got together suitably fuel from petrol and the Macd's. A great turnout with 12 bikes meeting up and an additonal 3 pillions. Even a rare outing for John on his own and on his Fireblade!

We set off for the first port of call, a late breaksfast at Kirby Lonsdale. Heading around Clitheroe, 2nd hitch of the day was losing Malc and Val on one turn. This may have been just as well with Malc on the Goldwing and some tight single track roads coming up. After a bit of waiting and knowing that Malc had the route in his satnav, we set off again enjoying a pleasant ride over the moors to Kirby Lonsdale with a mix of open single track road and faster flowing B roads. We arrived at Devil's Bridge to find Tiger Alan waiting for us and a after a few minutes along came Malc and Val. After a refuel on Sausage, egg and bacon baps suitably washed down, off we went again heading out of the back of Kirby Lonsdale toward Kendal. Heading south of Kendal, 3rd hitch of the day occurred on dual carriageway with Steve and Sue missing the slip road, Rob made a valiant attempt to catch up with them but unfortunately they disappeared too quickly. After a waiting period we headed off again to the miniature village.

The village itself is more or less in someone's back garden, but sprawls around the garden with a variety of structures. The owner, being a hopeful biker, came out to the road and took a few pictures of all the bikes. Once the viewings were complete and deposits put down on a few properties, we set off again just as the misty rain started. We headed back to the A592 heading toward Windermere and stopped for a fuel up. here we decided to move the lunch stop back to Hawes rather than Bowness so that we could get clear of the weather. Once away from Bowness the weather cleared up and enjoyable blast to Hawes was enjoyed.

Hawes was its usual busy self but enough room was made for all our bikes, a few fish and chips, and other refreshment. The last leg was the regular run down to Settle, again a great blast always enjoyed. We made it back to the starting point in one piece and one last chin wag.