Touring UK Trip - August

Just been for a test run with her new screen and luggage on...

 

Thanks for the advice guys have done this now!

 

Really well thanks!!

Had a really wet day Wednesday and a long one Thursday but today was great! The north York moors are stunning!

Heading off West tomorrow towards Carlisle!

 

Yep will be up soon! Been crazy at work since getting back but will hopefully put up a few bits tomorrow!

 

Hi all,

Sorry for the delay, I have been really busy since returning!!!

So...

Our trip was great!!! We really enjoyed the whole thing! We rode 2058 miles in two weeks through England, Scotland and Wales. The routes for Adventure Bike Magazine were amazing and I'd def recommend you ride some of them!

Sorry to Tigcraft for arranging to meet and not managing to...that was our 265 mile day and I underestimated how long that would take and how much it would take it out of us!!! Although riding over the Humber Bridge knowing we only had 7 miles left was a fantastic feeling!

There were so many highlights but the Lake District and Wales were fantastic! The roads were incredible and the scenery jaw dropping!

We rode over the Hardknott Pass which was tricky!!! Phoebe found it pretty tough on the way up (1/3 gradients were much harder than I'd imagined!!!) so once at the top a couple of nice GS riders offered to ride her down the next section, and then me back up so I could take her bike down. Once both bikes were down they then offered to ride with us out of the valley just incase we had any more issues! They were great guys and made both myself and Phoebe feel much more comfortable up there! She rode all of the next pass without any issues but it was nice having them there with us!

In hindsight, I don't think I would have taken us over the pass again. I found it tough so how Phoebe did as well as she did after only three months riding experience I don't know! Although she is now adamant that we have to go back so she can ride the whole thing herself!!!

After that, her confidence grew and grew and she (we) had no more problems!! We rode the Devil's Staircase in Wales, through Snowdonia and then along the Coast in Exmoor (1/4 gradients in and out of towns). We both forded a river for the first time in the Lake District and rode some amazing little lanes over the moors!!!

The bikes were fantastic! We had one little issue with the Street Twin...the clutch lever seized up in Brecon!!! But with the help of a friendly car mechanic we took it to pieces to find the bushel in the lever was jammed solid! It took a good ten minutes to free it! So after a VERY good clean we put it back together and it was all better!

They were more than comfortable for the milage we covered and so many people came up to talk to us about the bikes and then subsequently the trip!

We unfortunately had very British weather!! We had three TORRENTIAL days of rain...I really mean it didn't stop!!! But it wasn't an issue and the luggage kept everything dry!!! It brightened up towards the end and we rode the last four/five days in the dry!

The milage was also fine...we found the longest day (265 miles) long but the with an average of 150 miles it was good. We looked forward to setting off each morning and were thoroughly worn out by the evenings!

I can't recommend a trip like this enough! The UK is a beautiful country which I believe is hugely underrated! The scenery was amazing...as said the Lake District and Wales were stunning. But so was Exmoor, the Jurassic Coast and Kielder Forest. The Forest of Bowland blew us away as did the Lincolnshire Wolds!

Everyone we met were friendly, welcoming and happy to help if it was needed! We will definitely be heading back to some of the places we visited to explore some more...albeit on the bikes or not!

We have already started planning the next bike tour for next year...in fact there will be two...New Zealand and the Picos Mountains is the plan!!!

Whilst away I put up a pic a day on Instagram (@scramblermatt) but if you don't have access to that then here are just a few...

Thanks chaps...ride safe!

 

Last one...annoyingly I could only upload the first ten of eleven!