Sunny evening ride to Parkgate

 

A 34 mile spin out round the lanes through Puddington, Burton, Neston, Parkgate,

Thornton Hough, Wollaston, Hooton and then home down the A41.

Anna’s first day out

Having built up 50 or so "confidence miles", I felt comfortable taking Anna out on a "proper journey" - to the Middlewich Classic Car and Bike Show, about 25 miles away. I went there for the first time last year, taking Gloria the Honda 250G5, and it was a lovely low key day out. See here for that adventure.

The weather forecast for the weekend was pretty shocking and attendance hadn't been great on the Saturday as a result, but I decided that we were going on the Sunday, come what may! I had a back pack with an array of tools, just in case. That proved to come in handy when she sputtered to a stop after about half a mile!

A quick aside: On the last ride out, I filled up with fuel and then noticed that the fuel cap washer clearly wasn't doing it's job, as there were dribbles of fuel appearing all over my new paintwork 😧. I quickly mopped it up but it had clearly done a little damage around the filler neck, which I have touched up and doesn't look too noticeable. During the refurbishment, I'd made a new cork washer for the cap but it was quite coarse cork I had and clearly wasn't doing it's job. Anyway, I ordered a new proper washer from good old Hitchcock's and fitted that. 

Back to the journey - I opened the cap and a big vacuum hiss was released - a classic case of fuel starvation! I noticed that what I thought was a rust spot on the cap was actually a rusted up vent hole. Out with the tools and my trusty Swiss army knife, I poked that clear and then also one on the inside of the cap, refitted it and she started up fine and then ran perfectly for the rest of the journey.

We took the back lanes through Cheshire. I'm still running in and limiting things to about 30-35mph for the first 200 miles, so the lanes are firmly in her sweet spot at the moment.

It took an hour or so to get there, including a short break to let her cool off a bit. As we arrived and parked up, I noticed that one of the rear indicators had vibrated loose. Fortunately, everything was held in place by the wire so I quickly took the rear light off and reassembled everything before too many people noticed 😃.

The show was pretty well attended despite the threatening weather and plenty of people took a bit of interest in Anna, who was the oldest bike on display for most of the day. She didn’t win any prizes but that has never been the intention with this restoration. The original aim was:

 

"So my thoughts for the Crusader have been that I wanted to end up with a presentable old bike that I could happily roll up to a classic show on and display, safe in the knowledge it would never win a prize for best in show, but also that I won't be afraid to sling some camping gear on the back of and head off to the Classic TT or on a weekend camping trip."

 Objective met by not winning a prize!!

During the afternoon there was a fly past by a Lancaster bomber, which never fails to impress.

As it got to late afternoon, I packed up and headed for home. Another delightful journey across the lanes and we ticked off the first 100 miles just before we got home. The list of "niggles" to sort is getting shorter with each journey. In particular, the clutch seems to be bedding in and making the gear changes generally easier, although I may still pull the side cover off and give the gear change mechanism another tweak at some point.

. 

Anna P rises from her 40 year slumbers!

You may be aware of my restoration of a 1961 Royal Enfield Crusader 250 Sports, that I've been doing on and off over the last couple of years. The full blog of the restoration is here but here are a few before and after photos to whet the appetite!

So she is now all but finished and, excitingly, today was the first ride and the first time that she has moved under her own power for over 40 years, so a momentous day!

After a little fine tuning, we then started doing some shakedown laps of my local village. I have a test route of about a 2 mile lap, which means that if anything goes wrong halfway out I can pretty much coast back home! 

We did just over 10 miles without any big incident. Four main things to address: 

• there is a bit of an oil leak from the valve cover, which should just need tightening a bit.
• the gear change is a bit notchy, particularly going back into first from second. Some of this could be because the clutch is dragging slightly (the friction plates seem slightly too thick) but I'll check the selection adjustment as well.
• the petrol tap seems to be leaking slightly. I'm going to swap it for one with a reserve on it as well anyway.
• one of the indicators is loose!

I was very pleasantly surprised at how nicely she ran; how nimble handling and sprightly, especially considering I'm running in a new engine. She span up to 50 as easily as the Classic 350, although to be fair, she is quite a lot lighter.

I couldn't have hoped for better from a shakedown, after a complete rebuild from essentially a box of bits, so there is just a bit of tweaking to do and I can start building some "confidence miles" locally and start running in the engine. I pulled the plug to see what that was like and it looked pretty good, considering I’m just running locally at low ish speeds.

I’ve fitted some period throw over panniers so I can carry plenty of tools with me if anything needs tweaking while I’m out 🙂.

And of course I am now planning adventures on her! The first big one may be a few days to the Isle of Man for the Manx Grand Prix - it would be immense for her to make that journey after so long rotting away forgotten.

Oulton Park

Having passed his test and got his new bike, Paul was keen as anything to try a bit of motorbike camping, so we scheduled in an overnight camping trip just down the road to Oulton Park to watch some club racing, courtesy of the Wirral 100 Motorcycle Club

It was only a 25 minute bimble from home, but the rain had set in for a couple of hours, so we ended up riding there and setting up camp in light drizzle. It soon cleared up though and the weather for the rest of the time was great - hot and sunny.

I took my tarp with me, so we had somewhere to get a BBQ going in the last of the rain. Then had a good wander around the paddock followed by a couple of beers back at the tent. I love the smaller club meetings - so much more accessible and friendly than stuff like BSB and Formula 1.

Couldn't resist a bit of artiness, once I spotted the tents reflected in my tank :-).

The racing on Saturday was excellent, with a varied programme including a chance to see these old TZ 250 and 350 Yamaha GP bikes racing again. I love watching 2 strokes racing - something about the smell and the angry wasp noise that just does it for me!

As Saturday came to a close, we de-camped and headed for home, with plans for a longer camping trip next time.

Evening trip to the Ponderosa Cafe

Paul and I took advantage of this lovely weather for an evening spin out towards Llangollen, stopping at the Ponderosa cafe. After a rest we headed home via Ruthin and Mold - one of my favourite roads. 🙂

It seemed a bit weird riding out together on motorbikes after so many years doing it cycling!

 

The Big European Tour

Well, this is exciting! My first time touring to Europe on a motorbike 🤪. Rob invited me along to join him on his trip to watch the Classic Endurance racing at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. I was originally (slightly apprehensively!) planning on taking Gloria but, confident as I was in her capabilities, knew that the likelihood was that there would be some kind of “issue” subjecting a 50 year old bike to several 200 mile days on the trot. 

This was actually the start of the chain of events that ended up with me selling Gloria and buying the Classic 350, and I must admit that I am loving the confidence of getting ready for a ride without having the nagging thoughts in the back of my mind that we may have “characterful events” along the way! (Though I’ve got to say that most of that is in my mind, as Gloria was remarkably reliable on our big journeys.)

So, preparing for the big day tomorrow, the Classic is cleaned and prepped ready to go. A test loading shows that I have loads of room compared to Gloria and I’m not taking a tank bag this time, which will also enhance the comfort.

The plan is to leave tomorrow morning and ride to Tamworth to pick up Rob. Then head off after lunch down to our overnight campsite in Surrey. On Wednesday we head for Dover, over to Calais and an hour or so’s ride in to France for the next night’s camping. Thursday sees us riding across into Belgium and camping near the Spa circuit, so that we can get there early on Friday morning and secure an on-course camp pitch for the race weekend. Then we’ll repeat the journey in reverse.

Most of the journey will be on quiet roads, as (a) it's more fun that way; (b) I’m still running her in at 50mph max, and (c) Rob is on the 125 Grom again! 

By the time we get back, I should have finished the full 1200 mile running in period and I’ll have all of those 20 horsepower available to me!!

Day 1 - May 9: Chester - Tamworth - Surrey

Miles today: 208

Total to date: 208

I love that feeling of setting off on an adventure. The road to Tamworth is fairly well travelled, even for the very low mileage, as she came from a dealers in that direction and has been back for first service since then. Part way down, it started raining, just enough to give me a gentle dampness in the "sitting down" areas for the rest of the day!

Got to Rob's around lunchtime and had a bite to eat before setting off in the early afternoon. We had a good ride down on fairly quiet roads but soon realised that the rain was going to be a bit more then intermittent, so stopped to don waterproofs. That proved to be a good decision as it got progressively wetter the further south we went.

Rob's mate Jake had been planning on joining us for the last half hour or so of the journey, as we came past his area, but wisely opted to stay warm and dry at home.

Our campsite for the night was the Camping & Caravaning Club site at East Horsley. The wardens were great - they'd had constant rain and the campsite was a bog but they put us on a nice sheltered spot so we didn't suffer too much in the tents.

Everything always takes longer to put up on the first night of a trip as you refamiliarise yourself with equipment, but we soon had a good base for the night and wandered down to a local pub that had a Thai restaurant tucked away in it and had a great thai meal.

Day 2 - May 10: Surrey - Dover - Calais - Renescure

Miles today: 141

Total to date: 349

We had to get to Dover by 2pm to check-in, so didn't hang around packing away in the morning. We were gone by about 9. The roads took us mainly through the commuter belt to the south of the M25, so it was a fairly busy ride down. 

As we got closer to Dover, we got directed onto the outside lane of the dual carriageway and  passed what must have been a 3 mile queue of trucks heading for the port. I don't know whether it's always like that or is that the "Brexit" effect?

Pulling into the docks, we both got pulled for a security check. The guys were highly apologetic at making us unpack ALL of our kit, but I guess they are only doing their job. We were still in good time for the boat, so all was good.

We ate on the ferry and then were soon through Calais and nto rural france and a lovely ride for an hour or so across to our campsite for the night at Renesecure.

Day 3 - May 11: Renescure - Lille - Namur - Grand-Halleux

Miles today: 198

Total to date: 547

What a lovely campsite, with the nicest host you could wish for. We'd ordered breads, which were delivered to the tent in the morning with a complimentary flask of coffee!

It was a tough day today though! It didn't start well, as we left early and headed out of the campsite and straight onto the wrong side of the road! (only for a few yards before we realised though 🤯.

The weather was a lot better today. We spent a couple of hours cruising through the French countryside and then hit Lille, which was akin to battling our way through London!

Not a lot further on, we crossed the Belgian border and then had our next city to contend with as we battled through Namur. What a wierd road system - we crossed the river three times in the space of 5 minutes following the main road out of the city!

But before long, we were in open countryside again, arriving at beautiful La Roche and then a great ride through the Ardennes. I need to go back there again as there were so many interesting looking places to explore, if we hadn't been on a tight timetable. 

We needed to press on as the campsite reception closed at 6pm, so we upped the pace through the twisty sections of the mountains and had a wonderful ride, only spoiled slightly by a downpour in the last 20 minutes.

We rolled into the campsite at 10 to 6 and everyone had gone home!  So we just pitched, planning to pay on the return visit on the way home. (That never actually happened as we changed our plans a bit!)

With the tents up, we went to a local restaurant for Meatballs and a couple of very nice and welcome Leffes, before collapsing into bed!

Day 4 - May 12: Grand-Halleux - Spa-Francorchamps Circuit

Miles today: 47

Total to date: 594

We were planning on camping at the Spa Circuit and the only information we could find said that it was limited to 100 pitches and it was first come, first served.Hence why we had stayed a short 20 min hop away last night, with a view to an early start to ensure we got a space. 

We'd been planning to get up at 7am so that we could pack up and get to the circuit by 8, when the campsite opened. As it happened, common sense kicked in and we decided we really couldn't imagine 100 people queued up to get in, so we had a slightly lazier start, getting to the circuit by about 8.45 to find maybe 15 people already there!!

The camping field was VERY muddy and uneven - we "motocrossed" over to the higher ground, wondering if we'd be able to get off again and getting the bikes caked in mud in the process - the new bike honeymoon period is well and truly over!

We quickly got set up and had a lazy morning, recovering from 3 long days in the saddle. Though the camping field was nothing special, there were good showers and toilets and we had a view across to the Eau Rouge / Raidillon complex from our tents :-)

We ventured out in the afternoon to stock up on some food and beer and found that the field had really started to dry out so was a lot easier to get on and off.

During the late afternoon and evening we went into the circuit, wandered round the paddock etc and watched various classes practice sessions. There was great access everywhere, including all through the paddock. It was fairly quiet, but we expected it would be busier over the weekend.

I loved this 'bug camping arrangement. I think I was more impressed that he managed to get on and off the muddy field so easily. Maybe it was hiding a 4 wheel drive system?

The atmosphere really changed as it became dusk. We found throughout the weekend that it was almost impossible to convey in a photo or video just how extreme the elevation changes were. This next photo gives an impression but it was MUCH steeper than it looks here!

We finally wandered back over to the tents after the practice sessions stopped at about 10.30 and settled down. I'm sure I slept better, knowing we didn't need to move on for a couple of nights.

Day 5 - 6 - May 13 - 14: Spa-Francorchamps Circuit / Dinant

Miles today: 72

Total to date: 666

We had a leisurely start and then spent the whole day and evening watching the qualifing and racing. It was much busier on the Saturday, with much more atmosphere, but still easy to access everywhere.

I realised that I had indeed cycled up the rise from Eau Rouge/Radillon, when I visited Belgium in the early 70s! (The circuit used to be (partly?) on public roads but is now a closed circuit.) It looked as steep as I remembered it feeling on my legs.

The Frites and Mayo was very good and we partook of a couple of lagers in the sun before heading back to the tents later in the afternoon for an hour's recovery snooze.

It was really good watching the night time racing, but some of the classes were so loud and sitting in the granstands seemed to amplify the volume! I particularly enjoyed watching the 70s touring cars racing, with Capri RS3000s and Escorts pitted against BMW "Batmobiles".

Rob proposed a great plan to leave mid/late afternoon on Sunday and put a couple of hours in to break the back of the long slog back over to Renesecure. We watched plenty more racing on the Sunday and spectated from every part of the circuit, before leaving at about 3.30 with a loose plan to get to Dinant and get a campsite on spec. 

We had a great ride out to Dinant, which turned out to be very beautiful and we turned up at the campsite at about 6.30, before pitching on "La  Plage" next to the river. A beautiful place to be on a bike.

We rode back into Dinant to get something to eat but got hit by a sudden massive downpour that came from nowhere - we ended up eating great pizzas, but dripping all over the floor!

Back to the tents for another beer and then to bed.

My view for most of the week!

Day 7 - May 15: Dinant - Renesecure

Miles today: 152

Total to date: 818

Today was much harder than expected - we seemed to be constantly braking into villages and then up to 70kph for 2 miles before braking into the next village.

We stopped in Mons for a really good wrap and frites. After setting off again. the weather turned quite cold and windy - by the afternoon we were desperate for somewhere to stop to get a hot chocolate or coffee to warm us up, but there were no cafes anywhere to be found. It looked like possibly Covid lockdowns had put paid to a lot of small local places in France and Belgium as well as in the UK :-(

Finally, we made Renesecure again. We were so glad that we'd done the extra 2 hours the day before as today would have been really horrible with another couple of hours tagged on.. 

Our host had put us on a nice sheltered site. We made spaghetti carbonara on the site and sat out drinking our last beers, but it was getting really cold so we turned in early, as we needed to set off early to get to Calais.

Day 8 - May 16: Renesecure - Calais - Dover - Tamworth

Miles today: 256

Total to date: 1074

It was a really cold night and neither of us slept well. I couldn't wait to get into a warm shower in the morning to warm my bones through!

We had a surprisingly enjoyable ride into Calais on the quiet roads and were relieved that this time we didn't get stopped for a search! 

There was a big group of French teenage students on the ferry - it was really noticeable how differently they behaved from British teenagers (for the better). They seemed far more comfortable in their skins and less desperate to create an image amongst theire peers.

Today we weren't taking quiet roads, as we just needed to blast back to Tamworth so Rob could be there for work tomorrow. We did keep off the motorways but most of it was on fast A roads. We changed plan to go via the Dartford Tunnel, which was pretty much like being on a motorway, but that took 45 mins off the journey time.

This was another pretty hard slog of a day. Towards the end, Rob picked up his local lanes and gave us a nice journey back through the lanes from Hinckley to Tamworth. It was great to get back to his and have a home cooked stir fry followed by a real bed!

Day 9 - May 16: Tamworth - Chester

Miles today: 99

Total to date: 1173

Rob was back in work today. I didn't want to go back onto fast As for my last day, so programmed a "fun" route. I wasn't very far into it when  I hit a Road Closed sign, which sent me on a very long but very nice detour around the beautiful quiet lanes that the Classic thrives on.

However, by the time I got to Audlem, I just wanted to be home so headed for Whitchurch and the familiar A41 home.

What a lovely adventure that was. Great company; great roads for the most part; and I thoroughly bonded with the bike, which got better and better as the miles passed. The overall total for the journey was 1173, so she is now well run in, and very deserving of the good clean and polish she got a few days later!