A mini adventure!

[Mister James]

Having been thoroughly browned off with work recently, and being desperate for a break, I decided to take advantage of outranking the person in charge of my shift roster and booked some time off to give me a very long weekend.

A friend of mine has been nagging me to come up and visit her in Edinburgh (where she's just graduated with a BSc in Artificial Intelligence) for ages, but I haven't made it up there since her first year. It's also the Edinburgh Fringe, and my Grandma and housebound sister live on the way up, so I decided to take the plunge and get up there - or die sobbing at the roadside from Motorway Shock Syndrome.

First up, was loading the bike:

https://www.beerbadger.f9.co.uk/trip/loaded%20bike%20a%20.jpg

I have a big set of panniers, but have yet to work out a method of attaching them without fouling the KLE's high exhaust or necessitating Stinkwheel-levels of metalworking skill. That being so, I had to make do with my 42L topbox, a large waterproof compression sack bungeed to my seat (which was very useful for leaning against), and a rucksack - which I had hoped to avoid, as it ended up being bloody knackering on the long stints.

I then faced a very tedious run up on the M1/M6 to Morecambe, where I saw my sister and stayed overnight at my Gran's. In the morning before I left, I popped over to the beach area where my parents used to take me every year as a kid.

Church on the cliffs at Heysham

https://www.beerbadger.f9.co.uk/trip/St%20Peter's%20Heysham%20small.jpg


A ruined chapel that was sacked/raped/pillaged by the Vikings. It is said to have been founded by St Patrick when he crossed the Irish Sea on a millstone. It is one of the oldest in the country, although there isn't really much left of it!

https://www.beerbadger.f9.co.uk/trip/ruined%20chapel%201%20small.jpg

Stone coffins carved into the cliff, that apparently pre-date the Normans.

https://www.beerbadger.f9.co.uk/trip/stone%20coffins%20small.jpg

A shot that I fondly imagine is arty, looking through the ruins over to Barrow in Furness and the Lakes.

https://www.beerbadger.f9.co.uk/trip/chapel%20looking%20to%20Barrow%20small.jpg

If you turn about by 180 degrees, you get to see these two beauties - Heysham 1 and Heysham 2 Nuclear Power Stations! Very scenic. In the foreground is (seriously!) the beach where I played as a kid. No wonder I have such superhuman strength and abnormally high intelligence! The 3-eyed fish taught me everything I know!

https://www.beerbadger.f9.co.uk/trip/nuclear%20beach%20small.jpg

Morecambe - officially the most depressed town in the UK - looks a lot nicer at night. I didn't manage to get a picture of the Neds cruising up and down in their Novas. In all fairness, for someone who lives in London (twinned with Mogadishu) it was pretty tame, even at eleven at night).

https://www.beerbadger.f9.co.uk/trip/morecambe%20at%20night%20small.jpg

Once I left Morecambe, I got onto the A6 and its various tributaries, through Kendal and then following it to Carlisle, then onto the A7/74/etc. I have to say, this was the coolest thing I have ever done on a bike. Although all I had was an out-classed and overloaded commuter, I had an absolute hoot hooning around the twisty A roads. I finally understand why people want sportsbikes beyond the looks, and why people go too fast round scary corners. I'm glad I put the BT45's last month, I think I'd definitely have gone over the side of a few cliffs on semi-knobblies!

The great thing about the whole route to Edinburgh from the Lancaster area was that there tended to be a motorway running alongside/near to the A roads, so most traffic chose to do the whole 90mph straight line thing, leaving the fun road totally empty for miles at a stretch! On my way back down, I managed 30 miles without seeing a car coming either way! That made the whole thing a lot more relaxing.

My pictures are pretty shoddy, but the highlight for me was climbing this fooking big mountain thing - I think it was at Shap. You don't really get an idea of the road from these pics, but both before and after the summit it was utterly awesome!

https://www.beerbadger.f9.co.uk/trip/mountain%20road%20small.jpg

https://www.beerbadger.f9.co.uk/trip/mountain%20road%202%20small.jpg

I also whizzed past these hills - I think they were about 20-30 miles outside of Edinburgh. Tres joli.

https://www.beerbadger.f9.co.uk/trip/cumbrian%20mountains%20small.jpg

I've been to Edinburgh before, and I'm always struck by what a cool city it is visually,(at least in the centre) compared with the shithole that is London.

Edinburgh Castle

https://www.beerbadger.f9.co.uk/trip/edinburgh%20castle%201%20small.jpg

https://www.beerbadger.f9.co.uk/trip/edinburgh%20castle%202%20small.jpg

A couple of war memorials to Scottish regiments/soldiers:

https://www.beerbadger.f9.co.uk/trip/cavalry%20memorial.jpg

https://www.beerbadger.f9.co.uk/trip/WW1%20memorial.jpg

The reason/excuse for me going up there in the first place!

https://www.beerbadger.f9.co.uk/trip/tracy%20raspberry%20small.jpg

Me looking suitably horrified by the mess she made in the Malaysian restaurant while stealing all my food and then spilling it all over the table.

https://www.beerbadger.f9.co.uk/trip/shy%20mister%20james.jpg

....and a giant blue upside-down cow that looks far too similar to the previous picture for my comfort!

https://www.beerbadger.f9.co.uk/trip/udder%20belly.jpg

I did the whole trip back down to London in one day (just), by whizzing back down the A6/A74 to Morecambe - stopping only for a brew and to recharge my GPS before shooting sideways over to Dudley to have dinner with everyone's favourite BCF hobbit Annabella, then (after being stopped by a Bandit rider because my tail-light had blown) I finally braved the 115 mostly un-lit motorway miles back to Harrow!

It worked out as about 485 miles in 18 hours, including lunch/dinner/drinks/coffee breaks/sore arse! Not bad for a first-time tourer on a grossly unsuitable bike with a crap choice of luggage!

Roll on some compo, as I now have dreams of doing the same thing on a Beull Ulysses with hard luggage and an attractive pillion!
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>Soultrader Mister James, I bet you are a copper
>Bazza Wow. Eyes like a shithouse rat, you...

[veeeffarr]

Nice one mate, seems I was scarily close to you this weekend while I was hooning around the lakes like a big twat with my mate

T

[Mister James]

You'd have noticed me - sitting bolt-upright for the first 20 miles or so through the Lakes region - "what are all these bits where the road turns, we don't have those in London!?".

I can see why people rave about it up there, I'd love to go back with a sportier beast, although I had a whale of a time as it was.

I noticed that riders were all exceptionally comradely, no doubt because we were all having fun!

There were two points on the trip where I realised that my riding skills were sadly lacking - firstly on the A74 hurtling through Scotland, where an articulated lorry kept clawing back on the corners all the gains I made in the straights - I swear the guy never dropped below 65 mph at any point for the 15 miles or so that he stayed in my rear mirrors! Perhaps it was the Scottish version of Speed?!

The second was when Annabella was showing me the way to the pub in her car, and almost managed to get out of sight! I'm going to stick with the excuse of having already travelled about 370 miles that day, I was just being gentle with the poor bike!
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>Soultrader Mister James, I bet you are a copper
>Bazza Wow. Eyes like a shithouse rat, you...

[EuropeanNC30R...]

Nice pictures, Edinburgh looks worth a visit at some point, heard a few good things about there.

[Mister James]

Coming from someone who is used to having to automatically throat-punch anyone who speaks to him in the street, to prevent himself being mugged, the friendly people in Edinburgh are a revelation. I didn't see a single incident of violence or anti-social behaviour, despite it being Festival time, and me staying out late every night.

The city centre itself is beautiful and interesting to browse around, especially the area around the castle and the Royal Mile.

I've been three times now, and have been pleasantly surprised again and again. There are a lot of decent coffee shops and restaurants to while away the evening - and despite being about as cultured as a piece of dried camel dung, I enjoyed taking in some of the stuff on the Fringe, so it's worth a trip up during the Festival season.
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>Soultrader Mister James, I bet you are a copper
>Bazza Wow. Eyes like a shithouse rat, you...

[Annabella]

[Mister James]

Ermm, you weren't supposed to read the above - yup, that was it, stopping distance!


____________________
>Soultrader Mister James, I bet you are a copper
>Bazza Wow. Eyes like a shithouse rat, you...

[map]

[Mister James]

[ram_doom]

Looks like a really nice weekend escape you had, oddly enough, I was reading about the chuch with the stone tombs just the other day, and thought "must go there" so the pics are much appreciated

The blue cow, would've been my highlight though
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TL1000s, KDX200