Morning broke all to soon, the pub staff were making hot sandwiches and brews , which was most welcome, tents were being took down and hangovers were being nursed. Jabberjaw, who was kipping in the recovery van, was rudely awakened by our leader who decided it would be good fun to crack his ped up and leave it ticking over inside the van, which only added to poor old Jabberjaws hangover. The money that was collected to pay for the camping, £145, was kindly donated to our collection, so many thanks to Martin and Christine of the Helwith Bridge Inn for that.
|
Soap Box Bee and the Mini Bee he won on a grabbing machine in Whitby. |
The Calendar Girls......
rumour is we've found a new way to
raise funds next year........! |
Debbie Does Helwith
"I'll show you how to pack a van" |
|
Thank you to Steve and Ken of Worth Communications for your generous donation of £175
and for bravely holding
up all the traffic |
James McGuiness
Landlord of the Shoulder of Mutton,
Thwaites and curry gourmet extrordinaire.
A big thank you for providing food and
sustenance for the hungry mob. |
HQ debriefing
at Helwith Inn base camp
Day One |
Back onto the peds and up the old road we roared, heading for Horton, where a few bemused crag rats were up and staring in disbelief. Up the drag to the Ribblehead viaduct where we had a quick stop to regroup. On we went towards our first decent downhill bit of the run, where the awesome power of moped was unleashed, I personally went down with the clutch in, it was quicker ! Another regroup in Ingleton before we buzzed the sleepy little village and made our way to Devils Bridge and another stop to collect off the generous! bikers. Power Ranger Mears had broke out his, well for my money anyway, jewel in the crown moped for this little part of the run, a 1951 Frances Barnet 90cc, in all its original glory, a lovely little machine. Once the girls had extracted as much cash as they could, it was back at it, but not before we had to push the recovery van off , how embarrassing.
Guess what ? it started to rain.
Apparently Barbon is shut on Sunday so we buzzed through without stopping and met the first steep hill, a short little affair, but it came just after a corner to catch you unaware, well those who didn’t come on the reccy run anyway. Old P.C Plod from Heartbeat (how he never got a pull with that helmet on beggars belief) on the Franny B, not a moped I know, but equally as slow! didn’t manage it. The next bit got a bit boring but if the day had been nice and sunny it would have been a very pleasant ride.
There was a bit of down hill before we got to Dent that managed to wake a few up, it certainly tested the brakes out any way, good job there was a wall at the bottom. We had a regroup at the bottom which nearly turned into a major stop waiting for the stragglers, come on P.C Plod. The stop in Dent was abandoned due to the rain getting heavier and we ploughed on, past the punters at the Folk Festival, many who gave us a cheery, or was that boozy ?, wave. The road ran along side the little river and was a steady incline and again would have been a pleasant experience had it not been for the rain. Now it stands to reason that after you go down, you have to, at some point, go up, and we did, with a vengeance. The road as it left the river, bared left under a viaduct and went straight up, nearly causing a Nun on a Run to have a major thrombi, give up the Capstan Donna !! Jabberjaw huffed and puffed his way up as did quite a few. Once at the top though and back onto the main road, it was all down hill into Hawes and on big roads as well. Speeds approaching 100mph was achieved, I managed to get Pepe off the clock, with the clutch in!! As we approached Hawes we had a regroup and guess what ? the rain stopped.
We rode into a very busy Hawes with horns tooting and generally making ourselves noticed, off the peds and a welcome rest and a bite to eat and drink was the order of the day.
Once every one had been fed and watered we mounted up and made our way to the obstacle of fear!! A bit of a hill on the other side of Gayle, the road being called Beggermans Road. I must admit as you rode along the bottom and looked up at it , it didn’t look that bad, but how wrong I was. As I rode up there was bodies and peds strewn by the roadside, the air was thick with the smell of burning clutches, a lot of peds ended up coming up in the van, notably 3 of McGees Bees. Once the last person crested the top to a round of applause and a great cheer, we let the the little peds cool down a bit and then set off down the other side to Buckden and Kettlewell, and what a pleasant ride that was, the sun was out, very little traffic to speak of and I found myself alone, for my money, it was the best ride of the weekend.
We stopped at Buckden for a regroup and then pressed on to Kettlewell for a well earned drink, I think it was at this point that Pokeyahiyawaffle peddled the whole distance to Kettlewell, until old Grease Boy put her petrol pipe back on, when asked why she didn’t throw it in the back of the van she replied “ I was enjoying myself ! “.,. fair play !! After Kettlewell came Grassington and then into Skipton where the main street had been shut for the Vetrans Day Parade we got such a nice reception that we went round again for another go.
By now it was getting a bit late so it was heads down and arses up for the last dash of the weekend onto the Shoulder where we all road in together and had a most welcome drink.
