Week 2 – London to Edinburgh

Sun 22 – Sun 29 May

London, Chippenham, Stourport-on-Severn, Sheffield, Kirby Lonsdale, Haltwhistle, Edinburgh

Sun 22/5 – London to Chippenham – 160klms

Today was more of a transit day to catch up with the planned route that has been disrupted by the bike being late for pick up. Just getting out of London was bad enough, and it’s a Sunday. I’d hate to be doing this on a week day. There was also a crash on the M4 which had us stopped for 30 minutes. The ride to Chippenham was pleasant and uneventful on a lovely sunny day.

So, for those of you who don’t know of our past motorcycle travels, here’s a little history. This is actually our third such journey through Europe.

In 2016 when I retired we did this, starting and finishing in Rotterdam. We did 11,000klm in 90 days with 56 ride days and 34 lay days. Starting mid July and finishing early October.

And we did it on this – a 2012 Moto Guzzi Stelvio 1200

Then in 2019 we did this, starting in Barcelona Spain early April, and finishing in Felixstowe UK mid July. We did 12,000klms in 101 days of 61 ride days and 40 lay days.

And we did it on this – a 2013 Moto Guzzi 1200 Sport

You can catch those blogs here.

So this year the plan is to do this, starting and finishing in Felixstowe from late May to early September. We’ll do 12500klms in 117 days with 65 ride days and 52 lay days.

We’ll be riding a 2021 BMW F900XR Tour with all the bells and whistles.

So enjoy the journey.

Mon 23/5 – Chippenham – Stourport-on-Severn – 150klms

Today started out with the promise of reasonable weather but became more and more threatening as the day progressed. We stopped at Cirencester where it was market day and where we discovered the parking wardens were out in force. After narrowly missing being booked, I asked the lady with the grim face where she’d send the infringement notice to and she had to admit that she didn’t have a clue seeing as ours is an Australian registration – a win for the little man 😊

So on to Northleach.

Then Burton-on-Water where we were going to stop for a coffee but there being no parks and lots of wardens about, we continued on. Lovely place though.

Through the lovely lush English countryside.

To Stow-on-the-Wold then on to Chipping Campden (just where do they get these names from) where we did find a legal parking space and where did have a coffee and shared a wee cake.

On through Broadway and Evesham via A and B roads. And so to Stourport-on-Severn where we were booked into a delightful little apartment overlooking this:

I went for a walk as the rain that had been threatening all day arrived with a vengeance. I’d particularly chosen this stop for it’s lock systems and all manner of Narrow Boats. I worked the locks and chatted with a few of those on board their canal boats. They were as fascinated in what we were doing as I was in what they were doing. A month on a Narrow Boat could be on the horizon.

It rained all night.

Tues 24/5 – Stourport-on-Severn to Sheffield- 185klms

The overnight rain had stopped so we took a chance by not donning our wet weather pants and headed for Birmingham. I’m not sure what my original reasoning was in visiting down town Birmingham, but it was obviously not a smart one. Traffic in peak hour. Took a pic of the Cathedral and moved on.

To Burton-upon-Trent. But not before getting caught in a downpour we’d been playing ‘chicken’ with for 20 miles. It beat us by 2 miles. So with wet bike jeans we stopped for a coffee in a warm café before donning fore mentioned wet weather pants and heading for Matlock.

To Weir Bridge, in Bakewell, which crosses the River Wye. It’s covered in padlocks. We took some time out to sit in the sun which had remerged and brewed a coffee and had a sandwich.

To Froggatt Bridge.

Through more of that lovely countryside with the sun trying to beat the cloud.

To Sheffield.

Wed 25/5 – Sheffield to Kirby Lonsdale- 215klms

It’s cold and wet so we tog up and head off via some truly great bike roads over Snake Pass.

And on to Huddersfield with it’s Standedge Canal Tunnels. Still raining and cold we stopped for a coffee and a rather large piece of Clementine cake – which we shared, thereby halving the calories.

More English lanes and spectacular stone walls. There are thousands of miles of these things, they’re everywhere and in a vast variety of forms.

Another bridge. This one at Slaidburn which is very much off the beaten track but a lovely ride through beautifully and interesting countryside.

So Bridges. You’ll possibly notice there seems to be lots of pictures of bridges. That’s because I’ve decided to make bridges a focal point of this trip, for no real reason, just because they’re there and they’re old and lovely and they force us to travel the less travelled byways than highways.

And this is the famous Ribblehead Viaduct.

It’s been a cold and wet day and my pillion in a million is a little weary as we pull into Kirby Lonsdale where we’re staying in a micro apartment for two nights. We plan to travel for 2 days then take a lay day but we’ve just done 4 days on the trot so that’s a big ask of Norma.

Thur 26/5 – Lay Day in Kirby Lonsdale

It’s a miserable day and Norma’s going to stay indoors as I head off for a walk around this quaint and very old town.

And the reason for Kirby Lonsdale’s existence is one of the oldest bridges in England crossing the River Lune. This magnificent three-arched bridge, probably dates from the 12th or 13th century and is a popular haunt for motorcycle enthusiasts who congregate at weekends in the adjoining parking area to discuss all things mechanical over a mug of hot chocolate which I can attest as being the best hot chocolate in the world, and only £1.80. Well it certainly was on this cold bleak day.

Fri 27/5 – Kirby Lonsdale to Haltwhistle – 195klms

Today we play cat and mouse with the cold and very windy weather that tried hard to rain, but failed. We head west to Silverdale and then Arnside where the tide is out, waayy out. So on to Newby Bridge .

We’d planned on going up the western side of Lake Windermere and taking a ferry across to the eastern shore about half way up. But I suspected said ferry wouldn’t be running as was it’s want on blustery days. So we scooted up the very pretty eastern shoreline of Lake Windermere to Bowness-on-Windermere which is a pleasant lakeside town made famous by the fact that Beatrice Potter abided here at some stage of her life. We checked the ferry and indeed it was AWOL and without notice. There are some truly lovely old lake boats here all plying for the tourist shekel.

On to Ambleside for a stroll.

We took the back road over Kirkstone Pass with its 20% incline, up and over the top in a howling gale.

Down to Glenridding on Ullswater where we stopped and had a brew.

Then we chased some very inviting by roads to Brougham Castle, or what was left of it.

We’re now tracking North East up and over Hartside Pass. What a fantastic road this is as it twists and turns 1600′. It was really blowing as we stopped for a pic.

Then it was down and down to Hadrian’s Wall country where we wandered down a little lane for a pic of the old Lambley Viaduct and a very old bridge across the River Irthing.

Then it was Hadrian’s Wall, or what’s left of it. We checked out this little bit. The original wall was 73 miles long and must have required a serious amount of labour to complete.

On to Haltwhistle where we stayed in a local pub for the night. The dinner was cheap, plentiful and very nice. Breakfast was huge.

Sat 28/5 – Haltwhistle to Edinburgh – 275klms

Today its into Scotland and we head off through some very remote country, more stone walls, white sheep and roadside streams.

This, out there in the middle of somewhere, I just can’t remember where.

To this magnificent structure – the Leaderfoot Railway Viaduct. How good is that? Flanked by an old road bridge with a lucky bloke living the dream underneath it.

To Twizel Bridge. Regarded as one of the country’s finest medieval bridges spanning the River Till. Its arch is 27m wide and from its completion in 1511 until 1727 was the largest single-span arch in Britain.

Another bridge captured by GoPro. Somewhere on the Scottish Borders.

To this beauty, the Royal Borders Bridge at Berwick-upon-Tweed.

We followed the coast north to Exmouth Harbour.

Crossed in to Scotland where everyone talks a different language.

To Edinburgh. A very long day.

Sun 29/5 – Lay Day in Edinburgh

We played tourists. The town was packed.

So tomorrow we head up into the Scottish Highlands. We’re hoping the weather improves, as does the rest of the population, although its not looking promising.

See you next week from the Isle of Skye.