Having been on many short ride-outs, either on my own or with A.N. Other person, this is the first of merit to let you know about!
As with most of these events, it started with a phone call the afternoon before from a longstanding friend(s Dad, Philip) asking if I like to join then on a ride at 11am the next day. (The friend, Liam, lives in London so these ‘group’ Ride-outs only come by when he’s visiting home).
I cleaned the bike down and fuelled her up in prep for the next day, which reminds me, the bike still hasn’t been named! Suggestions welcome!
So, knowing that Philip has all kinds of exotics from cruisers, sport bikes, dual purpose to classics and that Liam likes his Ducati’s; I had know idea what I’d be keeping up with on my humble 600 Hornet for the day.
As I pulled on to their drive I was faced with a couple of fantastic machines:
– An over shadowing in size Harley Road King (Classic I think) ’08 plate, with the head light that wouldn’t look out of place on a 1950’s classic Bentley.
– The small but aggressive 4 pipe bearing Mv Agusta F4.
So all in, the Hornet was the baby of the pack!
We were off by half past 11 after a brew, knowing only that I was going to be heading in the Direction of Whitchurch.
We whistled out of Macclesfield through Congleton, Crewe, Nantwich and around Whitchurch on some great roads for biking on, with the weather perfect for it; Not to sunny circa 16 Celsius, warm enough to not feel cold and not sunny enough to bring out lots of cars!!!
We arrived just south of Whitchurch at a truck stop called the Midway Truckstop
http://www.midwaytruckstop.co.uk
After a bacon butty and a brew we were back on the road, heading out towards somewhere I hadn’t heard of, the Horseshoe Pass.
The running order for the day was Philip then Myself with Liam backing us up. Philip was on The Road King up front while Liam was on the Mv, presumably so there was no chance of me being left behind! (+Philip was the only one who knew where we were going!)
Quite soon the road markings stared to change language (a strong indicator that we were entering North Wales. And within no time were making our was through some fantastic country roads, through small villages and up great slate strewn hills, also adding some fantastic views in to the mix.
Before I realised we were pulling up at out next stop ‘The Ponderosa Café’, a well known stop off for car day trippers and bikers alike (just unknown to me!). Pulling up in the car park it was noticeable that the majority of people there were on two-wheels, from all types of disciplines. There were new sports bikes, old sports bikes, classics & trikes but the company I was with certainly turned people heads as we parked up! One brew later and we were back on the road.
Up towards Ruthin; out around Chester; through Knutsford and back to Macclesfield, on much of the same roads. The route itself had really good variance on the type of roads we used, from inter town Dual carriageways through wide country roads; narrow country roads; hill side passes and town, which made for a great days run.
The route itself roughly followed the linked Google Maps route. I say roughly because in all honesty I didn’t have a clue where we were at any point until we stopped somewhere of ran through a town or village.
A well recommended route, and most certainly the best run out I have been on so far.
Unfortunately no pictures were taken on the day, but the next time I do this route I will endeavour to get some good pictures of the stops etc.
Not the actual bikes that Philip and Liam were riding on the day but these were the bikes I was keeping company with (keep dreaming!)
The Mv Agusta:
The Harley Road King:
