York Lasso

The Ferrets at the Skipton meet-up (L-R):  Stuey, Jane, Nigs, Lainey, Debbie, Julie, Kit, Simon, Paul, George, Del, Steve, Nigel (welcome to your first Ferret's run), Debbie and Stuart.  Clive took the photo.  The only missing attendee was George's son-in-law, Mike, who unfortunately had written his bike of last week - he's fine himself though, thank god.

For Simon & Debbie, and Clive & Kit, the day started out at Clive & Kit's with an 08:30 departure for Skipton, where everyone was meeting up.

As you can see, at this, the first proper Ferret's run of the season, there was definitely a preponderance of red machines, mostly Blackbirds but not all.  The one non-red 'Bird was George's blue one, and the other bikes were the CBR600's each of Jane and Nigel, the VFR800 of Stuart's and, of course, not forgetting Stu & Lainey's brand new Triumph Tiger - and very impressive it was too.

Stu's new pride and joy attracted a lot of admiring attention and perfectly suited them down to the ground.

Dont' ask!  Just don't ask.  But, notice that Nigs and Del obviously saw Lainey's headwear as perfectly normal ... for her.  Nice road-kill chuck.

Only a little late, we were off for the first of the season's U-turns!  Clive missed the turning coming out of Skipton, so a bit of a detour was made before we were back on course for the run up through the Dales, past Bardon Tower and on to the first break at Ripon.  The weather was a little threatening, with the odd spots of rain, but nothing to subdue everyone's enthusiasm.  Although dry enough, the weather meant that the views were a bit spoilt by the haziness.  What was unplanned for was the number of attendees, and the impact of so many bikes on the timings for a route with so many junctions, so we were half an hour behind by the time we pulled into Maccy D's in Ripon, and this just continued throughout the day.

This was the first opportunity for people to snatch a bite to eat, so everyone retired into the place for drinks and various meals.

Leaving Ripon, we very quickly got into the torturous but thoroughly enchanting bye-ways across the Vale of York and Pickering on our meandering push to Malton.  The variety of scenery, and the wealth of picturesque and enchanting villages were well complimented by the dramatic views across the Vale that the few hills of the area afforded, and the rich earthy smells of the woodlands that we periodically passed through.

By the time we dropped down into Malton we were well into the remnants of the dry spell that the day was promised to break, and the leg-stretch there was taken in the warmth and dry.  Unfortunately, this was where Paul's 'Bird decided to refuse to start again.  So, with an ably assisted push by a few of the Ferrets, he was bump-started and ready for the next section down to Squires Cafe.

We think that this shot of Stuart & Debbie conveys the wrong message ... we're sure that they were just resting up.

Having re-fuelled, and legs duly stretched, we mounted up again and set off south to take us around the east side of York.  The roads were a little faster, but there were still many junctions to negotiate, and with a dozen bikes each one took it's toll in time ensuring that nobody got left behind or took a wrong turn, so the longest section of the day was set to take almost two hours.  This wasn't helped by Clive's route assuring him that Squires Cafe could be accessed from the A1(M) - a short jump up which it was planned to go.  In fact we got locked into a long detour north and then in a loop back on the back roads south to the Cafe.  So it was that we all rolled into Squires with a vast array of aches, pains and the like, and well behind schedule.

George had peeled off for home shortly before our detour, so you missed the fun mate!

Given our late arrival, Paul decided to get off home and take his wife to the supermarket (who forgot to phone her earlier then???), accompanied for the ride back by Nigel.  So we bade them both safe journeys and retired into the Cafe.

So, after a good hour and a half, or so, of excellent chat, copious drinks and the odd bite to eat, it was well after 4pm by the time we parted company with Nigs & Jane and Del (who made their own ways directly home from there) for the return run to Skipton.

As we passed further west the skies grew greyer, and the temperature dropped a bit but it stayed dry, so we pulled into the Devonshire Arms in the centre of Skipton in fine fettle for a short break before making our own ways home.

A gentle and varied day amongst great folk, just a tad marred by the long last section, marked the first proper run of the year, and welcomed our new Ferrets Paul, Stuart & Debbie, and introduced a strong possible new Registration by Nigel.  So here's to another great year of good biking events.

All photos courtesy of Chimes & Clive

Page Updated

28/06/2008 23:54