Return of the Vampires

After a long delay since the last opportunity to get out presented itself, way back in May for Chimes' Birthday Run, we have at last had another run that not only wasn't a victim of severe weather, but actually basked in some long overdue sunshine and warmth.  Unfortunately, it being the holiday season, there were a few Ferrets who couldn't make it, so the turn-out was only the four bikes of Canary, Chimes, Clive and our newest Ferret Red Devil.  And a very warm welcome to Dave and his VFR800, it was good to enjoy his company and ride with him.  It was particularly galling for Grey Wolf, who found himself on a H&S course for work at short notice and had to fly down to London on the Sunday, as this is one of his favourite runs.  Also sadly missed were two valued pillions, Debbie who has a leg injury and Kit who wasn't up to a long day in the saddle.

The Sunday followed a pretty atrocious wet Saturday, so it was with relief that the weather forecast was found to be accurate, and that the sky was mainly blue and filled with the golden light of an early morning sun.  However, the air was a tad chill, making it feel more like a good October day, and not the sultry warmth you'd expect in July.

Chimes arrived bang on time at Clive & Kit's for the run up to the meet in Skipton.  Although nobody else had expressed their intention of meeting there, true to our new system we planned to be there as advertised just in case.  So, leaving on time the two bikes make short shrift of the M60, M66 and M65 and were well into the back-lanes route over the hill and down into Skipton well ahead of time.  This route always provides a real gem of a taster that gets you nicely into the mood for a good day's biking.

Skipton Meet-Up

Skipton seemed pretty deserted at 08:45, except for a number of Goldwings pottering about the place, coming from a Goldwing rally just on the edge of town.  It was whilst topping up Clive's tank that the potential for a disastrous day unfolded; Clive noticed that the charge meter was flashing a warning alarm, and true to Sod's Law, the bike failed to turn over on the starter motor!  It was looking like the battery was flat, so given the high-revving trip there, seemed to point at either a goosed battery or alternator ..... or was it the dreaded reg/rec???

One of the Goldwing trike owners was filling up at the same time, and in true biker's spirit offered the use of his battery pack which, when we'd finished filling up and were parked safely out of the way, he proceeded to unearth from his tent-trailer!  Alas, despite being fully charged, all it seemed to achieve was to make the starter relay click aggressively, but failed even to turn over the starter motor.  Was Clive going to have to abandon the day there, and bow-out of this rare splendid weather and an opportunity to carve up some bends amidst some of the best scenery in the country?  The hell he was!  Thanks to Simon's efforts the bike was bump started and appeared to be running perfectly sweetly, so the decision was made to continue on, avoiding turning the engine off unnecessarily and to park only in places where a bump start could be made.

As no other Ferrets had arrived, Simon and Clive forged on into the Dales, through Grassington and on to the next meet-up in Pateley Bridge, where both Canary and Red Devil were due to join the event.

The day was warming, the sun was bright and inviting, and the Dales just looked a picture as it swept by, and before long the two bikes were darting over the tops and into the long descent down to Pateley Bridge.

Pateley Bridge Meet-Up

And there ahead of Clive & Chimes were both Canary (Rob & Julie) and our newly registered Ferret Red Devil, Dave, to whom a genuine and heartfelt welcome was offered.  Whilst introductions and admiring scrutiny of Dave's handsome and very clean VFR800 were made, Clive's 'Bird hummed away to itself on tickover avoiding the need to tempt fate by trying to crank it over on the battery.  It was at this point that it became evident that Dave had also suffered a mishap that morning.  Having over-shot the meet-up car park, Canary had led them both to a rather tight U-turn where Dave, having only had the bike a few weeks, slipped on a manhole cover and dropped it.  Fortunately Dave was unhurt, and his VFR suffered only slight scratching to the lower fairing and a bent clutch lever ..... which they broke in half trying to straighten!

At this point we did start wondering if a hex had been put on the Ferrets.  However, in true Ferret's fashion we soldiered on into the next section to our breakfast stop at Maccy D's in Ripon.  The run there was a little sedate, intentionally so to allow a bit of time for Dave to recover somewhat from the shock of his off, and to allow Clive more closely to monitor the charging state of his battery.

Ripon Breakfast Break

By the time we were all pulling into Maccy D's, everyone had visibly relaxed and were enjoying being on the bikes again, and in such lovely conditions.  The sun continued to beat down, although the air was very stubbornly not warming much.

But then, half an hour later, as we were preparing to start the run up to Stokesley we could discern a definite improvement in air temperature which greatly enhanced the enjoyment of the more open and fast roads across the Vale of York towards the North Yorks Moors.  So, with little passing other than simple enjoyment of biking it wasn't long before we were pulling into the town centre for our next break.

Stokesley Break

Now it was Rob's turn for a bit of necessary mechanic'ing!  One of his mirrors had worked loose and was vibrating like hell, making it all but useless, so everyone looked through their tool kits for the right size of Allen key, but to no avail.  Rob would just have to put up with single-sided useful rear-views.  Later on, in Whitby, he found an unbelievable offer of £1 for two Allen key sets, and solved the problem there.  Meanwhile we just set to chatting and looking over each other's bikes.

In particular Dave's lovely VFR, in a quite uncommon red.  The previous owner from new had done quite a few tasteful improvements such as the reflective red wheel rim coach-strip, and polished pillion hangers.  Very tasty.

Simon kept us all amused in his inimitable manner, something that we're not sure Dave had quite got the hang of at that point!

Rob & Julie were certainly enjoying being out on the bike again, as were we all, it being ages since any of us were able to find suitable opportunity in our now crap climate.  And no!  Clive wasn't venerating his 'Bird, but instead was looking through his tool kit for that one size of Allen key that he didn't have.

Whitby

The car park in Whitby proved to be very congested, the only spare room to put the bikes being on a pretty steep incline - the kind that necessitates putting the bike in gear to hold it (this'll play a small part later).  It would certainly be a bit of a problem if Clive's bike failed to start!  But, having all parked up safely, this was put to the back of his mind as the sheer joy of being in Whitby on such a beautiful day sank home.  However busy the place is, and it was pretty busy on this occasion, it never dims the wonderful character and feel of the place.

It was warm and a blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds roofed it all in, with no hint of wind - something that the forecast had predicted would be brisk.  In fact it was quite sultry and, as ever, very peaceful and tranquil despite the many visitors.

We threaded our way towards the famous Magpie Cafe knowing full well that the queue would be far too long to make it worth eating there, also given that we had only just over a couple of hours to spare.  On the way we took the opportunity for another group shot (minus Chimes who took it).  But he put this right when we came across Frankenstein's monster who was (somewhat out of character) collecting for charity.

The old steam charabanc plied its trade along the harbour side and there was a band of musicians of an unidentifiable genre, all very entertaining and adding greatly to the relaxed atmosphere that the port is renowned for,  before we eventually came to the Magpie Cafe and the confirmation that the queue was indeed too long.  We therefore looked for another source of Whitby's exquisite fish n' chips.  This was admirably satisfied by another excellent cafe further along the harbour where we queued briefly for a table and all ordered very reasonable and delicious fish n' chips.  Well, you can't eat anything else when in Whitby!

In far too short a space of time, as it seemed, our couple of hours were fast running out, and we made our way back to the bikes.

The stop in Stokesley, and the expansive flat car park that offered such easy push-start opportunities, was the only time that Clive's bike had been turned off until Whitby, and it had fired up then without a problem.  Now, at the furthest point from home, on a steep adverse slope in a car park with little empty space, it was time to check if it would do the same again.  The key was put into the ignition, the clutch pulled in to reduce the load on the starter, the starter button pressed, and ...... nothing!  Not a sausage!  Not even the dash lights came on.  Bugger!

Concern and panic levels started to rise and were only checked when Clive and Simon simultaneously remembered that the bike had been left in gear, and sure enough, once back into neutral the bike fired up with no problems.  We were then set to start the return trip, and as Clive put his bike into first the engine died!!!  In the cool light of reading this you'll have immediately realised that Clive'd left the kick-stand down, but at the time far more dire images went through his mind.

The first part of the journey back was a short hop to a petrol station on the edge of town, where everyone filled up and where Rob, Julie and Dave bade fond farewells to Clive and Simon as they were to break off at Pickering, half way through the 'individual section', to strike home due south leaving Clive and Simon to continue west to the break in Helmsley.

Parting of the Ways & Helmsley Break

So, no longer as a group, we left Whitby in our mirrors - Rob now having two stable ones after buying a double set of Allen keys for a pound in the town.  After a bit of a torturous climb through Sleights slowed both by major bridge works traffic lights and a very slow caravan, each broke out onto the glorious North Yorks Moors along the fast run down to Pickering, with its two sets of hairpin bends to offer fun.  This is a fast section, with most of the route offering long sweeping bends, so it wasn't long before the parting of the ways in Pickering came up and Clive & Simon headed west leaving Rob, Julie & Dave to continue on south.

As Clive and Simon sped along the Pickering to Thirsk road, fast but punctuated with lovely villages, before them loomed the darkest sky they'd seen that day.  By the time they were parking up in Helmsley they'd covered a few miles of wet roads, but the rain held off long enough for the two to get coffees and have a fag or two.

In fact, before the rain drops started to spatter down, the sun shone through bright and warm.

You meet the oddest of people in this country, and Yorkshire's no exception by a long chalk.  An old gal, donned in hiking gear and looking fitter than most, came into the square with her dog who was, just like her, equipped for the walk, complete with panniers, neckerchief and peaked hat!  When asked if the dog was carrying its own tent, she dashed the image by saying that all he was carrying were his sausages!

Knowing the area and it's weather patterns well, having spent a great deal of time hiking there, Clive knew that the dark rain-cloud that was then throwing down the odd large lumps of water, was unlikely to last much further than Sutton Bank, where the rising land mass lifted the clouds off the Vale of York.  And so it was, with what could best be described as a heavy shower, the two bikes shot like arrows across the heaving bulk of the moor, down the hair-raising Sutton Bank, and by the time they were out onto the vale, with the village of Sutton behind them, the only rain of the day was fast becoming just a short memory.

Ripon Break without the Breakfast & Home

The run down through Thirsk and onto Ripon was the usual pleasure mixed with heavy-ish traffic, and was largely uneventful excepting the possible sighting of IanR, in a lay-by with his Triumph TR just outside Ripon .... maybe he'll confirm this or otherwise.  If so, then we hope you were having as great a day on four wheels as we were on two.

By this late stage in the day, sometime after 5 pm, we were running about an hour late so Simon and Clive updated their partners whilst having a bit of a break before agreeing to make the next section of the run the last, and missing out returning to Skipton but forging on unabated to Manchester.  And this they did fluidly and progressively across Blubberhouses, past Skipton and Accrington until the motorway completed the task in pretty short time.

Almost twelve hours from door to door, filled with the rekindled joys, pleasures and satisfaction of being onboard the bikes again in the company of great people.  Let's hope that our new system of organising and planning runs bears more fruit before the year's out, and that more of the Ferrets are able to get back into the swing of squeezing the most enjoyment out of their seemingly dust gathering bikes.

Photographs courtesy of Canary, Chimes & Clive

Page Updated

23/07/2008 20:32