WCP's whizz around the UK

[Dox]

Good write up WCP, thanks.

You're mixing climate up with weather. When I was a kid growing up by the coast, I remember summer school holidays always seemed scorchio...got burnt a few times.

 

[Barry Hell]

From what Paul said eelier - 48% of UK bikers are over 60 I wonder what the percentage is for over 50...

The new Motorcyclists in 2021 figure Vs Total on the road is only a little over 1% increase in a year - so I'm sure the numbers will fall dramatically over the next 10 or 20 years

Bike capitals of Britain

We explore where the most popular places are to ride in the UK – and which spots are becoming more popular.

www.bikesure.co.uk

I'm still under 60 and there was a 125 getting MOT's just after me (the rider wasn't 60 or 17....)

Bikes are seen as big boys toys and expensive I fear, no longer the only cheap and fun way to get on the road with complex tests

 

[JAT]

I'm still under 60

 

[Exige]

I'm still under 60 and there was a 125 getting MOT's just after me (the rider wasn't 60 or 17....)

Bikes are seen as big boys toys and expensive I fear, no longer the only cheap and fun way to get on the road with complex tests

Being under 60 we're in a minority, and when we are 60 we still will be as the average will be 70 like JAT

 

[West Cork Paul]

Day 3 - Oxford

Having arrived in Oxford the day before the Reunion I had a ‘free’ day, so as I had arranged to collect a replacement wing mirror (my RHS one got broken in a small off-road drop earlier this year) from On Yer Bike I headed over there and had arranged to meet @expat Jack aka Richard and @Sambo there. We don’t have bike shops like that in the West of Ireland, ie full of bikes for sale and full of loads and loads of gear, ours are really no more than a man in a shed with a couple of bikes and an old pair of farmers waterproofs , so it was good to see, and sit in so many bikes.

I even bought a new pair of trousers, Dainese Drake Air-Tex thingies as it’s so damn hot and even without the thermal liner on my trousers I was still roasting.

As for the wing mirror, well, they had it but it was the wrong one . They had the one without the blind spot detection warning LED so I’ve still got the gaffer taped one on the bike .

Anyway, photo time.

Just after I arrived there a fella turns up on this fantastic sounding Triumph, it really really did sound good, I had a sneaky look once he’d gone inside, no wonder, it’s just a cut off straight through bit of pipe work for the exhaust .

Then Richard arrived and sat in a few bikes for size. He has an Aprilia Tuono Factory V4R at present but struggles to find things he can actually get his feet on the ground on, he’s short.

Then Sam arrived, we had a natter, tried out a few bikes, then Richard took us on an hours long blast through the country lanes to Thame for lunch at The Waterfront Cafe of which I have no photos . On the ride across country from Oxford to OYB and and the ride to lunch the small villages I passed through were really bucolic and full of English chocolate box ideal houses, I felt like I was in an episode of Midsummer Murders, England, can be really beautiful in places. Again no photos as we were going too fast until Richard turned into a driveway with some big sheds and where there was a car service mechanics place. I thought perhaps he knew someone there and was running an errand but it was only so I could photograph the massive windmill we’d just passed, so I snapped that and then snapped one of Richard & Sam.

Moving on to lunch, this dictat of having to display the number of calories next to each description of a dish on the menu is really offering. ‘Hmmm, I fancy the burger.’ ‘Hmmm, at 2100 calories perhaps I don’t’. It’s assigned guilt to everything on the menu, even the Catholic Church which runs on making people feel guilty couldn’t have come up with such an efficient instrument of mental anguish. Anyway, I ended up with a goat’s cheese salad, the least worst option.

Back in Oxford that evening for the reunion, it really is a beautiful city, especially when the buildings are bathed in sunlight.

and I’m in Hipster Heaven as there’s electric scooters for hire everywhere

Needless to say the night went downhill rapidly when by the second round some bright spark thought Rum shots were a good idea with the beers

which was followed by more beer, wine, then some food, more wine, Amaretto shots, then we ended up in a cocktail bar where another bright spark ordered a few rounds of Negronis until eventually I had to bail out at 1am as the batteries in my hearing aids had died and I could no longer hear (thankfully). The others partied on until 4.30 back at the hotel. We’re just a bunch of 60 year olds who still think we’re 20 like everyone else around us in Oxford, will we ever grow up?

 

[Noobie]

As soon as shots start arriving, it's time to run away

 

[JAT]

Day 3 - Oxford

Having arrived in Oxford the day before the Reunion I had a ‘free’ day, so as I had arranged to collect a replacement wing mirror (my RHS one got broken in a small off-road drop earlier this year) from On Yer Bike I headed over there and had arranged to meet @expat Jack aka Richard and @Sambo there. We don’t have bike shops like that in the West of Ireland, ie full of bikes for sale and full of loads and loads of gear, ours are really no more than a man in a shed with a couple of bikes and an old pair of farmers waterproofs , so it was good to see, and sit in so many bikes.

I even bought a new pair of trousers, Dainese Drake Air-Tex thingies as it’s so damn hot and even without the thermal liner on my trousers I was still roasting.

As for the wing mirror, well, they had it but it was the wrong one . They had the one without the blind spot detection warning LED so I’ve still got the gaffer taped one on the bike .

Anyway, photo time.

Just after I arrived there a fella turns up on this fantastic sounding Triumph, it really really did sound good, I had a sneaky look once he’d gone inside, no wonder, it’s just a cut off straight through bit of pipe work for the exhaust .
View attachment 51670

Then Richard arrived and sat in a few bikes for size. He has an Aprilia Tuono Factory V4R at present but struggles to find things he can actually get his feet on the ground on, he’s short.
View attachment 51671

Then Sam arrived, we had a natter, tried out a few bikes, then Richard took us on an hours long blast through the country lanes to Thame for lunch at The Waterfront Cafe of which I have no photos . On the ride across country from Oxford to OYB and and the ride to lunch the small villages I passed through were really bucolic and full of English chocolate box ideal houses, I felt like I was in an episode of Midsummer Murders, England, can be really beautiful in places. Again no photos as we were going too fast until Richard turned into a driveway with some big sheds and where there was a car service mechanics place. I thought perhaps he knew someone there and was running an errand but it was only so I could photograph the massive windmill we’d just passed, so I snapped that and then snapped one of Richard & Sam.
View attachment 51673
View attachment 51672

Moving on to lunch, this dictat of having to display the number of calories next to each description of a dish on the menu is really offering. ‘Hmmm, I fancy the burger.’ ‘Hmmm, at 2100 calories perhaps I don’t’. It’s assigned guilt to everything on the menu, even the Catholic Church which runs on making people feel guilty couldn’t have come up with such an efficient instrument of mental anguish. Anyway, I ended up with a goat’s cheese salad, the least worst option.
View attachment 51674

Back in Oxford that evening for the reunion, it really is a beautiful city, especially when the buildings are bathed in sunlight.
View attachment 51669
View attachment 51668
View attachment 51667

and I’m in Hipster Heaven as there’s electric scooters for hire everywhere
View attachment 51666

Needless to say the night went downhill rapidly when by the second round some bright spark thought Rum shots were a good idea with the beers
View attachment 51675

which was followed by more beer, wine, then some food, more wine, Amaretto shots, then we ended up in a cocktail bar where another bright spark ordered a few rounds of Negronis until eventually I had to bail out at 1am as the batteries in my hearing aids had died and I could no longer hear (thankfully). The others partied on until 4.30 back at the hotel. We’re just a bunch of 60 year olds who still think we’re 20 like everyone else around us in Oxford, will we ever grow up?

Shame I didn’t know, I live 6 miles from Thame. I’m often at Onyerbike, Brettski lives over that way as well.

 

[Sambo]

Good to meet up.Looks like you’re having a good trip.

 

[West Cork Paul]

Shame I didn’t know, I live 6 miles from Thame. I’m often at Onyerbike, Brettski lives over that way as well.

You probably missed the thread as you were in IoM, had I known you lived near there I’d have PMd you. I did think about PMing @Brettski coz we’d met before but I assumed you’d (that’s Brettski not you JAT) would be at work it being midweek.

Now I know JAT, I’ll get you next time

 

[West Cork Paul]

Day 4 - I think, loosing track of time here, Oxford to York.

Set the SatNav up, Oxford, across country to Sandy where I join the A1 with a stop off on the way at Danish Camp for lunch as recommended by @Dukesox - thank you .

First things first though, get the gear on and down the road to the hotel the others are staying in to catch up on last nights shenanigans after I left at 1. Thankfully I did. Apparently, Dave, one of my mates from 40 years ago was completely and utterly off his head. He went outside at 3.30 in the morning for a fag (can we say fag these days ), fished a joint out of his shirt pocket, lit it up, took one drag then collapsed on the pavement like a melting ice-cream. The other smokers tried to drag him back into the hotel, chucked him in the lift, he wasn’t even staying there, pressed the button for the top floor and left him on a heap on the floor of the lift . I have nice friends . When I met them for breakfast the next morning they’d not seen sight not sound of Dave but one did have his phone as it was found on the pavement outside the Randolph Hotel when a couple went out for their next fag break 30 mins later.

Anyway, I left Oxford around 11, reasonably clear in the head after a few coffees and it was already 26c.

The SatNav and the whole Ducati Connect thing worked flawlessly. I know a lot of people Pooh Pooh it and slag it off on the internet but I really have had no issues with it and put the issues people complain about down to Operator Error. Put it this way, when it appears on @PerryL ‘s next bike, and it will as Kawasaki and Suzuki are now rolling it out (along with radar systems), expect a lot of threads started by Perry about how shit it is .

By the time I get to Danish Camp about an hour and 45 mins later it is 32c and has been for most the last hour. Danish Camp and a pint of ice cold coke (diet) is an oasis, thanks @Dukesox

There’s a welcome cooling effect from the shade and the water running by.

Lunch lunched and it’s back on with the gear and in the road, fortunately I parked the bike under the shade of a large tree so it’s not melted.

I’m shortly at Sandy and on the A1, it’s now 33c .

My journey on the A1 reminds me of what I don’t like about riding bikes or even driving in England (it’s not the whole of the UK, just the greater part of England, sorry chaps). It’s the traffic. SWOT. Sheer Weight Of Traffic. Stop start. Stop start. Stop start. And, when the traffic does begin to flow freely why, oh why, does the speed limit drop to 50 on an open dual carriageway running in a straight line across open country with average speed traffic cameras? Then, as the day wears on, due to the heat, there are several breakdowns. It’s a dual carriageway mostly but no hard shoulder so now we’re down to one lane. At one stage there must have been 10 miles of traffic questing to get past a small lorry that has ground to a halt in the heat. Thank goodness there was just about enough space to filter.

Then, shortly after seeing the first sign for York my SatNav screen goes blank. ‘Please check your phone, there’s a problem with Ducati Connect’. My phone’s not been charging, it’s dead. Turns out it’s the dreaded pocket fluff has blocked up the charging socket. Now I can’t find where I’m supposed to be going. I can’t even call for directions. I have a vague memory it’s near the Racecourse in York so struggle on thinking that must be signposted. It is. It doesn’t get me there though. I have to stop and ask, nicely, 3 times for help and most people do and are very good about it. One young fella pushing a baby buggy though just completely blanked me, I don’t know if he thought me, an old man on a bike, was going to assault him or what. I just wanted some help.

This all delays me so I arrive later than anticipated, a quick change and off out again for some refreshment. We take the Charmobile (@Char ). First time I’ve ridden one for years, not coz I’m a snob, well not much anyway, more because we don’t have local transport in rural Ireland so have to drive everywhere.

True to form there are the ubiquitous drunks/bus nutters waiting at the bus stop (no, not me and my friends before you ask) so we’re on and upstairs pronto on the basis the two inebriates probably couldn’t make it up the stairs.

First pint. £1.49. Fook me York is cheap. When it’s my round I manage to buy 4 pints, 2 bags of crisps for under a tenner and that’s with some on the expensive stuff at £2.10/pint. I’d move hear except I can’t understand a word anyone says. It’s bad enough being hard of hearing but combine that with people not using half the words in the English language such as articles and indefinite articles and I’m lost. Best just have another pint. Surprisingly, after 3 pints it all gets clearer . Mind you they all probsbly think I’m a posh southern softie .

York’s a fab city, it’s been over 40 years since I was there last, it’s beautiful in the old part and the Minster is an astounding building.

Yes, that’s our @Robarano with his new bike .

More pints, a curry, then the sack, thank goodness it’s cooler now.

 

[Robarano]

This all delays me so I arrive later than anticipated, a quick change and off out again for some refreshment. We take the Charmobile (@Char ). First time I’ve ridden one for years, not coz I’m a snob, well not much anyway, more because we don’t have local transport in rural Ireland so have to drive everywhere.
View attachment 51821

True to form there are the ubiquitous drunks/bus nutters waiting at the bus stop (no, not me and my friends before you ask) so we’re on and upstairs pronto on the basis the two inebriates probably couldn’t make it up the stairs.

A bus Is that what it was? I thought we got into a big long, tall car. I wondered why there were a lot of other people in there.

 

[Exige]

A bus Is that what it was? I thought we got into a big long, tall car. I wondered why there were a lot of other people in there.

Like a Limo but taller and communal nice new bike there Rob

 

[Robarano]

Like a Limo but taller and communal nice new bike there Rob

It's a Kawasaki. Better than I thought.

 

[Exige]

It's a Kawasaki. Better than I thought.

Silly Billy - I just zoomed in and it clearly says Hornby Dickinson on the tank

 

[Robarano]

Silly Billy - I just zoomed in and it clearly says Hornby Dickinson on the tank

You need your eyes tested.

 

[WAYNE]

 

[Robarano]

 

[Exige]

You need your eyes tested.

View attachment 51828

I haven't gone blind like you and Wayne you Guinness

 

[WAYNE]

I haven't gone blind like you and Wayne you Guinness

 

[Exige]

 

[WAYNE]

 

[WAYNE]

 

[Robarano]

 

[WAYNE]

 

[Noobie]

I thought that was Robs gs but without the panniers

 

[Robarano]

I thought that was Robs gs but without the panniers

You see GS's everywhere.

 

[Exige]

I thought that was Robs gs but without the panniers

Wha! The panniers come off, do the owners know this

 

[AnonymousUser1]

The SatNav and the whole Ducati Connect thing worked flawlessly. I know a lot of people Pooh Pooh it and slag it off on the internet but I really have had no issues with it and put the issues people complain about down to Operator Error. Put it this way, when it appears on @PerryL ‘s next bike, and it will as Kawasaki and Suzuki are now rolling it out (along with radar systems), expect a lot of threads started by Perry about how shit it is .

--
I am a reformed character!

Been here today, to check on how long it takes and how easy it is to park. My conclusion is: we are all going to die anyway, so what he fcuk!

And did drive past the petrol station, that I mentioned, who still put the petrol in for you. £1.92 per litre My Ford B-Max is the one that you are not recommended to buy, as it is 1.6 Auto rather than the frugal 1 litre, 3 cylinder manual shit-box. Truth is that it is fecking brilliant! So good, that Ford no longer sell it! Obviously, I like crap cars!

 

[wroughtironron]

Been hot today Paul

 

[Exige]

Day 4 - I think, loosing track of time here, Oxford to York.

Set the SatNav up, Oxford, across country to Sandy where I join the A1 with a stop off on the way at Danish Camp for lunch as recommended by @Dukesox - thank you .

First things first though, get the gear on and down the road to the hotel the others are staying in to catch up on last nights shenanigans after I left at 1. Thankfully I did. Apparently, Dave, one of my mates from 40 years ago was completely and utterly off his head. He went outside at 3.30 in the morning for a fag (can we say fag these days ), fished a joint out of his shirt pocket, lit it up, took one drag then collapsed on the pavement like a melting ice-cream. The other smokers tried to drag him back into the hotel, chucked him in the lift, he wasn’t even staying there, pressed the button for the top floor and left him on a heap on the floor of the lift . I have nice friends . When I met them for breakfast the next morning they’d not seen sight not sound of Dave but one did have his phone as it was found on the pavement outside the Randolph Hotel when a couple went out for their next fag break 30 mins later.

Anyway, I left Oxford around 11, reasonably clear in the head after a few coffees and it was already 26c.

The SatNav and the whole Ducati Connect thing worked flawlessly. I know a lot of people Pooh Pooh it and slag it off on the internet but I really have had no issues with it and put the issues people complain about down to Operator Error. Put it this way, when it appears on @PerryL ‘s next bike, and it will as Kawasaki and Suzuki are now rolling it out (along with radar systems), expect a lot of threads started by Perry about how shit it is .

By the time I get to Danish Camp about an hour and 45 mins later it is 32c and has been for most the last hour. Danish Camp and a pint of ice cold coke (diet) is an oasis, thanks @Dukesox
View attachment 51822
View attachment 51823

There’s a welcome cooling effect from the shade and the water running by.

Lunch lunched and it’s back on with the gear and in the road, fortunately I parked the bike under the shade of a large tree so it’s not melted.

I’m shortly at Sandy and on the A1, it’s now 33c .

My journey on the A1 reminds me of what I don’t like about riding bikes or even driving in England (it’s not the whole of the UK, just the greater part of England, sorry chaps). It’s the traffic. SWOT. Sheer Weight Of Traffic. Stop start. Stop start. Stop start. And, when the traffic does begin to flow freely why, oh why, does the speed limit drop to 50 on an open dual carriageway running in a straight line across open country with average speed traffic cameras? Then, as the day wears on, due to the heat, there are several breakdowns. It’s a dual carriageway mostly but no hard shoulder so now we’re down to one lane. At one stage there must have been 10 miles of traffic questing to get past a small lorry that has ground to a halt in the heat. Thank goodness there was just about enough space to filter.

Then, shortly after seeing the first sign for York my SatNav screen goes blank. ‘Please check your phone, there’s a problem with Ducati Connect’. My phone’s not been charging, it’s dead. Turns out it’s the dreaded pocket fluff has blocked up the charging socket. Now I can’t find where I’m supposed to be going. I can’t even call for directions. I have a vague memory it’s near the Racecourse in York so struggle on thinking that must be signposted. It is. It doesn’t get me there though. I have to stop and ask, nicely, 3 times for help and most people do and are very good about it. One young fella pushing a baby buggy though just completely blanked me, I don’t know if he thought me, an old man on a bike, was going to assault him or what. I just wanted some help.

This all delays me so I arrive later than anticipated, a quick change and off out again for some refreshment. We take the Charmobile (@Char ). First time I’ve ridden one for years, not coz I’m a snob, well not much anyway, more because we don’t have local transport in rural Ireland so have to drive everywhere.
View attachment 51821

True to form there are the ubiquitous drunks/bus nutters waiting at the bus stop (no, not me and my friends before you ask) so we’re on and upstairs pronto on the basis the two inebriates probably couldn’t make it up the stairs.

First pint. £1.49. Fook me York is cheap. When it’s my round I manage to buy 4 pints, 2 bags of crisps for under a tenner and that’s with some on the expensive stuff at £2.10/pint. I’d move hear except I can’t understand a word anyone says. It’s bad enough being hard of hearing but combine that with people not using half the words in the English language such as articles and indefinite articles and I’m lost. Best just have another pint. Surprisingly, after 3 pints it all gets clearer . Mind you they all probsbly think I’m a posh southern softie .
View attachment 51820

York’s a fab city, it’s been over 40 years since I was there last, it’s beautiful in the old part and the Minster is an astounding building.
View attachment 51817
View attachment 51818
View attachment 51819

Yes, that’s our @Robarano with his new bike .

More pints, a curry, then the sack, thank goodness it’s cooler now.

Pauls beard has grown since Ireland, I didn't think it would carry on growing after he donated it to you @Robarano , did you have to water it