Coast to Coast off-road 2019

Pierre 66

Well-known member
As we were not allowed to do feck all last year........... I`m sure you will have seen this before but thought it might be worth a share again.

Scarborough to Morecambe, off road. (this was middle of June :rolleyes: )

Day 1, Wednesday.
Met up at the Watermark Cafe, Scarborough, 60 riders in total. Set off at about 09:30 heading for Scotch Corner, in rain and fog.

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We stopped for a break near Malton.

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One of the guys in my group realised he`d lost his phone, luckily his mate had a phone finder app, it still took us an hour and a half to backtrack to find it, laid on the floor next to the tree he`d crashed into earlier.
We did about 250km in total, muddy lanes, rocky tracks, a couple of stream crossings that were usually no more than a trickle and an 8 mile blast along the Rudland Rigg. I was blasting along nicely when I hit a deeper than I thought puddle, drenched in muddy water, it also went inside my helmet and filled my goggles, zero visibility at 50 or 60 kph on a rock strewn track focuses the mind I can tell you.
We pulled into the Travel Lodge at Scotch Corner about 19:00, soaked and muddy, I felt bad for the staff but they seemed to take our filthy state in good humour.
I didn`t fancy the 15 minute walk in the rain to the nearest pub so had an early night instead. #oldandboring
 
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Day 2, Thursday.
Woke up to more rain, but no fog.
About to set off. The weather had thinned our numbers down from the 60 (fool)hardy soul from the day before.
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The route for today had to be changed because there were a lot of stream crossings planned, streams that had now become rivers, a real shame but dealing with a drowned bike in three feet of water is a royal pain in the arse, so common sense prevailed. We did check out a couple of crossings but they were deep.
We did about 150km mostly on lanes and fast rocky tracks, fun but still felt disappointed with the route change.
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We consoled ourselves on the last few fast tracks by playing the "ride through a puddle as fast as you can to soak the rider nearest to you" game. A good laugh until my 20year old bike grew tired of this and began misfiring and sometimes coughing and spluttering to a halt, this made me an easy target but a quick squirt of WD40 and a couple or three kicks soon had me back in "the game."
We pulled into Morecambe about 16:00-ish

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That was that, done.
We still had to get back to Scarborough for my mates van but we had booked a camping pod at Lancaster for the night, ride back Friday.

Edit. I eventually found the reason my old XR didn`t like deep water, it wasn`t electrical, it was the carb breathers. There`s two on an XR, one goes high to the air box, one goes low and doubles as an over flow from the carb, a previous owner had blocked the upper breather pipe with a self tapping screw???? When the lower breather became submerged it would cause a vacuum and starve the bike of fuel. Spraying everything with wd40 was a red herring, it just gave the breather enough time to clear and the bike would then start.
 
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Day 2, continued.
The Lurve Pod :oops:
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The Lurve Pod was right next to a pub, The Golden Ball. Proper planning this time, none of the 15 minute walk in the rain to the nearest pub shite from the previous night, I mean right....next.....door
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We got a bit of crap from wives, girlfriends and daughters about the Lurve Pod but it was ok. My mates wife advised me to make sure he had three pints and he would be snoring all night and I would be safe. Mission accomplished, if you were wondering 😬
 
Day 3, Friday.
Woke up, honour intact, to pouring it down with rain.......again!!!
Our route back, all road work I`m afraid, but still good fun.
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Breakfast was served at the pub at 10:00, we were on the road by 08:30, so breakfast in Hawes.
Up to now, my "grimest time on a bike" was riding back from Germany, in the rain, 2013. Not anymore, now it`s Ingleton to Hawes, 2019. Rain, cold, fog, hyperthermia, frostbite, trench foot..... I suffered them all on that 30 mile hell road. The only living thing we saw were sheep, I honestly thought if I could catch and kill one, I could empty it out and wear the fleece as a jacket (So different a month later, see Coast to Coast on road).
So very relieved when we pulled into Hawes. We stopped at a little cafe called the Bay Tree Cafe and Bistro, delicious full breakfast and a cuppa, a life saver. The owner was lovely, she didn`t even complain as her carpet got wetter and wetter around the table we were sat at, everytime I apologised she just said it was ok and not to worry.
The rest of the ride to Scarborough was good, my mates bike will do 50 mph so that was the pace, still raining but ok, bit of sunshine at Helmsley and Thornton Le Dale.
Stopped in for a look around at Mathewsons Auctions at Thornton Le Dale, if you watch Bangers and Cash on tv then you know who they are.
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My mate was reminiscing over two XR3I cabriolets, I took a liking to a huge green goddess fire engine, just for commuting and going to the shops you know
:thinkingface:

Back to the Watermark Cafe at Scarborough for a cuppa and cake at about 14:30.

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600km in total, brilliant few days, bikes,good laughs, new friends and a few beers.
Definitely would have been up for this again in 2020.
I sold the XR begining of last year (WTF was I thinking???) Bought a pos AJP that hasn`t run right since I bought it, I think it will now have to go back to the main importers to see if they can cure it`s horrendous thirst.
 
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Memories are made with bikes and some of them, like this one, are good ones (apart from the POS AJP that is) (y)
 
I think it`s the North Yorkshire & Teeside TRF that run the C2C and Moors & Coast.
I`ve let my TRF membership lapse until things get back to normal and I can get that pos AJP sorted.
 
Does the trf go out every week?
I think it`s the North Yorkshire & Teeside TRF that run the C2C and Moors & Coast.
I`ve let my TRF membership lapse until things get back to normal and I can get that pos AJP sorted.
Do they go out every week?
 
Not every weekend as far as I know. I've been out a couple of times with a few guys from East Yorkshire trf, nothing to formal. Usually just a "I'm off out at weekend, anyone fancy tagging along" kind of thing on facebook.
 
Not every weekend as far as I know. I've been out a couple of times with a few guys from East Yorkshire trf, nothing to formal. Usually just a "I'm off out at weekend, anyone fancy tagging along" kind of thing on facebook.
That’s good I don’t do formal really

Hoping to have a bike in a couple of weeks
 
Looks a good laugh!

Got to say though, the Ingleton to Hawes road is one of my go-to's for a quick ride out. Fantastic on a sunny morning before most people are up. And on a quick bike.
 
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