Easter Day 2 - North England TET

Like a scene from The Long Way Around,  we set of  to 'family farewell' waved on by four nephews and nieces, three sisters, a brother, a mum and her boyf.

Id been up since 6am and made my way out to the bike.  I had noticed yesterday that the tank appeared to be leaking fuel slowly from somewhere(?) as it often smelled strongly of petrol.  I patched up a hairline crack that i though was the cause whilst Caroline made poached eggs and Salmon and Jason also fettled.

Within a short while we were in the rolling green Yorkshire countryside, warmed by the sun, and enjoying the freedom of the bikes.

It is a real shame to notice, during such times, that your bike is running like a dog, coughing, sputtering, losing power, stalling and refusing start.  I buzzed Jason on the bike intercom and reported the exciting news.  eek.   I wondered if it was fuel related as the ebay IMS tank had come with an fuel pump, perhaps it was failing?

Using the kick start i started her up and limped to a fuel station. Thoughts of having to abandon the trip racing through my mind.   Arriving at the station to begin some investigative mechanics, i  looked down to notice that my kick start was now missing! FFS, it had fallen off in the last mile!!

Whilst Jason went back to retrieve missing bits, i found the cause of the original issue, loose battery terminals of all things! Sorted.

Returning to the trip and finding a long off road section we setup a 'drive  by' shot on the GoPro,  just like the do in the 'movies'  HAHA. Utter bike geekery.

The scenery was stunning, lanes, hill and Victorian reservoirs scatted about the landscape like sapphires.  The waters looked so inviting, sweating as we were in full bike kit.

We were trying to keep the pace up as we had a lot to cover, figuring we'd like to get around the Forest of Boland loop (Grey on the image below) and back into the Yorkshire Dales for evening (Red)

Prior to starting the first loop we headed off to Sandiford Offroad,  a Motorcross shop, to pickup oil and other supplies i'd called about in the morning during the bike issues.  That done we were back on track and stopped for lunch.

Jason is a man who enjoys good food, so it was with much moaning in the bike intercoms that he reluctantly agree to a Petrol Station sandwich.

And that is where we met this interesting Yorkshire fella who looked like a cross between a hobbit and clown.  He swore like a sailor, asked about our journey and worried that we 'wouldnt be home for tea, i recon, and nor tomorrow neet!'.  He had a loud and infectious laugh that was as odd as his dress sense.  I wish i knew him in my ordinary life.

We passed through some pretty little villages before getting to our destination.

The forest of Bowland loop is a really amazing off road ride, although there is exactly zero forest involved!  The tracks last for miles, are sometimes rocky and sometimes open and flowing, and always you're in the middle of no-where.   We did meet four other bikers doing the lanes, one of them had a TET sticker on his bike.  I must get one.

We came to gate on a corner that had a ditch dropping off to the left, i wondered how many people had fallen in it.   I opened the gate and Jason pushed his bike backwards and promptly fell into the ditch. Priceless!!

Time was getting on, it was almost beer o'clock.

Jason had an old friend, Antony, who lived the area.  He arranged to meet at a pub in Skipton, whilst they caught up i took the opportunity to do a road side service of the KTM. Fresh oil, filer and air filter, chain adjustment. Done

Given the lateness of the hour, the public holiday and the great weather, finding a place to stay with safe bike parking wasnt that easy.   We ended up here at the Alexa House in Harrogate. The Landlady, Sandra was most accommodating and allowed us to stash the bikes in her secret place. (cough)

We spent the evening enjoying Harrogate, its a very beautiful place and we lowered the tone for a few hours. In bars full of women half our age, we looked like two Dads searching for their daughters.