Taunton 23rd Sept to 26th Sept 2011
Riders 6 Pillions 2/3 (see Sundays ride) – Nik& Julie B(VFR 8), Mike S (Ninja 6), Dave C,(CBF Thou) John B (BMW K13) Stuart Mc (BMW RT12), Graham & Jane (‘Busa)
Cars 1 occupants 2, dedication, Steve & Val, dedication…..
Day 1 Friday – BP to Hatch Beauchamp – 256 miles
Weather - overcast at first, brightening to sunny intervals and warm,
Route - from the BP - M6, M56 J10 onto A49 south, A417 Gloucester, A4173 to Stroud, A46Bath, A37 Wells/Shepton mallet, A361 Glastonbury Street Othery, A372 Langport, A378 (Plus a few back lanes with grass in the middle) to Hatch Beauchamp.
Minor downside Steve & Val are in the car because they suffer a tumble (ouch!) the Sunday before we leave Val claims the broken wrist is the result of the left hook she landed on Steve for his carelessness, but we’re not so sure. All credit for still turning up though.
Well the route idea was sound enough, we didn’t want to spend too much time on motorways or ploughing through towns /cities. Unless there was no other way.
Whilst still in familiar territory, the A49, no problem. As soon as the sun broke through we pull over at “The New Hollies” garden centre; well, they advertised a coffee shop, wassa matter? and most of the A49 bypasses towns/villages. So there may not have been a lot of choice. Coffee OK quite a wait though, toilets Hmm… back of the barn one fits all. We drink up and head off south.
At our left turn point onto A417 most of us now looking for fuel and it’s gone 12:00. We declare lunch at the attached little thief, sorry “Chef”. Standard little chef menu we decide to go for the “light bites” read “cheaper”, menu. Whilst waiting for the Heston Blumenthal clone to slice us up a sandwich apiece, we have a chance to review the route and immediately panic that the proposed route will take us through Bristol (noooo!!). Alternatives are suggested, we settle on a Stroud/Bath alternative. We pay for our Haute cuisine lunch and get back on the road. All goes well until, inevitably in Owls MCC tradition we get lost in Bath and find ourselves heading for Chippenham (wrong way!!) luckily we realise before we travel too far, only to get split up again in Bath. Wonderful one way system Bath has, miss a turning, spend 10 minutes getting back to it, but we all waited for Mike to find his way back…….All OK again until just after Shepton Mallet, Krozzy (leading) spots a sign saying “Taunton” follows it, but doesn’t realise it’s the wrong road until we hit Glastonbury (burk) We pull over to check the depth of the disaster. Not too bad, but had intended to leave Glasto as a potential day out destination and do a proper job (as they say in these ’ere parts) of it. Nik comes to the rescue, with the sat nav. Nik leads us the rest of the way and if we’re honest, via some interesting roads we wouldn’t have otherwise found, to our digs for the next few nights at Hatch Beauchamp, (local pronunciation “beecham” rather than the French sounding boh-shormp) the Hatch Inn.
The Hatch Inn is a typical country pub with a few rooms upstairs, quaint charming, picturesque are all words which didn’t immediately spring to mind as we pull into the car park, secure only as it’s a few clicks past the middle of nowhere then left into the back of beyond. Eager to have a good time, we are already drinking in the bar as our rooms are being allocated - thirsty work this motorcycling. Rooms allocated we all leg it for shower and change. I can only comment on my room single room over the bar, telly, clean, comfortable, shower Ok thoroughly acceptable.
Dinner is a selection from the fairly standard “Pub grub” menu Spag Bol is tasty, Curry gets a good review, portion size – filling, puddings available. Value for money ? definitely, Haute cuisine? – not really, but not what we want anyway. Dinner over, we pay as we go then retire to the bar for the evening entertainment.
Appearing, for one night only – Ruby Tuesday, One girl, a guitar, a drum machine and a pocket full of dreams. Maybe it was the drink, maybe our determination to have a good time, perhaps the whisky shots, who knows, Ruby Tuesday was a little off key at times, somewhat lost in a west country time warp though thoroughly “entertaining” Krozzy dancing ??? film at 11……allegedly.
All knackered, a little p*ssed, we retire to bed.
Day 2 Saturday – Cultural tour - Hatch, Cheddar, Stonehenge, Avebury, Hatch
Miles- 190
Weather - initially overcast even a spot of rain, By the time we are ready for off blue skies & sunny.
Breakfast for 09:00 full English, even kippers available. Coffee seriously strong. Everybodies head on straight(ish) JB & Mike probably worst, a little surprising following the previous nights indulgencies. Checking the weather forecast, east is supposed to be the driest direction we decide on a trip towards Cheddar and the gorge. Nik and sat nav leads us off. Roads round here vary from the extremely narrow nadges tall hedges each side, visibility next to nil, through fast A road sweeps, to huge wide open dual carriage ways and arrow straight Romanesque roads, if mixture is what you wanted, you got it.
Arriving in Cheddar, Steve & Val already there and parked up, they direct us to free parking spaces. Handy having a car to leave helmets gloves etc. In the Cheddar sunshine we stroll down the road keen to do the tourist thing we enquire about the cost of the attractions. Caves, open top bus ride, Jacobs ladder etc. only having a short time and only really interested in the caves but we’re told £17.80 per adult for all attractions (all day!!) no reductions for groups and can’t book just one attraction. Declaring it a rip off we retire to the Edelweiss café for coffee & cake, cream teas.etc. top quality, plenty clotted cream, jam, tea.. Julie suggests next destination , Stonehenge. Sat nav calculates 44 miles away so not too far. We return to our machines, hats on, set off up through the gorge towards Wiltshire and Salisbury plain. Somewhat worryingly we see road signs warning us to “beware tanks crossing” !! not sure I’ve seem that one in the highway code. Arriving at the car park just alongside the famous stone circle we encounter the familiar pay, pay, pay, routine Bikes park free we chip in for the car, we are using it as a helmet park after all. This place has been around since the stone age, literally, what gives the local organisation the right to charge to see it? If anything the pathways and landscaping has detracted from the original site, may as well watch it on TV. Rant over, we take pictures through the fence – Owls don’t pay! The car park attendant suggests a free standing stone area where we could get a spot of lunch at a pub called The Red Lion, a way up the road (22 miles) at a place called Avebury. Sat nav set off we go across Salisbury plain. We pass at least one white horse cut into the hillside, several are marked on the map. arriving at the standing stones at Avebury it strikes us that it marks out what today would resemble a runway, maybe it’s where the mothership landed. Right at the end of the stones is The Red Lion, parking is tricky - many Druids, Shaman, Wizards and Witches had gathered, bongos and tom toms a-thrumming. We go inside in search of sanity I order a club sandwich (BLT) so big I have to crush it to get it in my mouth. In the dining room more folks had gathered one bloke wearing a sarong (skirt) long dreadlocked beard, sandals and a leather stetson. Discussing the word “Equinox” says he “Equi – Nox, equal night, Hmm what other meaning may we draw from the word…..” His mate in druid robes puts his stick down and orders pie and chips. On a more worrying note these guys are carrying staffs (big sticks) swords, getting touch with the spirits (I thought only genis lived in bottles) and here’s me fretting about the leatherman multi-tool in the top box. I suppose that’s what we get for following the advice of a car park attendant with a pony tail. Entertaining though, it was all I could do to keep from bursting into laughter. Overall, you have to think what is it about this area which has been messing around with folks minds for so long; Stonehenge (I even spotted a Woodhenge) standing stones, horses cut into the chalk is it something in the water or is it really just hokum?
We head back to Hatch B via Trowbridge, Frome and the A37. Back at the Hatch we park up head inside Shower, change and down to the bar/dining room for tea. Grills are favourite tonight, ham and gammon garnished with fried egg & chips. There’s no planned entertainment tonight. We rely on the booze & banter between Burnsy & Brian the ‘Busa boy. Some guy now resident in hatch B but originally from Leigh who can apparently get 130 per up the village road on his bike we assume he’s pissed, crazy or both. Not short of a few bob this guy, call sign Shrek, jewellery and fancy watches is his main thing though JB is impressed (not). Liz our hostess and land lady joins us and chats about her biking days and the Dragstar 650, It’s her day off tomorrow, “I wish I could come with you”, says she, a pillion seat is arranged. Getting a bit surreal now, we retire for the night.
Day 3 – Sunday – Exmoor tour - Hatch, Minehead, Lynmouth, Lynton, Woolacombe, Hatch, our plan, basically coast road out ,over the moor top back.
Miles 156
Weather – initially light rain overcast. Soon brightening to warm sunshine
09:00 breakfast we deliberate over the forecast west is the best way today and the received wisdom “Round these ‘ere parts”, the coast is often drier than the moorland. Liz turms up in tasteful pink panel leather suit (I had feared tassels!!!!!) but can’t find her gloves, unusually no-one has a spare pair so bravely rides without, though she has the biggest “fairing” in the OWLSMCC, Krozzy. We have a sat nav moment on the way out (driving in circles…) but soon pick up the Minehead road. This takes us on some groovy roads through a few picturesque villages until we encounter the local “fun run” (wasn’t much fun for us, sitting engines off for 20 minutes while they jog by) we knew we were coming to the end of the runners when a bunch of ballet dancing rugby players , in Tutus, pass by. The lady CSO controlling the traffic lets all but Stuart by, we wait for him, Stuart strikes up quite a conversation with her. Don’t play with the locals Stu. She lets him through, charmer.
By the time we reach Minehead seafront the sun is shining and we, thankfully, consign waterproofs to box, bag, cargo net. Parked on the seafront with a BMW GS owners club, we head for ice cream and “comfort”. Holding it in two hands, Mike wins the “who’s got the biggest ice cream” competition. This is Graham & Jane’s country having been there several times on holiday, they lead off from Minehead. Heading down the North Devon coast road towards Porlock. Before we reach Porlock and it’s famous Hill (which scares blue rinse coach tourists) Graham turns us right towards a toll road (please let it be free for bikes we think), At £1.50 per bike one or two faces are pulled, needn’t have worried, give or take a little algae on some parts of the road this is truly the coast road, views of the Bristol channel, stunning Alpinesque vertical hairpins, only us there, worth every penny. We don’t stop in picturesque Lynmouth or equally pretty Lynton we head on towards Woolacombe. As we reach a junction for our right turn toward Combe Martin/woolacombe Graham notices the handling on the ‘Busa takes a turn for the worse. Riding immediately behind I spot the problem the rear looks scarily low, Uh oh puncture. Luckily we are right on top of a filling station we pull over. More irritating than disaster all of us have AA or RAC membership but as a club in the past we have had some success with Tyreweld, get you home puncture repair and inflation bottles. We check the ‘Busa’s rear for the offending article and pull out a triangular section sliver of steel we can’t immediately recognise, Graham keeps it as a souvenir, we proceed with the Tyreweld option – works. Jane rides behind John B for a while to keep as much weight as possible off the ‘Busa’s rear to allow the Tyreweld to work We roll on to Woolacombe and lunch.
We park up on Woolacombe seafront the ‘Busa’s rear had needed another shot of tyreweld. Jane spots an AA van (they’re RAC members) and cheekily begs a shot of air, another charmer, he agrees. ‘Busa’s rear now holding we head over to The Red Barn for lunch. Coffee and cake and sandwiches are the order of the day. I have a steak Ciabatta – tasty, prices as you’d expect on the seafront, high but not at “rip off” level. We stroll down to the beach make a few foot prints in the sand set off back to the Hatch.
We had intended to return over the moor but all things considered we thought IF we needed it we’d more chance of help on the A361. Although it is the main road the A361 ain’t too bad, fast sweeps, easy driving, sunshine, just took it easy back.Stuart made another friend as a trucker for no apparent reason offers him a sweetie gratefully accepted, nice lad, Our Stuart
Back at the Hatch tea is a Sunday roast carvery job choice of Roast Pork. Beef. Lamb Chicken, all the trimmings. Pudding, plum crumble lashings of custard, stuffed, glorious. There is an amount of room shuffling to do tonight Stuart is booked in at the premier 4 miles away Steve & Val move into his room, then the music starts again…….
Evening is a little quiet though the bar staff, Claire, finishes at 11:00 so Ken already “relaxed” takes over. Last night, Owls have a good drink and retire.
Day 4 – Monday – Homeward bound
Weather – a little overcast at first but dry, we head into the blue sky all the way staying dry seeing quite a few sunny spells.
Route M5, M4, over the Severn bridge (free for bikes) off at first junction head northward through mid Wales , Abergavenny, Builth wells, Llandidrod wells, Newtown, Weshpool, Oswestry, Llangollen, Horshoe pass, Llandegla, A55, M56, M6 then split for home at M6 J25 to J27.
Miles – 271
After breakfast we all straighten up our room accounts with Liz say our good byes. Speaking personally I’d thoroughly enjoyed my stay, sure every one else did too. Relaxed, value for money, friendly, describes the Hatch, even if the plumbing and lighting could be a little quaint.
Route seems a bit complicated but we’re still on holiday and don’t want to re-trace our outward steps. Stuart knows this route since this is the approximately the route he followed when picking up the Beemer. Stuart returns the 4 miles from the premier so all bikes set off as a group, Steve & Val had a few more days planned.
A bit of a drudge for the first 60 odd miles there are very few river crossings round here and all of them are on motorways, still all over in an hour. We jump off the motorway as soon as we can after we reach dry land over the water, and head for Abergavenny. Abergavenny is built on the river Gavenny so has several ancient bridges, some of them single track Stu! Pretty and medieval so worth the wait. We thunder on north through Builth, and by Llandidrod wells, tums are a-rumblin’. We do a couple of circuits but all cafes are either shut or there’s no suitable parking. In desperation we check out a local Tesco even a backstreet chippy, none really appeal have the owls been spoiled by the haute cuisine of the west country? Perhaps, we decide to give the road to Newtown one more chance. This would have been OK but we get carried away with a bike club which seem to be mostly ladies (unusual even in this day and age) and by the time we’d passed them we’re at Newtown, oops. we do spot a sign “Siop half mile ahead” this turns out to be a local petrol station with tractors parked outside, we drive on. Are there no cafés open in Wales? By Newtown, tums are a-growlin’. Determined to find somewhere we stop at a hippy chick’s place called Lou Lou’s Bistro at bank cottage. The food is strictly “Bistro” weird sandwiches, I have Brie bacon and cranberry Pannini, balsamic salad garnish very….bistro… Coffee is OK the building itself is really old, Georgian perhaps (Newtown is a slight mis-nomer it was a new town in 1246!) parking is hazardous on a STEEP driveway, no accidents, phew. We pay up and roll on, re-entering England briefly at Oswestry meeting up with the A5 until Llangollen. We swing right over the bridge and onto the A542 horseshoe pass road. At the actual feature from which the horsehoe pass takes it’s name we see the local heddlu (plod) parked by the curve, “odd” we think but ride on to the ponderosa for a late brew. Quite a few bikers at the Ponderosa considering it’s Monday afternoon. It transpires there’s been an accident at the curve and just there there’s a fair drop, we don’t pry but are a bit subdued for a while.
Last leg home we mount up and set off towards Chester and the A55 following tht round to mthe M56 when we encounter the, common these days, motorway stupidity, lane 1 empty, lane 2 crawling, lane 3 stopped! A little further on another group of bikers pulls into lane3 so we a re forced to join their little convoy. I stand it for a while but eventually I work my way to the front of this little snake and discover self appointed Mr Safety in lane 2 doing 68mph with a kid in the works van in lane three riding on his rear quarter effectively holding up the entire motorway! I give them a hard stare and cruise on fuming, until M6 when calm returns I back off to await the rest of our group, they soon catch up. Onward to J25 M6 where parting salutes are given and owls split for home.
Trip total mileage 875.