david badcock - feature item

I decided to take part in this charity ride and here are my result (click the pictures for larger image):

1 18th February 2009 Upper Derwent Peak District	2 24th February 2009 Lake District	3 24th February 2009 Snowdonia
4 25th August 2009 Dartmoor	5 24th August 2009 Pembrokeshire Coast	6 14th March 2009 North York Moors
7 24th February 2009 Yorkshire Dales	8 25th August 2009 Exmoor	9 26th February 2009 Northumberland
10 24th August2009 Brecon Beacons	1116th May 2009 The Broads	12 9th March 2009 Loch Lomond & Trossachs
13 4th May 2009 Cairngorm	14 21st February 2009 New Forest	15 15th May 2009 South Downs

The 15 National Parks, click the map to get the Map Source file.

1. Upper Derwent Peak District. 390 miles. 18/02/2009
Because I had to visit Manchester on business I decided to ride back using the Snake Pass and bagging my first National Park. the Peak District. It was very busy so it must be overrun at summertime. There was snow on the Snake Pass but not on the road which was greasy and damp and hard to maintain the 50mph limit. Good ride.

14. New Forest. 705 miles. 21/02/2009
IBA UK had organised a RTE and I thought what a good opportunity to bag the most Southerly National Park. I arrived at 9am and whilst taking the evidence picture had a nice chat with a few passing locals. One of which was the Park Warden, he gave me a good contribution to my sponsorship fund for the Warwickshire Air Ambulance and advised that actually the South Downs was not a National Park just yet; but later this year it would be; better come back then.

9, Northumberland, 68 miles. 26/02/2009
I said I was laying off doing these parks 'till the summer so Jen could join me but I could not resist Northumberland, it was a lovely day and I was leaving for a weeks summer sun and no biking for seven days so a full day on the bike was required. The visitors centre at Once Brewed is on the Southern border of the park so just a stones throw from the main East/West road the A69 means you do not get to see the Granduer of this wonderful space, however I've been through and in the park many times so am well aware of its beauty. The FJR on the A69 then a ride South to Alt-Bergs on the A68 is a wonderful ride; let us hope I saw all the cash generators (Safety Cameras depending on your particular school of thought) and my Zumo 550 camera update file was indeed up to date!

6. North York Moors, 436 miles. 14/03/2009
Today was the IBA National Meeting in Stoke so leaving early I bagged North York Moors, I'd thought about squeezing in the Broads too; but do you know how far that is! I wanted to do my riding today at a Bun Burner Gold pace, I rode for 6 hours 55 minutes at a Moving average of 62.9mph. This included stops of 24.57 minutes, my moving average was 66.9. All the motorway was using cruise control, a smidge over the National Limit, but not enough to get a ticket (I hope). It is virtually impossible to do big miles at higher than 'Nicking' speed without being caught so I was well pleased to maintain these high averages whilst staying within the law. There was a significant Police presence on the Motorways today, especially in North Yorkshire and whilst I was pushing the envelope a car passed me and I watched the clearly marked Volvo chasing him; took about 8 miles to catch him!

13. Cairngorm, 680 miles. 04/05/2009
Not really 680 miles as I was on my way home for the Chapter Highlander Tour which was based at Ullapool and the Cairngorm Centre was only about 10 miles off route!

11. The Broads. A Weekend! 16/05/2009
Since I'd started on the 15 National Parks Jen had wanted to come to see the Broads. Neither of us had visited Norfolk in the touring sense, we'd passed through, but not toured. It is lovely, and Lord Nelson hailed from this neck of the woods. Loads of small quaint villages and some nice biking roads. We found an old 50's style cafe on the A47 at Necton and out front was a 1954 Pontiac Cheiftan in all it's glory.

'54 Pontiac

With '54 Cadillac tail lights

Mansion!

Toad Cottage

The Chieftan was original and had a bare metal paint job which was fantastic, the rear seat was away at the upholsterers and other than that she was perfect. A tilt to style was the Cadillac lens covers, these lens covers had only recently been discussed on the IBA UK Forum as a set were available for my Electra Glide on the eGlide Goddies website! We stayed overnight at The Park Hotel, Diss; very nice Norfolk village; we think we will have to return to Norfolk!

15. South Downs, 500 Miles 23rd May 2009.
I had today spare as an official at the Brit Butt Rally. At 0600 we had the 50 or so competitors off for the 36 hour event so nothing to do 'till they all started to arrive back after doing a minimum of 1,123 miles and 27,000 point. Chris had not ridden much in Southern England and the traffic was a surprise to him; for me it was a reminder as to why I headed North at the ripe old age of nineteen just a few year ago; forty in fact! After we bagged my eleventh National Park I took the opportunity to visit Guildford Harley Davidson which was brilliant but I did manage to lose Chris! Once more reunited we headed back to Rally HQ at Trentham and arrived at 18:00, just in time for me to find a jet wash to spruce up La Reina Roja - detailing scheduled for the morning!

4. Dartmoor, 5. Pembrokeshire Coast, 8. Exmoor, and 10. Dartmoor, 1,060 Miles 24/25/26th July 2009
See this weekend on SPOT.

What a great way to finish this NPR Challenge, a three day ride with two mates! Wonderful. We rode to Pembrokeshire National Park directly from South Shields and finished with Exmoor on Saturday evening. It was a three day ride of just over 1,000 miles and on a weekend when there was a lot of wetness about, however we managed to avoid any of it, result.