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British Castles Ride 2011 |
| A Grim Rider MCC Challengeto visit 16 British Castles in 2011 |
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1 Dunnotar Castle, 31st May 2011, 3 Eilean Donan Castle, 28th May 2011 and 4 Caerlaverock Castle 27th May 2011 were done on my Outer Hebrides ride with Chris McGaffin and Joe Fisher. Caerlaverock Castle was bagged on the run up to Troon, I didn't spend long here as it was after closing and I had started later in the day than I intended. No camp sites to be found near Troon, and the hotel where Lenny Henry advertisies rooms at £29.50 only had the rooms that were £59.00 - I've never managed to bag a £29.50 room and it certainly is counter productive to my mindset and I avoid any hotel with false promises or what in the vanacular may be considered Marketing Spin, Economy with Truth; dare I say liars; I suppose not liars as someone somewhere has a £29.50 room, just not me? The next day of our Outer Hebrides trip Joe and I excited Isle of Skye on the bridge and had a detour run down to Eilean Donan Castle. Outer Hebrides were brilliant and we had a fantastic few days with all sorts of weather. Leaving Joe and Chris I headed out East and bagged Caerlaverock Castle on the way home.
2. Bodiam Castle 14th June 2011
What a great castle Bodiam is, I bet it has been in a few films? I also got a 5 Star welcome from the manager who insisted on spending a lot of time ensuring I got the best shots of me, my card and my bike with the castle.
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5,6 and 13 were done together as a Wales trip, 12 and 13 May 2011.
Dolbadarn Castle is in the top left hand corner of Wales and gave me the opportunity to run the Llanberis Pass once more and it is brilliant, but heading to Laugharne Castle in the bottom left of Wales meant I could ride the coast road. I have ridden the Pacific Coast Highway in California, the Pacific Coast Highway in New Zealand and all the while this fantastic ride was almost on my doorstep! I got to Laugharne Castle at about 17:30 got a snap and started the search for a camp site, out with the Zumo 550 but on the way to it came across 'Three Cliffs Bay Holiday Park' on the Gower peninsular and it was a gem. I'm starting to really like this camping malarkey; as long as you have reasonable weather and good kit it can be extremely comfortable. Into Swansea on the Friday morning for a family funeral and then onto Skenfrith Castle - not much to say! Run home was plagued by closed motor ways.
7. Kenilworth Castle 19 April 2011
Not much to report actually as I got here about 19:30 and of course the Castle was closed to visitors, it was English Heritage, so free entry for me and it looked like a good 'un! Will I ever return? As I left I decided to sleep over and bag Beeston on the way home tomorrow. So Garmin 550, Where to, Lodgings, Campsite and up came Wolvey Caravan Park, Nr.Hinckley, Leicestershire. It was a gem, the proprietor was an 84 year old gent who gave me the four secrets of longevity: 1. Don't Smoke, 2. Don't Drink, 3. Don't sit in the Sun and 4. Eat healthy natural food - well you may not live longer but it will certainly feel like longer!
8. Beeston Castle 20 April 2011
Great night camping and awoke at 07:30 to the sun streaming through the tent and a melodious dawn chorus, what joy. I just got to the castle ahead of a bus load of junior school children and snuck in before them. Beautiful setting but not much of a castle. The deepest castle well was its claim to fame and the fact that you could see several counties from the top. The best part of the day was the ride home:
Riding the Yorkshire Dales and from the M6 up towards the Dales is nothing short of mind boggling; you must ride these roads.
 Outer Gate |
 Modern bridge and Inner Gate |
 Next Castle to the East |
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 Rock cut ditch |
 The famous well |
 Country walk to castle |
9. Orford Castle 22 February 2011
Two jobs today, Ultimate Hearing Protections Systems squidgy ear plugs and Orford Castle. I had ordered a set of tailor made squidgy ear plugs late last year and on the visit to the local Audiologist in Consett he could not get an impression due to ear wax and my narrow ear canals so Sheila at Ultimate suggested next time I was in the Orpington, Kent, area I should pop into their world wide headquarters for an impression by their expert. I did, they did and now I'm waiting to receive my new ear plugs.
So on towards my third Castle of this years engagement, Orford. However I had my first 'ops' moment of today's three! If you are a regular reader you will know I take a couple of days training each year (for 2011 I have 17 & 18 March booked with Nick Walker at Handle it or Lose it) and part of that is analysing 'ops' moments to see what I could have done differently. I was exiting a roundabout in Croydon, light drizzle, huge potholes, unknown route when a VW Golf entering the roundabout from my left came straight on and just missed my nearside pannier as I hauled the bike out of his way - at the next lights I asked the driver if he knew I had priority at the roundabout junction to which he replied I was going too slow! I said did my speed allow him to ram me out of the way? Avoiding the red mist I continued towards Orford out of London on the M25 and Dartford crossing (toll free to bikes) and in a North East direction on the A12 which has a lot of truck container traffic and of course 'ops' moment two of the day. Picture this; dual carriageway, no hard shoulder, 70 mph limit and I was passing a truck who of course was less than two seconds gap from the truck in front - about 0.2 seconds I estimate. Driver of leading truck decides he needs a tea in the lay by greasy spoon about 100 feet before the lay by so does and emergancy deceleration; truck following wakes up, brakes hard and moves right into me, then looks sees me and panics! The three rear tyres of the truck lite up, ah the smell of burning rubber, I had already seen all this and was braking from 70 down to stop and realised the ABS on the 1400GTR was far more efficient than truck three who had also switched to lane 2 of the 2 lane highway and was closing fast onto my arse! Two choices crushed against the armco or rear ended by a 40 tonner! I eased off the brakes to give truck three more room to stop, truck 1 was now part way onto his tea stop (oblivious of the mayhem he'd caused) and truck 2 only straddled lanes 1 & 2 so room for little old me to whiz through. I try to leave emergancy room to manouvre and when passing a truck on a two lane you can only brake or accelerate in this case I did a bit of both - I suppose I could have assumed that truck one wanted a cup of tea? The final 'ops' of the three was more my fault than the other two, I found myself on the inside of a truck exiting a roundabout and he cut me off by crossing into lane 1 where I was but he had not seen me so my positioning was as much at fault as his observation. So there we have have it I have ridden about 50,000 miles in the last two years and had no 'ops' moments and then have three in a day - the experienced motorcyclist says I was the common denominator so I need to adjust my ridding and I think the two days with Nick are scheduled just right. Iron But Abu on the IBA UK forum has a strap line that syays "if it appears in control you are not going fast enough!"; I like control so since my three wake up calls will be concentrating more.
Orford, where I'd never heard of before Grim set this years challenge (Castle Rides), which is the beauty of Grims challenges, and it is a very nice patch within the UK but I reckon because of the proximity to London will be full in the summer so visiting now, even in school half term, was a good idea. Orford Castle was built in 1165 and completed in only 8 years as the free audio guide told me, also free entry due to my English Heritage annual membership meant a great cash neutral day. Orford harbour, the harbour being the main reason the castle was built here, is still functioning and I can recomend the tea room. Another good day in the saddle.
10. Conisbrough Castle 15 January 2011
IBA (Iron Butt Association) UK did not have a venue for our Jannuary 2011 RTE (Ride to Eat) 
so I called it at Conisbrough Castle where I could kill two birds with one stone. I was sweet talked into joining English Heritage for the princely sum of £32 courtesy of my new Pensioner status.
12. Castle Rising 28 January 2011
I was at my sisters house in London and could either head North on the Motorway or take in a Castle. So Castle Rising looked on the way home 'ish! I thought the London traffic at 08:00 would be a nightmare but I was pleasantly surprised. Garmin 550 took my via the South Circular and Blackwell Tunnel, through North London and onto the M11. I tagged onto a Metropolitan Police Motorcyclist, he had a brand new bike and all new gear, very smart and I observed his ride and followed his every move, a great learning experience and we certainly made progress through our capital. I bumped into a couple of Globe Trotters at the M11 Services, HERE is their website; they had done 89,000 in three years circumnavigating the World; I said it was only 18,000 miles to do that - they got 'lost'! At Cambridge the real riding fun started in the form of the A10 up to Kings Lynn; what a fantastic road, fast and lots of overtakes possible. Also by taking this 'A' road I found a farm house centre with cafe doing the best All Day Breakfast you could dream of.
I got a very welcoming reception at Castle Rising and my new English Heritage membership not only got me free entry but a super snap courtesy of Norman Fahy.
Norman was very knowledgable about the castle but also about paranormal activity within it, HERE is Norman's website. My day in the saddle was brilliant, bright blue sky, wonderful roads, excellent social interaction and a bright red sunset with the silhouette of Penshaw Monument as I arrived back in God's country.
15. Bamburgh Castle 6 March 2011
Durham Advanced Motorcyclists (DAM) asked me to lead one of their monthly Sunday ride outs and I thought where better than Bamburgh Castle and kill the proverbial two birds with the one stone to bag one more Castle. It was a great 170 mile ride taking in everything from Motorways to a two mile stretch of unpaved road; would I dare lead Institute of Advanced Motorcyclists (IAM) on an unpaved road? Once again reception was tip top with the car park guy, being a biker, ( had his Yamaha trail bike in the cart park) allowed me to use the tarmac covered staff car park at no charge. But there was an £8.50 entry fee and for the first time my annual English Heritage membership got me a 20% discount, not free entry - I spent the saved money on an audio guide. Well worth the entrance fee and a lovely home restored by Lord Armstrong in 1900 to a comfortable home with all mod cons.
 The start of our passion? |
 Model showing castle layout |
 Lounge with class |
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 Original Dyson? |
 Getting clues from a Rallymaster? |
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 View of the North Sea and Ramparts |
 Arty shot with Castles placard |
 Iconic view of Bamburgh Castle |
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