Saturday 28 August 2010







Devon today. The landmark at Teignmouth ("lamp post gift") has been causing people some problems and I'm not surprised. I opted for a wander about photographing any lamp posts that looked out of place. Wandering through some chalets on the beach and came across a cast iron lamp post worthy of Narnia with a small plaque at the base. I suspect others may not have been so fortunate.

Had a good old whang along some insanely twisty C and B roads in Dartmoor to visit an old gunpowder mill, pictures of the mills, chimney (complete with finger in shot) and the proving mortar to test the gunpowder with.

Three checkpoints today and off into Cornwall tomorrow. Weather is holding out ok, quite sunny if a little breezy.


And bringing things back up to date. Currently sat in Tescos in Exeter with a 3G connection. Went down through Somerset yesterday and got the checkpoint which was an old canal lift. Where the canal met the railway, they lifted the boats over the railway, not put the railway under the canal. Strange but true.

Heading down into Devon today, the checkpoints here are fairly close together but pretty cryptic, I'm going to have to go there and have a search about. Camping up on Dartmoor tonight at the club site there, need to do some washing!





More pictures.





Much belated picture update.

Wednesday 25 August 2010

Canoed 15 miles down the river Wye today in a 2 person open canoe! I'll be falling to bits tomorrow.

It's bucketed it down all day so I was thoroughly soaked by the time I got to Monmouth despite not falling in at all.

Got some new tyres on the Enfield.

I think my feeling about Ross on Wye has been justified. As I was changing the bike wheels in a carpark yesterday, one drunk bloke knocked another one down and gave him a kicking at the other end of the carpark. Despite there being loads of people there, I was the only one who seemed to be in any mood to make sure he was still alive and call an ambulance. Funny how folk are, an old guy lying unconcious on the ground and they didn't even stop to check he was still breathing.

All ok in the end though, they carted him off to hospital where I'm sure he'll at least get a feed and a clean up.

Possibly cycling tomorrow in the Forest of Dean if the rain holds off.

Sunday 22 August 2010

Got three checkpoints on the way East across the country after staying on the Baden Powell memorial campsite at Hertford. Met an Aussie couple starting a tour of Europe by bicycle so I gave them some tips on what wine and cider to buy as they pass through France. Probably the nicest of the club sites I've stayed at, plenty of room, lots of established, mature trees about which goes a long way to damping out the noise of kids tantrums and tentpegs beng hammered into oblivion.

One was a Dovecote at a big house with a walled garden that somewhat improbably has the road running right through the middle of their garden.

Next came a wellhead and pump outside a pub in Berkshire. They seem to be in the process of digging this one up but I found a sneaky additional pump round the back of the pub so I took a picture for good measure.

The third was a church clock at Wooton Rivers before camping up at the Bruce Arms pub campsite.

Next day and two more checkpoints, Claverton pumping station near bath and Kimbolton Dovecote in the vicinity of Stratford on Avon and another club campsite.

The Enfield had a minor tantrum, I noticed clouds of smoke when i stopped at some traffic lights. These were coming from a steady flow of oil blowing past the o-ring on the tappet inspection cover. A leaky o-ring aside, that part of the oil system shouldn't be under pressure so I should at worst have been getting a slight ooze of oil.

Simple solution, the crankcase breather hose had become kinked leading to a pressurised crankcase and oil leaks. After unkinking it, i noticed the idle speed increased and it climbed hills a lot better. I'll know what to look for if that happens again in future. New o-ring 50p from a car spares place.

I'm having a week off at Welsh Bicknor Youth Hostel. The plan is to go canoeing on the river Wye among other things before setting off again to do the South of England. Got all the checkpoints North of London now.

I'll post the pictures another time when I have a better internet connection, it's taking an interminably long time from where I am.

Wednesday 18 August 2010




Into London i go, armed with a not very good map for navigating such a densely packed town. Got more or less straight to Harrow on the Hill and found the plaque marking the site of the first automobile driver fatality.

Getting back out was fairly straightforward by riding until I found a sign for the M25 and following it but I landed up a fair bit away from where I started. As it happens, roadworks and such meant the Enfield was probably the fastest vehicle to go on.

I've camped on a much quieter, very scenic club site at Hartford for a bit of a wash up and suchlike (and to charge my laptop) because one of tomorrows landmarks is in a village too small to show up on my map.

Also popped up to Hunsdon to visit the airfield memorial which involved a bit of dirttracking to get to the site of the old runway. Nothing to say I couldn't go there and noone shouted at me so i think there is a presumed right of access there. Took a picture of the memorial plaque on the village hall for good measure.


Next day and a bit of a backtrack, I realised something from my research in that the only place the Swafham Peddlar is referred to as the Swaffham Tinker is on one side of the towns roadsign. Not wanting to have to go all the way back after I've finished, I went back fr a quick photo of it.

I've picked up a cheap digital camera, the display on my good one has packed in altogether so you'll probably notice the picture quality had gone downhill somewhat.

Next checkpoint was a memorial to a policeman who was shot by poachers at a roadside in Essex. Was hard work to find exactly where it was as my research yeilded only vague directions. Got it ok in the end though.

Bit of an odd campsite, a big field down the back of a row of houses. Quite pleasant though and there were field musghrooms growing which i nabbed for my tea.

London tomorrow!



After Cromer, I decided to camp up at a pub. The greyhound Inn fit the bill nicely. just a simple field which i had to myself. They also do bike rallies and suchlike there which is worth knowing for future. Local cider and chatty locals.

Stopped in Swaffham t take pictures of the Swaffham tinker, also known as the Swaffham peddlar who apparently was told by someone that they had a dream that he should dig in his garden and he found a pot of gold with which he paid for the church to be built. There are a lot of swaffham peddlar images. The two oldest I could find were the medievil stained glass window and the church pew-end carving of him and his dog.

Then went to the airfield memorial at mendlesham. Disgustingly, someone has stolen the copper plaque from the memorial, again presumably to sell for scrap.

maybe I'm jumping to onclusions sugesting it was members of the travelling community but if it was, they would do well to remember they have more reson than most to be thankfull to the boys who kept us from becoming part of the 3rd reich, the travelling/roma community was as much included in Hitlers final solution as were the Jews. That really got to me that someone would stoop so low as to steal a war memorial. As good an argument as I've herd to reinstate public floggings.

Sunday 15 August 2010





As you will be able to see from two of these pictures, it totally pissed it down in Lincolnshire. The guinea pig club was quite interesting, members were burned airmen who'd been operated on twice by a pioneering plastic surgeon after WW2. Difficult to find the site though as they'd dumped a whole townsworth of new housing on the site of the original estate, no shops, no infrastructure, just acres of distressingly similar and expensive looking clone houses. I suspect they come with a silver vauxhaull vectra to park in the drive and it'll be written in the deeds that you have to wash it every sunday, after mowing the lawn and before fiddling with the satellite dish.

Anyway, synicism aside for a moment, it faired up the next day so a trip a bit further North for an 80th birthday party, all very sociable and I hope I'm as with it at that age (or even still here!)

Next a trip down into Norfolk. In hindsight, taking the costal road was a bad idea but i got here eventually, making lots of loud British motorcycle exhaust noises passing through all the small villages.

I'm camped up on a club site near Cromer. It had been my intention to go for a wander about and buy one of the famous dressed crabs for my tea. In relity it is currently my worst nightmare of lots of English people on their summer holidays at the seaside complete with screaming kids, stroppy sweary grannies in wheelchairs and bickering parents. In, photo, out!

I'm going to have to try to avoid the club sites for the duration of the school holidays, they've bumped the prices about 30% and they're getting crowded. I reckon looking for the smaller sites with limited facilities is the way to go. It's currently the antithesis of what I consider to be camping, house sized tent, TV on inside it, 2.4 children, small yappy dog and big fat wifies with sunburn, loud southern accents and leggings! Should have brought a rifle really.

May or may not be more pictures, the damp got into my camera, it still works but the display is on the blink. I've got a disposable film camera for backup.

The above sounds like I'm not having fun, i am. The bike is running well and the more rural A and b roads suit it well, I just need to be more aware of my choices of campsite. I should really have known what to expect staying somewhere with 150 pitches, near a seaside town during the school holidays. If i don't post again, it's because I'm in jail for taking someones tentpeg hammer off them and stuffing it where the sun does not shine... sideways.

Thursday 12 August 2010




Heading North again for a social engagement at the weekend. I'm camped at St. Neots and the air is full of the sound of caravanners industriously hammering tent pegs into corkscrew shapes.

I'm glad i don't have kids, I can hear every detail of the bedtime tantrums!

Three checkpoints today, a village cross, a standng stone marking the meeting point of four shires and a WW2 memorial. The memorial is to an American bomber group and has been very well maintained.

it's been showery on and off today, I've lost count of the number of times I've been wet and dried out again. Seems to be settling down to be a bit clearer now though.

The Enfield is good for starting conversations, people come over and want to know about it. i do feel like hanging an information card off it though. Yes, it's made in India, no, it's not a replica they always made them like this, yes it is only 3 years old, I know, you used to have one just lke this, except it was a BSA 500 twin.




Heading further south, i set up camp in a place called Long Itchington at the green man pub. The landlord was very hospitable and they serve a not at all bad pint of scrumpy cider. i somewhat overachieved on that front!

Got two checkpoints in, a wellhead at Beeby and Tooleys boatyard in Banbury. They've built a huge shopping complex round the boatyard, took a bit of findng!


Fially found somewhere with a 3G signal, lots of pictures to upload.

After camping in Dent, I headed down to Derbyshire again. It's a most frustrating county to get around due to the speed limits all over the place, I recko they must cause more accidents than they prevent because people occasionally get fed up and do some massively stupid overtakes. I'm avoiding the place in future, took ages to get anywhere, even the Lizard pass has a punitive 50mph limit on it, which I exceeded by a good 20mph with the engine switched off!

Been trying to get the exhaust to seal on the enfield, It's been popping and banging a lot. A combination of firegum and bandage over the joint seems to be doing the trick for now. i managed to loose a bit off the decompressor in the long grass, took an hour and a half to find it!

The "stellarsphere" checkpoint has been stolen, presumably melted down for scrap.

Monday 9 August 2010




I'm camping in Dent again tonight. Had a good party at the weekend then popped into my folks to do some servicing on the bike. The centrestand isn't coping too well with the extra weight and is getting lower and lower. I've bodged it up for the meantime with some bits of rubber under the stops to make it sit a bit higher and I've moved the stop so it sits higher when it's up so I have more cornering clearace.

Did the last Scottish checkpoint in Dumfries and Galloway on the way over.

Friday 6 August 2010






Next a stop off in York for a couple of days which let me fly round some more checkpoints. Up to Helmsley then Hunmanby, down into Lincolnshire across the Humber bridge then across to Castleford.

Bit of an epic run and had another puncture on the way, caused as it happens by a washer i lost inside the tyre when i fixed the last one. Puts me a bit ahead of myself so I can go to a mates birthday party up in the Borders then a quick visit to my folks for a visit and to pick up some spares for the bike, do a bit of servicing. I'll catch the last Scottish checkpoint on the way before heading down to Easter/middle England




After Stour, I went down to Boat of Garten, had a much better day for it, then on down to Edinburgh to stay at a mates house.

Got a few social engagements coming up so I realised I needed to do some more checkpoints, get a bit ahead of myself.

I bit the bullet and went down to the Bewcastle then Tynemouth ones, awkward because they are a good bit away from anywhere and not really on the way to anything.

The Tynemouth one was the most annoying yet. Not hard to find, it was an enormous statue, just really painful getting in and out of through Newcastle, especially heading South. Landed up stuck in traffic for ages going through the Tyne tunnel. I dislike tunnels on the motorbike at the best of times.

I also managed to leave my oil filler cap in a carpark in Tynemouth. I'm not going back for it! New one is on order, hopefully to intercept me by post at the weekend.