3 Days to the Borders and Back

[soofsayer]

Here's one I made in 2015. Thought you guys might enjoy it whilst looking forward to spring...


The trip was over 3 days. Day 1 - Getting from Leeds to Northumberland.


As my partner in crime was making his way up from the south (about 5 hours riding with breaks) he didn?t get to me in Yorkshire until 3pm that afternoon. That limited the route options so the long way round was out of the question. With a coffee in hand we perused the beasts we had selected for our endeavour:







As we didn?t have much time it was a case of taking the fast, and boring A19 road up to Newcastle before enjoying the last hour of the ride along the east coast scenic route which is lots of twisties, before arriving in Beadnell.


After dropping our gear off at the house we headed out for a quick tour of the local sights in Bamburgh before the night fell. Bamburgh was the ancient capital of the kingdom of Northumbria, the castle is magnificent.








Then back to the house and the steeds were put to bed.




A pub supper at the Beadnell Towers with a few jars of Guinness finished the day of nicely.


Day 2 ? Beadnell to Moffat and back via Holy Island.


This was going to be a day of serious riding. The roads across to Kelso, Selkirk and then Moffat are, in my opinion, worthy of legendary biker status. Great surfaces most of the time, sweeping bends, straights, great views, not much traffic.





After a hearty breakfast at the Belford Farm Shop and Caf? we got going.
First stops was along the shores of St Mary?s Loch.

 

[soofsayer]

Re: 3 Days to the Borders and Back - Pt 2







A few miles on and the road started to descend to Moffat. Into the valley?
















We stopped in Moffat for fuel and water, and decided to crack on with our route, north on the 701 heading towards Edinburgh.



At Broughton we found a fantastic family run caf? / restaurant for a late lunch, highly recommended for the discerning palette.

 

[soofsayer]

Re: 3 Days to the Borders and Back - Pt 3

Holy Island is the site of Lindisfarne, an ancient Monastery pillaged by the Vikings a long time ago, Wikipedia will know more about it than me. All I know is that the road to the Island is only passable at low tide, and the idea of sand and salt water getting near my beloved HP4 was not inspiring me. To finish things off, as we got close, the rain started, the wind picked up and dusk was upon us. Still, when in Rome etc?


Here we were at the start of the causeway. Great.














We rode across and made our way to a viewing point to see the monastery. There was no way I was walking over to it in the downpour that was upon us, my mood was a black as the sky. A picture from afar was as good as it was going to get before heading back to the house and hosing the bikes down.




Day 3 ? Beadnell to Leeds via Rothbury, Hexham, Alston & Hawes.





Our last day riding together on this trip. Today was going to be a real mix of roads, some brilliantly fast and sweeping, some very technical and difficult. Switchbacks, sheep, no road markings, altitude, all going to be playing their part in making it a great day to be on a bike.


Breakfast was at Barter Books in Alnwick. A fascinating place that everyone should at least visit if they are in the area, along with Alnwick Gardens and Alnwick Castle (the latter 2 we had no time for).

Out of Alnwick heading towards Rothbury is Alnwick Moor, the views are magical.







A lot more riding and we were through Alston and on the magnificent B6277 to Middleton. A real tricky road with no road markings in places. No trees or hedges for reference points, very easy to get it very wrong and end up off road down a ravine. I love this road, if you know it well, its fast.

 

[soofsayer]

Re: 3 Days to the Borders and Back - Pt 4



At Middleton-in-Teesdale we had a stop for a drink and something to eat.








Then the B6276 to Brough and on towards Hawes. I took a short cut cross country at Kirkby Stephen to save a bit of time as the day was getting ahead of us. A beautiful part of Yorkshire.















A little later we arrived in Hawes and went for refreshments and some retail therapy at the Wensleydale Creamery. I come up here often for a day ride to get some cheese and enjoy the roads.

 

[soofsayer]

Re: 3 Days to the Borders and Back - Pt 5

From there we went down to see the Ribblehead Viaduct in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.









Midway home from there outside Harrogate, a few more countryside pictures.








The last picture before the next adventure!




Around 700 miles in 3 days.

 

[alex]

Whetted my appetite for the June 21st trip! Don't have roads like this down south

 

[soofsayer]

Whetted my appetite for the June 21st trip! Don't have roads like this down south

Oh yeah! You'll be on those same roads Alex, and not much traffic up there as you can see on the pics.

 

[roadrunner]

Good pictures soofsayer. We (myself and a group of mates) do this trip every year. We stay at a well known hotel in Moffat, run by a South African family of keen bikers themselves. Your pictures brought it all back to me. I think we stop for tea and cakes at the same little cafe in Broughton. If I'm not mistaken the owners emigrated from Hull (Yorkshire) a few years ago and one of our group went to school with the husband. We also stop at the same cafe in Middleton-in- Teesdale on the way home. We stay for five nights in Moffat and travel all around the borders. The roads are great and I never get fed up traveling them. We are going again this year but haven't chosen the date yet. I must say it is a small world isn't it.......

 

[soofsayer]

Hi RR - small world indeed. . Thanks for the comments.

It is becoming a bit of a pilgrimage now . I found the place in broughton the last time I went up as I just didn't fancy the bustle of Moffat for lunch, it was really good and I plan on going again the next time I am there.

A couple of us are at said hotel in June - there is a thread going, with a few more forum members joining up for the day.

 

[DL84]

exellent pics and write up soof ,can't wait for spring and the meet later in the summer. I hate winter.

 

[roadrunner]

yes soof, I guessed you may be staying in that hotel. After reading the other thread you mentioned, I purposely didn't name it and gave it a bit of a cryptic description so only those in the know.........would know, if you know what I mean:confusion:

I really would like to meet up with you guys in June but I'm not sure when we are going this year. It's a bit difficult organizing a trip away for several people, some, like me retired, but others working. But who knows, we may be there when you are, I certainly hope so. The only problem is I wouldn't be on the Beemer, but my Yamaha FZ1N, as it's the bike I do my touring on:shadow:

 

[KRL]

Great write up

 

[Marzy]

Fantastic photo's and loved the read..

 

[Loupe]

I enjoyed the write up and the pics, thanks Soof.
Every time I see an HP4 I think that I should have bought one instead of mine.
Always wanting more lol nthego: