As the old song goes, “on the road again” and wow I do have a new bike. I took things very, very easy at the beginning, okay I had taken her out for a quick run the weekend before but that was without any luggage and it was not enough to take the molding injection remnants off the tyre, so I had at least a few hundred miles before this new rear tyre had bedded in, one problem being a lot of motorway miles don’t help, you need a few hundred miles of ‘proper’ riding before it is okay.
Because I had a few jobs to do, combined with finishing the working week meant I only got going at just before midday, even so I thought I would still get to Carlisle before 5pm, therefore I was thinking of going a bit further before finding a campsite, some hope!.
After a couple of quick stops, first one to pick up a repeat prescription then on to Nick Robinson Motorcyles to pick up a spare Clutch Cable, I didn’t need it but given the cost it was a good safety measure. The clutch was the only part of the bike I haven’t touched yet and sod’s law says, if I didn’t do something about it, it was the one part to fail.
Even with all this I was on the M4 west bound by 12.30pm and then on to the A34 15 mins later. When I was still on it an hour and half later I was starting to get a little pi**ed off. Especially as I was the one now leading a line of bikes trying to filter through the lines of stationery traffic, and getting more and more hett up by some idiots who, rather than help out by easing out of your way made it their mission in life to block you off.
Can I at this point highlight the fact that The Highway Code recommends motorcycles should ‘filter with care’ wherever possible, eventually I got within 3 miles of the M40 junction and the traffic was completely blocked so I then wove my way for a further mile or so before taking the turning towards Middleton Stoney and then Ardley before getting back on the M40.
I got onto the M40 at junction 7 at about 2.30pm, when I would have normally expected to get on it at about 1.30pm, so that had added an hour to my trip. The M40 wasn’t bad but the traffic was very heavy and a lot of bikes on the road to the Bulldog Bash at Stratford Upon Avon, I was passed by a number of large groups, who all waved their greetings. I decided I wanted to make up some time and took the decision to take the M6 Toll road as it would help me bypass the roadworks on the M6 but before I even got to the M42 there was another hold up on the M42, when we got going again there appeared to be no reason for the queue signs and the speed limits, I can only think it was due to a broken down vehicle, the ‘traffic wombles’ were clearing. These Traffic Officers do a lot of valuable work, but I do think that they are sometimes a bit over the top, closing the road completely to recover a crashed or broken down vehicle from the hard shoulder, something I witnessed a bit later on in the afternoon.
I finally got going again and stopped at the services on the M6 Toll to refuel and get my change sorted for the paybooth, back on the pay booth and on my way, one question I have is why have the people behind the Toll road come up with such a stupid figure for Motorbikes, probably why hardly anyone uses it, £2.70, £2.00, £2.50 would be easier even £3. but £2.70 is an awkward amount to try and hold onto to hand over.
Immediately the M6 and M6 Toll merged the traffic slowed once again and I had to start filtering, at this point it appeared to be purely the weight of traffic and I had to be very careful as the traffic coming on from the M6 all wanted to try and get across to the outside lane , why some people seem to be fixated with getting to the outside lane as fast as possible, pushing their way in is beyond me. After a couple of junctions it eased a bit and we started moving at a reasonable speed.
Not for long however and once I got up to around junction 15/16 the traffic slowed dramatically again, for yet another hold up, this time the road was closed for 4 vehicles on the hard shoulder. Unfortunately I had an incident filtering, when one car didn’t see me and closed the gap which forced me across and I just clipped the wing mirror of a car on my inside. We both pulled over and swapped details, although given the minor scratching and the fact that he had already had another impact with and other car who had broken his glass, meant you could hardly see what damage I had caused and what was there previously. One thing to consider and I do, when I am fully loaded, I am almost the width of a small car, something that others would come to reali8se later in the trip.
Back under way I filtered the short way to the front of the stationery traffic to be met with the sight of the Bling, Bling BMW R1200GS I had come across in New Quay in mid-Wales. I pulled up on the inside of the line of traffic as it appeared the whole carriageway had been closed and there was a Polish car, a private ambulance and a 40 tonne artic on the hard shoulder and inside lane, there appeared to have been no accident and no damage to any of the vehicles and when the ‘traffic wombles’ let us through, there was no debris or any evidence of any accident, so your guess is as good of mine why the whole carriageway was closed and the whole line of traffic got under way and were able to pass the vehicles in question without a problem.
By now I was in South Cheshire and it was well gone 4.00pm so any hope I had harboured of getting to a campsite North of Carlisle had gone out of the window an hour ago. I kept pushing on only to be met with the rush hour traffic around the M56 and M62 junctions then the perennial summer bottle neck around the M55 turn off for Blackpool.
After a refueling stop in the Lake District I pushed on to Carlisle, to arrive there close to 7.00pm in the evening with the idea of finding a cheap bed for the night and getting on the road early and catching up for all that I missed out on due to the delays.
As I pulled into Carlisle I spotted a Premier Inn and thought, ‘that’s for me’ unfortunately after enquiring at the reception desk, they had sold their last room just 20mins before I had arrived, damn traffic. Thankfully the receptionist had been talking with another hotel 10 mins closer to the centre of Carlisle who did have some vacancies so I got over there as fast as I could.
It was the Swallow Hilltop Hotel and was typical of the Swallow chain, or at least typical of the Swallow chain I have become accustomed to, basically very clean and well run but stuck in a 70’s time warp, all the rooms would have been state of the art in the late 70’s early 80’s but have not had a major overhaul since then, so it is dark varnished wood and white or magnolia walls everywhere. The Barman still has a uniform that is also a throw back with Waistcoat and Bow Tie, the beer and the menu also smacks back to those days as well. This time they were catering for a number of couples stopping off on there way to Scotland like myself as well as a Coach Party, that were on there way to The Lakes after a couple of days in Scotland.
By the time I was sorted it was gone 8.00pm so it was a couple of beers in the bar and back to my room, where I ate a cold Pasta salad I had packed ready for the night anyway then into bed.
Take care and as Mick says ‘You don’t stop riding when you get old, you stop when you get fed up with idiot car drivers!.
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