A Jaunt to Somerset

Five of us decided to head to Somerset for a long weekend, leaving on the Friday and coming back the Monday. It wasn’t one of our early, early starts but it was early. We met at the services at London Colney and got onto the M25. As it was early traffic was okay, not brilliant because it never is, but it was okay.

We then joined the M5 and headed towards Riders of Bridgwater which is a Harley Davidson and Ducati dealership. The showroom is spread over two floors and has a myriad of bikes to look at as well as clothing and accessories and best of all it has a cafe. We had a leisurely cooked breakfast with copious amounts of coffee and a wonder around. A really good place for a pit stop.

We carried on towards Roadwater in Somerset which was where our cottage was. We had to meet the owner of the cottage at their house and then we were to follow him to the cottage. Simple.

Um… no … we got to the town where the owner lived and I’m not sure what happened but we got split up, two went one way, two went another and the other I’m not where he ended up. I was with Stephen and we followed his sat nav and found the owner’s house which was, to be honest, very remote. I stayed at the house and Stephen rode off to find the others. A short while later Graham appeared. I’m not sure where John and Giles had gone but it must have been another ¾ of an hour before they appeared with Stephen. Phew!

After a chat with the owner he hopped in his car and said to follow him to the cottage which was “just down the road”. Well, we were riding for a good twenty minutes and we ended up down this back country lane which led to our cottage. There was a kind of parking space or probably better description is parking area with the odd bit of concrete but it was big enough for all our bikes and tucked behind a hedge which was the main thing.

I kid you not, we followed the owner down this footpath, over a wooden bridge and up a set of steps and finally reached our cottage. It was remote to say the least. We put the kettle on and settled in.

After a bit of R&R we got back on the bikes to explore the area. Literally 100 yards down the lane there was a pub. Nothing else, just a pub. We stopped to check it served food, it’s opening times and booked a table. Dinner was sorted.

We carried on and had a ride around stopping on the way back via a supermarket to get supplies and beer. We found a much better route to the cottage too and had now got our bearings.

Come early evening we walked down to the pub we had spied earlier, The Valiant Soldier Inn. We were not disappointed, the food was amazing and I could see us coming back for the next two nights.

The following morning we set off after breakfast to Lynmouth. I say set off, we got as far as the bikes and Stephen realised he had left his sat nav turned on on the bike. The battery was flat. After a bump start we were off.

We went to Lynmouth via Porlock Hill. Porlock Hill is west of Porlock, Somerset. And is part of the A39, connecting Porlock to Lynmouth and Barnstaple in Devon and is the steepest A-road in the UK, approaching 1 in 4 in places and takes you up 1,300ft in less than two miles with many hairpin bends. I am not a fan of hairpin bends but we made it, some faster than others!

We arrived in Lynmouth and parked up. Lynmouth is very pretty and straddles the West Lyn and East Lyn rivers in a gorge 700 feet below Lynton and the two villages are connected by the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway which works two cable-connected cars by gravity using water tanks. Very impressive to look at and watch in motion.

In 1952 a tropical storm hit Exmoor which resulted in a dam giving way in the upper West Lyn valley sending a huge wave of water down the river resulting in over 100 buildings being destroyed or seriously damaged along with 28 of the 31 bridges and 38 cars were washed out to sea. The village had to be rebuilt which included diverting the river around the village. A very interesting village to visit.

We found a lovely cafe for lunch and best of all this most amazing fudge shop. I bought some fudge with the intention of taking it home but upon tasting it realised it was probably not going last the rest of the day.

After lunch we headed out of Lynmouth for a ride following the coast road. We came across a cafe in a tiny village and stopped for a cuppa and some cake – well it would be ride not too :-)

After getting back to the cottage and having some R&R and showers, we headed off down the lane to find the pub. It was nice to be able to walk to dinner which meant we could have a drink or two before staggering back.

The following morning, we headed to Dunster which is a beautiful village sitting on the north eastern fringes of Exmoor National Park, Nr Minehead. There are lots of quintessential shops and beautiful buildings and, most importantly, cafes serving home cooked food including cake. Perfect.

The village is dominated by Dunster Castle, a Norman fortress later transformed into a Victorian country house by the Luttrell family, who have held the manor of Dunster for over 600 years, though it is now operated by the National Trust. Well worth a visit.

After lunch we hopped back onto the bikes and decided to explore more of the National Park. It really is a beautiful place to visit, it was just a shame that we were heading off the following morning as there was so much more to explore. Definitely on the places to go back to list, hopefully next time for longer.

We headed down to the pub for our final evening. We couldn’t believe how busy this pub was bearing in mind there was nothing around it. A really good find.

After breakfast the following morning, we packed up and headed off for our journey home. We stopped at the local petrol station which was on an industrial estate to fuel up and spied a motorbike garage in one of the units.

We rode over to check it out and found that it was a motorbike repair shop which imported Japanese bikes. There were two floors to this unit and the top floor was jam packed with bikes. We were ooing and ahhing for ages over which bikes we would happily take home with us. The owner was a really interesting chap and happy to chat with us and tell us about the bikes.

After a couple of hours we finally set off for home stopping for lunch on the way.

A great weekend away, just not long enough as always. Thanks guys :-)

BK

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Ten things you didn't know you wanted to know about .... "The Blade" Michael Rutter

I met Michael at this year's Bike Show @ the Excel and he very kindly answered some questions for me. 

Michael is known as "The Blade" and currently races in the National Superstock 1000 Championship aboard a BMW S1000RR. He has a reputation for being at his best in wet conditions and his favourite circuit is Oulton Park. Michael has won 29 British Superbike Championship races with the most recent being at Silverstone in 2010, and finished as series runner-up twice. He has also contested MotoGP and World Superbike Championship.

1. What is the best feeling about being on a motorbike?

The freedom and the speed.

2. What is the one thing people would never know about you just by looking at you?

Oh blimey, I don’t know!

3. What was your most embarrassing moment on a motorbike?

When I was going to take some newcomers out on the Classic TT and I forgot my gloves.

4. What is the worst thing your mum caught you doing as a kid?

Nothing. [Editor’s note: yeah, right!!!!!!!!!!]

5. Do you have a lucky thing/ritual before the start of a race?

No, not really although if it was a number I didn’t like, I wouldn’t have it.

6. What was the first motorbike you owned?

A TS50X Suzuki.

7. What is your favourite stretch of road to ride on (not including a race track)?

The road from Bridgnorth to Stour Bridge, I run all my bikes in on that road.

8. If you hadn’t been a racer, what would you have been?

A mechanic.

9. Would you ride pillion? If so, who with?

No, never.

10. If you got arrested, what would your friends and family assume you had done?

Definitely for speeding!

BK

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Germany Part 2 – Great Roads, Great Biking, Great Mates

The second half of our holiday started with a drizzly to start to the morning so we just headed into the town to explore locally with the idea if it got worse we wouldn’t have far to get back or if it dried up we could go for a ride. In Triberg itself, are Triberg Falls which is one of the highest waterfalls in Germany with a descent of 163m and is a landmark in the Black Forest region. We decided to park at the top and walk down. Now, it was very pretty, I can’t deny that but the further we walked down I just kept thinking to myself we’ve got to walk back up to the top!

We eventually reached the bottom (yes the bottom! Oooh ‘eck the walk back up was going to take some doing) and got ourselves a well earned coffee and cake (I reasoned to myself that I definitely needed cake as I needed the energy boost to get back up the hill :-) ) 









We had a wonder round Triberg which is famous for it’s cuckoo clocks and then started the ascent back up the waterfall! OMG it was such a loooong way up. By the time we were half way up I had lost my love for how pretty it all was and by the time we got to the top I never wanted to see another waterfall again!!!

After recovering for a while and catching our breath, the drizzle had dried up so we hopped back on the bikes and headed off. We got to a ‘T’ junction and was not sure which way to go as we were not heading anywhere in particular so plumped for turning right. Good decision. 


Another fantastic winding road which lead down to Haslach which is a really picturesque village with many old historic buildings. Having wondered round the buildings and village for a while we found a restaurant and sat outside in the sun to have a late lunch. I love this biking lark.

The following morning was raining so we headed to a Rodelbahn toboggan run in Gutach to see if it was as good as it looked in the pics. If you’re a kid or a non motorbike person who isn’t used to getting their adrenaline kicks from riding a bike then it was good but for me, personally, I would have liked it to have been a lot longer and a lot faster but then I have always been a bit of an adrenaline junkie. Worth checking out though if you’re ever in the area.


The rain was getting heavier by lunchtime so we decided to head back to the apartment and walk (yes, I know!) into the town following a footpath down the mountain. We found a pub, had a long leisurely lunch (that walk had made us build up an appetite) and had a beer or two and watched some football that was on the TV. Very late afternoon we headed back stopping at the supermarket on the way for supplies. It was definitely a lot further going back, I am sure of it.

The following day the sun was shining so we were up, dressed and ready to head off by nine as we wanted to make up for lost riding time the day before. We decided to head for Meersburg which was some 115km away. We followed the B500 which we’d read before we came was ‘the road’ to check out if we were this way. It was good, don’t get me wrong, long fast sweeping bends, great road surface, not many cars etc. but I’ve got to say, some of the other roads we’d stumbled across earlier in the week were just as good, if not better. Still, it would have been rude not to have checked it out :-)

In Meersburg we found this pub which had a Harley Davidson engine as beer pumps and sat in a prominent position on the bar so you could see it up close. I thought it was really cool but then I like old engine or garage parts turned into something like that, for example, the coffee table in my lounge is a Rover V8 engine that I blew up racing many years ago and one of my lamps is an old blow torch.

On the way back we got back onto my now favourite road, the B33, and went into Elzach for an ice cream/coffee stop. I figured I needed to come here quite a few more times in order to give a full and informed review of the ice cream menu – I could see a change of career coming on, official ice cream tester – mmmmm, I could definitely handle that :-)

I couldn’t believe it, today was our last day before heading back to France. The week had flown by, I was not ready to go back home yet. The guys asked where I would like to go on the last day and I said I really wanted to ride up the B33 and eat lots of ice cream. So we did. I better point out here that this road is some 30/35km long and I think we went up and down it three times (with an ice cream stop or two in between) before heading back to the apartment the really, really long way round.

After packing and tidying up, we lit the fire pit and fired up the BBQ for our last evening. I was really going to miss this, such a relaxed chilled way to spend the evening after riding all day. Great mates, great roads, great holiday.

We set off early next morning and headed for Courtisols which was where our overnight stay was in France. The sat nav took us through Strasbourg. OMG how can five, reasonably intelligent, adults get so totally and utterly lost in one place. We ended up going through the middle of town three times. 

We pulled over, counted to ten, and had a look at the map (when I say we, I mean the guys did, I don’t have a sat nav, I just follow. I have complete and utter faith that at least one of them will get me to where I need to be – and they do).

We headed back out of the town, John was in front, followed by Stephen, me, Giles and Graham. Well, John went left on the motorway and Stephen went right (we later found out Stephen’s sat nav was telling him right onto the motorway). I’m like, what the heck!!! Which way do I go???? I went right, as did the other guys and we stopped at the next petrol station and waited for John to find us. He eventually did after several phone calls. We carried back on. I am never, ever going to Strasbourg again. That was too stressful!

We made it to Courtisols in one group and were definitely in need of a beer after that ride. Showers, chill and dinner.

We went for a walk around Cortisols to find somewhere for dinner. There was one place open, a pizzeria. Now hindsight is a wonderful thing. If you’re in a pizzeria, assume the pizzas are their speciality and go for pizza. We however, went for spaghetti bolognese. Bad choice. 

It was literally mince and onion on a bed of pasta. No sauce, no seasoning, no other veggies. Just mince and onion. As there was nowhere else to eat and we were hungry we ate it. Lesson learnt.

Another early start after a great breakfast heading towards the tunnel. We were making good time until Graham (up front) came off the motorway a junction too early and could we get back on? No. There were roadworks which meant we couldn’t get back on. In the end we ended up going on a detour eventually getting back onto the motorway. We made it to the tunnel but had just missed our train. We got on the next one though so it wasn’t too bad.

A fabulous holiday. I would never have said Germany was a holiday destination but it was a really interesting and scenic place to visit and the roads for biking were fantastic. Definitely on my ‘got to go back to’ list.

Until next time ………….

BK

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Germany Part 1 – Great Roads, Great Biking, Great Mates

Oooo it’s an early start – 4 o’clock! That literally is the middle of the night! I was awake before the alarm went off though, excited to be going away on the bike. There were five of us heading to Germany for 8 days including an overnight stay in France on the way down and again on the way back.

We met at a lay by just off the M25 at stupid o’clock in the morning and headed towards the tunnel. I know we started off on the M25 and, if I recall, we came off there at some point and joined another motorway, they pretty much all look the same. It’s not much fun riding on a motorway and we normally avoid them if we can but when you have miles to munch and a train to catch, needs must.

Having made good time, we stopped at a petrol station about five miles from the tunnel to fill our tanks up so we could get a few miles under our belts in France before having to stop and fill up. We also managed a quick coffee and headed for the tunnel. Having checked in and gone through passport control, we queued in readiness to get on the train.

Now for those of you who have gone on the tunnel before, for me anyway, it is always a touch and go moment actually riding onto the train as you have to ride at an angle onto the train and it is, I’m guessing, aluminium and therefore slippery. I am always fearful that I am going to make a complete ass of myself and come off the bike. Phew! This time I made it on okay and kept my dignity.

Once we got off the other side we headed towards Verdun which was where our overnight stop was. Now we normally have our fuel stops when the person with the smallest tank needs filling up. 

Stephen’s bike can go a maximum of 120 miles but to err on the side of caution he likes to fill up around 100 miles just in case there’s no petrol stations for a few miles. We find when touring that this works really well because after 100 miles your bottom is definitely in need of a pit stop. 

We’re not in any particular rush to get to where we’re going so a nice steady ride with plenty of coffee (and pee) stops is perfect.

We made good time and arrived at our hotel in Verdun about 4 ‘ish which allowed us time to shower and have a bit of R&R before heading off for a walk to find somewhere for dinner. Verdun is a lovely village, very picturesque. We stumbled across a lovely little restaurant with a seating area out the back in a lovely garden. Perfect.

My French, it would appear, definitely needs working on as I asked what was in the vegetarian lasagne (they didn’t have the meat version) and I thought I understood what the lady said. It would seem I did not. I should explain at this point that I cannot eat fish. Any type. Fish doesn’t like me. Well you can guess, the vegetarian lasagne arrived and it had salmon in it. Salmon! Who puts any type of fish in a vegetarian lasagne. Needless to say I could not eat it and ordered a pizza which seemed the safest option. John, on the other hand, was quite pleased as he ended up with two dinners!

After a hearty brekkie the following morning, we set off heading for Triberg in the Black Forest where we had rented an apartment for a week. Now the scenery in France is lovely (from what you can see of it whilst riding and concentrating on the road ahead) but when we crossed the Rhine into Germany, the scenery changed completely and was really beautiful. 

The style of the houses were different and most of them were impeccably kept – very neat outside and nicely painted and there were lots of little religious shrines along the roads which I couldn’t remember seeing any of in France.

After several pit stops and a very long lunch, we arrived in Triberg late afternoon and stopped at a supermarket for supplies and most importantly, dinner and beer for that evening. We followed the sat nav to our apartment which was, literally, half way up a mountain in the middle of nowhere. We followed a long winding road higher and higher, turned off onto a dirt track and arrived at our apartment. Wow! The views were stunning and it was so quiet and peaceful. We were greeted by the owner and shown to our apartment. R&R followed by showers followed by beer. Ahhh perfect.

After chilling for a while, we went outside and got the BBQ going, lit the fire pit and settled in for an evening of eating and a few beers. Perfect end to a long day of riding.

The following morning was relaxed with a leisurely breakfast and a chat about where and what we fancied doing that day and ideas of what we fancied doing over the few days that we were there. We don’t tend to plan too much beforehand as it very much depends on the weather but we check out on the internet before we go places to visit etc. so we have a general idea and options for both wet weather and riding weather. 

I know everyone has their own ideas of what they want to do on their holidays and how much riding they consider as ‘doable’ and luckily we are a like minded bunch and it works really well. When you find great mates that you can go on holiday with, it’s brilliant.

It is, at the end of the day, supposed to be a holiday and we don’t want to be covering hundreds of miles each day and getting back to the apartment knackered. We like to ride somewhere, have a walk around and a coffee, ride somewhere, have a walk around and lunch, ride somewhere, have a walk around coffee – you can see where I’m going with this. If there is anywhere specific one of us wants to go, then we go. For us as a group, it’s perfect.

We didn’t get out ‘til late morning the first day so we headed to Freiburg, which was only about 60km away to find somewhere for lunch. After lunch and a walk around we headed off for a ride, nowhere in particular, we came off the B294 and onto the B33 to see where we ended up. 

As it turned out the B33 was a brilliant road with lovely sweeping bends and a pretty much near perfect road surface which ended up in this little village called Elzach which had an amazing ice cream/coffee shop. I wondered if we would be able to come via this place every day. I had a feeling my leathers were going to be a lot tighter on me by the time I went home after this holiday!

We stopped at the supermarket on our way back for dinner and beer and set about the BBQ upon our return. Sitting round the fire pit late into the evening eating, drinking and chatting was fast becoming a favourite way to end the day for me.

The following day we headed to Lake Constance, some 120km away. Wow, what a beautiful place. We found a cafe overlooking the lake and watched the world go by for a while. A steam train pulled into the nearby station and a couple of the guys went off to have a look at it more closely. I, meanwhile, considered my view from the cafe perfectly adequate and ordered another coffee.

Back on the bikes, we followed the road around the lake and stopped at Hagnau am Bodensee where John decided he would go for a swim in the lake. He had come prepared with a towel and budgie smugglers! I was quite content with just removing my jacket and sitting on the bank watching. Certainly no wet feet (or anything else) for me.

In Part 2 next week follow the rest of the trip where we visited Triberg Falls, Rodelbahn toboggan run and found a Harley Davidson engine being used as
beer pump in a bar ……….

BK

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