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Greg and Kerrie's travels
Our ride north to Glasgow (for the first visit) took us through Lancaster, Heysham and the Lake's District.
We rode north through Lancaster on our way to Heysham. The streets were blocked off with barriers and there were Police everywhere. There was even people waving flags. We assumed that someone had told the locals we were coming. Then we remembered that the Queen was visiting Lancaster that day to attend a function at the castle. We didn't hang around to see her though as parking was impossible and we didn't know how long we would have to wait.
We decided to ride through Heysham and stop at the Steam Packet Ferry office to see if we could get a ticket for Chris to come to the Isle of Man with us. Chris managed to get a ticket but not on the same day as us, but we are hoping that when we get to the ferry he will be able to change it.
After leaving Heysham with the ticket safely in Chris's pocket we headed for the Lake's District. Greg and I have visited this area a couple of time before but each time it has been pouring rain - our first day in the area was little different. We rode through patchy rain on our way to our hotel but still
managed to enjoy the beautiful countryside that we rode through. Better weather was forecast for our second day - fingers crossed! Our hotel is a little country inn with nothing else around - absolutely delightful. Greg and Chris have played pool both nights while we all sip our pints!
Our second day was spent riding around the Lakes District. We followed the coast south from our hotel through Workington, Whitehaven and St Bees. The fields beside us were criss-crossed with dry stone walls keeping the sheep where they were supposed to be. When there were no stone walls, there were hedges dividing the fields. The coastal villages had narrow streets and buildings with stone walls. When we reached Bowness we parked the bikes by the lake and set off to explore this pretty town by Lake Windermere.
Riding on, we visited Windermere and then Keswick where we wandered through the weekend markets - peaches were £1 for two boxes and the strawberries smelt delicious. Greg was very tempted to buy an Irvin Flying Jacket replica - but where would he carry it?
We then headed back to our hotel via a little village called Gilcrux. One of Greg's work colleagues, Greg Brake, lived there when he played rugby league over here in the UK.
As I write this, we are drinking pints, and watching the FA Cup final between Aston Villa and Arsenal. Football over - Arsenal 4 Aston Villa 0. Prince William was there to present the trophy - he didn't look very happy as he is a Villa supporter!
Our ride to Glasgow started out with us all in our wet weather gear. It was also very cold, so the rain suits also helped us to keep warm. We didn't get any rain for the first hour or so, but after that we
encountered showers and the wind was pushing us around as well - not the most pleasant of riding conditions.
We reached Glasgow about 3pm cold and tired. We are staying with Neil and Isobel Reilly, cousins of our brother in law Michael Reilly. Neil and Isobel are leaving for Australia on June 12th and will be using our house while they are in Aus. We will also be able to use their house while they are away - win all round! We warmed up quickly after a delicious roast dinner and several glasses of wine. Later on we had a visit from Craig and Susan McCall and their children Connor and Leah. Susan is Neil and Isobel's daughter and Craig is also a rider so we had lots to talk about. Craig has just returned from a short riding trip to Germany with his mates and had ridden some of the roads that we were on just a couple of weeks ago.
Our bike was booked in for its first service here in Glasgow so we are staying with Neil and Isobel for 3 nights. Just as well because the weather is miserable - wet and cold. We spent our days shopping and getting to know the lay of the land for our stay. Greg also caught up on his sleep with afternoon naps.
We will leave here on Wednesday and head south again to meet our friends Craig and Marg before going over to the Isle of Man.
We rode north through Lancaster on our way to Heysham. The streets were blocked off with barriers and there were Police everywhere. There was even people waving flags. We assumed that someone had told the locals we were coming. Then we remembered that the Queen was visiting Lancaster that day to attend a function at the castle. We didn't hang around to see her though as parking was impossible and we didn't know how long we would have to wait.
We decided to ride through Heysham and stop at the Steam Packet Ferry office to see if we could get a ticket for Chris to come to the Isle of Man with us. Chris managed to get a ticket but not on the same day as us, but we are hoping that when we get to the ferry he will be able to change it.
After leaving Heysham with the ticket safely in Chris's pocket we headed for the Lake's District. Greg and I have visited this area a couple of time before but each time it has been pouring rain - our first day in the area was little different. We rode through patchy rain on our way to our hotel but still
managed to enjoy the beautiful countryside that we rode through. Better weather was forecast for our second day - fingers crossed! Our hotel is a little country inn with nothing else around - absolutely delightful. Greg and Chris have played pool both nights while we all sip our pints!
Our second day was spent riding around the Lakes District. We followed the coast south from our hotel through Workington, Whitehaven and St Bees. The fields beside us were criss-crossed with dry stone walls keeping the sheep where they were supposed to be. When there were no stone walls, there were hedges dividing the fields. The coastal villages had narrow streets and buildings with stone walls. When we reached Bowness we parked the bikes by the lake and set off to explore this pretty town by Lake Windermere.
Riding on, we visited Windermere and then Keswick where we wandered through the weekend markets - peaches were £1 for two boxes and the strawberries smelt delicious. Greg was very tempted to buy an Irvin Flying Jacket replica - but where would he carry it?
We then headed back to our hotel via a little village called Gilcrux. One of Greg's work colleagues, Greg Brake, lived there when he played rugby league over here in the UK.
As I write this, we are drinking pints, and watching the FA Cup final between Aston Villa and Arsenal. Football over - Arsenal 4 Aston Villa 0. Prince William was there to present the trophy - he didn't look very happy as he is a Villa supporter!
Our ride to Glasgow started out with us all in our wet weather gear. It was also very cold, so the rain suits also helped us to keep warm. We didn't get any rain for the first hour or so, but after that we
encountered showers and the wind was pushing us around as well - not the most pleasant of riding conditions.
We reached Glasgow about 3pm cold and tired. We are staying with Neil and Isobel Reilly, cousins of our brother in law Michael Reilly. Neil and Isobel are leaving for Australia on June 12th and will be using our house while they are in Aus. We will also be able to use their house while they are away - win all round! We warmed up quickly after a delicious roast dinner and several glasses of wine. Later on we had a visit from Craig and Susan McCall and their children Connor and Leah. Susan is Neil and Isobel's daughter and Craig is also a rider so we had lots to talk about. Craig has just returned from a short riding trip to Germany with his mates and had ridden some of the roads that we were on just a couple of weeks ago.
Our bike was booked in for its first service here in Glasgow so we are staying with Neil and Isobel for 3 nights. Just as well because the weather is miserable - wet and cold. We spent our days shopping and getting to know the lay of the land for our stay. Greg also caught up on his sleep with afternoon naps.
We will leave here on Wednesday and head south again to meet our friends Craig and Marg before going over to the Isle of Man.
- comments
sandra2015 Greetings from Treviso where it's sunny and blue skies. Saying weather prayers for you, just read about the big storm hitting IOM, let's hope it calms down and the sun comes out.
Stacey Let's hope the weather is warmer in a couple of weeks when we all arrive!!