And we’re off! Well, sort of. Bellagios, Street Triples and a long way from Norfolk
Safely back in Glasgow, some 11 hours after leaving Dereham, deep in the Norfolk flat-beer zone (Woodforde’s Wherry, absolutely delicious). I stayed with the Allansons last night, Rob collecting me from Norwich airport after an astonishingly quick (50 minutes) flight from Aberdeen. Quicker than the one to Shetland.
This morning, it was off to Dave Wicks Motorcycles, where my much-anticipated Moto Guzzi Bellagio was waiting. A factory demonstrator that had been used mostly for posing models on (it’s Italian), it is the most beautiful motorcycle in the known universe, with the possible exception of the Moto Guzzi 1100 Sport. I got an amazing deal on it, back when the Barnard Challenge was a Guzzi-only zone. Only for us to switch to Triumph for insurance purposes. Oh well.
I had also neglected to tell my wife about said purchase (fully tax-writeable-offable, holds its value, rare, cheap, honest) but then had to phone her to get some insurance details. I took my verbal punishment like a man. A man who had already signed the registration document.
Around 10.30, Rob, aboard his trusty Hyosung, and I headed off for Hinckley in Leicestershire to collect the official Barnard bikes, Triumph Street Triples. All Norfolk seemed to be on the roads, which in this neck of the flatlands are pretty minor. The Guzzi, a wondrous cross between a cruiser and streetfighter, was a revelation: great thumpy sound, sweet gearchange, easy handling, really comfortable. The weather was hot, too. Still, we made it to Hinckley where Paul, the Man Who, had been expecting us yesterday. Oops.
The Hyosung and Bellagio were carefully stored away for future collection, and the Street Triples rolled out. Rob’s a lurid lime green and mine (an R, which stands for Ridiculous) in sober matt grey. With lurid orange lettering. These are not bikes for shrinking violets.
They hold hardly any luggage, but we’d expected that. Each weighs about as much as a mountain bike, only with a jet engine. They are insanely fast (basically stripped-down 675cc Daytonas) and yet, after a while on the motorway, they become quite comfy; they’re surprisingly effective long distance tools.
Unfaired bikes are sore on the wrists, though. By the time Rob peeled off for Manchester to visit his in-laws, I was feeling the handlebar burn. Still, I made it through the filthy weather of the Lake District, left the holiday traffic behind at Penrith and was in Glasgow by 8.30pm. The aroma of various foods was overwhelming ( did you know that on a bike, each motorway service area smells, as you pass, of burnt fat?).
To the Student Pit of Depravity (flat) and then, once dry and luggageless, to a Place of Security And Safety for the Triumph. One theft of a Triumph from outside Mag’s flat is quite enough!
Glasgow now until Monday night.
Hi Tom, How could you be in Dereham and not visit the only English whisky http://www.englishwhisky.co.uk distillery in East Harling,opened by Prince Charles dont you know !! When I come up to Shetalnd later in the year I will bring a bottle with me. I enjoy the show both in Norfolk and in Muckle Roe. Rod.
Rod
July 25, 2010 at 21:26
…Because, Rod, a week on Thursday we’ll be back in Norfolk to do just that, having visited the most northerly Scottish distillery, the most southerly, the most northerly mainland one, plus Bushmills, Midleton (Cork) and Penderyn in Wales! Full details at http://barnardchallenge.org.uk
Tom Morton
July 25, 2010 at 22:37
Re Triumphs of the four-wheeled variety, I saw an amazing crash escape yesterday. Was on the way back from another visit to your old friend Ben Chonzie (from the Turret side this time), and not far north of
Braco there was a sporty red Triumph upsidedown in bushes on a stretch with a lot of sharp corners.
My first thought was that it had happened some time earlier – then realised there were flames. Pulled into a driveway about 50 yards further along, already thinking a mix of grim stuff about dead bodies and
exploding fuel tanks. Started walking back (by which time an amazing number of other cars had pulled in – I was the first but suddenly there were seven or eight), and a man was fire-extinguishing the flames. This turned out to be the driver, who must have crawled out between me first seeing it and pulling in. He was shaken/shocked of course, but otherwise uninjured. Appared to have been driving in bare feet, as he later crawled back in and retrieved his trainers.
Is interesting how often cars in big crashes seem to end up facing the way they came. This was a case in point – he’d been heading north, must have done some combination of taking the corner too fast and
oversteering, because he’d ploughed up the nearside verge – chunks of grass all over the road and also wedged into his wheel-rims. And he’d then somehow both flipped it and spun it. Totally totalled, anyway. Very lucky escape.
Dave Hewitt
July 27, 2010 at 00:13
Hell’s teeth! Bad idea to drive in bare feet. Unless he was Changing his shoes
Tom Morton
July 26, 2010 at 23:18
The other helpers were interesting. A very calm/efficient woman who said “I did this once, too”, then phoned the police. Several tourists – German I think – who were in a sort of mini-convoy (as opposed to a Mini convoy) and who checked everything was OK, mortality-wise, before heading off. And one of those little and rather gruff Scottish blokes of whom there are an enormous number. He dutifully and kindly came over to check, and after hearing/seeing that driver was OK said “Aye”, in a way that suggested sports car + upsidedown = disapproval.
Dave Hewitt
July 26, 2010 at 23:33
The Guzzi on ebay yet dad? Not much point in shipping it up here, after all.
James
July 27, 2010 at 00:13
Just wait. Even the Triumph press guy was impressed
Tom Morton
July 26, 2010 at 23:15