Saturday 8 Oct 16: Shepton Mallet to Six Hills Cafe and return (Total: 324miles)
Thanks to one of newest K100 forum members,
David Nimrod, a meet was set for the Six Hills Cafe near Leicester at 1000 on Saturday 8 Oct 16. The weather forecast was OK for Autumn too: 14 deg C, cloudy and dry. The actual weather was similar, but with a minor light showers and some blinding low sun at times.
I set off from home at 06:30 on dry roads, but encountered a sprinkle of rain on the way up towards Bristol. Fortunately, the rain didn't amount to anything and the road stayed mostly dry. My chosen route outbound was to follow the motorways - not the most exciting of roads to ride, but fast and fairly direct. Gretel purred effortless up the M32, M4, M5, M42, M6, M69 and a short spell on the M1. Traffic was light and I had loads of time, so mostly stuck at a steady 70mph and ate up the miles. A couple of sections of the M5 were blighted by several miles of road works, with the attendant "average speed" cameras standing guardian at the roadside to enforce the 50mph speed limit. No great drama - sitting bang on 50mph using the GPS to give me an accurate digital speed indication, it's amazing how many tin boxes you still get to pass. Unlike fixed individual speed cameras (where people speed up to them, brake heavily, then accelerate away from them again), those damn average speed ones are a pretty effective deterrent - you just can't escape them as they track your progress and determine how fast you are continuously travelling.
I made good time and by 09:00 I was already passing Leicester and was going to get to the meet far too early, so I added the nearest Tesco fuel station to my GPS route and diverted off the A46 to refill the tank and have a bit of a leg stretch. Fuel tank full, bladder empty, I hit the road again and it didn't take long to get to the Six Hills Cafe. Situated next to a Shell service station on the northbound carriageway, and well signposted, the cafe was pretty easy to find. The only mistake I made (and watched most other riders make too), was pulling off into the service station rather than the cafe turn immediately after it. Not a great problem and better than assuming the cafe had its own turn and then finding that I should have turned into the servo and then having to ride several miles past the cafe to the next turning, then heading several miles back south again and then, finally trying to get it right on the second pass.
When I arrived,
David Nimrod and his shiny looking K1100LT was already there with several members of his GS forum - several more GS members arrived along with K100 forum member
Martin@swad on his claret coloured K75RT. As we stood talking,
Sidecar Paul soon rolled up on his white K100RS and Martello Sidecar. Our adopted parking area at the front of the cafe soon started to get quite busy...at one point there were 15 assorted bikes squeezed onto the rough bit of tarmac.
...soon afterwards,
K100LT Notts turned up on his dark blue LT - he had detoured from his route with his family up to the Lake District to join us. Great effort - especially as the meet was in the wrong direction!
After some good healthy bike talk outside, it was time for to try one of the fabled "No.2 breakfast"s and a cup of coffee. It was only a small cafe, but clearly a popular place and reasonably priced too. I ordered my breakfast (actually No.2 breakfast was by No.2 breakfast, as I had my bowl of krispies before I left home...I can't ride on an empty stomach)! I sat talking with SCP and David - I drank my coffee and waited for my breakfast to arrive. It didn't. I waited and
Snod Blatter arrived on his K100RS, complete with "nailed on" Hagon shock. Snodders ordered and was served his breakfast. I still waited for mine! I asked the waitress if she had forgotten me but was assured that my breakfast was still cooking. Eventually, driven by hunger, I enquired again...the penny then dropped with the waitress - she had given my breakfast to Snodders! He kindly offered me the last morsel of fried bread.... thanks mate! Finally, I did actually get my breakfast and it was good!
Suitably sustained, it was time to get back outside again and talk to the late arrivals -
Audibob and partner arrived on their midnight blue K100LT and
NigelT, on his blue & white K100RS, along with his buddy Aiden pitched up and found a space to park. By this time, all the GS forum guys had thinned out (I don't think we had offended them!), so the K bikes became dominant. Unfortunately,
Martin@swad had also already departed, so we we missing one K bike from the line up. David set about re-arranging the K bikes into some semblance of a line up and, as
NigelT already mentioned, we braved life and limb standing in the middle of a busy dual carriageway to take a few photos of the occasion. OK, so it wasn't that brave - there was a double layer of armco crash barrier and lane-width section of central reservation (median) separating the both and southbound traffic lanes.
Bikes Left to Right: Born Again Eccentric, David Nimrod, AudiBob, Sidecar Paul, Snod Blatter, K100LT Notts & NigelT...Martin@swad(missing!)
People Left to Right:Sidecar Paul, Audibob, Snod Blatter, NigelT & K100LT Notts. (BAE and David Nimrod too busy taking pics to feature in person)!
Audibob, SidecarPaul, Snod Blatter, K100LT Notts & David Nimrod.
Photos done, breakfasts troughed, coffee swilled, bikes prodded, poked and compared, it was time to go back whence we came. The assembled gathering vowed to meet again - some even threatening to come down my way and see what the South West has to offer. This could become a regular event....might even be able to combine with some camping (probably wait for next spring/summer for that though). Maybe we could encourage some of the Irish Eccentrics to venture over...?
As most bikes pulled away, Sidecar Paul and I tried the cafe for a last cuppa... but found that they had already closed the kitchen (an hour early!). I guess that they had made their money for the day and were off to enjoy the spoils! Oh well.
So, back on the bike and "home" punched into the GPS. It was just after 13:00 and I didn't want to plug straight back down the motorways, so I selected "curvy route" navigation mode. This actually took me on a more direct route home - 18 miles shorter than the "fastest route" using the motorways, but of course it was a much slower route as it led me through towns and cities and through countless traffic lights and round countless roundabouts. I had to go northbound to the first junction to be able to get myself onto the southbound carriageway and, having done so, through the vegetation on the central reservation I caught a glimpse of
Audibob heading home in the opposite direction - I gave a cheery wave. He clearly saw me, but too late to wave back!
Traffic in the towns and cities was heavy - as expected for a Saturday afternoon (after all - only 77 shopping days until Christmas!!), but out of town, it was mostly flowing well and I encountered few delays, Gretel smoothly picking off the odd crocodile of cars, buses and trucks easily whenever the overtaking opportunity presented itself.
After a very pleasant run, Gretel cruised back into her garage at 17:30. A grand day out.
Eight K100 forum members and their various K variants had made it to the meet - possibly a UK mainland record!!
All in all a good ride out and, as others have said, really great to put some faces and personalities to some familiar names.
Bring it on.
K Klan ~ Midlands Meet Up No. 1 Sun Sep 25, 2016 8:24 am
