Interesting, and tempting. I could be in the UK and would be just down the road on those dates.

BobT wrote:Interesting, and tempting. I could be in the UK and would be just down the road on those dates.

More than welcome to come along BobT.

Not long now...next weekend and mini KFest at Castle Coombe is looming fast. Really looking forward to it and sounds like we've got a good gang assembling on a mixture of bikes. The chatter on messenger is insane - I think everyone is looking forward to it!

Hopefully Heidi will be back in one piece in time...her righthand fork seal gave up the ghost on Friday. I think it had been on the way out for a while. Luckily, I had a spare set of seals to hand. Unluckily, I rounded out both lower clamp bolts when trying to get the forks off. Luckily, I have a set of Irwin bolt/stud removal sockets and was able to get both bolts out fairly easily. Unluckily, the replacement bolts I ordered on Friday didn't arrive today. 

Still, better that the seal went now rather than next weekend or, worse, during my upcoming Scotland tour.

Ok, so my keyboard has been far too silent these last few months, so its high time to wax lyrical about another fabulous K bike gathering that I had the immense privilege and honour of attending last weekend. Actually, having moved to within spitting distance of work, my mileage has fallen to some pathetically low amount that only a HD rider would be proud of. I really do need to get out and about more and, meets like the mini-KFest, are exactly the right tonic for kicking my carcass into gear!

So, first, a little reminder about what KFest was all about. Following on from the hugely successful KFest at Castle Donnington last May, there was appetite to repeat the performance again this year. Appetite is one thing, but having someone who can be bothered to put in the leg work to making it all happen again, is quite another. Enter stage left - our good buddy Frank (aka franktherat) who once again pulled out all the stops and got a good bunch of us interested in going to the Castle Combe Circuit down here in my neighbouring county of Wiltshire for the "Classic Motorcycle Race Weekend". The idea was simple enough - ride from wherever, set up camp in a suitably sized Air B&B, watch a couple of days of motorcycle racing at the track, lend some moral support to the BSK Speedworks team, have a few beers, a curry and enjoy lashings of good old fashioned KBike chatter with like-minded folk. 

Now, Castle Combe is less that 20 miles from where I live, so how much more perfect a venue could that be for me? Funny old thing though, whilst I have seen the sign to the circuit from the M4 motorway countless times when passing for one reason or another, I had never actually been to the place. That was about to change - albeit with some gentle persuasion from Frank back in late January, as he needed to know numbers for booking the accommodation. So, I committed paid the £55 (a bargain for 4 nights - and that was before I saw the place!) and the £32.49 weekend race ticket. As the days counted down, so the excitement grew...

As per my previous post on the subject, immediately ahead of the weekend, after a short ride back from a blood donor session, I noticed that one of Heidi's fork seals had given out. Fortunately, all new parts required arrived in good time and she was fixed up and raring to go just ahead of the Mini-KFest meet. With Gretel off the road due to lack of annual MoT (the MoT station had rung me on the morning that she was due in for her test and told me that they had sacked their tester!), I really didn't want to be going in the car - but better by car than not going at all. However, I haven't even got a name for the car - that's how un-special it is. I hadn't been the only one to have bike problems that week - the Messenger chatter had been busy with talk of rear seal (Frank), brake warning light (Andrew) and temperature warning (Patrick) issues. Both Frank and Andrew had come on different bikes to those they originally planned on bringing but Patrick was enroute from Belgium and nursing her along.

Friday 05 Apr 19: Home to St Ediths Marsh: (39miles - should have been 33miles but I got some bonus miles trying to find the place!)


Finally, the weekend and arrived and after whiling away half day at work, I legged it home and rolled Heidi out of the garage and loaded up her panniers with the essentials for the event...beer, single malt whisky, a couple of bags of snacks, a large jar of olives and a few clothes. By 15:00, I was on the road but, initially, heading in the wrong direction as I needed to fill the tank with fuel from the local supermarket. 

The weather forecast had been right - the cold and rain of the week had indeed given way to sunny, cloudy but cool conditions and the roads were dry. Of course, travelling at that time on a Friday is never great and the going was slow and sluggish at first. I would normally opt for taking a more scenic route to my destination, but sometimes, the motorway is the only sensible way to avoid the nose-to-tail commuter traffic that would be progressively jamming up the nearby towns and cities for the next few hours. It was the right choice, at least for me going Eastbound as I noted, with grim satisfaction, that the Westbound carriageways were choked with stationary traffic. With the GPS set to "fastest route", I made good progress along the M4 until turning off at Stanton St Quintin and heading southward towards Chippenham. The motorway part of the ride was neither eventful nor memorable, but it felt good to be out on the bike and my mood was high.

All was going well until the GPS announced "You have arrived at your destination". A dilapidated agricultural sales place and an isolated house were the only buildings near me. I then remembered that I hadn't been able to put the actual house number (44) into the GPS as it had only allowed me to dial up number 43 - foolishly, I had assumed that no. 43 and 44 would be next door (or across the road) from each other - this was clearly not the case! Unperturbed, I rode on slowly, but became increasingly perplexed as the next house was number 55 & 57. On the other side of the road, the even numbered houses were up in the 150's and getting higher as I continued south. WTF was number 44? I rode as far as the next village (Rowde) before riding slowly back. I pulled into the drive and confirmed that where I had first stopped, was really number 43. This was getting silly! Riding back up the A342 north again, I spied a familiar make of bike, a K75, heading in the opposite direction. 

I nodded as we passed (as you do) but thought it was too much of a coincidence for another K bike to be on the same quiet stretch of road and not be heading towards mini-KFest headquarters. Maybe he (I didn't recognise the rider), actually knew where he was going? I spun my bike around at the first opportunity and headed off south again, but the other rider had disappeared out of sight. A little further down the road, I came up to "The Coconut" Indian restaurant and decided to pull into the car park to give Frank a call. We were supposed to be having a curry on the Saturday night - if this was the place, then i had to be close to the house...

As I turned into the entrance, there in the, otherwise empty, car park was the K75 - looking just as lost as I was! I got off my bike and met Dave - and, yes, he was going to Mini-KFest.


Definitely time to phone a friend...

Fortunately, I had a signal (you never know in these rural places), told Frank where we were and got directions "Head towards Calne [north] there's a blue sign on the left @Andrew L is walking down to meet you at the end of the road". This message was soon followed by a "Come on! It's Cold" from Andrew!! Back on the bikes, Dave was still convinced that we needed to go left but as soon as I got to the road, I could just see 2 people standing by the roadside a few hundred metres to the north of us. I shouted to Dave, but he couldn't hear me and disappeared down the road - the wrong way! I headed up towards the 2 figures [Frank & Andrew] standing near a blue for sale sign and beckoning me to turn off onto a track on the left. 

Yay! I had made it (finally). The track led to a number of houses set well back from the road - no wonder I had struggled to find the place (I'm glad I'm not a postman, paramedic, delivery driver etc. - it must be a nightmare finding these sorts of places). Where I had initially stopped at No.43, was about 100m past the turning into the unmarked track on the right for No.44 Doh!! Ain't hindsight a wonderful thing.

The house was a fair way down the track on the right hand side and, just before 16:30, I turned slowly onto the loose stone hard standing area where Frank's K100RS, Andrew's GSA, Colin's K1100RS and Bruce's Merc were all parked up. I hate loose stone surfaces on a K100LT - but that was the only slight negative about the house that we would call home for the weekend. I gingerly turned the bike and parked her up with a pad under the foot of the side stand to help prevent any unwelcome lie downs. Having travelled a mere 39miles (even with the bonus 6 miles at the end), I certainly wasn't going to win any "longest distance travelled" awards. Inside, I met Bruce and Colin and selected my room from those remaining. The sun was over the yard arm, so definitely time for a beer.

The house was perfect - a big communal kitchen/diner with numerous bedrooms (doubles, twins and triples) and a spacious lounge with wood burner. There was even a open fronted storage unit by the front door with crash helmet sized cubbyholes - it was like the place was designed for us (apart from the stone chippings out front). Plenty of parking, a play area to the side (trampoline etc.), to the back a level, grassy field that went back way into the distance (perfect for camping) and to the front paddocks with clomping big shire horses grazing peacefully. Whilst the house was perfect for the 10 of us expected to be staying there, with all the space out back, it would have been brilliant for a much bigger KFest gathering with the overspill camping out, but using the house facilities for those essential creature comforts (just like we did Smithy's place up at Guyra on last year's Northern Tableland Ride).





After a few minutes, Dave rolled up outside, shortly followed into the house by Frank and Andrew who had completed their traffic management duties. Patrick and Johan were still making their way from the ferry port to the house, but I realised that someone was missing that should have been there - Carlos. The original plan was for Frank to have picked Carlos up from Bristol airport, but it seems that he missed his flight so hadn't made it to Bristol. Unfortunately, the later flights were either full or ridiculously overpriced, so Carlos never made it to the mini-KFest weekend which was a real shame. After a while, we were joined by Patrick (K100RT) and Johan (GS800) - at least they hadn't missed the ferry and Patrick's temperature issues hadn't caused any trouble for him.

The fridge was full of beers, sausage, bacon and other goodies. We were in for an excellent weekend! It never ceases to amaze me how 8 virtual strangers can get on so well together with little more than a common interest in Bikes as a starting point. The chatter was incessant as the beer flowed freely and we gorged on various snacks and dips. The plan for the evening was to walk to the local pub for some grub and a few ales, so at an appropriate time, we set off on foot to find "The Greyhound". It turned out that the pub was about 1.2 miles away, so it took a while for us to get there at our geriatric speed of advance. However, we got a warm welcome from the landlord and, even though it was branded a "gastro pub" and a Friday night, there was just enough space, for those of that wanted to eat, to sit down together and order some top notch grub (fairly reasonably priced too). The rest dined on more beer at the bar while talking to the locals. 
At the Greyhound - From left: Andrew, Colin, Dave, Paul, Bruce, Frank, Johan and Patrick

Several beers later and with a hand drawn map on a paper napkin, we set off for home via a "shorter" route. 

The map, or the map reading perhaps, was not quite as good as it could have been. Maybe it was the pitch darkness, maybe it was the effect of the few sherbets that we had quaffed at the bar, maybe it was because the farmer had recently ploughed the fields - or maybe it was all of these factors together? Whatever it was, it would have been quite a sight to behold as we tried to stumble our way back to the house. We couldn't have been that inebriated though as common sense did prevail and we collectively decided that it would be a very bad idea to leave the path and try and walk across the ploughed fields. We followed a section of path back to the road and took the safer way back. I say safer, but there is nothing especially safe about walking on a narrow footpath, late at night, being blinded by the odd passing car blinding us with its full beam headlights as it sped past. However, we all made it safely, and settled down with a wee dram of the malt whisky as a night cap before slowly slipping off for a much needed night's sleep.

Saturday 06 April 2019: Race Day 1 St Edith's Marsh to Castle Coombe Race Track (26 mile round trip)


The day dawned cool and misty. A quick shower and shave banished the remnants of a groggy head and I was raring to go. Frank had already started on preparing a mass "Full English" breakfast and was slaving over the stove. The smell of sausage, bacon, toast, mushrooms etc. soon had everyone up and about and the kettle was kept busy supplying the hot water for the endless teas and coffees. What a great way to start a day.
Patrick, Johan and Frank

Breakfast done and cleared away, we slipped into bike gear and made ready for the off. 
Patrick & Frank (front row), Colin (behind)

It was only about 13 miles to the circuit from the house, but with the Saturday morning traffic holding us up at roundabouts and traffic lights, we were soon separated. Dave, Andrew and myself brought up the rear and, although finding the circuit was easy enough, finding where the others had parked was another game altogether. 


The expectation was that we would be in the paddock area, so ignoring the first entrance (Quarry corner), we entered through the yellow gate.

As Dave had thought he had seen the other bikes parked up at Quarry Corner, so we rode along the path in that direction - until coming face to face with a sign saying "No Entry". We turned around and headed back towards the paddock. As the paddock looked very busy, we opted to park our bikes on the grass, just to the left of the entrance. Dave's bike took on an alarming angle as his side stand and pad sank into the soft mud. Andrew soon located a suitable flat stone to put under the pad and we were soon happy that Dave's K75 wasn't going to taking a nap. By now it was about 10:30 and the place was bustling with racing/practice laps already underway and the throaty roar of bikes and smell of 2-stroke oil filling the air. After wandering around looking at bikes, we eventually met up with Frank and the others at "The Tavern" cafe. This was to be a regular haunt of ours throughout the weekend for warming cups of tea and coffee and a place to rest our weary legs. The weather was dry, but mostly overcast and while the temperature was about 10 Deg C, the wind had a biting chill to it, so we earned our frequent refreshment breaks. In between coffees we watched the bikes being marshalled onto the track and then moved to a higher vantage point to watch them as they screamed around the circuit.
The BSK Speedworks BMW K100's of Ben and Stacey preparing to go on the track


Left to Right: Dave, Andrew, Bruce, Johan, bloke in black hat, Patrick and bloke it Union Jack hat



A great day out was had by all - it's a real down to earth experience mingling with spectators, racers and pit crews alike and getting up close and real personal with some beautiful bikes and sidecar rigs too. You need your wits about you though, as there's a continual movement of bikes to and from the marshalling area.

After watching one more race, it was time to head on back to the house. Having all parked in different places, we split up and made our own way back. I rode with Dave and Andrew again, as far as Chippenham, but then veered off to relieve an ATM of some cash that I needed for the night ahead. I got back to the house just after 16:30 and it was just so good to pull my off my boots after a day of lots of standing around in them. We had been booked into "The Coconut" Indian restaurant for our evening meal. The good news (having passed it many times on the first day while trying to find the house) was that we knew exactly where it was and it was a considerably shorter walk than "The Greyhound" pub had been. The table was booked for about 20:00, so there was plenty of time to crack open a few beers, break out the snacks and generally loaf around chattering about the day, K bikes and all manner of subjects (except BREXIT - aka the "B" word was agreed as a banned topic). The time passed quickly and easily and the beers went down smoothly. The fridge seemed to be on an auto-beer refill cycle - it just kept appearing from somewhere. We were joined by Franks mates Shaun and Pete (a Dutchman). They were staying overnight at the house and, adding to the good humoured banter, fitted easily into the group.

At the duly appointed hour, we traipsed down the road to the curry house. I had a slight concern when I saw that there were only 2 cars in the car park - Saturday nights are normally quite busy at these establishments serving good, old fashioned British curries. I needed have worried, the place was good, the food plentiful and tasty and the Kingfisher beer kept on flowing. I felt a slight bit of pity for the other diners (a romantic dinner for two and a family foursome) who were suddenly faced with a noisy rabble of bikers, but we were very well behaved and, I hope, didn't offend anybody. The banter continued throughout the evening until we were so stuffed that we could only just eat the free pudding that our hosts gave us to soak up some of the Kingfisher.
 Clockwise from left: Bruce, Johan, Frank, Shaun, Andrew - Pete, Paul, Colin, Patrick and Dave's arm!

Did someone say a "romantic dinner for two"? Frank & Shaun


Dinner done, there was nothing for it but to stagger back up the road, in the cold, crisp, night air under the clear starry sky, and return to the house. With slightly less energy than the previous night, we managed somehow to force ourselves to enjoy another whisky night cap before bed.

Sunday 07 April 2019: Race Day 2 - St Edith's Marsh to Castle Coombe Race Track (17 mile scenic route) and home (18 miles) Total 34 miles

Once again, the day dawned cool, overcast but dry. It felt a few degrees warmer and the sun was certainly making more of an effort than it had done on the day before. Treated to another of Frank's great breakfasts and lashings of tea and coffee, we prepared ourselves for the day ahead. Several of us were baling out on the Sunday (that inconvenient work thing on Monday for me), so we ensured that we didn't live the house in a mess for those remaining to have to clean up after us. I packed up my few belongings and loaded up Heidi (much less to carry without a pannier full of beer and whisky). It was a fairly leisurely start, but most of us were on the bikes by 09:45 and departed by 10:00. Dave had decided not to attend the second race day and remained behind to pack himself up and ride out home in slower time. Shaun and Pete had driven off in their van - Shaun, going home to get his K-Cafe bike to show off at the circuit.

We were to take a more scenic route to the circuit, via Lacock abbey. It was a nice morning for a ride and we rode at a sedate pace, enjoying the twists, turns and views as the ribbon of tarmac threaded its way through the wilds of Wiltshire.




Riding down some main roads...

...and not so main ones

When we arrived at the Castle Combe Circuit, we followed Frank's lead and blagged our way into the paddock and parked up next the the BSK Speedworks team. 

Colin


Andrew & Frank - In the thick of it with the BSK Speedworks team




We had arrived just in time to see Ben and Stacey preparing for their first race of the day. They had had a few bike problems on the previous day - brake and clutch issues, but those had been fixed. Two hours to change a clutch is pretty good going, I reckon.

Stand clear...

Rather than staying in the same place, I decided to take a walk around the circuit to watch the racing from different vantage points. The circuit is a fraction under 3km (1.86 miles) long - obviously, the path/roadway around the track is a little longer than that. We had done most of our viewing from Camp Corner, so as the sun struggled to burn though, I set off with Colin to circumnavigate the track in a clockwise direction.

Our timing wasn't great though, as it seemed to coincide with a lull in proceedings and we didn't really get to see any racing until we got round as far as Bobbies chicane. From there we had an excellent view of the Norton Manxman bikes race, but unfortunately this race was red flagged due to a rider high siding himself at Quarry corner. He was wheeled off in quite a bad way, but I don't know how badly he or the bike were damaged though - hopefully both repairable. Having completed our lap of the circuit, we went looking for the others - The Tavern was strangely empty and there wasn't a sign of them at the BSK Speedworks stand. Clearly Shaun had arrived - his shiny Cafe racer was standing parked in front of our bike and drawing the attention of several passers by.

Wandering back towards the circuit, I bumped into a couple of work acquaintances and got talking to them for a while, during which time I lost Colin too!


With racing resumed, I decided to walk back around the circuit, but in the opposite direction (anti-clockwise) to give a different perspective on things. The weather was almost warm by now - too warm to wear a biking jacket and just too cool to be in just a T-shirt. Even so, it was a pleasant stroll and I took my time, stopping at each of the major corners to watch the action. Fortunately, there were no more serious crashes - one of the 125cc riders managed to lose his bike at Quarry while I was there, but he walked away apparently with little more than a bruised ego. On completion of my second circuit of the track, I found the rest of the mob watching proceedings again from Camp Corner.
The BSK Speedwork team were on for their last race, so we watched that with interest before heading back to our bikes and getting ready for going our separate ways.

At 15:47, we departed Castle Combe circuit having enjoyed an excellent day out. Having bid farewell to all, I followed the bikes (returning for one last night at St Edith's Marsh) for a short while until they turned off. 

I then enjoyed a fast cross country ride along some narrow lanes towards the west, until joining the M4 motorway for the final blast home. I pulled onto my drive in glorious sunshine at 16:17 only to notice splashes of oil on the back wheel. A quick inspection suggests that the oil is brake fluid and that one of the hoses is giving out - I have ordered a set of the Goodridge stainless steel braided hoses from Motorworks. Another job to do to prepare Heidi for her forthcoming epic ride around Scotland in May 19 - but that will be a whole new story to tell in due course!

So, in summary, what a fabulous weekend. Not the longest distances ridden (for me anyway), but hugely entertaining, great fun and with a group of guys enjoying sharing a common interest in our bikes - all different but all just 100% typical of the type of people I have met, and ridden with, from the K100-forum. A massive thanks to Frank for organising a brilliant event - good onya mate and it was great to meet all the others that came along and made it such a friendly and sociable weekend. Sorry you missed it Carlos! Maybe next year....

Cheers until next time...

Thanks for your writing.
I should have gone there, at least for the sausages


Cheers

Great write up, and thanks for sharing!

For a yank like me this would have been an adventure, wish I could have tagged along.

Hi Paul a great write up as usual and I am sorry to have missed this one but I am heading to the k1 treffen in Germany late May 

Maybe we can do another mini k fest later in the year.

Great write up by you Paul. Back in the early 90s I spent some time in the area around West Lavington..near Devizes and have memories of those small country lanes.
K Kompany, doesn't matter which part of the world is always wonderful.

Fantastic write up and piccies Paul. Always enjoy reading your travelogues and viewing your photos etc.  It is a case of "wishing I was there". All the best.
Cheers
Tom

Good story Paul. Always nice to read about forum members and their friends meeting up and having a good time.

Just had another 1,000km round trip weekend myself with a great bunch of riders. BMWs, though non-forum members this time.

Cheers

Thanks Paul for a nice read.

Going to this one wasn't an option for me....had the offspring back from London for a niece's wedding....

Cool pics. Thanks for posting. Nice to see the BSK bikes in action.

Any K1s in attendance?

You Brits sure seem to like big license plates and big top cases.

Unfortunately the size and colour of the number plate is set in law, unless the bike is pre-1972 (I think).

Thanks for all the positive comments. 

Always room for visitors and hopefully this KFest thing will run and run and become a regular occurrence. Come on Caveman, get yourself in one of them "aluminum" tubes and let me repay your hospitality from our brief meet up in Pittsburgh back in early March.

Any K1's - not that I saw, but there was a guy (Nicky) who met up with us all - he was down from London, just for one day, and it was rumoured that he had come down on a K1.

New stainless braided brake lines arrived in the post today, so a little job planned for the Easter weekend...yay!!

Born Again Eccentric wrote:Thanks for all the positive comments. 

Always room for visitors and hopefully this KFest thing will run and run and become a regular occurrence. Come on Caveman, get yourself in one of them "aluminum" tubes and let me repay your hospitality from our brief meet up in Pittsburgh back in early March.

Any K1's - not that I saw, but there was a guy (Nicky) who met up with us all - he was down from London, just for one day, and it was rumoured that he had come down on a K1.

New stainless braided brake lines arrived in the post today, so a little job planned for the Easter weekend...yay!!

Hi Paul 

Great write up mate the whole weekend was a blast. We must do it again. 

Niki was there on the Saturday on his stunning Red and Yellow K1 but parked a long way away from the paddock. I have an old picture of his bike from last year at Lydden Hill just outside Dover.

After we left the track on Sunday there was a great little blast down towards Bath with a few stop offs so Patrick Uttendaele could take some more photo's.

A very relaxing chilled Sunday evening ensued using up the bread, cheese, ham we had left in the fridge, as well as the copious amounts of beer and crisps whilst having a great chinwag around the huge table.

Shaun was invited for morning coffee on the Monday as he was only working 2 mile away for his first job of the week, sure enough 07.30 there he was with cup in hand.

Andrew elected to be the last to leave the house and head home so Patrick. Johan, Colin and I headed to the Cheddar Gorge, a great spirited ride. Cheddar Gorge to Stonehenge where we said goodbye to Colin, then a trip through Salisbury and beyound.

A few more stops along the way into Central London for a night in an apartment in Chelsea I'd managed to blagg plus a heavily discounted meal at Mango Tree Restaurant just behind Buckingham Palace.

Tuesday was a get up early and ride day. Unable to do the Imperial War Museum due to the new ULEZ charge (£37.50) I took the boys to Blackheath T Hut for coffee. Then a spin down the A2 at cut through the country lanes to Upnor Castle (closed ) we were early, a spin onto St Mary's Island then up past Chatham Dockyard to Fort Amhurst for another Coffee.

I then road with Patrick and Johan onto the M2 as far as the Sittingbourne and bibbed them farewell as I hit the slip road to return home.

A great time was had by all and thanks to all who attended. Paul, Bruce, Colin, Dave, Andrew, Patrick, Johan, Shaun, Pete, Niki (K1) and as special thanks to Ben Kingham and Stacey Kilworth for a great weekends racing.

I'm up for organising another.

ULEZ is going to kill a lot of places for sure.

But, the upside is that it makes rural tourism and travel so much more attractive.!!!

Dai wrote:Unfortunately the size and colour of the number plate is set in law, unless the bike is pre-1972 (I think).

I know there's nothing you can do about that but what's your excuse for the huge top cases? 

'Coz we've got bigger balls than the Texans, so we need bigger cases to carry our shreddies in.

Dai wrote:'Coz we've got bigger balls than the Texans, so we need bigger cases to carry our shreddies in.

And we have to carry puddings in them.

Dai wrote:'Coz we've got bigger balls than the Texans, so we need bigger cases to carry our shreddies in.

Texans only have one. That's why it's The Lone Star state.