14th-18th May 1997
Tuesday - mad day at work, by 2:00 I've got everything sorted. See the boss and add Wednesday to the holiday. Wednesday - get up late, and faff about. By 3:00 the bikes loaded (bulging panniers, straining tank bag, two tents, two roll mats and the kitchen sink) and I'm just waiting for Jos to turn up. Oh yeah and the suns shining. By 4:00 we're blatting across the A66, feeling smug about all the cars examining each others exhaust pipes. Into Keswick, get some veggie munchies from the Wholefood Shop (think I'll open a partfood shop just to be different) and other munchies and beers from the supermarket. Down the side of Derwent water and on to Borrowdale and the Stonethwaite campsite.
Haaaa. Made it. Sorry Darlington Memorial Hospital NHS Trust, but yer on your own, I'm on holiday.
right: Jos and my beloved Suzi enjoy Stonethwaite campsite. Note my bottle of beer in the forground, just to make thing perfect.
Stonethwaite campsite if fun to find. Follow the B5289 out of Keswick down
by Derwent Water. The road becomes extremely narrow and twisty and therefore
great fun (unless you daft enough to ride something with 21" overs - in
which case the B5289 is soon going to be the least of your problems). A word of
warning though, loose stones lurk on corners (which bugger up your line),
walkers wander all over the place (which buggers up your paintwork) and corners
tighten up with vertical rock for run off (which buggers up everything). Other
than that its great.
Eventually you see a sign for Stonethwait, follow this even smaller road
until you see the pub. At this point you'll think "no more road and still
no sign of a campsite". OK see that dirt track? Well follow that. Is it
getting rocky? Good. Have you crossed a small stream? Yep, your going in the
right direction. Have you passed Dougie Lampkin weeping by the side of the road
cos he's fell off? Almost there. After about 1/2 mile you'll find the campsite.
Great fun two up on an overloaded GSX750F. We pitch the tents by the river and
get wasted. What a beautiful place. Later we go to the pub.
Thursday dawns bright and sunny. Sometime later we do likewise, breakfast,
pack and repeat the Dougie Lampkin impersonations.
Back on proper blackstuff its up to Keswick then on the A591 to Kendal via
Ambleside. What a stunning ride, if you've never done it, do it. Stunning
scenery, sod all traffic (Mr and Mrs Deathweave don't usually emerge till the
weekends) and life's a peach.
Next it's A6 time - sod the M6 - which, besides been nicer to look at, is
possibly quicker than the motorway on a bike because the overtaking line isn't
blocked by some fat, brainless twat in his repmobile.
At the M55 junction we reluctantly join the M6 to avoid Preston,
Manchester, Liverpool and getting hopelessly lost. Leave the M6 and join the M56
then head for Mold. This puts us on the A494 and A5 to Betws-y-Coed.
Betws-y-Coed. Mission accomplished. Darlington to Snowdonia with sod all
motorway riding. More like going for a blat rather than actually travelling
anywhere.
right: Betws-y-Coed campsite, this is just for you.
The original plan was to meet a couple of Jos' mates in Betws-y-Coed so it
seemed a good idea to camp at the Betws-y-Coed campsite and visit a few pubs. We
arrive at the site to see a "No motorcycles" sign. Bastards.
Oh well sod Betws-y-Coed, three miles up the A5 towards Capel Curig we find
a decent camp site, i.e. a field with bogs and showers. One mile up the road in
Capel Curig we find a pub with a mountain bar and a superb pint of Killkenneys.
Oh yes, they keep stunt sheep around here. We saw three of then stood on a
wall. I've got a theory that all sheep climb walls but are usually shy about it
and jump down and start eating grass whenever people appear.
Friday we road around Snowdon, visited castles and generally did the tourist
bit. We meet up with Colin and Claire back at the site, drink vast quantities of
vodka and wobble to the pub.
Saturday we take Colin and Claire round Snowdon again (I don't mind the
roads are brilliant) and visit an old coppermine. It appears the used to mine
with gunpowder blasting, finding their way about to do this with candles stuck
on their hats. Wonder how that would go down with the HSE, still I guess this
all predates the CDM regulations, I guess half of you are now wondering what the
fuck I'm on about. That's cool, I have the same problem myself.
Sunday and its time to go home. We will be back...