Sunday 25 September 2016

Girder fork run 25th September 2016

I remember when there were near 20 girder fork bikes on any girder fork only run, but alas for lots of reasons that day has sadly passed so it was that 5 girders turned up at Rays today for his run and one of those was myself who took up Rays kind offer to ride his Ariel 350 for the day. Course when I agreed to take up his offer I did not know that he was going to remove one of the cylinders and put the gearbox in upside down, however, I didn't say anything and by the end of the day I nearly had it right!. On arrival at his house, we were treated to tea or coffee and teacakes all served up by Margaret , ( thank you ), which left Ray free to give us a quick briefing and show me how the missing cylinder machine could be mastered. We were lead out dead on time but after only a few hundred yards, Rays NG decided that being ignored for a couple of months could not be forgiven without protest so it came to a stop, a bit of fettling where Brian found a screw loose!, lead to a restart after which no bike gave any trouble for the rest of the day. Ray lead us out of Tivvy via the annoying double lights obstructions on the way toward Halberton, but we soon turned off to Uplowman where we followed the road straight through the village. Due to the heavy rain which had fallen overnight, the mud and stones on the road led us to wonder if Ray was taking us trialing!. On entering Huntsham, an about turn was on the cards where Ray was checking our ability to turn in a narrow road!, then we were led down an even narrower and muddier lane for him to check our ability to stay in the saddle, but all to soon, he thought we had all passed and he led us through Dulverton and on to Bury, now here we all paused at the ford, would anyone be brave enough to go through?, answer was NO, due to the previous nights heavy rain it was decided to take the stony bridge instead. Soon we were at the Lowtrow Inn where we were well looked after, the meal coming very quickly after ordering and patrons were seen taking photos of our now muddy steeds. The afternoon run saw us head back over the hills to Bampton and then over Bampton down to Tiverton and the end of the run. Many thanks to Ray for the tea and coffee and the route, a very enjoyable day despite the showers which came and went throughout the morning and lunchtime, now the next run for your calendar is the Autumn run starting from Sainsburys Barnstaple on October 9th, see you there folks, now where is the hose pipe and cloth?.
ready for the off at Rays

safely at the lunch stop

who wants some roast?

I get into the photo!