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Pre-2013 News

Created: 31 Dec 2012
Dec 31

We have archived all our old news, for those that would like to read it.

30th December 2012
I hope that you all had a good Christmas and Santa was kind to you, and no doubt you will be getting ready for the New Year Festivities. We are doing something a little different this year as we are spending New Year at our favourite hotel in the Lake District, will be nice to get away from the mess of our flat which now has a kitchen but no bathroom! However, have to take advantage of what time I have to do these things and will finally finish the project I started last winter. 

Whilst out delivering leaflets I finally got to see the new Triumph Trophy in the flesh, I must admit it is a big old beast. It did not feel particularly heavy, but the wide fairing made it look very wide. However, I can imagine that the wind protection is excellent, and of course the engine is the same as that in the Explorer, so I know that is good. My next call was at the BMW dealers and was immediately struck by how small the BMW 1200RT looked compared to the Trophy, which of course was the inspiration and the market Triumph was aiming for.

It seems the sale of the BMW 1200GS goes from strength to strength and the showroom was full of good quality used models. I presume this is people trading in the air cooled models for the new water cooled one.

As I travel round the various motorcycle shops it is obvious that there is a change taking place as more and more dealers are losing their franchise with the big manufacturers. Names that you associated with certain makes for year, no longer sell them, and I am disappointed that Japanese manufacturers in particular seem intent on moving dealerships from local dealers to large impersonal stores. I know where I would prefer to buy from!  Many of us (of a certain age) will remember a similar attitude when the likes of Triumph (the first time round) and Norton ruled the market. They smiled indulgently as the likes of Honda and Suzuki entered the market with small C50 moped style bikes, however, within a few years their smile disappeared as 250 and 500cc models appeared. Suddenly they could go, handle, stop and not even leak oil!

 I can see a similarity now with the Chinese, many of the dealers are moving to the commuter part of the market where the Chinese can supply cheap scooter type bikes, however, already we see their move to larger more conventional bikes, with improving reliability and I am sure they will become a force to contend with in the future.

Although it did not particularly affect our tours, the BBC has just declared this the wettest year since records began, so let’s hope for better things next year. I am pleased to say our tours continue to fill and I hope that many more of you will find the time to join us in 2013; we look forward to seeing you then.8th December 2012

Hi, hope you are all well, and managing to keep warm and dry (if you live near a river!) in what continues to be really rubbish weather. For once I am thankful to be inside, although I have managed to escape the computer for a while whilst I get on with all the work around the house which I have had to ignore during the summer. Unfortunately, having a kitchen got priority over going to the Motorcycle show, so we had to give that a miss this year. I believe it was pretty good, and I have had several good comments back regarding the Triumph Trophy, so I will be keen to have a look at one when the opportunity arises. 

I am pleased to say bookings are on a par if not slightly up from last year. As expected the Croatia & Slovenia tour being new, filled very quickly, likewise we have good numbers on the Tuscany and Portugal tour. I am sorry if the tour you wanted is no longer available, but it is always worth registering your interest as circumstances sometimes lead to people having to cancel. We also have people who are hoping to get on tour by sharing a room, unfortuntely the number of single rooms the hotel will allocate to us are limited, but if you are willing to share we can generally get you a place.

Had a visit from Bill Vivian the other day, you may remember Bill stopped touring last year, due to a bad knee and having to look after his wife who was not well. Well, I am pleased to say they are both in good health again and he continues to ride out now and again when the weather allows. He asks to be remembered to everyone.

16th November 2012
Well it’s been a busy few weeks, but then it always is, as we finalise all our tour arrangements, up-date the website and of course there are the dreaded VAT returns.  

We continue very much the same for 2013, with a few tweaks here and there in response to feedback from our customers. You will notice that our friends Roy and Alison are covering for me on two tours whilst I am away, they received rave reviews from our customers last year and I know they will look after you in the tradition of White Rose Tours.

 I am pleased to say we were able to organise a tour to Croatia & Slovenia, which seems popular as it has sold very quickly. You will see that we also have a new tour to Tuscany, plus some old favourites. Anyway I hope you find something to please you, and remember if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

3 November 2012
Many thanks to everyone who has contacted me regarding next year’s tours. I do realise that you have to book time off work etc. and will try to get the dates out ASAP. I am not sure that we are much later than later, just that everyone is that much earlier!  I also see that there is yet more new companies coming on the scene, several of whom are past customers – I suppose I should be flattered that they liked our tours so much that they have copied them!  

In my defence, as soon as the tour season finished I went on a 2 week recon trip to Croatia, Slovenia and Montenegro. This is a part of the world I have wanted to visit for some time, yes I was impressed, and yes we will be doing a tour across there, but I am not sure whether it will be this year or not. Both the Pan and the Triumph went on the trip, I rode the Pan whilst Mike my friend  from America rode the Triumph. He has a GS1200 at home and really enjoyed the Triumph but would not commit to saying it was better than the GS....  Despite my best efforts I fell short of reaching 100,000 and the pan now has 99,800 miles on the clock, whilst the Triumph will get its ash trays emptied and first service in the spring with 9500 miles showing.  

My arrangements have also been delayed due to the continuing saga of the Brittany strike, I am pleased to say that the majority of people have received their compensation and the rest should receive theirs in the next two weeks. Although Brittany have dragged their feet a little, in their defence they have had 70,000 claims to process – a costly strike indeed.  Unfortunately they seem to be trying to recoup their costs and I notice a 25% increase in their fares for next year!

I returned home to receive bad news from Bill Vivian that Paul Lane had passed away. I had spoken with Paul a few weeks ago and he told me that he had Lymphoma but was having treatment and was hopeful of a full recovery. Unfortunately it was not to be, and Paul passed away last week.  Paul,  an advanced rider, had been coming with us for many years and was well known for his ‘cavalier’ approach to life. He never arrived on tour without some story or other as he took the ‘country route’ to meet us. We have stories of slippy toll bridges, river crossings too deep, and even witnessed an excursion into a ditch, from which he popped back up without missing a beat. He will be sorely missed, but his stories will live on for many years.

7th  October 2012
The October Getaway Tour completes our 2012 touring season and once again finishes our year off in style. After such terrible weather recently (make that all summer), we struck lucky and had a cold but dry weekend. The weather steadily improved and even gave us sunshine and blue skies to ride back home. The Triumph was in use again and as now got over 6000 miles on the clock, its not a Pan, which I personally think is the best touring bike,  but I do like it , and worth having for the heated grips alone, trouble is I keep forgetting to switch them on !   As last year, the final tour once again attracted a good group of riders of similar abilities, which gave us the time to enjoy some of my favourite routes taking in a mixture of scenic single track and fast moorland roads. Throw in good accommodation and excellent food and you have all the ingredients of a really enjoyable weekend.  

I would like to thank everyone who has been on tour with us this year, we may put everything in place for you, but it is you who make it special.  Also a special thanks to everyone who has helped us throughout the year (you know who you are, and hopefully how much I appreciate it). To Roy and Alison who guided on our Northern Counties tour and will be doing more in the future, and especially "smiley" John who acts as tail-end Charlie on our European tours. I am pleased to say he is getting over a season of "rounding bikes up" and enjoying a well earned rest in Minorca.  

Ok I,m welling up - ( well I have just seen this weekends hotel bill)  -  so I had better go and start booking some hotels for next year.  I wish you all well, I hope you have a good winter and we look forward to seeing you again next year. If you get bored and want to chat you know where we are, and if passing please call in

3rd October
Well its back to the computer after completing our last European tour for this year, the Spain & Portugal Tour, which finished in rather strange circumstances. The tour started well enough as everyone met in bright sunshine at Portsmouth Docks, we had been advised of a hours delay (was this an omen?) but everyone was enjoying the weather and getting to know one another so there was no immediate rush.  Having loaded we relaxed and attempted not to start drinking until the sun disappeared, I am not sure it momentarily passing behind a cloud qualified!  We got talking to some drivers taking accommodation modules and a dummy tank to Spain for a film being shot there starring Cameron Diaz before much to my embarrassment our group won the quiz. The prize of a pack of playing cards and a torch were greeted with great laughter whilst we all secretly coveted the torch which was rather nifty.

The rest of the crossing went smoothly and we even won the second quiz (well we wanted the matching torch), before arriving in Santander.  There was a short moment of panic on my behalf, as they have completely changed the way you leave the docks but the “bitch in the box” came to the rescue and I think I got away with it without anyone noticing.

We were soon into some twisties and heading South towards Portugal before an overnight stop in Palencia. The sun continued to shine for the rest of our journey and once in Portugal, we had a great day riding our mountain route, which consists of some great scenery and seriously good roads.  The following day we were met by low cloud and rain as we headed to our next destination; however the day was one of sunshine and showers which set the pattern for the next few days.  

Enjoyed out time in the Picos, but was shocked to see how low the Riano reservoir was as we passed (in the pouring rain) apparently it has been one of the driest summers for 20 years in Spain, obviously the UK must have stolen it all!

Whilst in the Picos we were informed that the Brittany ferry strike which had been going for several days, had not been resolved, and that our ferry had been cancelled. We were therefore advised that we should make our way to Calais where we could get a free channel crossing, slight problem there, as it is the best part of 900 miles! Thankfully being the end of the tour everyone was in the groove and we agreed that it made most sense for people to ride in small groups at their own pace.

I am pleased to say that everything went well and everyone got home safely – there was tails of an odd puncture, seriously long delays on the M25 and even one of the Tiger twins falling over and breaking his gear lever (again) but I think in a sadistic kind of way everyone enjoyed it. I am pleased to say Brittany are refunding the return fare plus £200 compensation plus there is the travel insurance, once again a good reason to have such things. 

So despite the last minute problems a great tour with a really good crowd, some fantastic roads and plenty of laughs.

 Heading out of the house now for the final tour of the year in the Yorkshire Dales – looks like the weather may be kind to us.

16th September 2012
Yesterday was my birthday and for once I was at home to enjoy it. Alison and Roy, who do some guiding for us, were down with their friends, so how better to celebrate than a ride in the Yorkshire Dales. I would like to thank everyone who phoned, texted and emailed with their best wishes, I really appreciate it.

14th September 2012
Apolgies for being a little slow in getting the Mountains of Italy Tour pictures out, I was hoping to receive some from customers (of customers) as most of mine are scenery. However, a big thanks to Sandra who used my camera to take photos from the comfort of the back of Steve's Goldiwng, I had to delete the ones of the back of his head, but the others were pretty good. If you have any photos you would like to include in the gallery please send them in,  ideally no less than 1024 pixels wide. Having dropped my camera several times, nearly having it run over in Scotland and generally misusing it, I think it is time to ask Father Christmas for a new one. 

Every now and again you get a feeling that the world is against you, and this tour started like that. Indeed we had not even left the UK before P&O ferries in Hull, who are normally efficient, made a complete mess of our check-in. Thankfully I did not have to sleep in the lifeboat, but was not totally impressed. I am pleased to say we have had a full apology from them and  promise to "do better" in the future. After the temperatures of the previous week we were met by a rather gloomy Zeebrugge for the start of our journey, on arrival I received a phone call for one of our party to say that he had left his money and documents at home - I really thought the singing of "alone in France" by the rest of the group was a bit uncalled for, especially as we were in Belgium........ the difficulties continued as we fought to get petrol in Belgium, no ones cards seem to work, and if using cash they want you to pay before you get your petrol. I think this must be fairly new as I do not remember having these problems before - however this year I have also noticed that many fuel stops that we have used many times before were not accepting UK cards, so I am not sure what is going on. Finally they are carrying out re-surfacing on the E411 resulting in us having to firstly filter then take an alternative route.

The weather remained dissapointing until our climb over the Timmelsjoch into Italy, which was a lovely day  and allowed everyone to see it the pass at its best, some also took in the Silvretta adding another notch to their belts. Mixed weather for our stay in the Dolomites and over to the Stelvio region. As we crossed the Gavia pass, nature had a final trick up its sleeve as it hailed at the top, before the clouds rolled back leaving us with blue skies and lovely sunshine for the rest of the tour.  A rest day saw most head for the Stelvio pass, whilst John and I took the opprtunity to ride to Lake Como, somewhere I have wanted to visit for a while. 

Continuing on, our day past Andermatt and over the Furkha and Grimsel passes was stunning. Over the years I have ridden these passes many times, however, I still consider them some of the finest in Europe. The tour continued across Switzerland and back though France under clear blue skies completing what had been a really good tour. Only one breakdown, again a BMW 1600GT, think I can see a pattern here!

PS: make that two, I left my lights on and flattened my battery... I would not mention it but know a certain BMW owner took a picture of it.

29th August 2012
Seldom do you set off on tour with a warning of high temperatures, but sure enough as we left the Zeebrugge ferry the air temperature gauge said 26C and it was just 10.am.  Thankfully we had a relatively short distance to our first night's hotel, but even that was a struggle as the temperature soared to 40C. I think this is the highest temperature I have ever ridden in (even in Arizona),  and it was actually cooler to keep your visor closed, as lifting it was like opening an oven door. Thankfully as the week progressed the temperature dropped into the 30,s before crashing to the low teens and soaking us on our last day on our return to the ferry. Obviously a reminder that we were returning to one of the wettest UK summers ever.

Billed as a leisurely tour with low mileages and excellent hotels, the Alsace and Germany Tour was all that we could hope for, with a great crowd of people, and good weather. Altough we have been to the Alsace area many times before, we found some new roads that we had not ridden before, and the Explorer on its maiden European tour proved it was more than a match for them. With over 3500 miles on the clock this bike is really growing on me.  More 'Cols' to tackle the next day as we left the Vosge Mountains for our next destination in the Black Forest. A rest day here, with the majority leaving the bikes in the garage to enjoy time around and on the lake.  

The famous Black Forest B500 was next, and the roadworks that had blighted our last visit have now dissapeared and been replaced with super new tarmac, black thunder clouds threatened to spoil the day, but thankfully amounted to no more than a shower before we descending back to the sunshine and thankfully an open tunnel in Baden Baden. 

Our final two nights were spent in the Mosel valley, I never tire of this area, and it was great to ride more new roads (we keep finding them) and visiting some old favourites such as Cochem which was in full swing with the annual wine festival. I was rather surprised to see how quiet  the festival was, obviously Germany is not immune to the present recession. 

A very wet return through Belgium before the sun returned and the wind dropped to give us a perfect overnight crossing to Hull.

I am sure you will remember my problems with Hein Gericke regarding some boots which I felt were sized incorrectly. Having got no satisfaction from the Leeds branch I returned the boots to their Main Office here in Harrogate. Due to the recent news of their business going into receivership i was not hopefully of ever seeing them again, however, full marks to them as a new pair of boots arrived in the post a few days ago. 

14th August 2012
Well its all back to normal after the Olympics, I must admit that I was not particularly bothered about watching it,  but like everyone else got caught up with the enthusiasm of the event and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Had a good time on the Dales and Lakes Tour which for the most part stayed dry. We did get one 2 minute thunderburst which managed to soak us whilst we put our waterproofs on. Really I should have kept going and we would have rode out of it, but I do have a habit of stopping only when everybody is wet !  The Dales tour was also the backend of the Northern Counties Tour, which I am pleased to say went very well and everybody enjoyed themselves. Everyone was full of praise for Roy and Alison who did an excellent job and have already agreed to run the NW200 tour for me next year.

Just back from a few days way on the Explorer which has over 2000 miles on it now. the more I ride it, the more I am impressed and I am even getting used to the seat. I shall be using it for our Alsace and Germany tour so it will be a chance to see how it works out on the continent. Fitted a hugger from Powerbronze, why do you have to spend money on things that really should be fitted as standard? Strangely enough the one thing that I thought I would never use is proving very useful, that is, cruise control. It works really well and gives your wrist some rest especially on those boring motorway runs. 

30th July 2012
Enyoying a few days rest before joing the back end of the Northern Counties Tour on Thursday with those people on the Dales and Lakes Tour.  Two new guides Roy and Alison are looking after everybody for the first few days, they are very much on home territory as they live up in the Scottish Borders, weather looks reasonable and I am getting near Olympic overload so wished I had joined them.

The Explorer is now run in and I returned it Pidcocks for its first service. Despite the stories I had heard regarding the wait for luggage, it was there on arrival, so they fitted that, and wired up my sat nav whilst I was there.  So I now look ready for that journey up, down, there and back again, wherever that may be !  The bike is defintely growing on me, and is obviously going to feel different after some 200,000 miles on Pan Europeans, it absolutely loves the backroads of the Dales, but is seriously hard on the bum.. 

Our Austrian Tyrol Tour got off to a wet start as we left Zeebrugge for our first overnight stop in the Lorraine region. As we moved eastwards the wet weather that has plagued UK over the last few weeks seemed determined to stay with us, so it was with some relief that the forecast for our stay in Austria was good, a fact borne out by the number of farmers cutting grass in preparation for haymaking. It always amazes me how they cut every little piece of land regardless of how steep it is, hence giving Austria, like Switzerland, that beautiful manicured look.

The next three days were perfect for biking and it was good to see everyone break into groups and head for their own preferred type of roads and destination. For some the challenge of the Stelvio Pass with its numerous hairpins, for others the fast sweeping roads of the river valleys towards Davos.  One of the great things about organised tours is that you can retire to the bar in the evenings and talk with fellow riders about the day’s events - all were impressed with the beauty of Austria, and its numerous great biking roads – strangely the bends got a little tighter and climbs a little steeper as the evening progressed.

Departing Austria, we had a number of routes to choose from, but due to the continued good weather and climbing temperatures we were able to take a  final great scenic route over the mountains on our way to the Black Forest.  

Our route to the final nights stop in France took us up the famous B500 through the Black Forest and was to say the least frustrating; firstly we had a long road closure which had various groups criss-crossing in every direction. Unfortunately when we got to the B500, low cloud and rain made it not very exciting to ride, and finally the tunnel through Baden Baden was closed causing yet another detour. Another thing I noticed on the B500 is that there is now 70 km/h speed restrictions, I am told this is due to many serious accidents – but doing 40mph on this road does not really cut it, and so maybe the days of the B500 are numbered.

So once again a great tour in Austria, the weather was great when it mattered, in fact I think some the best we have ever had. I have put a few of my pictures on the website/Facebook page but hopefully others will send some of theirs. Whilst on tour, we had not one but three birthdays, two of which, along with a wedding anniversary, were on the same day.  You will see from the picture that the hotel supplied some serious candles!

 Apologies to everyone including the guides and several customers to whom I gave the mother of all colds (well actually it was man flu) – but I am a sharing kind of person, I just can’t help it.  

 Regarding the previous comments regarding tyre choice, the results are now in (fanfare of trumpets) my Bridgestone 023 GT’s did 7500 miles whilst John’s Michelin Pilot 3’s did 9500 miles and the fitter estimated he had about another 1000-1500 miles left (had he not been going on a 2000 mile tour). On the negative side it would appear the pilot 3’s are more prone to puncture, and we did actually see this occur on a customer’s bike during the Mountains of France Tour.

 The return from Austria saw me pick up a new bike; this is in addition to the Pan as a back-up. The idea is that I shall use it for UK and short continental tours which will take some of the strain off the Pan which now has 94,000 miles on it. I have been considering this since selling my ST1100 to a friend and had decided on a Triumph Tiger, but instead have gone for the new Explorer has it has shaft drive.  Anyone who knows me knows I like red cars and bikes, so the bike has been painted Diablo Red, this year’s Tiger 1050 colour. I am just running it in, and to be honest it is difficult to compare after riding the Pan, but it is definitely growing on me and has a good grin factor.     Picture of Triumph Explorer 

9th July 2012
Well nearly a month since I last wrote, but the schedule has been rather hectic with only a few days off between tours, so sadly I have had to neglect the newspage and facebook page in favour of more mundane paperwork. Just back from the "Mountains of France" tour which was excellent and without rubbing it in too much enjoyed great weather.  Our first night was spent  in the city of Rouen, having never stopped there before, we had plenty of time to look around this historic city with its Gothic Cathedral. Heading southwards we passed the dramatic Chateaux of the Loire Valley to pay a visit to the massacre village of Oradour Sur Glane a sobering but fascinating place. Our day finished riding the first of many great roads taking us into the Massif Central region, our base for the next few days. If you have read my previous blogs you will know this was the place of our first ever tour abroad and somewhere we have visited many times and yet I still love the region. Our usual tour to the Millau Bridge and Tarn Gorges was done under beautiful blue skies and the fast sweeping roads of the region had everyone grinning.

Leaving the Cantal Mountains behind we headed for our second base in Chamonix, despite daily forecasts of rain, the sun continued to shine and the temperature climbed into the low 30's. A day off the bikes for most, a few hardy? souls went to check out the Petite St. Bernard pass, but most headed for the cable cars and mountain railways. 

A change of routes for our return which worked well and took us on some nice mountain roads before reaching our final nights stop in the Champagne region. Good weather,hotels,food and a great group of riders made this a demanding but really enjoyable tour.

If you have seen the picture gallery you will see that we had a great weeks tour of the "Scottish Highlands", whilst the weather did its best to fill the depleted reservoirs of England, Scotland was enjoying long periods of dry, sunny weather.  We are always reasonably lucky with the weather on this tour, but this year was the best ever and we enjoyed long spells of sunshine and blue skies.  Our arrival in Dumfries did not quite start off in the same vein as we rode through heavy rain and strong winds to the first nights hotel, thankfully morning dawned better as we set off up through the Galloway Forest to our ferry crossing across the Firth of Clyde to start our ride up the West Coast.

Our ride through Glencoe was stunning, to be honest the Glen is perhaps more atmospheric in the rain, but we were happy to take the sunshine on this occasion. From our base near Loch Ness several set off to tour Skye whilst I had a day off and along with a few others headed for  the Point of Ardnamuchan which is the most westerly point of the British Mainland - 30 mile of single track road out and 30 mile back its a long ride, but well worth it for the stunning scenery and of course to say "you have done it".

No tour of Scotland would be complete without the obligitory ride over Applecross and we certainly chose the right day, with fantastic viewsof Skye and the Western Isles. Having enjoyed lunch sat in the sunshine outside the Applecross Inn we continued our ride along the coastal road to Ullapool.   On previous years on the leg from Ullapool to Durness we have seen nothing due to low cloud and rain, therefore we were delighted that for once it was clear and we got to see the splendid if barren Sutherland.  there really is some serious chunks of rock up there. 

A brief visit to John o' Groats for the group photo under the signpost. Rather than play cat and mouse with the guy who gets stroppy if you try to use it, the secret is to pay for him to take a picture then he allows you to use your own camera's - seems fair enough. Following a stay at  "Fawlty Towers"  (not one of our greatest finds)  we had our first period of rain and so it was decided we would head for the next hotel bar and a warm swimming pool, however, the clouds broke, the sun returned and so we headed over the Lech for Braemar. Small drama as someone (Ron) lost the road as we entered low cloud and went into a bog ! Thankfully he and the person (Canadian Bob) who followed him ,stopped dead upright and were extracted with a great deal of huffing, puffing and laughter.

A return via the Scottish Borders brought us back into England and a return to gales and rain. A really enjoyable tour, with lots of laughs, great roads and of course that stunning Scottish scenery

12th June 2012
It was with great shock that we received a call from Lesley Roberts yesterday to say that Steve her husband had passed away. Steve and Lesley, have been on tour with us many times over the years and always rode a Triumph Tiger with the distinctive T900 SLR registration plate. Steve had his own electrical business in Dewsbury and is best remembered for his broad Yorkshire accent and larger than life character.  Our thoughts are with Lesley and her family and the next time we are riding the roads of the Cantal Mountains, a place I always associate with Steve, I am sure he will keeping an eye on us.  

9th June 2012
Just back from the 'Mountains of Spain Tour' which once again did not fail to impress everyone with its roads and stunning scenery. We had a slight detour as one of our riders was caught out by a corner and went to looking for the local cows, luckily we were near Lourdes so someone was looking after him, and with British igenuity, duck tape, tywraps and an X Motocross rider (to get him out of the field) we were soon back under way.  Always a good time of the year to go to the Pyrenees, this year was especially good with temperatures in the 30's for our ride through France, dropping to a more comfortable temperatrure for our stay in the Pyrenees. Our departure provoked a thunderstorm which promised heavy rain, but proved unfounded as we headed for the Navarra region with its almost moonlike landscape and some great fast sweeping bends. The roads continued but the scenery became softer as we entered the vineyards of Rioja, Spains wine growing region for our last night before the Picos De Europa.   

Following comments from last year, we designed the tour to give us more time to enjoy the Picos De Europa region, our good fortune with the weather continued allowing everyone to see the area at its best. The roads in this area are demanding and as someone said 'relentless' but provide some of the best roads that you are likely to ride. We are back again in September, can't wait !   

25th May 2012
Sat here in front of the computer looking out at the bright sunshine,  this week has obviously been nominated as 'summer' with temperatures in the high 20's. Hard to believe that only last week it got down to 8C and was thoroughly miserable. Thankfully we did pretty well considering for our NW200 tour, and it was especially pleasing for race fans, as race day was perfect unlike last year.  The racing took on a slighlty different format this year, with two races been run on Thursday night in addition to the normal Saturday. This seemed to work well and meant that we shuffled our tour forward a day, returning on the Sunday.  We had our usual tours along the Antrim Coast and into Donegal which I always enjoy, and on race day spent time trying out some different routes.

Just had a new front tyre fitted on the Pan, went for the Bridgestone 028 GT to match the back, so will see how it wears, needless to say John's Michelin pilot 3's are still going strong.  Had a rather dissapointing encounter with our Leeds branch of Hein Gericke the other day. I have bought things from here many years and have always had a good working relationship with previous managers, however, I took some boots back the other day, that I bought less than a month ago, as they were crippling me and asked if they could check to see if they were sized correctly and if necessary send them back to Hein Gericke for them to check. However all I got was a point blank refusely to help in anyway as I had worn the boots. I admitted that was correct and that often new items can be tight to start with but that they give and as I was in the middle of a tour I could hardly be expected to ride in my bare feet. However, they were quite adamant, and so if you live in this part of the world, I would suggest you do not use the Regent Street branch in Leeds, because the manager there is not going to help if you have a problem.  In complete contrast, I returned my 'Held' jacket to the factory as I had damaged the zips - I had a message back to say that they felt that the jacket had faded slightly and would I like (a) a more expensive jacket of similar design (b) one of the new jackets that have superceded my make or c) my money back. Now that is what you call looking after your customers !!

8th May 2012
Well I must admit a certain reluctance on the Sunday that I had to leave for Wales as the wind and rain lashed against the window and a forecast determined to make April the wettest on record did nothing to cheer my spirits. But I could not put off the enevitable any longer and true to form I arrived in Wales, wet and very cold. Seems others did not fair much better and the reception area floor had only marginally less water than the Spa - but at least that was warm. Would appear the gods had been sufficiently mollified and the next day dawned bright as we headed for the Elan Valley. We were greeted there by a magnificent waterfall as the constant rain has filled all the reservoirs to capacity, allowing the excess to spill over the top. The rest of the day was a delight, with quiet roads and tremendous visibility offering views across the Welsh mountains, some of which I have never seen before.

The next day forecast heavy rain coming in from the West, so we cut short the North Wales route and scuttled towards Derbyshire, our plan worked, arriving before the rain did, although low cloud spoilt our transit of the 'Cat and Fiddle' road. The following morning dawned fine and we wondered if there was to be a pattern here - however, it was the last we saw of any serious weather as we headed northwards through the Derbyshire Dales.   Our planned route from here to the Forest of Bowland was to reluctantly take the motorway  around Manchester as I had tried several routes all which proved very complicated and messy. But you can't beat local knowledge and luckily John who was touring with us for the first time, lives locally and volunteered to take us over the moors, past the reservoirs and past the dark satanic mills to the promised land (Yorkshire).  I must say I enjoyed the day, it was nice to switch off and follow someone else for a change and the route he took went past many well known landmarks which I had heard about but never seen. Unfortunately, when John passed leadership back to me, I was so switched off I missed my turning - but think I got away with it!  The day finished  riding through the lovely Trough of Bowland to spend the next two nights in Cumbria.

You will see from the pictures in the Gallery that the weather continued to be kind to us, and we had great days riding in the Lakes and on the Galloway Peninsular.  The one outstanding feature was the visibility, which had everything almost standing out in 3D and both the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland were clearly visible from the Dumfries coast. The tour was named "Best of the West"  and I believe lived up to its name. 

27th April 2012
Well a busy week as we prepare for the first tour of the year. Took the bike in for a service and asked them to check out the drive train as it sounded slightly noisy.  On inspection, it was found that there were two bearings - in the pinion I believe - on their way out. The bike has done 85,000 miles so I suppose that is not too bad. Thankfully these were readily available and I had the bike back next day in time to go and have a new rear tyre fitted.  Only the rear tyre needed changing, so I went for a Bridgestone 023 again, however, Bike Tyres Leeds, had a 023 GT tyre in, and suggested I give it a try. Seems this tyre has been constructed especially for heavier bikes (think the Pan qualifies there) so we will see how it performs. I suspect  my tailend man John, is still on his Michelin Pilot 3's so will be interesting to see how much more mileage than I,  he gets. 

Just downloaded the latest mapping for my new (second hand) Zumo 660. Seems that due to the increased coverage of Europe, the memory of 660 is now no longer big enough to take all the information (which is what happened to the 550) this is particularly annoying as you have to choose a section of Europe to download and it is difficult to know which countries are included. I have suggested to Garmin that they let you choose the countries you want , country by country, they say they are looking into it. Of course you can always save extra mapping onto the SD card (see file in LH border). One good suggestion from Garmin is that you buy a large memory SD card ( know you can get 32G these days), when you download new mapping choose "download to computer only". Once it has downloaded  onto your computer (4 hours at my Broadband speeds)  follow "Extra mapping onto SD" instructions and choose the whole of Europe, or at least the countries you want and these will be downloaded onto your SD card. If you have a big enough SD card memory you will get all Europe on and there will also be room for your music. Once this is done do not forget to go to Tools/settings/map/map info on your unit - make sure the boxes with the map info you have just downloaded are ticked and that any previous versions are un-ticked. 

Finally, some of you have been asking about switching off the safety camera alerts whilst in France. On the Zumo range this is done by Tools / Settings / Proximity Points / Change / un-tick Garmin Safety Cameras / Ok

Had a nice email from Bill Vivian (red VFR)  the other day, to say that he has decided that his touring days are over. I know he wanted to make to his 80th, but the minor tumble he took at the end of last year and increased family commitments made his decision easier.  
As Bill says,  "  Having shared with you a number of firsts for WRT over the past 12 years, the first tour to Eire; first NW200; first Isle of Skye, first Channel crossing from Hull; first trip to Wales etc. I feel that I've been part of the growth of WRT from the early days at Chequers.   Having looked forward to and enjoyed every tour I've been on it will be strange for me not to be going on tour, but alas all good things come to an end sometime.   I've met some great people over the years and as I've said many times, "You meet the nicest people on a White Rose Tour". 

I am sure you join me in wishing Bill all the best for the future, and it would not surprise me if he does not make a guest appearance in the bar one of these days........

21st April 2012
Hi, just to let you know that we are back in the UK, I must admit it is a bit of a shock leaving temperatures in the high 80,s to the low 50,s. However, the sun is shining at the moment and I am looking forward to our first tour of the year.  A big thank you to Dorothy and Keith who looked after the shop whilst we were away, and as usual, did a great job.

Both the NW200 and Mountains of Spain are now fully booked and closed. There is just one room left on the Mountains of France Tour , but we have to close this soon. We have several Double/Twin rooms remaining on the Scottish Highlands Tour, we will not be doing this next year so if interested. please contact us soon.   

8th April 2012
Happy Easter, hope you all have a good weekend, although from a biking point of view I believe it is a bit of a washout, such a shame after the good weather you have been enjoying. Not to rub it in, its a little warmer here, think it will be about 92F today. In true Easter spirit I am sat here watching some baby bunnies running around the garden, unfortunately a hawk also knows where they live and flew down to sit outside their burrow entrance with lunch in mind. Scared him off, but not sure if they will get to see Whitsuntide 
The French breatheralyzer debate rumbles on, but thanks to Dave Archibald for the link below warning that you must get a French NF approved kit. (why am I not surprised). a French connection also tells me these can be bought in any of the French supermarkets for about 1 Euro. http://www.frenchbreathalyzer.com/?gclid=CMW7iN_Jpa8CFcEPfAodDmxIag

27th March 2012
Further to previous comments regarding the new law that from the 1st July 2012 all vehicles travelling in France will have to carry a single use breathlyser, Keith White advises me that he has just had a mailshot from Autobulbs.direct.co.uk offering BreathTest kits for use in France costing £5.00 per pair which comply to their laws.


24th March 2012
Just a few lines regarding our first tour of the year "Best of the West" - this is quite well subscribed but we still have a few Double and Twin rooms remaining. If you are interested please contact us soon as we will be closing the tour on April 1st. This should be a nice tour to start the year with as we start with two days in Wales before passing through Derbyshire and into Yorkshire. The tour continues up through the Northern Pennines to our final hotel in Galloway and Dumfries putting us within easy reach of the Scottish Borders. With traffic free roads and lovely scenery, this is always one of our favourite destinations.

Thanks to Mike of 'Tiger Twin' fame for owning up to watching an episode of "Helicopter Heroes" (actually I quite like it myself)  - here is what he sent

 "I've just watched an episode of "Helicopter Heroes" (we semi retired folk lead busy lives) and whose face should pop up on the screen...one of our paramedic friends from last year's Dolomites tour, Dave Butterfield! He was on a day off taking a ride out alone in the Yorkshire countryside when he came across an accident involving two bikes. Both riders and one female pillion passenger were injured quite badly and the scene was carnage.

Dave swung into action and took control assessing the scene, administering first aid and advising the emergency services and also the air ambulance crew on their arrival so that all the casualties were successfully looked after. At the end of the piece the attending police officer was full of praise for Dave saying how he had made his job so much easier by his actions

Dave's parting comment at the end of the programme was that he just happened to be on the "wrong" road on the "wrong"day! Then he donned his skidlid and rode off into the Yorkshire sunshine to continue his day off! I'm willing to bet those three bikers would take a different view and would rather be

 

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