Day 3 - Homeward bound

Holy crap this is dense fog today!!! The rain in the night was torrential, and have woken up to very wet bikes, fog that you can only see about 10 yards in front, and that thin drizzle!!!

We did take in breakfast again, but not quite as good today - that's because we ate far too much last night and there wasn't really much room - Caroline went for the smoked salmon, but instead of it being thin layers, it was actual big chunks and, whilst brilliantly cooked, was not for her. 

Peter had an omelette - big mistake! Far too big, too full of cheese, but again, probably the dinner last night was too much and was lingering around!
That was a VERY expensive weekend, but wow we definitely had fun and didn't hold back - good job we had saved for it though!!
We left in thick fog and rode north to Hope Valley, where we rode the mountain road over to Woodhead. Peter's sat nav was playing up and we had to stop a number of times to re-set it!! Very frustrating. We were riding blind with no sat nav, blind because the fog was so dense that we could only see 10-15 feet in front of us. Absolutely NOT for the faint hearted, especially turning a right hand u-turn on a blind bend, in fog and slightly inclining from the Woodhead pass on the A6024 to Holmfirth. It's a steep winding road with drops to the left - in dense fog going only going 15 MPH!!!

The 1st of several stops to get the dam sat nav working!! Going to have to re-set very soon!
Stopped for a well deserved coffee at this place - The Fleece inn - in the middle of nowhere and it was jam packed with people!!
Leaving to go up to Saddleworth Moore - still blind with no sat nav!! Reminder to self.....never to do this junction again - It's the one leaving Holmfirth and turning left on the A635 toward Manchester - it's a very sharp left hand turn on an adverse camber that must be 30 degrees!!! We had to negotiate it far out to the right and sweep round. Can't really describe it accurately, but essentially we are never doing it again!!
We wing'd ourselves home with out Peter's sat nav - Stop over for a Macy-D's in Glossop and then headed toward Congleton. Bailed out at Macclesfield and turned home directly, as the weather was starting to tuning and it was going a bit cold!

Can say - great weekend, throughly enjoyed the Peak District, even though 50 MPH imposed everywhere!




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Day 2 - Ride around the Peak District

Leaving early after breakfast...

Our intended route will take in  Matlock Bath, famous place for motor cyclists to meet...


Might get a tad busy.........

We'll definitely be riding the Cat & Fiddle road, which is very famous and apparently in one of the top 10 roads to ride - I personally don't think it's that good, but we've got to do it whilst in Derbyshire.
Woken up to a little bit of fog today, so let's see what it's like after breakfast - fingers crossed all will be cleared up and we can set off for an epic day around the Peak District. Apparently it's like this every morning so we have faith that once we ride down the hills we'll be able to see properly!
The breakfast was just amazing actually - they must source their produce locally and it's certainly as fresh as fresh can be! Very tasty thank you very much and hasn't left a lot of room to squeeze in to the riding gear 😅😅
Left Bretton and rode north towards Glossop, then over the Snake Pass. Very foggy on the top but it cleared on the other side and we enjoyed a really great ride through the forest and along this windy road to get to Hope Valley. Done this many times in the car, but nothing beats it when you're on a bike!

All the roads are set to 50 MPH, which is a little annoying in parts, but it does mean that you take in the scenery and shear beauty of the Park District.

Stopped at Cafe 19 in Claver - they were very short staffed and it must have taken 25 minutes to get a cup of coffee! Good job we're not in a rush or else we might have abandoned hope and riden on.
Continued south to Matlock Bath and stopped for a quick refresher. We intended to stop for lunch here, but no chance, not after that humungous breakfast!! There were quite a few bikes around, but not as many as normal apparently!

The weather is just excellent - sunny skies, warm day, perfect riding conditions!!
Left Matlock bath and now going to ride up to Macclesfield and then the A6 Cat & Fiddle Road. Enjoyed riding it, but it's certainly nowhere near as good as some of the roads in Wales and Scotland, so unsure why it has the accolade of being one of the top 10 roads to ride in the UK. Anyhow, stopped at the top of the Cat & Fiddle and the views were certainly amazing!
Carried on through Buxton, remaining on the A6 and stopped for a quick pint at The Ashford Arms obviously Mrs C has to have something to eat!!!
Back to the Barrel Inn for the evening - a gorgeous late afternoon and of course knob heads Peter and Toby have to park the bikes opposite a packed pub so the bikes can be shown off!! Kids!
Views are just wonderful in this light, although a tad windswept!
Toby into the G&T's having killed himself on beers yesterday! Let's hope his tummy is much better. It was lovely to shower, get dressed and then go down for the evening and have a few beers, Prosecco, wine and shots (inc a flaming Sambuca  that the bar maid had never made before.)

Can't believe we didn't take any photos of the Fish & Chips and the enormous steak that we enjoyed for dinner. Once again the food arrived within 5 mins of placing the order - how do they do that!!!!!
Another very successful day, with lovely riding, good roads (not great), but good, brilliant food again - now pretty tired so we're going to retire and watch Strictly's 1st week.



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Day 1 - Eyam

So it looks like the weather is going to hold - yesterday was really sunny, but slightly overcast today. If it stays like this is will be great riding conditions though!

Leaving Strathalyn and going in the different direction to our normal route - we either go south or west, but this time we're going east and having a couple of days in the Peak District, which is new to us on the bikes (not new to us in a car,) but we've always fancied riding the roads over there - so off we're going.

We're heading for Eyam, staying at The Barrel Inn







Mrs C very excited about a scone that is going to arrive in the next 10 minutes!!! A nice ride to get over the Peak District, other than 2 nutters pulling out in front of us at roundabouts! It's like we're invisible...

Toby was wingeing like a girl as he doesn't get in many photos, so here's an extra large one in the 1st pit stop of the tour at Flash Bar Cafe just outside Buxton 🤣🤣

Definitely worth a stop here, lovely little place on the exposed mountain top, so the views were amazing!

We've arrived at The Barrel Inn and its definitely as remote as described - up winding country lanes and on the pinnacle of a mountain top - Yes all 5 counties can definitely be seen, however not in this light, as the clouds have started to descend and the rain has hit us! We did decide to ignore a detour sign and went up a little track that we had to remove the orange barriers and squeeze in between concrete blocks! A bit naughty but we'd had enough and could see the pub 100 feet away and the detour would have added another few miles and eaten into our drinking time!!!

 

Having the 1st of a few beers me thinks! The food menu looks great and Caroline already chosen, we've got 3 hours to go but sure she'll have her knife and fork out in a minute LOL. This is to be our table for the next few hours - 3 steak & ale pies ordered!!
This has to be the fastest service we've ever experienced, the food arrives within about 5-7 minutes of ordering. It's absolutely fresh as a daisy and the pies were gorgeous!! The food here is certainly exceptional at 1st tasting, so hopefully it remains so as we're eating here tomorrow as well.
This is one very excited little lady - food came, devoured and enjoyed immensely! Very little left on the plate it must be said!
Blind as a bat Caroline, mentioned there was a sign outside that gave a description where we are and what is surrounding us and "ordered" us to go and take a photo. The issue with the photo is that the sign is a parking notice, so her vision from the window wasn't very good and she should have  gone to Specsavers!!!!
There was an actual sign, but not the one Mrs C was pointing to...
The Barrel Inn is certainly an excellent place to stay, the rooms whilst small are just lovely, the views are stunning, the food is brilliant and all in all a very good choice of venue to stop at.

The evening was spent watching Vito win Celebrity Master Chef, drinking a few beers and then finishing off the evening with a nightcap of Rum for Toby, Dissarano for Caroline and Cointreau for Peter.
A very successful day - riding over was good, picked some lovely routes to get over here; weather held out mostly; new roads riden so a change of scenery...

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