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Wake Up Wiltshire 42 Back to the third world
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You’d think that
after our last jaunt to Gloucestershire we wouldn’t consider going back until
the Highways agency had made the roads
“acceptable for motorcycles”……….. Well we did, Maz had told us about a bike show in Gloucester and it would make a good route to get us into Monmouthshire, so why not? Trolly Dolly arrived for the photoshoot with his new 2009 950 Midnight Star all polished up. It’s the second one in our centre now Nigel Evans got a 2010 model earlier this season and now we have a “First off the line” model as well, I wonder how low the VIN number is? It’s doesn’t seem relevant now but in 20 years time it will. |
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He makes it look small, maybe his nickname “big Dave” will stick? Me, I like “Trolly Dolly” ha ha
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We got to Malmesbury just in time for the Abbey Bellringers to burst into life. I wonder how much longer they’ll be able to get away with it before the H&S and PC brigades ban it for being a public nuisance? Ah well, leaving our quintessential English setting behind we crossed the border and into the third world which, was Ok until Tetbury. Once through it we took a road to Nailsworth that passes through Avening. Apart from being one of those villages that people oh and ah at it’s a great biking road, well that’s if they filled the potholes in! It’s supposed to be a real road and even has white lines down the middle now and again, but no, once more they ran out of tarmac. The ride from Nailsworth to Stroud is good one that combines rural scenery with an industrial past in a way the planners wouldn’t let you get away with nowadays. So you’d think they’d keep on top of the road situation wouldn’t you? What with all the commercial traffic keeping the place going as a thriving centre of employment………… Wrong! The show itself was, well…………. small but there was a display of stunt riding over skips and other homemade obstacles by a local trials club that held our attention, actually I thought it was a good way of showing us the kind of skills and bikes that we really needed to ride their roads!
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There was one bike for sale that caught our Eye, it was a 1983 US 750 Virago. It only ran On one cylinder so Ivor made an offer for it as spares for his restoration project. |
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After an hour or so we’d reached our boredom threshold and we all rode over to Ross on Wye along a proper road, like the kind you get in the civilised world. It’s a nice old county town and it’s got a castle but all we wanted was teas and cakes. The sun was out and we could have kept going along the Golden Valley to Hay on Wye, which is on the edge of the Black mountains. But instead we stuck to the plan and headed south through the Forest of Dean and back down the Wye valley, for the next helping of tea & cakes. Near Redbrooke there’s a “welcome to Gloucestershire” sign followed by row of ……………. you’ve guessed it, potholes! They’ve run out of tarmac again. |
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Over the years I’ve heard so many people say of Tintern Abbey “It’ll be alright when they finish it”, I think I’ll start referring to this place as “The Building Site”. With a sense of reluctance we went home, there aren’t many more Sundays left this season and we know we’ve got to make the most of them. As ever the sun was shining Sorry if you couldn’t be with us.
Blackjack.bob
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