Morning Blast around the Dales

I had a quick blast around the Dales yesterday morning on the K1300S. It is its first outing since the final drive seal was fixed. The ride didn’t start too well as the on board computer immediately reported a critical tyre pressure at the front. I had anticipated this and put some change in one of my outside pockets for an air machine. Surprisingly the air machine at our local garage is free, I think I will pump up all our tyres here in the future. Far easier using an air machine than setting up our compressor.

Once I had pumped the tyres up to the correct pressure I headed for Settle and Hawes. I took our usual route to Clitheroe and then headed via Sawley and Rathmell to Settle. I didn’t stop in Settle and by-passed the centre and headed for Horton-in-Ribblesdale. Just outside of Settle I stopped at the local toilets in Stainforth.

I left here and soon arrived at Ribblehead Viaduct and then headed for Hawes. The roads appeared to be pretty busy today so I decided I wouldn’t stop in Hawes and instead head for Devil’s Bridge via Sedbergh. So in Hawes I joined the A684 and headed for Sedbergh, this is a nice road and is often a lot quieter than some of the other roads in this area. I had a fairly quiet run to Sedbergh and only had to pass a couple of cars. I passed through Sedbergh and then joined the A683 to Kirkby Lonsdale. This is a very quick road and is often overlooked by most bikers as they never seemed to go further North than Devil’s Bridge. I soon arrived at Devil’s Bridge but as expected it was very busy so I decided not to stop and just head home. I joined the A65 here and headed towards Skipton. As I approached Ingleton a biker give me the thumbs down, but I am well aware that they often Police this road so I was making sure my speed didn’t creep above the limit anyway. I passed through Ingleton and several other bikers gave me the thumbs down as well. But I always turn off the A65 at this point so didn’t actually see what they were warning me about. I left the A65 and headed on minor roads passed Stocks Reservoir and through Gisburn Forest. I then joined the B6478 and headed through Slaidburn and Waddington and soon arrived in Clitheroe were I stopped to get some much need Super Unleaded. I then headed for home on our usual roads. So in total I had done around 3 hours of riding and only stopped once for 2 minutes. Helen would never let me do this normally, but as she is soon to be picking up her new bike she doesn’t want to ride her VFR anymore.