Hartside Run

Helen and I went on a run on the Saturday of the Easter weekend to Hartside. We left home at around 10:30am and headed on our usual main roads to Clitheroe. Due to traffic in Simonstone we turned off the main road and headed through Sabden and over Pendle Hill to the A59. We then cut across the A59 and headed through Clitheroe and out the other side towards Waddington on the B6478. We then followed the B6478 to Slaidburn where we stopped briefly to use the toilets. We left Slaidburn on the B6478 and then soon turned onto minor roads and headed passed Stocks Reservoir and through Gisburn Forest to the A65 just East of Ingleton. Here we joined the A65 and followed it to Devil’s Bridge at Kirkby Lonsdale. We didn’t stop and instead joined the A683 and headed up towards Sedbergh, we turned off just before Sedbergh onto the B6257. We followed this road over the A684 at which point it turns into a narrow single track road. We then followed it until we joined the A685 and took that to Tebay. We stopped at the local services in Tebay for fuel and then headed over to Orton on the B6260. We decided to stop in Orton for lunch at the newly opened Silver Yard Cafe. It is a nice and quiet cafe set in a lovely rural location. We would definitely recommend it and will certainly use it again.

From Orton we continued on the B6261 over Crosby Ravensworth Fell to the A6 at Shap. We then took the A6 all the way up to Penrith. After that we took the A686 towards Alston, after Melmerby we started the climb of Hartside. For once we got a lovely clear run up to the cafe at the top, the majority of the road has been resurfaced now so you don’t have to worry about any potholes or loose gravel. We didn’t stop at top as we have decided to boycott the cafe after previous poor service and blatantly lying to us about our missing order. So we continued down the otherside to Alston. We turned right in Alston and took the B6277 to Middleton-in-Teesdale. In Middleton we turned right onto the B6276 and headed into Brough. We then went on the A685 to Kirkby Stephen. Kirkby Stephen was very busy and it was the only place that we had any real traffic problems of the day. We eventually got through and then turned left onto the B6259. We then went passed Pendragon Castle and over Mallerstang Common to the junction with the A684 at the Moorcock Inn. We turned left here and took the A684 into Hawes, we didn’t stop in Hawes and immediately turned right onto the B6255 and headed towards the Ribblehead Viaduct. At Ribblehead we turned left to Settle on the B6479, we stopped in Settle for an ice cream from the Ye Olde Naked Man Café.

After the ice cream we went on our usual route back home via Rathmell and Sawley.

Read more...

BMW Launch, Hawes & Garmin

Today we visited the BMW launch event at Williams BMW in Manchester. It was very busy but we were able to get a look and sit on the new S1000R. I was also able to get to grips with two other K1300s bikes and found both of their throttles to be smooth in operation. Mine has a real bad notchy feel as you initially turn the throttle. Could this be one of the cables or the grip itself? When I install the new audio wire for the SatNav comms, I think I will have a look at this and the throttle bodies again. This time I will also take the airbox off and actually look inside the bodies at the butterflies as well.

After a free coffee and a Bockwurst in a bap with headed for Clitheroe and the Yorkshire Dales. We had a run up to Hawes and back on our usual route via Sabden, Sawley, Wigglesworth, Settle and Ribblehead Viaduct. We stopped just outside Horton-in-Ribblesdale at our usual tearoom stop. We prefer to stop here these days as it is usually very quiet and the owner is very welcoming. No major issues to report, the K1300s performed brilliantly with no hint of a sticking throttle. Helen was a bit rusty at first, but soon got the hang of her S1000SX. We had a nice quiet ride, more cars than bikes were out today around the Dales.

My first opinion of the Garmin 350LM is a good one although there are things that I don’t like. Currently the unit is mounted a little bit too low for me and I find I have to really take my eyes off the road to see it. Obviously when I get the sound working I won’t have to do this as much. But I think I will install my other Ram Mount double ball clamp bracket as it is a little bit longer. The SatNav is very easy to use with a glove and ever button/icon I pressed on screen I hit first time everytime. It followed the route I had plotted on Basecamp to the letter and when I made a slight detour it was able to recalculate a route to get me back on track, without backtracking. One slight annoyance is that it gives you the distance to your final destination not one of the set points I had made on route. This information is stored on the trip/stats screen instead, which is a quick button press away though. I don’t like the 3D map view the Garmin uses I much prefer TomToms approach. Also TomTom gives you a much better idea of the severity of corners, Garmin seems to flatten them out more. I did notice that some sharp turns it actually thinks are junction turns and navigates as such. Not sure what the vocal command is though as I don’t have sound yet. I will have to wait till I have sound enabled to my helmet before a can make a proper judgement on the SatNav overall.

Read more...