Well, ive just returned from my first big adventure and thought i better write it up before i forget it all . I know it doesnt seem big by the likes of Ewan and Charleys efforts, but for me seemed quite cool. Unfortunately i was on my own for the trip becuase Carelton was at work .

So easter holidays meant that i had a free week (apart from monday at work) so i spent tuesday planning and set of wednesday morning. The plan was Squires, Yorkshire Moors, Jedburgh on the Scottish border, then a night camping in Ancrum just above Jedburgh, then set off for Carlisle then on to the Hardknott pass and home via Hawes, Masham and Squires again.

So i set off Wednesday morning in beatifull weather for my first stop at Squires where i was the only bike there quite a rare sight in the beatifull sunshine. So then i set off for the Moors quite a few boring roads to get there but once i got into the Moors National Park i found myself on one of the best roads i have ever ridden. Single track the odd sheep wandering about beatifull scenery and i rode along this road for nearly an hour without seeing another person, the first person i did see was a farmer on his quad shotgun in hand .

So from there for some reason the sat nav took me right through the centre of Middlesborough. But from there i found some nice little roads that took me to the start of the A68, the road that takes me over the border to Jedburgh. At this point it was chucking it down, although my kit was standing up to it and i stayed 100% dry .

Once i had stopped for a few piccies on the border i set of towards my first campsite for the night in Ancrum just above Jedburgh. It was a rubbish night really i was the only one on the small campsite it was freezing and absolutely bucketing it down.

In the morrning i set off for Carlisle on some very boring A+B roads and got soaked just about all the way to Carlisle. The huge amount of rain resulted in the bracket for my sat nav leaking water in and thus stopped charging the sat nav. But it got me to Carlisle and then to Cockermouth on the edge of the Lake District where it finally ran out of battery. So i bought a lead to charge it and asked a man in a computer shop to charge it for me. So i was stuck there for an hour so i repacked the top box and had some tea.

Anyway i collected my sat nav and that just got me to Ambleside in the Lakes where i found a great little B&B where i could charge the sat nav, phone and scala rider. It was a lovely little B&B really friendly and the rooms were really nice.

I woke the next morning to find beatifull weather so i packed the YBR and set off for the Harknott pass, this time following road signs to save the battery of the sat nav. Anyway i got there in great weather and set off over the pass. It was challenging and some of the views are litterally stunning. Going up was fine i didnt get out of first but i really enjoyed it. Going down was the scary part becuase the engine braking of my 125cc engine just wasnt holding me back even in first so i was having to use the brakes quite a lot . Anway i got to the bottom and follwed the road to the first T junction where i went left onto another cracking road with more great views.

From there i just road around the Lakes for a while until i pulled up and set the sat nav for Hawes. It was great weather and there were about 8 bikes there. So i stopped for dinner and then set off for the ice cream factory at Masham, where i stopped for half an hour and then set off back to Squires again the weather was great and there were quite a few bikes there. So i set off for the final leg of the trip in great weather, that turned to rain just as i got back into Doncaster and didnt stop until i got back into Aston.

All in all a great trip (656 miles between Wed am and Fri pm on my trusty 6yr old YBR 125 )and i thouroughly enjoyed it even through the snow, hail, rain and thunder storm. Now i cant wait for the next trip back up there so Carleton can have a go at gettig n over the Hardknott Pass .

The bike never missed a beat, i am running Michelin Pilot Sporty's which were faultless throughout

Appollogies for the essay, i just like to write about my trips thats all.

I'll put a few pictures below but the full colllection of 103 picture should be on our website sometime this week.

Cheers

Toblerone