Bournemouth

It was mid-August and Bob was starting to get itchy feet and he wanted to go and have a paddle in the sea (probably to soothe the itching)

So early on a Saturday morning myself, Bob and Chinny jumped onto our bikes to meet up with Ray and Bonzo, we had decided to meet them at junction 17 of the M4 so we took the excellent A429 Fosse Way from Warwick south and around Cirencester and past Malmesbury until we hit the M4.

After meeting up with the lads we decided to head back into Malmesbury and look for breakfast.

After parking up in Malmesbury (It was nice to see that they had put out the flags to celebrate our visit) we had a little wander around this lovely looking town and eventually found a little cafe called Summer Cafe on the High Street where we had our breakfast baguettes and coffee.

Once our bellies had been filled and our bladders emptied the next part of today's trip was to head south through Devizes and around Salisbury and then down the A338 until we reached Bournemouth

After wandering around Bournemouth for a couple of hours, walking along the pier, ogling all the very attractive ladies on the beach including one brave lady who seemed to have forgot her bikini top and trying to keep Bonzo off all the fair rides we decided it was time to saddle up and start the long journey home.

Rather than retrace our route back we decided to take a slightly different way home that included the A350 from Blandford Forum north through to Warminster where we had a quick stop at a local pub for refreshments (diet coke) before carrying on up the A350 back to junction 17 of the M4 where we said our goodbyes to Ray and Bonzo and we then retraced our earlier route back up the Fosse way.

All in all we had a great, if very sweaty day and covered over 445 miles and after all that Bob never did get his paddle.

A few more pictures can be found here

Aberaeron

Saturday morning saw myself, Bob and Chinny meet up again with Bonzo and Ray at Fromes Hill Cafe for our usual start to a day out on the bikes, a nice big fry up!

Unfortunately I had leave after breakfast to go to my niece Taylor’s 4th birthday party so while I headed back up the M5 with thoughts of birthday cake and orange squash the others decided to head for the seaside for some sticky rock at Aberaeron.

A few more pictures can be found here

Hartington

Due to other commitments only myself and Bob could get out today and even then I had to be home early, so we we decided upon a little run into the Peak District for breakfast.

We took our usual route through Lichfield and down the A515 until we stopped for petrol at just before Sudbury when I bumped into Boycie and Big Dave from t595.net who were also heading out for a little ride of their own. After getting some advice from Boycie about some of the local roads we jumped back on the bikes and headed back up the A515 into Ashbourne

After make our way through the traffic in Ashbourne we stayed on the A515 which is a great, if busy and heavily policed road until we turned left onto the B5054 and headed into Hartington. Like most of the B roads within the Peak District this a lovely road with some great views but due to a lack of time we stopped in Hartington upon the recommendation of a mate of mine at the local tea room where we had our usual breakfast before heading back out onto the roads and headed home.

A few more pictures can be found here