Ariel Riding and Fixing 2023

[Steven.Carter]

Have I gone the ,,,,,,,,,

[Steven.Carter]

Stopped at Clovelly on the way to Newquay, bit of a long walk down a steep hill to get to the little harbour.

[Vincent.vanGinneke]

is that the village from The Fugitive ?

[Simon.Gardiner]

is that the village from The Fugitive ?

The Prisoner? ("I am not a number....!!") - that was Portmeirion in Wales.
Clovelly's an extremely picturesque old fishing village on the North Devon coast, famous for its pretty harbour and being on a very steep hill. If I remember rightly the hill is cobbled and wheeled vehicles aren't allowed, the villagers use wooden sleds and maybe the occasional donkey to get their shopping home!
Looks like Steve's taken the scenic route....

SG

[Steven.Carter]

I did take the scenic route it was great,,, though nearly died walking back up the hill.

[Steven.Carter]

Corrr, we had a very wet ride yesterday, started off with some light rain that then got progressively worse till midday, after that things realy deteriorated
I was in the company of Bill on his NH a local lad from Bideford and Peter on his BSA single. The BSA though didn't think too much of the weather at all. It constantly complained bitterly. Any excuse no matter how vain it would pull over and stop. Not to far from our first coffee the BSA disappeared from my mirror. Stopping unknowingly right next to some horse riding stables, my bike caused all sorts of commotion with people running after loose animals one poor lad trying to hold on to the reigns of another horse Eeek, apologising I killed the engine and pushed my bike back down the road to Peter. Because we had previously gone through a ford some kind of water ingression was suspected but no, the Mag was dry, no problem there with a big fat spark then suddenly Peter says, think I've found the problem, his open mouthed concentric carburettor had taken a fancy to his tank bag strap and had swallowed around 6 inches of it.

After that all that, things seemed to have settled down but the BSA wasn't finished, after running through some standing water the familiar sight of the BSA in my mirror disappeared again. This time water was the culprit and after some drying out of the mag our ride continued on,,,,,,,,,to the next stop. This time the BSA ran out of petrol, now as he had a full tank when he set off he's no idea what could have happened to it but luckily for us Dave Owen who was now in our company and who had correctly foretold in the morning that his small container of petrol he carries was never for himself. we were on our way again.

The BSA has now had several tries at getting out of all this bad weather but as they say practice makes perfect. After a fuel stop and now with the heavens actually opening up on us and even the fuel station canopy leaking badly down the back of our necks we came to a unanimous decision to head back to the Hotel in Newquay. With Dave leading the way as both my phone and satnav had done that BSA sort of thing and died we headed off. Only to get ourselves caught in awfull traffic. Dave filtered bravely through to the junction but no sign of the BSA or Bill. We were only 10 miles from the hotel so Dave headed home and I swam back to find the BSA. Both Bill and Peter were trying to kick some life into the BSA like a scene out of Casualty but it had had enough. Right outside a pub. Got to give it credit for that. The landlord kindly put the bike in his garage and with Peter hitching a lift with me we got back to the Hotel only to find the sun coming out It will be interesting to find out what caused that breakdown.
Peter was more then a bit apologetic, but like I said, this is what makes a great rally

Many thanks to Bill and Lo who made us feel very welcome in Cornwall plus doing a fantastic route and to Andrew for all his hard work over the years organising the LDR

[Steven.Carter]

Heading out for the rally I stayed overnight with Chris and Jan Brindle, there home was almost exactly halfway between my place and Newquay. Setting off Friday morning I had plenty time to get to the Hotel so knowing that Peter and Will Fletcher were going the North Devon route I thought I'd go that way too, never know we could meet up.
We did,. A breakdown saw to that

His KH got a little hungry and started eating his front main chain case, which needed a rear wheel removal to fix. Will even managed to borrow a spanner from a house opposite to complete the repair who even gave him a wash and brush up afterwards. All this was going on before I had turned up all I could do was congratulate all those present. Dave Pitt was also in attendance who had turned up earlier and had some vital info to allow them to get the wheel out. Quickly Detachable it wasn't
Now we were four and the suggestion from Dave to find some coffee was greeted with a round off applause so off we went following Dave to a Morrisons, a fortuitous choice for Will as his KH ran out of fuel outside the petrol station.

After our welcome stop Wills KH again had a rendezvous with the kerb. This time it had just died but on a fairly busy road, spannering here was out of the question so being ever helpful I got my tow rope out. Will looked frightened at that prospect so Peter and myself grabbed the bike and manhandled it up over the high kerb and onto the grass verge close to a 10ft drop into a drain, nothing passed our lips but we both laughed. We had the same thought, shall we just chuck it Iinto the ditch
We had one guy who stopped to offer help. Now that was very nice of him but parking his car opposite us and narrowing the road even more actually actually didn't help at all.

[Peter Fletcher]

The misbehaving KH went on to win the Best Twin Award (helped by being the only one present). Many thanks to the Cornish Branch for putting on a memorable LDR. Shame about the rain but pleased to report that Ariel ignition systems were unaffected.

[Ian.Taylor]

Keep the post coming Steve, I enjoy reading your journeys

[Steven.Carter]

Keep the post coming Steve, I enjoy reading your journeys

I've a trip to Holland next week,, that should be fun