Honda Forza Trip to Yorkshire and Lancashire
In view of the fact that Christine would be away on a Hurtigruten cruise with a friend in the middle weeks of September, I decided to have a trip South on the Forza to visit some folks I hadn't seen for a good while. My first task was to secure accommodation to split the journey up a bit. I booked a place near Blair Drummond, not far from Stirling, which meant I could just ride down the normal A9 route or if the weather was more favourable I could take the West route out of Inverness, on to Fort William and then via Glencoe to Callander, which was the route I eventually followed.
When I spoke to my life-long friend David in Hull where I would be staying for a few days, he suggested meeting up for a Hotel stay, somewhere midway between my first stop and their place. I found a place near to Hadrians Wall, so that David could ride up on his CBF 600SA - almost identical to the one I had and we could have an evening meal and decent breakfast before heading back to Hull, probably by a different route than he had taken.
After a few days catching up with friends and relatives in the Hull area I set off West and dropped by to see friends in Huddersfield and then Blackrod, Bolton before making my way to Southport for another stopover with friends and former colleagues from the Spinal Unit. The next day I caught the train to Waterloo (Crosby) and met up for a lunch with a few from the Tech in Southport where I had worked. That evening Pradip and I met up with colleagues from the Spinal Unit at a lovely Italian restaurant, where we have enjoyed meals in the past.
The next part of the plan was to make my way back up to Aberdeenshire to stay a few days with my Sister and Brother-in-Law. In the event the weather was atrocious as I made my way north, so I didn't do the whole of the 380 miles in one go but stopped over again in the B&B place near Stirling where I had been on the way down from home. It was a great dry ride the next day and I used the short-cut over the Cairn O' Mount from Laurencekirk through Fettercairn to Potarch on the A93, just a few miles from my sister's place. Another relaxing catch up and a visit to the World Horse Welfare Centre at Belwade Farm near Aboyne for lunch in their excellent café brought my adventure to the final stage, which would be a lovely ride up through Rhynie and Huntly to head via Inverness for the last ferry trip of the day back home. I had the 7pm ferry booked from Scrabster back to Stromness, so I left my Sister's place mid morning for the 220 mile ride back home. A lovely trip and some 1300 miles added to the Forza at an average of well over 90mpg! So that's over 3000 on the clock now and time for another oil change, even though the service book info more than doubles that mileage - but it's my bike!