Longest Day 21st June 2008 Ride - JOhn O'Groats to Lands End (UK)

[YellowFever]

cool stuff, nice pics man

 

[oo7]

On the HP2 it is the supermoron wheels I have fitted for road use both 17 inch and come like that as standard. Normal offroad setup is 17 back and 21 front. With the long suspension travel on the HP2 you find the arse in the air every time you hit the front brake hard and certainly not ideal in the wet and traffic hence the road setup which seems to work better. I have the extra set of hoops for offroading although they need to be taken out for a decent spin sadly when I get time to go offroad  8)

Maverick, you know that bike of yours is my favourite (ok, second favourite  :biggrin:, but still favourite on the mud island) bike in the whole wide world.

And I know that it makes a lot of sense to have those super moron set of wheels on the thing when riding in your valley  . . . but geez, it really, really looks so camp  :love1: Time you get back over here, fit some knobblies en ry die wit warm waks uit ordentlike grondpaaie uit!

Awesome report dude - wish I was there  :drif:

 

[Smithey]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Snafu]

and the return leg...................

 

[Lootch67]

The man's gone fishing. Don't hold your breath...

 

[X Banana Boy]

Thanks Mav.  These are very cool pics and post

 

[Maverick (R.I.P.)]

Sorry for the long delay but been kept busy at work again :biggrin: The return leg is sadly not that impressive as the rest so don't anticipate to much please...... :-[

 

[Snafu]

ok, share the galjoen then

 

[BigEd]

Nice so far Maverick! Eagerly awaiting the rest, lad.

Been to Land's End several times but missed John O'Groats for some reason ??? Oh wait, I lived in Plymouth ;D ;D

Naais! :thumleft:

PS. Nice bikes veral die TA, AT, Vara, HP2, etc.

 

[Maverick (R.I.P.)]

Ok where was I  :biggrin:

Right so we get up at 3:00 in the morning  atch: WTF is the first thing going through my mind as the sun is up already ??? Quickly pack camp and hit the shower to wake up. Could do with a cup of coffee but no time for that as I hear the distant rumble of bikes getting ready for the long way down to Lands End. We do the normal group picture thing and for some strange reason I did not bother to even take my camera out so this is courtesy of Chad

The guys start heading out  :ricky:

The anticipation was so great that it looked like a stampede as everybody tried to get out of the parking lot  :deal:

Now for the whole day I did not take any pictures, purely because it was either to cold, to wet or to tired  :biggrin: We headed down through the beautifull Scottish landscape on our way to Inverness. The morning light softly disturbed by the rumble of big trailies blasting down the roads at 4:00 am. It is about 6 degrees and clear skies, but the landscape is enough to thrill the adventure in you as the one after the other bends are taken in their stride.

We eventually split up from the main group and myself, Lindsay, Fanus and Andy rode together the whole day right into Lands End. We hit rain from Carlisle all the way down to Bristol. We are soaked to the bone and the HP2 has run out of gas twice already. Luckilly I brought a 5lt container with extra fuel. As we enter Cornwall a thick bank of mist appears and we struggle to do 30mph on the motorway it is that bad. 50 Miles of this and we are all tired, miserable, hungry and to scared to climb of the bike. My hamstring goes into spasm when we hit the 830 mile mark and nearly jump off the bike, luckilly it was so bad I could not move and just burst out in laughter thinking this really really hurts!! We stop about 15 miles outside Lands End around 20:45 and I give Chad a call. They already in the pub and ask if he can order food for us as they stop doing food at 21:00

The thought of a warm meal and something cold to drink after a very long day in the saddle make me ride faster as the lanes get narrower and more misty. Not very clever as I nearly end up in the bushes a few times so try and slow down. As we get to the pub informed that they refused to take the order and closed the kitchen. Needless to say now you sitting with three very fukced off boertjies and one slightly annoyed englishman  :biggrin:

We decide where we going to sleep and Lindsay opts for sharing a hotel room with someone. Myself and Fanus go local to find food and a place to sleep.......farkall!!
As we decide to finish off the last two kitkats I have with some water as every single establishment is closed we ride past a surfers lodge. Lindsay's bike is there which means he found food. We stop and he explained the hotel was full of shit and the girl here charged only £18 for the night for warm bed and breakfeast. As I am a social but skaam oukie ask the lovely girl whether we could have our breakfeast now....22:30. She looks at the three of us and smiles, she goes into the kitchen coming out with the owner. The lady also look us up and down smiles and says ok only because you guys are friendly and nice what do you want - anything lady, freakin anything!!  :drif: :biggrin:

She makes us each a plate of tappas with a cold beer and we chat untill 00:00 about how lucky we are that there is still nice people who actually care about travellers. Next morning's breakfeast was outstanding to say the least and we can't thank her enough for her generosity  :thumleft:

We head out to meet up with the gang at Lands End for some photo's

The South-Africans

The HP2 made me proud

HP2 and Faantjies GS1200

Realised on this trip don't need more than this

To think only 40 years earlier Jan arrived in the Kaap

A lovely day on the cornish coast

Bikes and Pubs....goes kinda naturally

Funny thing is Lindsay with his small 6'7" frame can actually surf quite well living in East London most of his life

There is no looking back now Linds, you have come from the South of Africa all the way to the North of Britian - well done!  8)

We take an easy ride back through Darmoor National Park, I stopped ahead and got some action shots...

Faantjie

Lindsay

We make our way back to London, another 330 mile day. A lovely sunday with no rain but hectic traffic from Salisbury onwards. I quickly pull over by the rocks to get another shot...

Africa GS in the front, Stonehenge at the back

Who would of thought you see a Cape Province licence plate around here  :biggrin:

That my friends is the end of the longest day tale, sorry we did not take more pictures but circumstances sometimes beyond your control stops you from getting of your bike and taking some time out to report  8)

 

[RobCrouch]

That's quite a trip in one day! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Goose]

Absolutely inspiring!!!

 

[Ama ride ride]

Thanks for the RR Mav. :thumleft:

I really like your writing style.

 

[Trailrider]

Great Ride Report! Thanks man :thumleft:

 

[Brakenjan]

Great stuff Mav, thank you.  :thumleft: :thumleft:

How's Lindsay's bike getting back to SA? I'll gladly fly over there and ride it back down (provided you and Lootch accompany me...).  :deal:

 

[Maverick (R.I.P.)]

Great stuff Mav, thank you.  :thumleft: :thumleft:

How's Lindsay's bike getting back to SA? I'll gladly fly over there and ride it back down (provided you and Lootch accompany me...).  :deal:

His bike is going on a row row boat to East London, think it is departing Southampton around the 2nd of August. You should of said something earlier as Lindsay would not of mind as long as we picked up the fuel bill  :biggrin:

Thanks for the comments guys!