Day 8 - Saturday 19th June: Return Home

From our overnight stop in Peterborough, where we had been advised by the Police to move our bikes literally several miles away to avoid them being vandalised overnight (not joking!), we took a route via Ely, where we visited Billy Baxter, the world speed record holder for blind motorcycling. As part of his rehabilitation after having lost his sight whilst in the Army, Billy rode a Kawasaki 1200 at 164.87 mph at Boscombe Down runway in Wiltshire in August 2002, smashing the record that had previously sat at 78mph. Sadly he wasn't able to join us to ride pillion today as he was suffering from a severe ear infection that was upsetting his balance, but it was great to go and see him. And no doubt the neighbours wondered what was going on to see a dozen big motorcycles pull up in his nice quiet residential street.

From there to the Ace Cafe, to meet up with Isabel Robinson from Spinal Research, and hand over the donations we had been given on the trip. So far the total is standing at several thousand pounds, and it would be nice to take it up to a big round number.

We also met up with Mykel Nicolaou from Motorcycle News, for a few pictures, and to capture key parts of the story for publication - including interviewing Terry Friday about how the whole thing had come into being 30 years ago


Next Stop - IAM Head Office in Chiswick, to say hello and be thanked by all the IAM motorcycle staff for putting out lots of good publicity about the campaign to Be a Better Rider, and reinforcing the entente cordial between so many different volunteer IAM Motorcycle Groups right around the country. This picture makes the building look strangely empty and shut!



And then finally journey's end, back where we had started from last Saturday, Brand's Hatch, and a good sight it was to see too.


So journey's end. But not quite the end of the story.

Our 30th Birthday continues tomorrow, Sunday 20th June, with a bash at the Plough at Leigh.

And we are still keeping the donation sites and collecting tins open for another few days, to make the most of the publicity we have been generating, to allow everyone a final opportunity to make their contributions.

Thankyou so much to all of you, friends, colleagues, relatives, and those whom we simply met en-route, who have donated to our cause, and whose generosity has made such a big difference. When we have the final total added up, we'll post a final blog to announce the result. Meanwhile, thankyou all.

Day 5 - Wed 16th June - Inverness, Edinburgh and Moffat

Having stayed overnight in Inverness, our Scottish contingent of 12 bikes and riders had a scenic and roundabout route taking in the Glenlivet estate and Braemar before arriving in Edinburgh to rendezvous with the Irish Contingent at Saltire Suzuki, where we were welcomed by the Saltire staff and representatives of the Edinburgh Advanced Motorcyclists group and the Forth Valley IAM group.

Day 4 - Tuesday 15 June - Scotland Contingent

Starting from Dumfries, our team of 12 riders travelled up the West Coast before catching the Ferry from Largs across to the Mull of Kintyre

Meeting up with Tom and Joe from Glasgow Advanced Motorcyclists our group were admirably led and chaperoned through some fantastic roads and scenery, right up through Glencoe and up to the Great Glen - where we were lucky enough to see the Loch Ness Monster

Day 1 : The One That Did Not Get Away ...

... well not until much later.

The Group were almost ready to set off from Brands Hatch but Roger was missing. Word got through that Roger's R1 had broken down at Polehill on his way to Brands. Although he had his battery replaced a few days earlier his bike had just died with no electrical power. The RAC were called and he was waiting for them.

The Ride Out started.

As I was not part of the official group doing the Ride Round Britain, although I was going to ride to Sammy Miller to meet them for lunch, I decided to see if I could find Roger and offer my assistance. This was what I was greeted with ...

Mr RAC said that the fault may be with either with the alternator or the rectifier. Parts he does not carry and after he did numerous phone calls to several dealers, neither did they! They would have to order them in. Roger's wife had driven up to Polhill to meet him so we all went off to Giants at Brands Hatch and left the bike with them. I asked Giants if they had a demo bike that Roger could borrow for the day but due to the GEMS event at Detling all of their demo bikes had gone there.

We all, except Mr RAC, went back to Roger's house for a cup of tea and to formulate a plan. Somebody had offered to loan Roger their bike for the week but was not available until later that day. So I took Roger as pillion to meet up with the others for lunch at Sammy Miller's museum.

We got to New Milton at approx 13:30 after 'making progress' along the M25/M3. First we thought we had missed everybody as there was a sign welcoming the KAMG but no bikes parked next to it. However, we needed to eat so went in. Lo and behold there they were - some of them just about to tuck into their second burger - and the burgers were BIG!

Approx 45 minutes later it was time for the Group to move onto their next location in the 302010 Ride Round Great Britain. The weather was still perfect but Wales was to beckon them the next day so who knows what the weather would do.

Roger and myself had somebody with us to go back to Kent with so Paul kindly took Roger as pillion and all three of us went back to Roger's house. I led the way and it was apparent that the smaller roads were going to take too long so we took the motorways again. Anyway, Roger had a bike to sort out and hopefully meet up with the rest of the Group in Bristol for the overnight stop. Paul had to get home but I had a compulsary tea stop at Roger's and then left. Thanks to Roger and his wife for the cuppa's.

Unfortunatly Roger's offer of a loan bike had fallen through so he sent an email out to the KAMG Google Group asking for help. Somebody came up trumps with a bike and I think Roger made his way to the Ride Out the following morning to start his 302010 Ride Round Britain Tour.

Written by Joe Callaghan

Day 5 - Wed 16th June - to Edinburgh and Moffat

Our two groups converged on Edinburgh today, the Irish contingent coming from Stranraer via Dumfries and Lanark, the Scottish contingent coming via much of the highlands en route from Inverness.

Advanced Riding is all about identification and anticipation of hazards and we have noticed as we move around the country that the local style of riding is matched to the local hazards; so whereas us Southern bikers, accustomed to the cut and thrust of London and M25 traffic, have our senses finely tuned to making the most of filtering and overtaking opportunities, the more remote communities develop skills around such things as anticipating sheep in the middle of the road, and knowing which way they are going to jump next, not something us Southerners see much of. Fortunately we all survived the day without any physical contact with any of them.

We rendezvoused at Saltire Suzuki in Edinburgh with Scottish IAM members representing the Edinburgh Advanced Motorcyclists and Forth Valley groups, and were chaperoned through the Edinburgh traffic by:

• Peter Woollven - Senior Observer and Committee Member
• Stuart Richardson - Senior Observer and ex-Chairman
• David Betts - Events Coordinator.

Many thanks to them for turning out to look after us and flying the flag.

Saltire Suzuki were marvellous hosts, giving the bikes a free check over, adjusting chains and tyre pressures as a goodwill gesture and their contribution to the fund raising run. Thanks also to the individual donors at Saltire.

Day 4 - Tuesday 15 June - Northern IRELAND

We made ourselves a base for two nights in Stranraer, as a very convenient jumping off point for the ferry to Northern Ireland, only two minutes from the ferry terminal


What a fantastic day - cracking blue skies, calm winds and the Irish Sea like a millpond as we steamed across from Stranraer to Belfast.

We were greeted very warmly by a contingent from Lisburn Advanced Motorcyclists - the only bikes-only IAM group in Northern Ireland:

• Maurice Bracken - Chairman
• Gary Wright - Events Secretary
• Gerry Wilson - Membership Secretary
• Paul Erwin - all round good egg

and we were also honoured to be met by Jim Cameron, IAM staff examiner for Northern Ireland.

The weather made everything look beautiful, and our hosts had planned out a lovely scenic route, taking in the Giant's Causeway, the North West 200 circuit, the Joey and Robert Dunlop memorials in Ballymoney, and Carrickfergus Castle

There was enough to see and talk about to last a whole week - but we only have a week to get round all of the UK - so it was off on the ferry back to Stranraer, ready for the run up to Edinburgh tomorrow.

Monday sees us at Hawes, Windermere, Dumfries and Stranraer

Now able to retrospectively add some photos from Monday. A very varied and interesting day it was. Starting in sunshine in Manchester, but pretty quickly as we headed North, it was out with the rain suits again.

Hawes Creamery, home to Wensleydale Cheese, and a point of homage for Wallace and Grommit fans, was a great refreshment stop (now that's what I call a ploughman's), and really made us feel we were in the Lake District - with Kendal Mint Cake to the fore

before continuing to Windermere for another pre-arranged stop to meet with other IAM groups, at Darryls Cafe.

Our band of riders - augmented from 16 to 17 last night as Roger Lancaster made the trip direct from Kent to Manchester, having been lent a bike very kindly by Russ Saunders, following a machine failure on day 1 - split at Windermere.

Seems like a good place to split up - being half way between Lands End and John O Groats:


Group 1 who are due to meet up with IAM groups in Northern Ireland on Tuesday headed off for Stranraer for the night, ready for the early morning ferry. The other group took a more circuitous route to Dumfries for their overnight spot.

Donations continue to come in every day, for which thankyou all so much - it's you that make this whole thing worthwhile. An example of this was at a petrol station near Ullswater, where the staff, on hearing about what we are doing, both gave a donation to Spinal Research, for which, thankyou very much. Keep them coming.

Hasta Manana.

Wow - thankyou to Jonathan Baker

Fantastic news yesterday - Jonathan Baker has given us a VERY generous donation. Jonathan is clearly a modest person - he has chosen not to display the amount on the screen, so I'm not going to give this away now, and has withheld his email address, so I'm not able to thank him personally, directly. So I'm using this blog to say, on behalf of Spinal Research, a HUGE THANKYOU for a donation that is several times the highest donation previously received.

So to all of you out there thinking of making a big donation - Jonathan has thrown down the gauntlet to you!

Have a good Monday.

Day 2 - Sunday 13th: Bristol - Wales - Cat & Fiddle

Starting from our overnight stop in Bristol, with the Old Severn Bridge closed, the route took us via M4 before heading via Abergavenny, Brecon and Builth Wells to our rendezvous point at Crossgates, just North of Llandrindod Wells.

We met up with IAM groups from South Wales and the Midlands, as well as lots of other biking groups just out enjoying the fine weather. The eclectic mix of bikes at the rendezvous included two nicely restored Norton Internationals,


and a 5-litre V-8 powered by an American Ford engine, that sounded incredible:

A team of four riders from Congleton Advanced Motorcyclists, led by Graham and Hamish

then led us up through North Wales and Shropshire to Cheshire and the illustrious Cat and Fiddle run from Macclesfied to Buxton.

The run through Cheshire took us right past Jodrell Bank - which seemed a fitting image for this Blog - as we are trying to communicate with the world about our events and the need to raise funds, Jodrell Bank is listening to communications from the rest of the world


The morning's sunshine deserted us, and severe rain accompanied us most of the afternoon. The Cat and Fiddle run was completed in cloud, with water several inches deep creating extra, unexpected hazards in places, to add to the notoriety of the road. From the Cat and Fiddle itself, the view was of nothing but cloud


The final leg brought us to Manchester - Trafford Park specifically, with an early start tomorrow morning to take us to Windermere via Hawes Creamery - home of Wensleydale, and these days an homage to Wallace and Grommit. Something to look forward to, in hopefully better weather than today. The BBC 5 day forecast tonight is for a good week, dominated by high pressure until Friday, so fingers crossed for a good run. And hopefully we can work out a way of restoring the photo service.

Saturday evening - Bristol

At the end of the first day we were glad to arrive at the hotel for the night. Apart from a couple of equipment problems to deal with, it has been a smooth run in lovely warm dry weather. It's probably too much to hope for to keep it dry tomorrow - in Wales.

The three founder members on the run found plenty to talk about:


And founding Father Terry Friday clearly was enjoying the run!

Sammy Miller Museum - IAM rendezvous point

Saturday lunch time and the first rendezvous with other IAM groups took place. In great weather, we met up with teams from:

• Bournemouth and Wessex Advanced Motorcyclists Group
• Dorchester and West Dorset Group
• Wilts & Bath
• Cheddar Valley Advanced Motorcyclists
• Herts and Beds Advanced Motorcyclist - Peter Tidd!

• There was also the Harley Owners Group 1066 Chapter present
• Two New Zealand visitors on antique British Bikes - a BSA and a Matchless
• A very nicely presented 1950s Triumph

• And last but most crucially, Yvonne, who is a spinal damage sufferer, was there in her lovely little "Nippi" three wheeler based on a 125 Gilera scooter, converted by a firm in Lymington, that allows her to ride her wheelchair straight in the back, and operate the controls from the chair.

It was great to see all of you there. Thanks to those of you who made the trip specially and for your well wishes to us for the remainder of our trip.

the trip started with a great send off from Brands Hatch

09.00 and all of the riders were assembled at Brands Hatch together with plenty of well-wishers and photographers. Police motorcycle escort with flashing lights held the traffic up as we all exited the circuit - which set the tone for the ride - this is something special, not just an ordinary trip on a motorcycle.

Pudsey Bear was in attendance to say thankyou from Children in Need


The Spinal Research banner was proudly displayed in front of the assembled machines, and all the riders donned Spinal Research Ride Out Tee Shirts over their leathers before the off - to display to all the cause we are supporting.







Four founder members of KAMG were present - three of whom are participating in the run all of this week, including the founder himself, Terry Friday:

Last rehearsal before the off

Wednesday evening, 2 June, Dry Run for the team to check we all know how to ride together, and to thrash out final details of timings, routes, rendezvous points etc. 20 bikes ended up in Rye for fish and chips and discussions.

The send off from Brands Hatch will be at 09.00 Saturday morning, 12th June. Pudsey Bear will be there to send us off, and we are expecting attendance from assorted media.