Monday, April 7, 2014

Departure Day 5th April 2014 Honda C90 Corner to Corner Challenge



It was a bit of a rush towards the end, with the final oil change being done on Friday evening.

All packed late Friday night and with only a couple of hours sleep due to being distracted (Ms WF) I woke a little later than I was expecting to.

Loaded up and this is when I realised that she was feeling heavy. Ditched 5 litres of fuel which meant the front end was a little easier to deal with and off we went with no fanfares or ticker tape, just me, a C90 and enough spare parts to overhaul a fleet of bikes!

The route was to take me down through Bournemouth/Poole towards Dorchester and Bridport.

Just outside of Bridport up on the hills in thick fog I had my first of many fuel stops.

Of course, you have to remember where the fuel tank is on a Honda C90, yep under the bloody seat. So off come the camo panniers, the blue bag and tent and tyres!

It's like a formula 1 pit stop, but a bit slower, and funny when I pull into a garage and use the pumps to fill up. I'm not very popular! I do however now unpack by the side then roll the bike over to the pump.

She holds 4.5 litres which is a gallon, and even with all that gear on board and me she is still managing to do nearly 70mpg - amazing for a 27 year old bike!

Onwards where I branched off towards Lyme Regis and straight for Exeter. Managed to find my way through Exeter with no real drama's and headed out towards Moretonhampstead on Dartmoor.

This is when the weather turned for the worse, it lashed it down, and Princetown lived up to it's name of being bloody grim, it was that foggy you couldn't see the prison, in fact you had a job to see the other side of the road!

I didn't stop but kept on plodding on. Through Tavistock and eventually another fuel stop at Liskeard. A massive Morrison's but with no super unleaded. Nothing but the best for my girl Lucille. So brimmed up with unleaded and went into ask why they didn't have any. Apparently very few garages do! Cornwall!!!

On to St Austell, then Truro and to Helston. My friends Sharon and Tomas live just outside of Helston in a little village called Breage. My rest stop for the night.

After several massive mugs of tea and a shower, we set off to see their new house which is in the process of being gutted and rebuilt at Praa Sans. Now if there is ever an idyllic spot in which to live, then this is it!

Looking forward to seeing it fully completed, and then spending some weekends down there.

Just 2 minutes from their house see's them on the beach and a fabulous bar which is where we ate that evening.

A few beers, then back to theirs for a couple more and a G and T with home grown lemons!


So after a long first day in the saddle I went to bed, happy to be in one piece after a days riding a heavy laden, under powered, 27 year old, Honda C90!

Till later.............................

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