|
The Lakes Here We Come ........... Maybe.
We had been invited to Cumbria to attend a son-in-law's birthday party.
The plan was to go to the Lake district on the Rapide and spend a few days with
the youngest daughter and family before the party. Great idea but .....
the week before our planned trip we went out to fill the Vincent up with petrol
before going on Maurice's run to Cosford. The petrol tank filled, I kicked
the Vincent into life. There was an almighty bang and on closer inspection
I saw that the front plug was out of the head and dangling in the air on the end
of the plug lead! I rode home on the rear cylinder and we quickly dragged
the Ducati out to go on the run.
Later inspection revealed that the original plug thread had been repaired by
pressing an aluminium sleeve into the hole and welding the sleeve at either end
before machining in a new 14mm thread. The welding would appear to have
been "inadequate". Swiftly removing the head (or as you will
know if you have removed a Vincent head yourself, not as swiftly as you
would like) a new insert was produced and screwed into the head. (Thank
you Mr. BT-H, you are a machining miracle man.) Reassembled the engine was
ready to start and I thought a trip to watch the Banbury Run would be a good
test. We were not in the clear yet as the dreaded pushrod tubes objected
to being disturbed from their previously comfortable position and leaked
copiously. At this point I abandoned any ideas of going on the Banbury Run
and spent the time curing the leaks. Life with a Vincent may be
challenging at times but never boring. If you are still with me, a little
about the trip.
Leaks fixed or at least reduced to an acceptable level we set
out from
Hinckley
and decided to avoid the M6 and try a (mostly) non-motorway route going through
Ashbourne and Buxton to enjoy some good Derbyshire scenery. It was not the
fastest route but more entertaining. In the
Manchester
area I let the SatNav guide me and it took us along several bits of motorways
to painlessly deliver us to the other side, magic. After stopping for a
sandwich and drink we moved on hoping to head for the A65 road to skirt along
the edge of the Yorkshire Dales national park. We were having a really
nice ride until the SatNav gave up the ghost and started taking us round in
circles. (This was less than magic and in fact somewhat
inconvenient!) We rode some tiny roads and saw some very nice little
villages but this was not getting us to
the daughter's house in Little
Clifton, Cumbria
. Eventually I saw a sign for the M6 so I cut our losses and got onto the
motorway to complete our journey.
My brother John and his wife Julie were also in the Lake District staying on a
campsite near Windermere and we arranged to meet up for a ride on the bikes at
Ravenglass at 11.00 am on Friday. The rendezvous was the steam train
station where we enjoyed looking at the superb little engines and sat chatting
for too long over cups of tea.
Julie, Gloria and John in the Ravenglass station car park.
The engine, "River Mite" is absolutely beautiful.
Ready to leave.
Pulling out of the station.
Our intention was to ride the Hardknott and Wrynose passes
which John and Julie had not seen. It was quite challenging on the Vincent
as the hairpin bends were just as tight and steep as I remembered from my last
visit a few years ago. The Vincent pulled lustily up the gradient and I
kept in a low gear on the down grades to ease the load on the brakes. The
passes negotiated successfully we went into Ambleside for lunch and ice-cream.
(Hard work this sightseeing.)
At the top of Hardknott Pass ready for the descent into the valley towards the
Wrynose Pass.
For a period shot of John T riding
Hardknott on his Vincent in 1955 click here.
John T also sent in another period shot of
the late Johnny Edwards on Hardknott here.
For our return to Hinckley we found the A65
that we had missed on the way up. The weather was kind to us and we enjoyed
the twists and turns with every bend giving fresh views of the glorious
Yorkshire Dales. The last part of the run was took us through Buxton and
after passing through Ashbourne the Vincent, as if by magic, turned off the road
and into the Fairview Garden Centre where we were forced to have tea with
scones, jam and cream. (Hard work this sightseeing.)
We arrived home without incident having enjoyed the ride and some of the finest
scenery in the country. The English countryside on a good day takes some
beating. Eddy.
<Back
| 
