Day 1 of my solo UK Tour – 5.5 hours & 198 miles with 2 planned stops at Kennilworth Castle & Howden Dam.
00:00 – Trailer
01:26 – Intro
02:47 – Kennilworth Castle
05:09 – To the Peak District
08:03 – Winnats Pass
09:52 – Howden Dam
11:38 – Leaving the Peaks
13:27 – To the North Yorkshire Moors
15:46 – Arriving at the Hotel
16:29 – The Accomodation
My bike:
2017 R1200GS
SC Project Exhuast
Recorded with:
GoPro Hero 11
RØDE Lavalier GO mic
heat heat heat heat heat [Music] heat [Music] it’s been a lot of faffing this morning getting the last few bits together but we are almost almost good to go it is 8:00 Saturday morning first stop is Kenn Castle [Music] i think overall I’m more nervous than excited right now but I think the more we just get into the journey the more I’ll just settle down into it and that that nervousness will hopefully build be filled with excitement instead yeah the funny thing is I’ve got this whole whole adventure planned around the UK taking us to some amazing places and the first stop on the list is what a few miles from where I live so it’s going to feel like such an anticlimactic start to this journey anyway the the roads aren’t too exciting to Canorth castle so we’ll see you there let’s try and stop so we can get a nice picture of the bike and the castle this is stop number one i actually don’t know how many stops we have we have nine days of travel but I don’t know how many individual stops let’s go up here there it is that’s maybe a good place now I have to be really careful with how I park this because the weight on this makes it really difficult to pick it up okay that’ll do oh my god getting off his faf here’s the bike there’s the castle don’t really know any interesting facts about it and I’m not going in we’ll just stop here quickly and get back on the road cuz it’s going to be weather we need to don’t really know what to say just castle in Kennoworth that’s it bye right right well that’s kind of worth Castle stop number two is Hoden Dam hen Dam hoden Dam hoden Dam uh in the Peak District um we’re going to take the fun route there I think cuz I’m in the mood to do lots of fun roads despite the weather okay well that GoPro is failing as long as I’ve got the one on my helmet cam we all good i hope you do see a little bit of sun in the nine days we’re away oh it’s going to be so miserable it’s not awful when it’s like this but Oh there’s a chance it could get worse i would love it to get better but there’s a chance it’s going to stay like this or get worse please UK weather be nice to me give me some sun give me some shine anyway this bit of the country is miserable and the weather isn’t helping so yeah we’ll come back when there’s actually something nice to look at see some squiggies coming up and we’re on a national so I think we’re going to need to get past Mr van oh this is going to be a theme I reckon i’m just getting stuck behind slow stuff and weather those are the fiends did you enjoy your holiday Adam no it’s weather and I got stuck behind slow stuff come on this road looks fun please let me pass no not the time look at that that’s cool nice love it love it yes yes yes yes just wish it was a bit sunnier right no risks no risks Jarvis you’ve got 9 days on the bike no need to be silly don’t do anything stupid and ride safely what good timing you know you know what sign i was literally just saying the same thing [Music] okay I believe that is 45 minutes until we get to Hoden Dam which is sadly actually our last stop of the day i think past that point it’s just boring roads until we get to our accommodation for the night i’m still feeling very I want to get on and do stuff and be in the bike and do massive tea tours so I think after we we’ll go see the dam take some cool pictures film it when we get back on the bike we’ll have a look at the route and see if we want to make it any longer or shorter if I suddenly change my mind and we should also think about food cuz I’ve not eaten today and it is half 11 i think there’s like a little cafe at the car park by the dam so maybe I can get like a shitty burger there uh I bug can I go this way oh I think I know what this is actually this is one of pretty sure this is one of the passes here oh Jesus hell that’s steep my ears actually popped from the altitude change me look at that actually mad the scale of this thing actually is insane i love just accidentally came this way that’s cool oh yes here we are this is um it’s about to say Lmond definitely not i forget the name of the reservoir but Hoden Dam we’re getting very close to it now i’m I’m just lost for words why i’ve been motorcycleycling for nearly 6 years straight now with big bikes why have I never done a tour it’s only going to get better and more exciting as well this is This is the start and I’m loving it oh they’re waiting for the ducks to cross oh you can see him literally going to be here foring ages there’s a million of them crossing oh he just said that yeah I think that one’s with a just stop oil okay that now that is lent over but I can still get it up cool that’s what she said anyway well I’m a little bit out of breath cuz I’ve just done minimal walking but here we are hoden Dam hoden Dam just been swarmed by these ducks that are now starting to peck at my leg can you not please look I’ve not got anything for you go away please go away please go away new York it absolutely started chucking it down it’s calmed down a bit now and I don’t think it’s going to get much better than this so 2 and 1/2 hours and we’ll be at the hotel so I think we’ll just push on for it got a bit tired of getting assaulted by ducks might actually stop the GoPro cuz otherwise I don’t want it to up in the rain i should really consider my wet weather gear as well cuz it’s quite wet god I hope it’s not going to be 2 and 1/2 hours of this there’s some very nice drivers in the uh the Peak District at least they uh need to look out for motorcyclists right 2 hours left unless we see something spectacular that I’m like I need to get a picture of that or we start getting horrendous nicotine cravings we’re going all the way to the hotel ooh okay spectacular beauty this is where we stop yes look at this um is this the way in don’t care right let’s back it in oh they left a banging space for me if you think this is slow wait till we go uphill i keep forgetting that’s not how I get off more ducks bloody hell can’t escape him all right time to get on moving no more stops now straight on to the hotel on board 20 minutes only 20 minutes i need a I need a but it’s only 20 minutes so that must be the North Yorkshire moors over there and we will see all of that tomorrow i was saying before how I thought I could do another like 2 hours today but the closer I’m getting to this hotel the more I just want to get into bed so yeah we’ll see if we can do the 6 and 1/2 hours tomorrow it’ll be longer than I’ve ever spent on the bike ever in one day it should be doable if the roads are entertaining sitting on dual carriageways motorways that really boring stretch of road I just get really fatigued it’s not engaging enough you’re just concentrating on monotony basically and yeah it really drains me but I think if the roads were twisty and engaging and I used to shift up and down and focus more on the corners I’d be all right but I’ve got to make that call really early whether or not I do want to do Heartside Pass cuz it adds all the mileage onto the start of the trip not the end i can’t bypass it basically I either do it at the start or I don’t do it at all so really see how I feel when I wake up tomorrow morning but anyway nearly off this dual carriageway and see you in a bit probably see you at the hotel can see it on the map there it is it’s there we’re so close there it is look bloody hell look at this now where do I park what where where the am I this is nuts right well put it around the back where the bikes are i doubt anyone’s going to steal it here if I’m honest but um I don’t know which one of these is mine i’ll figure it out do some bike locking up stuff and then we’ll figure it out look at this place well we made it inside and this is our place it’s pretty cool so there’s a bathroom obviously had a had a drying out motorcycle gear we’ve got the bedroom with a double bed with my helmet some stuff my roll bag and I ended up moving the bike because I can now see it from outside and I’ve been an idiot and I didn’t realize that this was self-catering and I don’t really want to go outside cuz started raining again so I don’t know what to do might go for a wander and see if I can find some food but there is an upstairs with a kitchen feels like I’ve own this place now probably edit some some of the footage from today on that table stick the TV on and if I can find something make something in here they do have tea coffee and some milk so that’s enough for me for now can I see the bike from here as well yeah perfect i’m so glad I brought a cover cuz she’d be sitting out in the rain if I didn’t have it cool that’s day one done oh no I’m not wearing any trousers