West Country Rideout 4

I have organised a run round the West Country (UK, of course) for the last 3 years, and his one will no 4. Date 7 June, 10am for 10.30 start, meet In the car park at Travelodge Wincanton on the A303. About 98 miles, Somerset levels, Weston Super Mare, Mendips, and back to Wincanton by 4 or 5pm.
This is on the X9 Owners & Riders Club where there are already several Swing riders, and anyone on this forum will be welcome. Let me know if you UK riders fancy coming along.

Yes please; 1,2 and 3 have all been excellent!  

paulc wrote:

I have organised a run round  the West Country (UK, of course) for the last 3 years, and his one will no 4. Date 7 June, 10am for 10.30 start, meet In the car park at Travelodge Wincanton on the A303. About 98 miles, Somerset levels, Weston Super Mare, Mendips, and back to Wincanton by 4 or 5pm.
This is on the X9 Owners & Riders Club where there are already several Swing riders, and anyone on this forum will be welcome. Let me know if you UK riders fancy coming along.

Yes I would like to come, have put the date in my diary.

Excellent! Will keep you in touch as we get nearer date.

I know Paul's extremely busy so I'm bumping this Ride especially since I know one or two UK riders have joined recently enough to have overlooked this thread.

Thanks MikeO! It's definitely on- meet at the Wincanton Travelodge by the A303 ready for 10.30 depart. There's a Morrisons petrol station next door for filling. I have recce'd most of the route and will do the last bit before the end of May. It promises to be a cracker of a ride- not as far west as Weston, but found a couple of nice roads over the Mendips. No farm tracks with big holes this year, I promise.

paulc wrote:

Thanks MikeO! It's definitely on- meet at the Wincanton Travelodge by the A303 ready for 10.30 depart. There's a Morrisons petrol station next door for filling. I have recce'd most of the route and will do the last bit before the end of May. It promises to be a cracker of a ride- not as far west as Weston, but found a couple of nice roads over the Mendips. No farm tracks with big holes this year, I promise.

Hi,
I have been looking forward to the ride out all winter and have just found out I have to work on the 7th June I am gutted.
I will keep my eye on the forum and hope to be able to go on any ridout that comes up this year.
Regards Ron

Shame... There will be others..

I posted this on my Facebook page just now:

Had a super day out riding with friends. We met at Wincanton and set off at 10.30. taking in Nunney where the castle is, various other places and arriving in Wells for refreshment. Then we set off again and headed for Cheddar Gorge, duly ridden up, and a bit further to a pleasant hostelry in the Little Gorge (?) for lunch. On to Somerton for tea and back to Wincanton where we went our separate ways. I left home at 8.50. and arrived back at 6.00. - 60 miles to and from the rendezvous plus 108 miles on the rideout itself. I got heavily rained on on the A303 on my outward journey and we caught a couple of heavy showers whilst traversing the Mendips (range of hills) but we were all kitted out properly and this afternoon had to shed the waterproofs because the weather turned sunny and warm. Fabulous!

My Silverwing averaged 64.84 MPG (English gallons) on the rideout proper.

A thousand thanks to Paul for this the fourth great West Country Rideout - number 5 is already in mind I think!

For any railway buffs: there was a class of Great Western steam locomotives designated 'Castles' (4-6-0), all of which were named after British castles (of which there are a great many). With the demise of Steam in the 1960's vast numbers of locomotives were scrapped. However, enthusiasts rescued quite a few from the scrap-yards and rebuilt them. One of these saved just happens to be Nunney Castle. Here's a link:  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GWR_4073_Class

and:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GWR_4073_Class_5029_Nunney_Castle