National Parks Ride - Challenge Ride

[Grim Rider]

Dazzas Crack At The Parks

A couple of months ago over a few beers we wondered if it would be possible to do the 15 parks in 48 Hrs. A few beers later and the challenge was on!

I find planning in stages works better for me it tends to break it up a little.

Starting from Barnsley and going in a clockwise direction looked the best route.
I also planned to travel through the night, this way missing as much traffic as possible when down south.

Time on start fuel receipt 19.35
1st leg Peak District. Distance 30 miles, Weather drizzle, no trouble getting photo + receipt. Arrival 20.20 All good

2nd leg Broads. Distance 176, Weather turned into heavy rain; small track/road that leads up to the centre was actually flooded (not a problem for HMS Barnsley) just glad I didn’t drop it!! Arrived 23.40. Struggled big time getting a receipt ended up following sat nav to nearest services. This is when I realised I would have my work cut out ..wasted about 30 mins here!

3rd leg South Downs. Distance 190, Weather still heavy. Stopped for a coffee and a quick sort out, wet starting to creep up inside of sleeves and around chest. A couple of bin bags stuffed in the right places did the trick..Arrived 03.45 Same again struggled with receipt. Stopped at the next village found atm but out of service..typical, decided to soldier on and leave it as I’d wasted too much time already.

4th leg New Forrest. Distance 96, drizzle mist, didn’t need anything here just a photo as it wasn’t a corner. Arrived 05.30 looking forward to daylight. I can remember being really cold and wet here laughing at my self jumping up and down in the car park. .. I must be mad!

5th leg Dartmoor. Distance 142, Dry nearly all the way. Started to feel a little tired so pulled into services on the A30 found a quiet corner and shut my eyes for 40 mins setting the alarm on the phone.. Short power naps definitely do the trick..
Arrived 08.55 got the photo and grabbed a mars from the store opposite so I had receipt. . The daylight the good weather and the cracking roads gave me a much needed boost..

6th leg Exmoor. Distance 74, dry nice blue sky, looks like a good day ahead.
Got the photo and fuelled up nearby. Changed into dry clothes hate a couple of bananas and off i went. . In the zone and loving it!

7th leg Brecon, Distance 144, weather excellent showing 16deg on dash. Got the photo and grabbed a ticket from car park machine. Returned missed calls to Ade who’d arranged earlier to meet up and do northern loop with me. He’d planned on doing it all but suddenly work changed his plans, more like the weather me thinks!

8th leg Pembrokeshire, Distance 77, weather still good. Got the photo and rammed another banana down my neck. Called Ade and gave him an eta for Snowdonia.
Still feeling good, plenty of bikes around to have a bit of fun with.
Enjoying myself that much forgot to get a receipt so I pulled into a fuel station just before Cardigan. .

9th leg Snowdonia 117 mile, dropped cooler but still nice, absolute cracking road best bit so far. Arrived around 17.45 and met Ade. Feeling a little hungry and tired decided to have 30mins. (Which turned out to be more like 50). Grabbed a fish and a coffee and agreed on getting up to the lakes area put tents up and have a few hours rest.

10th leg Yorkshire Dales, Hawes. Distance 168. Seemed to drop cool really quickly, Stopped for fuel so I put another layer on. Nice clear motorway managed to make good time. Arrived at Hawes 21.20 took the photo and Ade turned round and said I cant be arsed got too much to do tomorrow so I’m doing one. Calling him a soft git I got some money out of the cash point and made my way up to the Lakes…The Wuss..

11th leg Lakes, Distance 38 mile, Pitch black and drizzle, it’s going to be a long night!
Got the photo and aimed the headlight at the car park ticket machine so I could do the biz.. put the money in and it spit it straight back out with the display saying car park free till 9am. Tried again and it gave me a ticket but I couldn’t see a time on it so I took photo of the machine to prove what time I was there.. Still feeling ok decided to carry on up to Penrith where I’d planned on getting my head down.
Arrived at Penrith and it started to drizzle, weather forecast said rain in the north, I wasn’t happy. I’d hit a low spot and couldn’t make my mind up what to do. Didn’t want to ride in the rain, and certainly not bothered about camping I tried a couple of hotels from the zumo both no vacancies. That’s it I’ve had enough, finished . Punched in home and it was showing one and half hours away. . Arrived home about 01.30 got a quick shower and straight to bed…

The next morning i woke about 9.30 having a good 7 hrs sleep and couldn’t believe I’d quit. . I never quit. And kept calling myself a looser…
10.15 I was in the garage putting my gear on…
Got to the petrol station at 10.52…game on…… I was on a mission….

Next stop North Yorks Moors. 91 Miles, the sun was out the roads were empty. Took about an 1 hr 25. Got the photo but the ticket machine was down so managed to grab a witness..

Northumberland next, 96 miles all going well till I hit the A1 near Team Valley turn off. They’d closed the rd due to an accident further up, Quick mess with the sat nav and manage to cut across and join the A69 further up. Got photo and receipt no probs.

Next stop Lock Lomond 145 miles Sat nav showing 2hr 15. Had a good run up the M74 really enjoy this part of the country it doesn’t feel as boring as other motorways.
Got the photo and receipt from the Gateway centre and off I went.

Next Leg the final one Cairngorms 154 mile, I’d decided to go towards Stirling rather than up the A82 and then across, I knew I could make good time on that part of the A9. Sat Nav was showing 2hrs 40 and it was 16.45. I travelled about 20 miles up the road and the heavens opened, all the way until I reached Nethy Bridge somehow this didn’t bother me as I was quite excited at what I’d achieved. Got the Photo but didn’t bother with receipt as I knew I’d missed out on the ss2000, that came a couple of hours down the road near Stirling.

Darren Rogerson, October 2009

[Mad Cow]

Sounds awesome!

Haven't done this sort of thing since I did Chamonix to Hertfordshire non-stop in 1988 (on a Beemer R80RT).

It's got me fired up, just the sort of thing to finish running in the GS

[Grim Rider]

Sounds awesome!

Haven't done this sort of thing since I did Chamonix to Hertfordshire non-stop in 1988 (on a Beemer R80RT).

It's got me fired up, just the sort of thing to finish running in the GS

Look forward to hearing from you!