I left my house at 08:00 on Saturday morning and arrived at our meeting point at around 08:20 where Kev was waiting with some bad news; “I don’t think I can go Gaz”.
Kev pointed to his shaft drive, and yes, the black stuff leaking out the bottom of it was oil. Fantastic, zero miles on the clock and we’ve already hit a problem! Neither of us wanting to cancel the trip we decided to ride to the BMW dealer and hope they would be able to fix the bike quick enough for us to get back on the road. We rode to Dorchester and luckily there wasn’t anything seriously wrong with the bike, in fact the BMW guy referred to it as “the seal that always breaks” I believe, quality! The seal was replaced within an hour and finally 2.5 hours behind schedule we were able to get on the road and start our journey to the Lake District.
The first 140 miles were pretty easy going, I was fresh and enthusiastic to get going, the Strom was coping well and keeping me comfortable, the weather was holding dry. We stopped for a bite to eat and to fill up the bikes and made our way back out to the motorway.
The next 130 miles were probably the most miserable of the whole trip for me, the rain started, the comfort level started to drop and eventually my gear let me down yet again and the rain started to get in through my boots. We stopped again after this section for a drink and I was very thankful when we got back out there that the rain had come to and end and the roads even seemed to be drying up, unfortunately the same couldn’t be said about my boots.
80 miles later and we were pretty much in the Lake District, off the mind numbing motorway and onto the beginning of a fantastic ride into the heart of our destination. As we were making our way into the centre of the national park, the roads were getting better as we went, even the sun decided to join us for the last 50 miles or so and in doing so made this ride very enjoyable for me despite the comfort issues I was now experiencing. The road running next to Wast Water is fantastic and led us into Wasdale Head, unfortunately making us miss the campsite in the process but it was easily found on the way back up the road.
We pitched the tents, I made us some food and despite the quality (the steak in a can possibly let me down) I was thoroughly enjoying myself, there’s something really special for me about being out in the wild (ok, I know a national trust campsite is not exactly out in the wild) and cooking yourself a meal using the most basic of tools and ingredients. I think camping gives me a sense of freedom and independence I don’t normally experience and absolutely love it!
