Gals on tour day 1 :-)

Woke up fairly early to hear the expected rain falling outside, however upon opening the blinds an hour later, things didn't look too bad at all. A large mug of coffee was had to wash down a bowl of porridge before a couple of sandwiches were put together, motorcycle attire was donned, a little Royal Enfield was wheeled outside, farewells were bid, and off we trundled in an easterly direction.

Climbing slowly over the wet Woodhead Pass, carefully avoiding a line of diesel that threatened the delicate relationship between my two wheeler & the ground, upon heading over the crest much of West Yorkshire appeared somewhere beneath a blanket of low damp cloud. Upon joining the M1 however near Sheffield, things began to improve. Fairly quick progress was made along the A57 between Worksop & Clumber Park, and a short hop onto the A1 led to Bestest Gal & I's rendezvous point at a rather fabulous example of a * shouts out loud * Hyperbolic Paraboloid!!!

The impressive building at Markham Moor Services was designed by Sam Scorer & completed in 1960, originally just as a striking concrete roof over a petrol station. Grade 2 listed, it how houses a cafe below, currently a Starbucks but you can't have everything I guess. They have thoughtfully kept a section of the roof exposed inside for a shameless selfie to be taken (collage - top)

After reacquainting and connecting Cardos, off we shot south, joining an original stretch of The Great North Road a short way into Newark where we parked and had sandwiches sat by the River Trent. Refreshed and back on board, the A17 took us across into Lincolnshire almost as far as Kings Lynn before turning south for a coffee at The Runway Cafe @Fenland Airfield (collage - bottom left & right)

Next of the agenda was the theme of our ride down south, the first of several Markers that commemorate the Greenwich Prime Meridian line that was used for timekeeping & navigation from 1884 to 1974. The are several on mainland Britain from the south coast up as far as the East Coast adjacent to Hull. This one sits in fenland in the south of Lincolnshire and is modelled in the main blip by Biscuit & her new friend, a Honda Africa Twin on what may well be it's swansong tour.

From there we continued south, saying hello to a lovely place called Cottingham where Dad took a short holiday in his youth, before finding out Novotel bed for the night on the edge of Cambridge. Tea was a Chinese Takeaway (very Nom) bookended by a swim in the hotel pool and a lovely deep sleep.