Fiddling with cats.

In a bid to ride longer and longer journeys on the bike in preparation for "Bikerhux does France" I took Monday off and embarked on my longest journey to date. Cambridge to the Cat-n-Fiddle in the Peak District.

The journey started with a brimming of the tank at the local petrol station before realising I'd left the GPS at home (D'oh) necessitating a small detour back past Chez Hux.

From there there's a lot of motorway miles, 143 to be exact taking the A14, and then the M6 up over the top of Birmingham and until I reached Sandbach Services for a wee break. This is just before the turnoff onto non-Motorway roads so was a good place to stretch the legs. From there it's off to Congleton and then Macclesfield which brings me out on the west end of the A537, the Cat-n-Fiddle road.

Unfortunately, just as I left Macclesfield it start raining which didn't help on this twisty windy road. I pulled over into a lay-by, donned my wooly neckwarmer and thermal top over my jumper (think "spiderman's really let himself go") and gave my visor a good clean as the rain stopped before heading off again. The road is lovely to ride and definitely worth another visit when the weather is better. There's some very tight turns, some straights up the side of hills, and cracking views all round.

The Cat and Fiddle Inn is on the top of the hill on this road, and as I arrived just around lunchtime, it would have been rude not to stop for a bite to eat. Cracking steak and onion baguette with a pint of coke to wash it down with and a couple more bikers sheltering from the cold in there too.
 

Bikerhux on tour - Peak District episode

This is the sign you're looking for

From there it's more twisty-windy-ness along to Buxton, then heading south down the A515 to Sudbury, A50 to the M1, then warp factor 9 all the way home.

Hmmm.. it wasn't like that this morning.

View Cat and fiddle in a larger map

A map of where I went.

A grand day out and it's increased my previous maximum daily mileage by 50%. Roll on the summer and some more long rides.

Brum Brum.

The long way to Long Melford

The British Summer, being what it is, needs to be used up when it eventually arrives so I reluctantly(*) put a days holiday in for Thursday and arranged with BikerFrank to have a ride out.

(*) Not reluctantly at all.

The 25 miles to his house warmed the bike up nicely and with the temperature being in the high 20's it didn't cool down much as we had a quick drink while planning where to go.

The route started with a filling of the tanks at Chez Tesco in Saffron Walden before heading off to Steeple Bumpstead (no sniggering at the back please). From there it's country roads all the way through the Clares (Clare and Stoke-by), Cavendish, and finally in to Long Melford itself. BikerFrank was much quicker through the corners taking the lead but my FZ6 "makes good progress" out of them quickly catching him up. All the little villages on the way were really quant (think Midsomer Murders type places, villages greens a plenty and corner shops). The roads are nice and twisty all the way there but there are a couple of patches of potholes to watch out for.

Eventually we rolled into Long Melford and parked the bikes up, catching our breath.

And... relax.

Long Melford, as it's name suggests, is, well, long. It's a long street with ye olde worlde shops on both sides, and as luck would have it, no lack of pubs eager to serve us sustenance. The Cock and Bell did us a couple of top Ciabattas and drinks, and the barmaid forced us to order clotted cream icecream for afters. No really. She did :p . I'm pretty sure clotted cream is a vegetable so that counted as one of the five a day, as did the salad I left at the side of my plate (you don't eat that do you?)

BikerFrank enjoys his pud.

We rode back again the same way with a little detour through Wimbish for me to play scarecrows.

Worzel-Hux has his biking head on

View Long Melford in a larger map

After a refreshing cuppa and a choccy biccie at BikerFranks it was off home, arriving with 103 miles on the clock since I left in the morning and a nice tinging sound coming from the engine. Brum Brum :)