I had the pleasure of meeting up with Si Johnston yesterday. He had embarked from Northern Ireland early on in the day, Coleraine to be exact with the today’s destination being Cambridge but ultimately he is headed for Mongolia. That’s quite a ride by anybody’s standards and he had a deadline to meet. The start of the England vs USA World Cup match at 19:30.
I met him at the Windmill pub just off the M6 near Knutsford. A suitable venue I felt considering its geographic position and the fact it is where most GS riders meet once a month. He made some amazing progress but he was late for Cambridge before he even set off. I wanted to escort him on a scenic route through the Peak District but that had to be curtailed due to the time constraints. My thinking was that if we did some of the route he could then cut across to the M1 and then onwards to Cambridge.
After a quick fuel stop we were off. We took the A537 from Knutsford to the Cat & Fiddle pub and up the renowned twisty road that takes on its name. Normally associated with speeding, sports bikes ploughing the fields and putting holes in dry stone walls it is also a very pleasant and scenic ride on a blue sky day which it was today.
We carried on down into Buxton and from there took the A515 Ashbourne road. It’s a fast Roman road with great views of the Derbyshire countryside. By this time it was 6pm and Si had to be in Cambridge for 19:30. I knew he had to blast off so I filmed him jet off near Eaton & Alsop. (video to follow)
I decided to take the scenic route through Biggin, Longor, Hartington Nether Quarter (sounds rude), Hartington Middle Quarter, Earl Sterndale, Crowdicote, Longnor and then home.
Well after a few weeks of modifying the CB500 I am nearly finished. I’m waiting on a fly screen to arrive and I could do with some highway footpeg’s to improve the comfort on long distances but for now I would say it is 90% complete.
This is my Honda CB500 overlanding bike . It’s a bit tongue in cheek but I’m hoping it will get me from a to b to c and perhaps even z in the coming year. After that I suspect it will become a sidecar rig.
A great vid from Svengalie. Who has been in this scenario. You are in a field and you see cows. You wrongly assume they are scared of humans and then they start making their way towards you at speed.
I know I’ve been there and I’ve shit myself. Frantically scrambling over barbed wire fences and then getting caught halfway. It has the same quality of the thriller movie where the victim is fumbling for the car keys as the psycho approaches.
It’s not often I write a complaint but today I was compelled to. Now I know why they are nicknamed “Halfrauds”
I recently visited Halfords in Cheadle (3 STANLEY GREEN RETAIL PARK, CHEADLE, CHESHIRE, SK8 6PT, 0161 4857213). I wanted to buy a license plate for my motorbike. My existing plate does not have the GB and Euro stars on it so I had seen that this was a service Halfords offered on a previous visit.
I asked the guy behind the desk could I have one made up while I wait, which was advertised on the wall behind him in big bold letters. He said “Oh, you have a motorbike. No we don’t do them for motorbikes”. I pointed out to him that the information on the counter and on the wall said otherwise. He said I should go to the Altrincham store (MANCHESTER ROAD
BROADHEATH, ALTRINCHAM, WA14 5PZ). So with a resigned sigh I rode the 11 miles to the Altrincham store.
When I got to that store I saw half of the young Halfords staff outside smoking with friends who were not in uniform or not connected with halfords. It didn’t make for a positive image. Once inside the store there was one girl on the till and nobody else to be seen. I walked to the counter where the number plate service was advertised at the back of the store. I waited there for 10 minutes and a girl arrives. The one that had been on the front till.
She asked me what I want and I said I required a licence plate for a motorbike. In quite an abrupt tone she asked if I had my vehicles documents almost expecting that I wouldn’t. When I said I had them and ID she looked worried because I suspect she was not qualified to make up a plate. I pointed out it needed the Euro badge as I was travelling abroad. Without looking she said I dont think we have those.
I asked her to have a look and she came back and said no she didn’t have them but she could do me a white plate for the front. Confused I asked her what she meant. She said for the front. I said it is for a motorbike. Motorbikes do not have license plates on the front. She said well there was nothing she could do and that I could ride to White City. I said no thanks. I was not going to ride a further 6 miles on one of the busiest roads in Manchester at rush hour only to find the same service I’d had in the previous two stores.
I notice on your website that the stores are listed as “Halfords Super”. I can tell you there is nothing super about the stores, the customer service, the attitude of the staff and on many occasions the stock levels. Considering the monopoly you have on the market it is truly pathetic that you cannot even cover the basics. On many occasions I have asked staff for advice on a product and they read the description from the shelf or the box as if I was not capable of reading the information myself.
Upper management know the state of the stores because you are the people paying the minimum wage to these work shy teenagers. As somebody in my mid thirties I would rather see people of retirement age in these stores who have knowledge and some interpersonal skills.
. It’s a bit tongue in cheek but I’m hoping it will get me from a to b to c and perhaps even z in the coming year. After that I suspect it will become a sidecar rig. 
