DAY 1, Friday June 27th

The Ride Round The Top starts off-plan immediately – we’re still the Brace of Buffers, but only one of us is on his Boyhood British Bike!! Neil’s bike was put together and started just in time last week, but not reliably enough to get its MoT Certificate, so it’s Plan B for him, and the Honda Fireblade is being pressed into service.

With no need to provide Neil with last-minute moral support, I’ve made the decision to delay my departure from Childrey until Saturday morning, to give me a little longer to pack etc – oh, and allow the tank-sealant I’ve been forced to apply thanks to a crack on the underside at the rear a further 12 hours to cure; 36 hours is a long way short of the 96 hours required, but it’s better than the 24 hours it would other have been.

The RRTT starts for me at 6.30 a.m, with the last of the bike-loading and a tentative gallon of fuel is poured onto the dubiously cured sealant. At 7 a.m. I kiss Val goodbye, and leap onto the kickstarter. I’m gratified with a first-time start, and the roads of the Vale of White Horse greet me – rabbits, foxes, pigeons scatter on the back-roads, and I fuel-up for real in Faringdon and head up towards the Cotswolds having crossed the Thames at Lechlade. Burford is my gateway into the lovely hills, the ancient high street looking achingly beautiful in the early-morning sun as it starts to wake-up with the few eager souls patronising the newsagent the only sign of life.

The roads are empty, and the Norton is loving it – as am I, of course!! The tarmac is now dry of dew, the sky is bereft of clouds, and life is close to perfect. Stratford-on-Avon is reached about 8 o/c, with the supermarket-staff wandering in to their shifts, and the traffic is a little heavier, but it’s the mile-after-mile of open-roads speed limits, 40s and 50s that are the restriction, very frustrating, and I’m convinced more a revenue-raiser than a genuine road-safety contribution, my cynicism tells me.

preparing to leave Childrey