Landmarks competition 2010
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The landmarks competition 2010 was to be in honour of our dear friend “Grum” who sadly passed away at the beginning of 2010 So Si and me decided that we would try and complete all 38 landmarks including the 3 international ones With Si taking a sabbatical we decided that we would start at the beginning of March as soon as the weather started to break |
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Our first landmark was the “Andy Capp” statue at Hartlepool |
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Next on the list was “The Weebles” at South Shields |
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The third and final one for the day took us up to “Keilder Dam” but not before I showed Si where Keith’s original co-ordinates took us (it was in the middle of a field !) |
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The following week we headed up towards “Killhope Mine”, you could tell winter was still with us as we passed piles of snow on the sides of the road and it was bitterly cold. The ford was in full flow so we decided not to risk crossing it |
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Our 5th landmark was “Edinburgh Castle” which we visited whilst we were at our annual wigwam weekend. It was quite difficult to get the motorbike into the castle but I managed to sweet talk the lady on the gate to allow us to bring our bikes into the courtyard |
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Then we had a little break until we attended a rally at Bushey near London at the end of May. Here we managed to get “HMS Belfast” and it was fun trying to park up and get the pictures, there was no way of getting the bikes next to the boat |
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The next few landmarks were taken whilst attending the International Rally in Holland. Here we managed to visit, the anne frank museum, the sex museum and Afsluitdijk bridge |
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Next we visited “Goathland garage” which is home to the TV series “Heartbeat”. We also decided that we would camp the night there and enjoy a good pub supper. The good thing about riding with Si is that I’m able to ride ahead and blast thru the curvy bits and then pull up and wait for him, though Si did disapprove of some of the roads I took him down ! |
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It was obvious that Si had way too much time on his hands when he produced a plan that would see us visiting the North West to take in some more landmarks. |
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The next morning saw us head off towards “Anderton boat lift” and “Jordell Bank” |
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We headed towards the cat and the fiddle to find “The peak view café” but once again I managed to get us lost and I think we ended up riding an extra 50 miles that day! Then we headed back up North to “Sids café” and this is were we ended up getting split up. I spent 20 minutes looking for Si and then decided just to head to the next landmark “The Woolpack Pub”. It was later in the evening when Si text me to say he was leaving the Woolpack and by that time I was almost home |
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In July we were headed for the Reading Rally but had decided to take separate routes to the rally. I decided I would visit “Crich’s stand” and the “Anchor Inn” before camping in Boston. The following day I added “The old School house” to my visited list |
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While attending the rally we managed to visit “Brooklands”, “Hampton court palace” and “Rykas café”. At Hampton Court we kept getting chased by the security guards so getting a picture taken was fun in itself! |
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Si also managed to get “Crich’s stand” and “The old school house” on his way to the rally |
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After the rally Si was heading off to Belgium with Val for a birthday treat so I decided I would head south and get a few more landmarks in. So off I headed towards “Chislehurts caves” then down to the “Battle of Britain memorial” from there down towards “Dungeness lighthouse” and finally “Bodiam Castle” before finding a campsite just outside of Brighton |
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The following morning I headed across the county to “Piddle Inn” from there I headed North towards “Stonehenge” and finally to “Lower Slaughter” before finding a campsite for the night |
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Towards the end of August I decided to have a crack at the 7 remaining landmarks. our club had been so busy organising and running our centres rally that I hadn’t really gave the Landmarks competition much thought. This time I was on my own as Si had taken up a new job in Kazakhstan. So with the motorbike fully loaded with all my camping gear I set off for Wales. On the way there I was lucky to be able to recce a route for annual Coast 2 Coast weekend. So I finally arrived in Wales late afternoon and settled down to find a campsite. The following morning I was off to the longest name place and I have to admit I was totally blown away with the fantastic scenery and cracking roads that Wales had to offer I managed to visit “llanfair” , “Staylittle” and “Plwmp before once again finding a campsite for the night |
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The following day saw me complete the final landmarks, which included “Bethlehem”, “The Three Cocks” , “Kemeys commander” (which proved a little difficult to find) and finally “SS Great Britain” |
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So that was the end of the landmarks! I cant tell you how many miles I put in but I can say it was worth every minute of it ! I just loved being out and on the road As a result of completing all 38 landmarks I was awarded a t-shirt at the AGM as a joint winner Finally the icing on the cake was it was announced that I had won the “Where in the World Clatter” competition for the UK entry |
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This is me wearing my Joint winners T-shirt at the 2010 |
This is the winning picture with the following comments from the Doncaster Camera club who where the judges for the competition “We found this very amusing. Despite the wet feet, this gentleman has a very cheeky grin and has managed to use the magazine to produce an amusing picture” But I have to thank Si for taking that picture and also for his support and friendship throughout the landmarks competition Here’s looking forward to the 2011 competition |
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