#experienced biker

[technosclub]

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[craleighbeamer]

Our second adventure from the vanishing Summer saw us on a trip to the south west and another National Trust site.

Bristol was a city I’d long wished to visit, particularly Isambard Brunel’s two masterpieces, The Clifton Suspension Bridge and The ss Great Britain steam ship. For various reasons, our holiday plans had gone awry and we decided to cut our losses and just have a mid-week break with the Bristol area coming up trumps.

Everything packed and ready for the ‘off’, the weather forecast wasn’t promising with a severe weather warning posted for rain through the Thames Valley from around 9.00am. Both being early risers, we awoke around 6 and rather than hanging around, took to the road by about 7, beating the rain and even much of the commuter traffic. Our first destination was the National Trust’s Tyntesfield House, a little way the ‘other side’ of Bristol.  Riding motorways most of the route, we made good time on the R1200, arriving before the site was even fully open. As we sat in the early morning sunshine, the staff busied themselves around us preparing for their day, while we took the time to draw breath.

Tyntesfield House built in the neo -gothic style

Tyntesfield House is a neo-gothic, early Victorian pile, set in beautiful parklands. Its grandeur owes much to the Gibbs family, entrepreneurs in the field of, well, bird poo. In the early Victorian period, agriculture was becoming more intensive as the population moved from the fields to the burgeoning industrial sector, and the consequent booming cities. The demand for more farm produce resulted in a surge in demand for fertilizers and, in particular, the use of phosphates from bird guano. This was sourced by the Gibbs family, principally from South America, and shipped to the UK through the port of Bristol, making the family extremely wealthy in the process.

When Tyntesfield was acquired by the Gibbs’s it was not intended as anything more than a rather grand, but private, family home. Many of the structural alterations were in response to demands of their typically large, Victorian family. The house was only finally vacated by the last remaining member of the family, Richard Gibbs, on his death in 2001, when it was bought with the proceeds of a campaign by The National Trust. The development of the house by the Gibbs family is well documented and makes for a fascinating day trip, particularly as a precursor to exploring other sites in the locale.

We wended our way to our hotel on the outskirts of Bristol with the satnav taking us a direct route from Tyntesfield, through the City, using the aptly named ring road, so called, because you are sent around in rings.  Not liking the distraction of voice directions, and with the afternoon sunshine glaring on the satnav screen, I missed a critical turning going into various, unscheduled parts of the city centre. The occasional glimpses of directions on the sun-splashed screen were probably adding to the confusion rather than helping. We finally arrived at our hotel for an enjoyable stay.

For the second day of our trip, with a bus stop right outside the hotel, we took a city bus into the centre and ‘did the sights’. The ss Great Britain and museum didn’t disappoint and is highly recommended as a worthwhile trip in its own right. The dry dock where the ship is preserved is the dock where her keel was originally laid in 1845. Today, the ship has a glass ‘pool’ ceiling surrounding the hull around the line of the original waterline, giving the appearance of floating from above, but still allowing access to the lower levels of the hull.

The hull, below the waterline, is accessible. The area is air conditioned to managed the ongoing issue of corrosion of her iron hull.

For a disconcerting degree of authenticity, live rats live in the ship’s galley!

The Clifton Suspension Bridge still remains an engineering marvel and, with its recently added visitor centre, makes another fascinating outing.

Looking to explore the Clifton area more fully, Mrs. Beamer and I walked back through the delightfully, chic, Clifton Village. The area comprises of an eclectic selection of independent shops and restaurants housed in properties from an equally interesting range of architectural styles. We finally, caught the return bus opposite the BBC in Whiteladies Road.

Clifton Village Arcade, a centre for artisan shops originally opened in 1870

The following day we opted to head home via Cheddar and the Gorge.  It was a bit chilly for the time of year and, although outside the school holidays, Cheddar was already busy with tourists. We stopped briefly, realising that even motorcycles are ripped off for parking, before deciding to ride the delightful road set between the towering cliffs of the Gorge, and continuing on our journey, heading for the City of Wells with its medieval cathedral.

Wells’s medieval cathedral

Following another brief stopover, we headed for the warmth of home to find that our return ride had been endured in a temperature actually a degree colder than Christmas Day had been!

As city break, Bristol offers a great location with a wide range of restaurants and drinking houses to compliment the fascinating sights. Having researched how motorcycle friendly Bristol was, we opted to find a hotel with reasonably secure parking. Staying just outside the City, we were able to enjoy Bristol without worrying about parking or having a lunchtime drink.

  Where’s Summer Gone? – Bristol Our second adventure from the vanishing Summer saw us on a trip to the south west and another National Trust site.

[craleighbeamer]

Why we ride motorcycles - an attempt at an explanation

Why we ride motorcycles – an attempt at an explanation

A recent post on the TT Tourist Trophy Facebook group posed the question, “Anyone ever tried to describe to a non-biker what it’s like when you just relax into a ride and it all works for you and you’re in that zone?” As a relatively recent returnee to motorcycling, am I in a better position to comment? Not sure, but both my wife and son are very recent converts and their comments have been quite…

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[craleighbeamer]

Parental Duty of Care

Parental Duty of Care

Motorcycling; It’s the freedom, the exhilaration of the open road, the heightened senses, the complete immersion in what’s happening around you, and the awareness of what can happen if you get it wrong. For most riders, certainly of my age, we started riding when our responsibilities extended no further than ‘me’. We then moved on and either found ourselves in relationships where ‘me’ became ‘we’…

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