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The 2nd offering of what has become an annual event/ride-out for the UK VRodders a.k.a Band Of VRodders.
Day 1 – The Nuthall – Heights of Abraham (Matlock) – Ashbourne – Premier Inn (Derby)
New PD Riders: Stuart Hardingham-Graveling, Jim Lee, Alan Knight, Ben James, Karl Hughes, Rohit Mehta
Original PD Riders: Jeff Mouat, Anthony Georgiou, Scott Pritchard
Ride Organiser & Lead: Ankur Pande
The day was nice and sunny – perfect weather for an amazing ride. We met up at the Robin Hood Harley Davidson (RHHD) dealership in Nottingham for a quick lunch at KFC opposite. It was awesome getting back together once again in the year, after our recent Veghel ride for the Dutch & Belgium VRodders meet-up.
The plan was to roughly follow the same routes as PD 2018 because we had quite a few new riders this year. After grabbing a coffee from RHHD we set off towards Heights of Abraham (Matlock) along the windy A6. As we got close to the Heights of Abraham, there were literally hundreds of bikes line the road on both sides. As we rode in loud and proud, I couldn’t help notice that the whole street turned and stared at us with envious eyes. We stopped at the Kostas Fish Bar for chips and lunch for those who missed out on KFC.
A few photos later, we raced off to Ashbourne market square. The curvy/winding roads threw us a challenge we simply couldn’t refuse. Stug and Ben pretty much kept up with me throughout, but the rest of the team fell behind a bit.. yep, we had to slow the pace down a bit for them to catch up. The market square offered a nice sunny venue for group photos and a quick drink of coke/water. We also traded digs & stories with other bikers there.
The final stop for the day was the Premier Inn in Derby, where we cleaned up and set out for a few drinks. This is where the fun starts! As we went about looking for a nice restaurant, we stopped at the closest pub… which was pretty shady to say the least and our stop nearly ended in a fight with a drug dealer! We then ended up in a Greek restaurant and Ant promptly ordered us a “little bit of everything”… we had no clue what was coming next! That said, the food wasn’t too bad at all… maybe! We then capped the night off with a few drinks & cigars at a nice pub on the way back to the hotel.
Day 2 – Peak View Tea Rooms – Arthur’s Way & Speedwell Cavern – Hobb’s Cafe – Chatsworth House – Esso Petrol station
After an early full breakfast, we met up with Rohit, Jim & Karl before setting off for Peak View Tea Rooms. The stunning ride TO the Peak View Tea Rooms was only bettered by the scenic view FROM the restaurant. Even better were the long row of VRods lined up with the beautiful scenery in the background. And oh… the lovely cakes! What a treat!
We rode around the Peak District’s scenic roads on our way to Arthur’s way and Speedwell Cavern. Without a doubt, one of the best rides… never ceases to amaze me. The day was amazing and we had literally hundreds of para-gliders flying about as we rode under them.
We then made our way to Chatsworth House for our customary photograph and a bit of messing around till the ducks or the guards chased us out… can’t decide which were fiercer!
A bit more messing about near Chatsworth House along the winding roads and we then finally headed off towards the Esso Petrol Station just off J29 for the essential fuel-stop before each one of us tanked up before blasting off home.
