Bishops Castle - Review

BC4 Part One: The Boys are back in Town!!

Friday is a short day at work for me, but as the sun blazed down and the temperatures climbed I couldn’t wait to get home and get on the bike and head over to Bishop Castle and let another weekend of fun and frolics get underway. The hands of the office clock dragged themselves around and finally it was time to knock off and I quickly despatched the 30 mile drive home in the car.
Mandy had already packed the Givi box, thoughtfully leaving me room in the tank bag for my meagre kit....the official weight rating for the rack is 6kg...yeah right.
This was the cats first outing with the Givi rack I fitted the week before, and it certainly made life easier than when we used to cram our (her) stuff into the throw over panniers

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The Thundercat all loaded up and sporting the recently fitted Givi rack and box

It was a glorious day and it was lovely just to waft across the gently winding lanes of Worcestershire and Shropshire, soaking up picture postcard views and roll into the delightfully idiosyncratic town of Bishop Castle that was once again our base for the weekends adventures to come.
We were the first to arrive at The Boars Head right in the middle of town and I was already feeling ready to melt as temperatures hovered around the 30C. I went into the bar to collect the keys to our room and as I stood waiting the barman served several customers. I found myself drooling as he poured them long, ice cold pints of lager right in front of me...God I NEED a cool beer.
Eventually he gave me the keys to our room and we got settled in and it wasn’t long before the others rolled up, first Dave and Anna on Nick and Ellie’s old cats, then Nick and Ellie themselves on their pair of Triumphs finest.
Thankfully it was not too long before I got to the bar and finally got my hands on that ice cold lager, a slow drip of condensation made its’ way down the side of the glass and I lifted its ice cold contents to my lips: and boy did that feel good on a day like this! At that moment in wandered the others and Nick declared
‘What are you drinking that yellow fizzy shit for!?’
The barman, who had seemed mildly grumpy on our arrival didn’t seem best pleased at the description of one of his ales!
The Boars Head does sell proper beer too and plenty of this flowed as more and more of the crew arrived. It was great to meet some new people and hook up with some old faces too, notably Weasley who I had not seen since BC1. Oldcat was here despite some health issues, one or two people from this years’ WeeMac were here too. We were also joined by new faces on their first forum ride out such as Cheshirecat, and some non forum guests too such as Nick’s friend Rich Rich and his wife Claire. The beer flowed, food was consumed and the bar resounded to the hubbub of people enjoying each other’s company.

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Littlecat and Oldcat getting grips with each other!

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Old faces and new getting to know each other

A real highlight of the evening for me was the surprise arrival of the legendary Scottish duo of Rosco and Dirtbike Dave, heavily disguised as a pair of 80’s scousers complete with curly wigs! They had made the long run down to join the fun and in so doing captured the spirit of friendship and camaraderie that truly is the cornerstone of this forum.

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The forums' very own Chuckle Brothers! Team Escosse...DirtbikeDave and the legendary Rosco!

Eventually the evening wound down and we headed back to our various digs all around Bishops Castle to get some rest in readiness for a great days riding ahead.

Day 2: Bishops castle Grinds to a Halt!

After a hearty breakfast of a watercress sandwich and filtered Chilean spring water Mrs Radar and I were ready for the off. I moved the Thundercat around to the front of the Boars Head for the 08:45 rendezvous and already one or two of the crew were lined up ready. With the sun pounding down, it looked like we were on for a cracking days riding.

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Forming up at the Boars head

We seemed to heading for a strong turn-out as bike after bike rolled in. Some lads, such as Dai-San and his mate Dave were along just for the ride out, as they were last year. Eventually we had a line of (I think) 28 bikes ready for the off, with no less than 12 Thundercats in attendance...the best turnout on the five ride outs that I have joined. Mixed in there was some pretty exotic stuff too, notably a MV Augusta F4, Greencat on his noe somewhat cleaner 848 and DirtBikeDave’s fresh from the crate Ducati Panigale. Triumph machines were well represented too with a pair of 1050 Speed Triples, a 650 Daytona, a 675 Daytona and TT600 making the run. The adventure boys were represented by ChrisEddies KTM and I noticed a Ducati Multistrada and a pair of Suzuki bikes too, a GSXR600 and a SV650. Joining the 12 strong Thundercat squadron representing Yamaha we also had a pair of R1s and a solitary R6! Honda were represented by the lone figure of Littlecats riding partner John and his impressive Fireblade. So I think it is fair to say that we brought the town to a standstill, and some residents had starting taking photographs of the proceedings!

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MV adding a little glamour to the proceedings

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As was DBD's stunning new Panigale when it wasn't being fuelled up!

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The traditional team shot...is it me or does Robcat look like he is going to the bog??

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Nick (lovely jacket) does his speech while Snowcat hangs on his every word!

After the traditional briefing given by Nick with able assistance from Oldcat we set off into the sunshine and one of the most eventful runs in forum in the history of the Thundercat forum...

In the next exciting instalment:
Thrills!
Spills!!
Helicopters!!!!
Switching Ride-outs!!!!!
Action!!!
Ice Cream!!!!
Tips on maximising tyre life!!!!
BC lurgy!!!!

PS: Pics to follow, when I am not so knackered!

:whoop:
Canne wait for the next installment!

Nice write up there Tony, eagerly await the next installment. Good to see no mention of me so must've managed to stay out of trouble and not bring attention to myself

Snowcat wrote:Nice write up there Tony, eagerly await the next installment. Good to see no mention of me so must've managed to stay out of trouble and not bring attention to myself

No worries, you get a mention in part two!! There were so many people it was hard to get everybody in!

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