Last of the Summer Wine – Brief Run to Ludlow

With autumn beginning to bite and the long, hot summer already a distant memory the end of the month seemed a logical time to declare my MV Agusta ‘SORN’ especially as it coincided with the tax expiring in any case. But there was still one last chance for a blast before it’s tucked away at the back of the garage hooked up on a optimate covered in a tartan blanket…only the best for my bike!

The MV needed a little charge before it would fire up

So I met up with a few of the usual suspects to stretch the MV’s legs…Toggsy rocked up on his 07 Fireblade, Duncan was on a 2001 ZX9R whilst Andy completed the line on his BMW GS1200. No ride these days is complete without at least one GS1200…

First section was the familiar, but ever enjoyable blatt to the Food Stop Cafe on the outskirts of Bridgnorth.  Here we were soon by joined by Matt piloting another GS1200 in desperate bid to get up to 1000 miles for the year. His is the super tall Adventure model; the one with the flashing light on top of the fairing to warn any local aircraft! Bitter short bloke…me? Never!

As usual the cafe provided us with an excellent free bike show and I was delighted to bump into an old mate from my days with the long since defunct Centaurs MCC with whom I used to ride with in the 1980’s. We both had CB100Ns in those days before passing our tests…simple days, happy days…

See what I mean about a free bike show?

My old mucker Andy Brown from my Centaurs MCC days in the early 1980’s

Eagerly awaiting the salad, you can almost taste the cucumber

We are a happy bunch…

No idea what is going on here…

Back to the present day and the cafe laid on the usual superb ‘salad’ and we were nicely set up for a decent blast over another old forum favourite route to Ludlow. I led on the MV, Toggs tucked in behind with Dunc tracking him on the 9R while Andy on the GS1200 took up TEC position. Matt couldn’t join us for this bit, which was a shame. The first section is very quick and open and it felt wonderful to exercise the plentiful grunt has MV has on tap, it is an intoxicating bike to ride when you are  in the mood, it really is. Next up the technically challenging B4364…bumpy, twisty and today leaf and mud strewn. Here the riding was brisk, but more measured and precise as we sliced our cross country against the backdrop of the Shropshire Hills. Man this is so much fun! You need to have your wits about you, but it’s easy to see why it is such a popular road with local bikers. 

The last couple of miles into Ludlow itself isn’t so exciting but the town itself never fails to impress; it’s a lovely place to visit even if the bike parking in the square next to the castle has come under scrutiny, even meriting an article in MCN! Here we enjoyed a cuppa and a bit of banter.

The squad in Ludlow

The three fly boys headed home back to Brum from here and apparently had fun on the more open roads on the way. I will leave what that means to your imagination! For my part I stroked the MV home over the always beautiful Clee Hill, through Bewdley crossing the River Severn there over the bridge designed by no less than Thomas Telford himself and is over 200 years old. Sadly that will be it for the MV this year, so roll on spring 2019. In the meantime I will still have my ’91 550 Kwak to rattle around on and get my biking fix every now and again!