Mayhem in Matlock

I am in a group on Facebook called Honda Deauville NT650/700v UK group. The groups admin Peter and Markie organised to have a meet up down in Matlock, they had one in 2022 but unfortunately I ended up in hospital due to stomach problems so had to miss it with being stuck in a hospital bed. In the end only 5 or 6 turned up, this year was different, it got a better response and as far as my memory serves it had around 24 bikes out on the Saturday run. Matlock is right in the middle of England and with me being in the middle of Scotland it took around 6 hours of riding to get there with mainly motorways to make up time to get down.

I started packing on the Wednesday night and thought I had plenty time to transfer my quad lock charger to the pan as my Deauville had ran out of mot and never noticed until it was to late so on the Thursday when I was due to leave I had both bikes stripped down swapping bits over and making a bracket for my phone to sit on when riding. I left around 11am and going through Glasgow I was greeted with beautiful blue skys, these lasted all the way until I crossed the border and boom, I was soaked to the rain that went right through my bike jacket, trousers, gloves and in to my boots, I pulled in to the services to put the poncho on my phone and set back off, after 10 mins of getting soaked the sun came back out which thankfully dried me back up, just after Manchester I headed in towards Matlock. I went across the cat and the fiddle which was crystal clear at the time and had some stunning views, the roads were good but hampered big time with the average speed cameras every where which are there due to bikes. I made it in to Matlock and continued up a big hill to the camp site which I completely missed so had to turn back around. As I made my way on the camp site I was greeted by Pete first then the other, I built my tent up which would be my home for 3 nights, we all mingled together as for many of us it was the first time meeting each other.

When I woke up on Friday for the ride out I was met nicely with rain which was going sideways, we met in Markies tent which had a big space for us all with our chairs where Ged met up with us, he was from that area and was going to be the lead rider for the weekend. There was another surprise for his as he was also made admin when he came up on Friday. We delayed the ride to see if the weather would break but it never gave way so only 5 decided to go out. Some of us that stayed decided to go for something to eat down in Matlock around lunch time as the rain stopped. Matlock can be described as a seaside town which has a river instead of a sea, we went to a little pub for a quick drink before Greggs. As we were heading back to the camp side the rain started again and soaked me right through, my jumper was soaked as was my jacket. On the Saturday we all decided to go the ride, we went through some good roads and just 15 miles in we were met by our first big puddle. The heavens opened and the front of the pack decided to pull in to a little thatgarage, I was on the bike just outside the canopy and getting soaked, my language was not the best at point as I just off the bike. When we got back on the route we seen a bright flash of lighting followed by a roar of thunder. We took a trip to a bike dam where the famous dam busters was. We got back to the camp site and we all fired our wet stuff in to the boiler room of the pub to dry out. Saturday was a good crack with a live singer. I had to leave early as my head was slipping, so went back to the tent, fired up the iPad and fell asleep watching Ted Lasso. When I woke up on. The Sunday I decided to head back down the road, originally I was going to stay to Monday and go for a ride out on the Sunday but with the rain coming back in I packed up when it was try and set off, it rained from Manchester to Blackpool with strong winds, once I just passed Ecelfecon the sun came up and manage to dry me out thankfully. Over all it was a good meet and I will be attending it in 2024 as well as the Deauvilles in Devon, the group is a great group and mainly English based. There is a lot of deauvilles in Scotland and have met many riders with them up here but I was the only Scottish rider that went down, in fairness there was martin who came from France to the event and I had traveled more miles from Falkirk than he had from France. The pace was a gentle easy going ride, a little slower than I was use to but overall good with a great bunch of guys and hoping to discus with the admin an event up here.

There is a wee video at the bottom