Category: Rides

Pictures taken on Branch ride-outs

Ride to Weald Museum – Oct 2021

We worried more about getting fuel than the weather for our ride to the Weald and Downland Living Museum near Chichester. Five of us met up with various levels of fuel and anxiety about making it there and back. Luckily, we rode past a garage with fuel and no queues, so two of us filled up. Some others managed to find some fuel at the end of the ride. The weather shone for us apart from a very short shower that caught some people just before they got home. The cafe at the Weald museum was a beautiful place for a bacon sandwich and coffee.

  • I can see a petrol station that’s open!!
  • Pausing the ride near Alton before we split for home.
  • Outside the lakeside cafe
  • The view from the cafe

Ride to Leckford – Sept 2021

The forecast said it was a going to be wet, and it certainly looked that way first thing in the morning, so we had a low turnout for our ride to the Leckford estate.

A wet start to the ride

But it had stopped raining before we started the ride, and after half and hour we were on dry roads and had a great ride to the Leckford Estate in Hampshire. When we arrived there it was warm and the sun was shining and we enjoyed a late breakfast at the cafe there before our ride home.

Sunshine on arrival at the Leckford estate car park

It just shows, you should not let the weather forecast put you off riding your bike.

Ride to Thruxton – Sept 2021

We rode to the legendary Thruxton race track and airfield and ordered a late breakfast/early lunch from the Jackeroo cafe there and sat by the race track to eat it. Before departing we lined up by the Thruxton sign at the entrance to take some photos of the riders with their bikes and then just the bikes.

  • Bikes and Riders at the gate
  • Settng off
  • In the Jackeroo Cafe
  • Bikes lined up at Thruxton Entrance

Thruxton is a great place to ride to when there isn’t a race on and we have ridden there before. Check out this video here of a Branch ride there we did in 2020.

Ride to Popham – August 2021

We rode to Popham Airport from Cobbs Farm on the weekend of the August Bank holiday. Of the nine bikes on the run, 6 of them were classics. A couple of bikes got separated on the way, but made it to Popham by a slightly different route. All met up again for a late breakfast at Popham Airfield’s Cafe.

Cafe to Cafe Run – August 21

Branch members at the H Cafe before setting off for the Super Sausage

We took in two biker cafes in one Sunday run. We met early at the H Cafe at Berinsfield (near Oxford) before setting off on a cross country ride to the Super Sausage on the A5 near Towcester for lunch. The Super Sausage was packed with bikers enjoying their new freedoms and the sunny weather. Most of the group rode back together, with a few going back on their own. All got home safely, although not without some close encounters. One member rode down some narrow lanes and had a close encounter with a loose dog, another had to take evasive action at a roundabout and one member left the Super Sausage later and then came across the main group riding in the opposite direction on the way home. Must be something to do with relativity!!!

Having drinks and a chat at the Super Sausage Cafe

Ride to Motorcycle Museum – July 21

In July we had a ride out to Sammy Miller’s magnificent Motorcycle Museum near New Milton in the New Forest. We had a great ride there, especially the last few miles through the New Forest. Once there we had some refreshments sitting outside the onsite cafe in the sunshine and then went into the museum itself to see the incredible collection of bikes.

The entrance to the Motorcycle Museum

Here are some photos we took of just a small selection of the approximately 450 motorbikes that are there.