Rykas to Billy's

Bring a camera ride

Dan with his private plate

In what was officially the last ride of the winter, the forecast was positive for a bright and reasonably mild day. Gathering at Rykas at 10am you could have fooled me. It felt chilly and the sky looked so dark and heavy I thought it could lash it down. But I have faith in Carol Kirkwood and it paid off.

We had planned a journey out to Billy's via Abinger Hammer, Shere, Chilworth and Chiddingfold close to the Sussex border. Our route between each was a mix of A and B roads. The group made decent progress and the ride was around 1 hour 30 minutes, perfect for our arrival at the café.

Today was designated bring your camera ride......and everyone was encouraged to supply a photo from their day. Charles, Dan and Stephen C went one better and captured lots of video. More on that later.

So with photography in mind I thought we'd start with a ride over Ranmore Common and I'd go a few minutes early to position myself where there is always a good amount of flood water....if you like a bit of water this road rarely disappoints. I hurried off to catch "the splash" as everyone came through.

Disappointingly of all days, I arrived and discovered just two large puddles on either side of the road. This road is generally always always flooded at this time of year- but today it was a bit of a let down.

On the ride we had 16 of us on 14 bikes. Gary Clarke of Smallfield riding a shiny new Forza and Graham Buckton from Broadbridge Heath on his BMW, joining us for their first HOWL experience. It was wonderful also that Peter Peshev decided that as it was Mother's Day he'd meet us at Rykas and at Billy's with his wife and teenage children. So a nice round 20 of us squeezed in to Billy's. It was all great fun and their staff coped extremely well. Peter bringing his family really summed for me the nature of our group.

But remember it is all about the bikes.......the other 12 were Tom on his Triumph Tiger 1200. Not one but five beautiful classics. Charles' rode his 500/4, Simon and Karen aboard a VF750, Dan was on his Pan, Steve Hill rode his Blackbird, whilst Tony and Zoe were on the CBR1000F. On the run we had a total of 12 Hondas, the others being, Chris on his CBR650, Michael is VFR1200, Steve C is CB1100, whilst Bob and myself were both on CBF1000's. That just leaves Jon's NC750X that led us round "the circuit" and arrived first at Billy's to a fanfare from their staff. We had hoped to see the "Yellow Peril" (CB500F) for the first time. Unfortunately Jude was "under the weather" so we'll have to wait another day. GWS Jude.

On the ride we had 16 of us on 14 bikes. Gary Clarke of Smallfield riding a shiny new Forza and Graham Buckton from Broadbridge Heath on his BMW, joining us for their first HOWL experience. It was wonderful also that Peter Peshev decided that as it was Mother's Day he'd meet us at Rykas and at Billy's with his wife and teenage children. So a nice round 20 of us squeezed in to Billy's. It was all great fun and their staff coped extremely well. Peter bringing his family really summed for me the nature of our group.

But remember it is all about the bikes.......the other 12 were Tom on his Triumph Tiger 1200. Not one but five beautiful classics. Charles' rode his 500/4, Simon and Karen aboard a VF750, Dan was on his Pan, Steve Hill rode his Blackbird, whilst Tony and Zoe were on the CBR1000F. On the run we had a total of 12 Hondas, the others being, Chris on his CBR650, Michael is VFR1200, Steve C is CB1100, whilst Bob and myself were both on CBF1000's. That just leaves Jon's NC750X that led us round "the circuit" and arrived first at Billy's to a fanfare from their staff. We had hoped to see the "Yellow Peril" (CB500F) for the first time. Unfortunately Jude was "under the weather" so we'll have to wait another day. GWS Jude.

Bring your camera day...... many thanks everyone for taking part.

Some of you also took some video so hopefully we can piece this into a presentation later.

Carousel 2 Billy's on the road

Love this panorama from Gary

And finally. I asked Chloe if she would also contribute a pic from her day's riding. So yesterday the 19th, whilst on the ACT heading south in a stretch just south of Vidmonte, she posed her bike for a photo. She is heading in the general direction of Lisbon where she can get some attention to the bike and visit a wonderful city. I would love to go there one day.

Have fun Chloe and thank you so much!

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