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Club trip to the NEC

by Admin

The annual Yarm MCC trip to the NEC went ahead as usual, this year on Thursday 21st November, Leaving Yarm High Street at 6.15 with a temperature of -5’c to wake everybody up.

A very well received breakfast pit stop at Morrisons Bramley on the M18 got everybody in the mood and set up for the day ahead.

The bus dropped the group off right at the door and it was full steam ahead to see all the new 2025 motorcycles and the bargains in the clothing sale.

There is still plenty of lovely bikes to help pass the hours away however like the MV Agusta Super Veloce 1000cc Orio at £61k, or the Norton V4SV at a mere £44k.

If you like to look at some really old classics then on the Royal Enfield stand was a 2 3/4hp RE Quadricycle on display from 1901 and still a runner, interestingly just recently completing the Banbury run and right next to it a 1940 Flying Flea in its transport frame.

As always, the day passes quickly and before we knew it, the bus was back at the door to pick up a tired and weary group and Wisk us back to Yarm for 8pm.

For those that could stay awake on the journey we had “Closer to the edge” on the TV’s to round off another great YMCC trip.


See you all next year!

Nov 13th Club Night

by Admin

Next Club night November 13th 2024 at the Cleveland Bay, Yarm 8pm.
Norman Simpson will give us a brief talk over his years as a bus driver

Yarm MCC Member Norman Simpson, recently retired from bus driving with 54 Years of loyal service, now 86 years young, starting out in 1970 with OK Motor Services and completing his last run with Arriva Wednesday 16th October, covering 1 million miles and helping over 1 million passengers with their travels. Norman spends a slice of his personal time and is a major influence in the local Teesside 500 group, which, owns, restores and operates vintage buses.

YMCC raises funds for Zoe’s Place

by Admin

YMCC raises funds for Zoe’s Place

This years longest day ride once again supported the local baby hospice in Middlesbrough Zoe’s Place. The route undertaken was the Northumberland 250,  many thanks to Bob Arnett and Brian Taylor for orgaising. A big thanks also to all those who took part in the ride and also those who donated.

Argyll & Bute and Isle of Arran Trip

by Admin

Scotland – Argyll & Bute and Isle of Arran May 2023

Planned route – Yarm – North Yorkshire to Scotland – Inverary, tour of Argyll and Bute including Glen Coe and Isle of Arran. A planned route of 933miles.

Riders: Bob Arnett GS 1250 Rallye, Bob Bilham GS 1200, Peter Rochester GS 1250 Rallye, Michael Jones Kawasaki ZX 1000.

Day 1 – Mileage 255.

The sun was shining for our rendezvous at Bradbury Services on the A689 at 1000hrs. We took a meandering route along the A68 past Corbridge in Northumberland, passing the Otterburn ranges. On the approach to the Edinburgh ring road, the skies darkened while the traffic started to back up. It rained most of the journey towards Stirling whilst on the M9, but as we were to exit onto the A811, the blue sky started to appear, and we could feel the sun starting to warm us through our riding gear.

We then headed west towards Loch Lomond. The Soup Dragon Café offered a relaxing coffee break. The hosts showed us the impressive fire breathing Dragon hiding in the trees which was fabricated from steel and mounted on a trailer. The Game of Thrones cast then continued the last leg of the day to Inverary along the A82/A83 and to the George Hotel where we had booked in for 3 nights.

Bob B, Bob A, Peter and Mike at the Soup Dragon Café

Day 2 – mileage 191

Our bikes were parked in a lovely private area at the side of the Hotel where one of the Hotel staff had kindly chained off for our use whilst we were staying there. Also, it just happened to be right next to our hotel room which made it feel that bit more secure.

With the sun shining, our second days route took us along the west side of Loch Fyne heading south towards Campbeltown. We rode along the A83 through Lochgilpinhead, then over the lock gates of the Crinnon Canal where we had to wait for a fishing trawler to traverse through the last canal lock into Loch Fyne. A few miles further we turned in land and headed to Tarbert and the roads went from a lovely smooth tarmac to single track with miles upon miles of gravel on the centre crest of the road.

Once we reached Campbeltown, the steeds were parked alongside the harbour and a table was found in the Café Bluebell for a Tuna toastie and cup of tea followed by a stroll around the harbour and a look at the Severn Class offshore Lifeboat. This station which also includes an Inshore D Class Lifeboat was established in 1861 and positioned to strategically cover the Mull of Kintyre.

Back on the bikes, we travelled along the B843/2 and went round the Southend Loop which skirted the southern coastline of the peninsula. Our return leg followed the eastern shoreline, again along single track with copious amounts of gravel. Our day was finished off in the George with some Loch Fyne Oysters washed down with ale and a wee dram.

Bob B, Mike and Peter at Campbeltown

Day 3 – mileage 165

After a hearty Scottish breakfast, the forecast was good and with the sun on our backs we headed again to Lochgilpinhead, but turned west and skirted the coast towards Oban. We pulled off the A816 to stretch our legs and take in the scenery at a Craobh Marina alongside Loch Melfort. The café/restaurant was closed during our break, so we just chilled for 30 minutes. Then it was onto Oban. We managed to park up alongside the harbour, had a wander along to the ferry terminal and back to a burger bar opposite the motorbikes for our lunch. An hour or so later we headed north out of Oban towards Connel leading to the stunning scenery of Glen Coe. There were several photo breaks along the route until we turned right in the direction of Loch Etive which is synonymous nowadays for the film set of Skyfall with Daniel Craig and Judy Dench. There was a small amount of traffic on these roads out of season, but it must get hectic during holiday periods. Time was pushing on and we had to limit our presence here as we had a table booked for our evening meal back in the George.

The A82 took us to Tyndrum where we refuelled at the Green Welly Stop, onto the A85 and then diverted onto the A819 alongside Loch Awe and this road brought us back into the centre of Inverary.

Mike and Bob A on the road to Loch Etive near Glen Coe

Day 4 – mileage 124

Today The Isle of Arran is our destination. Again, the sun is shining but a southerly breeze was building up. We had our last Scottish breakfast in the George Hotel and booked out at around 0930hrs. This had been a great Hotel with attentive staff and recommended if you are looking for somewhere to stay in this area. We headed south along Loch Fyne to Tarbet along the A83 and then to the Ferry Ramp at Claonaig. We arrived about 40 minutes before our sail time. The sea state was about a 2 to 3 metre swell. With some consternation, ourselves and other passengers were watching the sea/spray washing over the extremely exposed ramp and wondering if the crossing will be cancelled (this is literally a concrete ramp straight into the sea where the ferry lowers its loading ramp onto). The Ferry (named Catriona – Glasgow) eventually came into view way to the south of its normal route as it was allowing for the wind so it didn`t get swept past the dock.

Once the ferry had lowered the rear ramp a car and a scaffold lorry embarked and then I was motioned on by the deck hand. I rode onto the deck followed by Peter, Bob B and Mike on his ZX1000. The ferry was rocking from left to right as I led the quartet onto the deck. We were marshalled to the left-hand side of the deck area by a deck hand who had hold of a ratchet strap. Within less than a minute three BMW GS`s were laid on their sides before any of us had got off the bikes such was the extent of the vessels swaying. Mike on his ZX managed to stay upright with the help of another deckhand. The extent of the damage was a few scrapes of CALMAC Green deck paint on our engine bars, due to the robust nature of the GS`s design with a little help from the panniers. We eventually got strapped down and the Ferry Captain made a point of coming for a chat and offered to waive the cost of our tickets.

We docked around an hour later in Lochranza on Arran, which was in a nice, sheltered bay. We exited the ferry port and turned right to start an anti-clockwise route of the island. The roads were a mix of rough and smooth. First stop was at the Machrie Bay Hall café on the side of the road. We sat outside on a veranda to take on some refreshments and to chat about the morning’s events.

On the south end of Arran, we visited the LAGG Distillery which was only founded in 2019 and did a 1 ½ hr tour and tasting session. The first batch of whiskey was released in 2022 after the regulatory 3yrs and one day. All drivers/riders were given the various tasting samples in small vials to have at a more convenient time. We continued our route in the same direction and ended completing a figure of eight around the Island roads.

The Auchrannie Resort in Brodick was our overnight destination where we dined in the “Cruize” restaurant followed by a last beverage in one of the bars within the hotel complex.

Peter`s GS in rough seas
Isle of Arran Lagg Distillery

Day 5 – mileage 198

We awoke to rain for our return journey home. The CalMac ferry port in Brodick was only ½ mile from the hotel. We arrived in good time and managed to shelter from the rain under a passenger gantry whilst we waited to board. This was the only other ferry terminal on the Island and is of a normal industrial design so there are no issues with weather conditions. After an hour crossing, we docked in Ardrossan in fair weather on and headed south Back home.

The average mpg on the trip for the GS 1250 was 51.3mpg. Thanks to Bob Bilham for the route planning.

Written by Bob Arnett

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Lyndon Poskitt Racing – RACES2PLACES

by Admin

During the summer of 2020 when we were in lockdown, and unable to go anywhere, I started browsing motorcycle YouTube videos on my TV. I came across Lyndon Poskitt, a Yorkshire lad from Knaresborough who had done a bit of travelling and rally racing on his KTM 690. Due to the random way that videos pop up, the first one I watched was him riding through Mongolia where he entered the Mongolian Rally which is about 5 days long. After riding from Knaresborough to Mongolia, he prepped the bike in a local workshop, started the race ok, got disqualified for something he didn`t do, got re-instated, finished a stage on his rear wheel rim after his tyre disintegrated, broke a record of the fastest bike to navigate a section with no `Road Book` instructions, just a map and also beat all the cars which was also a first. After watching this I was quite interested in what else he had done so looked into it further. I have now watched hours` of his video`s of which I would think there are approx 150 – 200 ranging from 10 mins to over an hour. The video`s are descriptive and informative from an engineering perspective, without being boring,  and he explains the reasoning behind why and how he does things.

Lyndon was an Aerospace engineer working for BAE who started as a schoolboy in Motorcycle Trials, tried Supermoto, track racing and Enduro & Rally racing. He had a dream to race the DAKAR and in 2013 entered the race finishing 46th.

A year later after a spell in hospital where he re-evaluated his life, left hospital, packed his job in, sold everything, whilst at the same time building a bike robust enough to ride round the world fully loaded and also race in the worlds biggest Rally’s whilst on his travels. He had an alliance with a company called Adventure Spec AS who make off road clothing (These also do their own videos). These suggested he film his travels and they came up with the name RACES2PLACES.

`BASIL BIKE` was born. This was morphed from a 2007 KTM 690 Rally Factory Replica. This is a lot different from the `Enduro`  model. It has a stronger frame, swingarm and taller suspension. He completely stripped the bike back to the frame, made some of his own mod`s such as a bit of strengthening to support the extra weight of his luggage. He then removed the fuel injection and fitted a carburettor, as he didn`t want to get a FI failure in a desert/remote place where you`d need a laptop to interrogate it. He basically went back to basics and built a bike with the minimum of electronics to improve long term reliability. Added a `Tower` to the front headstock to carry the Roadbook/timers etc which are required to race in a Rally. Uprated his running gear with stronger wheels/spokes and brake discs. He uses two different rates of rear spring on the shock for touring and racing. And also the fork cartridges are made to his spec. The video of him building Basil with all the technical info is Races2Places Special Feature  Basil Bike and it`s 43mins.

The trip started in 2014, rode through Europe Russia, the Stans, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, North America, South America and Africa whilst competing in Rallys including, Mongolian, Australian Finke Desert, Baha, Kalahari, Roof of Africa, Redbull Romaniacs, Dakar and Africa Eco Rally.

In 2017 the DAKAR rules had changed and the engine sizes were reduced to 450cc. This meant that Basil was no longer eligible to race, so `REX` Bike was born from a KTM 450 Rally Factory Replica. This was entered into the MALLE MOTO class of the Dakar. A total of 173 riders entered the 2017 Dakar, 17 of them in the Malle Moto. Lyndon and Rex finished 2nd in class.

The trip turned into a Five-year adventure. By 2017 he had travelled through 52 countries and  covered 156,000km. Not sure of his total mileage by the time he finished the `trip`.

He now runs a `Rally` school from a base in Spain where he does `Dakar Rally` simulations in Spain, Portugal and Morocco where you can get the full Rally road book experience or customised training depending on your needs. He is currently an ambassador for Husqvarna for the launch of the 901 Adventure bike after doing many test miles for the company.

Written by Bob Arnett

Longest Day Charity Ride 2022 Update

by Admin

Longest Day Charity Ride 2022 Update

A big thank you to Allan Coverdale for making the longest day ride out a success and all the guys involved raising funds and undertaking the challenging 3 pass ride out.

The grand sum of £430 generated (£250 as a club donation and an extra £180 raised on the night and as extra rider donations) going to Zoe’s place as one the Clubs chosen charities

Longest Day Charity Ride 2022

by Admin

Longest Day Charity Ride 2022 June 26th

The meeting place will be the usual Yarm Town Hall location at 10am

The route is as follows (map below)

  • Rheged Services Penrith
  • Glenridding
  • Kirkstone Pass
  • The Struggles
  • Ambleside
  • Wrynose Pass
  • Hardknott Pass
  • Broughton in Furness
  • Kendal Morrision’s (fuel stop)
  • Tebay
  • Kirby Stephen
  • Home

All riders should arrive at the meeting point with a full tank and be ready to depart promptly.

All donations will go to Zoe’s Place

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