In September 1998 Ixion got together at Hardraw, North Yorkshire for the Absent Friends weekend to remember Ixies that are sadly no longer with us. As is traditional at such events a number of rideouts were (dis)organised but Mik Reed and myself fancied doing something a little different and wanted to take to the dirt. Team Tiger Trespass were founded.
Andy
the Pugh, with some local knowledge suggested a route along Mastiles Lane (an
old Roman road) between Malham and Kilnsey taking in Kilnsey Moor and he led us
as far Lee Gate Farm where the sealed road and his FJ1100's ability ended.
While we orientated ourselves a shiny Land Rover Discovery complete with 2.2
kids set off along our route, easily negotiating the first obstacle of steep
cobbles covered in wet cow shit. Mik was next up and managed about a bikes
length before the rear wheel of his Tiger started to spin. Between the two of
us, Mik keeping the bike upright and the power on and me bouncing up and down on
the rack, we got the first Tiger to the top of the slope. I decided to take the
grassy assent and despite a sharp right turn on wet grass at the top of the hill
I had no problems. We waved goodbye to Andy and we were on our own (except for
the Land Rover).
After
some umming and arring deciding which was the right track we found our chosen
direction quite churned up with ruts and still wet in places. The 4x4 wasn't
sure about this and waited for us to test the water, and gallantly I let Mik go
first again. This is where we discovered the lack of shear resistance of the
Michelin T66s we were both using as Mik's rear wheel slid sideways and deposited
him and his Tiger on the ground. I wasn't too worried about dropping my Tiger
because I had crash bars fitted, but Mik's Tiger didn't have any at the time.
Fortunately both Mik and the Tiger missed all the limestone boulders littering
the area and the landing was soft, but hard enough to break the right front
indicator. Seeing Mik's predicament the 4x4 whimped out and headed back to
tarmac, not wishing to become stuck with his young kids . (If you ask me he was
already stuck with them.)
We
assessed the damage and righted the Tiger and considering backing out ourselves,
which we couldn't possibly do without losing face. So we carried on. The only
map we had with us was a 1:220,000 which showed the start and finish of the
track we intended to follow, but nothing in between. The first mile or so was
along dirt tracks and over green fields and headed to a village marked on our
map as Bordley, and we saw no more of the mud after the first 20 to 30 metres.
We were keen to see the village to know we were going the right way as we'd long
since passed the limits of our map but instead of a collection of houses we came
across a small farm, hardly the confirmation we were looking for. Convinced we
were somewhere we shouldn't be and about to shot at by the farmer we quickly
made our way past before we were noticed only to see a sign "Bordley"
as we left the buildings behind.
Now
riding on hard packed rubble we didn't hesitate for long when given the choice
of more of the same or a nice green track along a small valley. The track
involved some gate opening and closing and we caused a stir of interest for a
few cows before we joined the old Drovers and Roman Road that would take us down
to Kilnsey. Apart from a strip of green either side the road was now
indistinguishable from its surrounding walls. Since the departure of the 4x4 we
hadn't seen anyone else out and about until now where we passes a couple of
groups of walkers and got a friendly wave from a couple of guys in an old Land
Rover coming up the track - what a pleasant surprise from the stick waving and
shouting we'd expected. I think they were all too stunned at the stupidity of
these two guys taking such unsuitable bikes into the wilderness.
The
descent towards Kilnsey was straightforward apart from the steepest piece of the
track where the large limestone rubble wasn't as compacted as it could have
been. Mik overtook me here where his greater off road experience gave him the
confidence and sense to keep his speed up and float over the boulders, whereas I
rather gingerly wobbled my way down that slope. It's just as well I didn't fall
because some of those boulders were large enough to do big damage to my Tiger
even with its crash bars. Back to tarmac and Mik set about fixing his broken
indicator with the pieces he'd collected and the tape I keep handy under my
seat. The signpost we stopped under pointed the way back to Malham, and also
indicated the track was a Bridleway. Ooops! ;-)
November 1998
© Jeremy R Sagar