Matlock and the Peaks

Matlock Bath has always been a popular destination for motorcyclists. There are ample cafes for lunch time and the roads in the Peak District are ideal for motorcycling.

Matlock

Once in the hills and minor roads we would take turns leading and make left and right turns to see where we would end up. On one occasion the road became a track and on rounding a bend Dirty Eddie who was leading on his Ariel Square Four ended up a hundred feet into a very muddy field. It took us all half an hour to stop laughing and drag his bike back out.

Martin Sentance recalls a run:

Start of quotation A very eventful day in Derbyshire, in the Manifold Valley, when Bill and Sue Langley fell off their 500 Suzuki on the gravelled road. No real harm done, except to their pride. On the same day, the exhaust pipe falling off Alan Horne's Triumph, which was then run over by the following rider. The pipe was beaten back into shape, using the only tools available, that being part of a dry stone wall!! Later the same day as we neared a pub, I had a puncture in the rear tyre of my Honda, and having removed the wheel and changed the tube, I looked up from my labours to realize that at one minute past seven everyone had spotted the pub which had just opened, and gone inside to get a pint, leaving me to refit the rear wheel!! End of quotation

- Martin Sentance

Photo from Ben Crossley

I think this was taken from Stan Naden's sidecar. Tony Bradley used to be put near the front on club runs to keep the wind off the following riders. After a pub lunch he was made back marker - for the same reason.

Tony Bradley John Ashworth Clive Hodgkin Brian Porter Tony Bradley