The Peak District

On Saturday Loz, Tackleberry and myself went for a blast around the Peaks and called in to see a couple of our mates in Buxton. Here's the way we went: From Lichfield we headed up the A515 to Ashbourne, from there to Leek along the A523 and from there to Buxton along the A53. After a brew and a natter we headed back home taking the A515 all the way to Lichfield.

Some of the scenary, particularly in the High Peaks is breathtaking. One of these days I might do a definative guide to riding around the peaks as I've had more years than I care to remember exploring the place.


Keep off the beaten track and you'll be rewarded with some of the country's finest scenary


Click to enlarge

For those that are interested, the A515 from Lichfield to Ashbourne is a nice road but watch out for the odd speed camera. The A523 from Ashbourne to Leek probably has more speed cameras along it than the rest of the Peaks roads put together but it's all worth it once you hit the A53 which takes you up over the mountain (although this time of year it's likely to be covered in low cloud). The A515 from Buxton to Ashbourne has always been a favourite of mine, it has a bit of everything for everyone including a two mile long perfectly straight stretch with great visibility in case you get the urge (Gaz's ears have just picked up) to see just how fast your bike will go. If you look closely on the map you'll see the A537 heading west towards Macclesfield out of Buxton, that's the famous Cat & Fiddle run if you fancy doing your finest Rossy impersonation!

On another subject, I've made an amendment to Loz's Bulldog bash photo of the BSXR, it was the right name but wrong bike. That's what happens when Loz sends his writings to Ant in a word document and his photos elsewhere that then get emailed over to me who then has to wade through and try and make sense of it all.

Posted by Mike

Christmas Photo Competition

Today I've received £30 which I wasn't expecting, so I've decided that instead of spending the cash I'm going to offer it as prize money for a Christmas Photo Competition. So here's the rules:

1) The photo must be both motorbike or bike gear and Christmas related.
2) The photo must be taken by the entrant.
3) The photo must be emailed over to janglejangle@hotmail.co.uk no later than 18th December
4) You let us post your pic on our site
5) You can't be a pro photographer


The judging will be based on two aspects. Firstly for artistic creativity and imagination of the subject and secondly for creative use of the camera. Photo editing software may be used if you want. The winner will be announced on Friday 12th January 2007. Prize money will be paid out in cash unless the winner lives miles away, in which case I'll send you a cheque. I have no idea how I'm going to pay you if you live outside the UK, I'll work on that one. Judging will be done by an unbiased, self opinionated and great critic pal of ours, Duncan. I'm allowed to have a go and if I win I get to keep my £30 which is only fair :)

I thought I'd announce the competition early to give you all some time to think about what you're gonna do.

Posted by Mike

What's With The JangleJangle

We've decided that now's the time to reveal just where the name JangleJangle came from just in case anyone may have wondered. It all started during a conversation about Honda's Goldwing when somebody piped up "that's not a motorcycle, that's Jimmy Saville's chair, that is!" It was a fair comment as both are heavily laden with gadgets and compartments, and as can be clearly seen in the photo below, there is a striking resemblence in looks.



Now as we all know, good old Jimmy was laden with gold bracelets adorning his wrists, and so it was theorised that the reason Goldwing riders prefer to give you a fully fledged wave of the hand instead of a subtle nod of the head whilst passing you in the opposite direction is for the following reason.... They aren't in fact waving at all, no, what they are actually doing is jangling their jewelry. So nowadays when ever we see a Goldwing rider, instead of nodding, we join in the spirit of things and jangle our wrists in return. This they are most appreciative of!

To make things easier for you to understand when reading some of our blog entries, I've compiled a short and easy to read dictionary in order for you to fully understand what on earth we're rattling on about:-

Jangle - Ride (i.e. Going for a jangle)
Jangling - Riding
JangleJangle - The Goldwing rider jewelry shake of the wrist upon meeting fellow bikers
King Jimmy - The rider himself
King Jimmy's Grandad - Any Goldwing rider with a sidecar, and/or trailer

Super Jump Game

With the weather being a bit on the wet side just recently I've had to get my biking kicks on line by playing a strangely addictive game called Super Jump

The general idea is to jump as far as you can and impress the judges enough for them to share their assets with you. If you make a real hash of things you'll be greeted by this young lady's delights...


Aint she lovely?

But as you improve, so does the scenery.



I've managed a fairly respectable leap of 272.8m and I think I've impressed the nice lass.



Apparently you need to make a mammouth 300m jump to completely woo the ladies. So enough of typing, I'm away from here, things to do and all that, you know how it is.

Posted by Mike

This Months Debate - Room 101

For those people who don't know, Room 101 is a British TV program hosted by Paul Merton where by every week he has a celebrity guest on his show who gets the chance to banish three items to Room 101 (i.e the dustbin). With so many things to hate I think it's about time we vented our grievencies. So, everybody and anybody that reads our blog, have your say, lets hear what rattles your cage. With a bang of the gong, let the debate commence!

Tackleberry's Thrown His Dummy Out....

... insulted my two wheeled Winnebago and threatened to take pot shots at me which isn't very sporting. I thought I'd copy and paste his email into here coz it's quite amusing.

You really do make things boring for me Mike when this is the likes of what you ride.



I can't miss when I'm lowering the cross hairs onto you, IF YOU KEEP TAKING THE (nasty swear word) MICK OUT OF THE CHICKEN STRIPS ON MY BIKE THAT IS!

He's also sent over a couple of pics of bikes he's owned in the past.


Kawasaki ZX6R


CR500

Posted by Mike

Welsh Camping and the Bulldog

Well it’s been a while, mostly because I have no real interest in putas and also have no interweb (Loz, for the hundredth time, it's called the internet!!) access, so mike has to post this for me.

While Mike has been nursing a bad knee I’ve mostly been jangling. I’ve done 2 weekends in Wales, 1 of which has already had a small airing, about small American people and red wine.


Ant, international man of mystery shrouded in err mystery (fog)

The site pictured is just outside Tywyn in Wales just above Aberdovey heading north on the coast road and was very good albeit a bit expensive, but hey we all like a good shower and flat well maintained piece of grass to camp on. Sorry, can’t remember the name of it but its got a long brick wall running along it. Its about a mile outside Tywyn on the left just after the honey ice cream factory (on the right).



I only stopped 1 night in Tywyn and moved south down the coast, the road around the Aberdovey estuary is superb as was the scenery and the weather. Deciding at the last minute to pop in to see Jimbo who has a caravan at Clarach bay.


Jimbo

After a beer with Jim, a short trip south and slightly inland took me to a camp site owned by parents of a friend where I had planned to meet some friends. I seem to have lost these photos.

Jangle number 2 took Gareth, Cara and myself a little further north this time, riding up towards Betsy Coed and then coast bound towards Harlech, riding south down the coast towards Barmouth. Stopping in a basic but well chilled site, just about 4 miles out of town, guess what, no name!



After 1 night at Barmouth I headed south towards Tywyn again to meet the same friends as before. This site is not landscaped but has very clean facilities but most of all it sits right on small cliffs looking out to sea, literally 100 yards to the sea and a fantastic view of the sunset.




Neil And Sian (I had to edit this in photo shop coz you couldn't see their faces in the original, just in case you're wondering why it looks a bit funny)

Then a few weeks later Gareth, Cara and myself headed off to the 20th Bulldog Bash for a bit of music, drag racing and the odd beer, however after setting up camp and starting on the beer and food far too early we never made it to the main arena for the music, but we did see a bit of a stunt show at the side of the drag strip.



If you have ever been to any of the bashes you’ll know how much is going on, if you haven’t there’s too much to list. Just put it on your list of must do’s. Saturday was a hangover day and Gaz never appeared till 5pm!I spent the day drinking tea and wandering around the site, just mooching for interesting stuff. If you like to build or modify there will be somebody there that’s done it. Many strange and clever ideas are to be found.I’m in the throws of making a Trike for a friend and its useful to look, talk and photograph. The BSXR I found lurking in the field really caught my eye. Most cool!


BSXR


A nice Quack

Camped directly behind me were a group from the Heathrow area who were most entertaining especially as Gaz was nursing excessive beer consumption. They being bob, Craig and Emily and a woman I cant remember the name of. (very sorry).


Next time bring your own tea! Thanks for the water carrier. Hope you are all well.

Posted by Loz

For Sale

Our friend Pete has purchased a new bike and is now selling his old one. It's a Yamaha Virago 535, first registered 1994, has 9 months tax and MOT still left on it, comes with loads of extras, highway hawk and Givi. It's in very good condition and he's looking for £1799 or nearest offer.



You can click the picture for a larger version. Pete can be contacted at the following email address: peterlynmiller@yahoo.co.uk

Destination Stratford...

... via all manner of places. Saturday morning saw a gathered gaggle of bikes outside Gaz's house ready for a jaunt around the Midlands and on to Stratford-upon-Avon. So after about a half hour of waiting for Gaz to do the night befores washing up and a decision to buy himself a dishwasher we were off travelling through and out the other side of Wolverhampton for a pitstop at the Crooked House for photos.


A wonkey building with Gaz, Dean, Matt and Cara (Gaz's Girlfriend)

From there it was a trundle down to Severn Valley Railway for a quick look over a few steam engines.





Then it was over to Stourport for a nice cup of tea in some tea rooms.


Ah yes, the peace, beauty and tranquility of the place...


... spoilt by some lout frightening the old biddies by leaping over the canal lock.

If I'm honest he was ever so slightly encourage to do it by a group of people (that'll be the rest of us then) who really just wanted him to fall in as it would've made a good photo for the blog.


A superb "beer sponge" - Gaz's words, not mine. A hefty bacon, mushroom and cheese baguette.

Once refuelled we headed over in the direction of Droitwich to pay our respects to the late, great John Bonham, legendary drummer of Led Zeppelin,


Rushock Parish Church near Cutnall Green

and onto his once local pub for a nose around and some liquid refreshment.


The New Inn, Cutnall Green. The place also features in The Song Remains The Same (great movie the band released)

Then all we had to do was jump on some A road and head to Stratford, easy? Not for us. A ride out wouldn't be a ride out without getting totally lost and completely off course. But an hour or so later things were back on track and we eventually got to where we were supposed to be going.


This'll be Stratford then - rivetting!




Things are looking up, the Dirty Duck is opposite and down a bit from the Royal Shakespear theatre and inside the walls are littered with signed autographs of famous people who have frequented the place.


Dean (right) shortly after learning that in his absence Cara had taken a look at his bike tyres and promptly declared they had "the worst chicken strips she had ever seen!"

Anyway, bored of the insults and all round micky taking, when you're sat in a Egon Ronay restaurant there's only one thing to do, and that's check out the grub.


It's goats cheese and what not stuffed tortillas and a cheese board, easily meeting the Jangle Benchmark Quality Standard.

That just about wraps up our days events. From Stratford it was a none stop blast back home... well, via our local pub for the obligatory end of a ride out pint

Posted by Mike

I Could Do With Some Help...

from somebody who knows a thing or two more than me about html. I'm trying to work out how to stick a photo in the header section of our blog. You know where I mean? That place just above that says JANGLEJANGLE in big letters. I'm pulling my hair out which isn't good as I don't have much of it left. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

Posted by Mike