Ticked another of my “Bucket Jobs” off my list last Sunday morning. I’ve seen the video’s of this beast of a “road”, which of course it isn’t ,[a road I mean] more of a 6ft path with a few passing places and a lot of hairpin bends on suicide slopes. I came to it via the Wrynose on a fabulous sunny and getting warmer by the minute day. The Wrynose presented no problems and I got some glorious photographs [just wish I knew how to paste them here]. However the Hardknott was a ‘different kettle of fish’. My ST3 has not got the steering lock for these tight bends and my little legs are not long enough for me feel that bit more secure if things go wrong. Well I made the summit with no bother, but there were a lot of cars coming up and one stopped right on the tightest bend of them all. I thought that I was going to go over with the bike on me, but I paddled on the tip of my boots and managed to get the bike round the bend and upright. I breathed a sigh of relief when I finally got down to the bottom.
Whew.
Hope the next ‘bucket trip’ is easier.
Dave Hughes
Liverpool
Lovely bit of road in good weather, fantastic scenery and did you stop for a look at the Roman fort?
Here’s one I took earlier…
Kevin
I didn’t stop at the Fort or the Woolpack Kevin. I was just made up to get down in one piece.
Tell me though; How do I post a picture on the Forum? Perhaps you can talk a 73 year old computer bumpkin through it.
Cheers
Dave Hughes
Dave, when you do a new post, if you look at the bottom of the panel your typing in there are 2 tabs,Options and Upload attachment.
If you click in the tab then click on the button marked Choose File this will take you to your computer files, then just pick the picture you want to upload, now I said just pic the picture, but, it’s not that easy…
There is a size restriction on the files to save clogging the server up, so they need to be a max 1000 pixels wide or high (pixels are the dots that the picture is made up of) so you may need to make the picture smaller before you try to upload them, you can use something like Windows Live Photo Gallery or Picasa to do this?
Regards.
Kevin.
That reminds me - I rode my 860 GT/ES Ducati (with a Squire sidecar) up the Hardknott Pass many years ago, it was an incredibly misty / foggy day and I couldn’t see the views either side - not that I had much time to look, I was too busy concentrating on getting the bike to the top. Finally reaching the summit, I found that my arms and neck ached - not surprising after all that effort I guess! A few years ago, I drove a car along the same route, and was staggered by the views either side - and I doubt whether I would’ve taken the outfit up there if I’d known! Happy days! 
That’s worked OK, looks like it was a nice day for it.
Kevin.
Better weather than when I rode my Ducati there! 
Desmo/Kevin.
It was a fabulous, early Summers morning. I cannot remember the Lake District looking lovelier. I have trucked all over Europe, Scandinavia as well, but when we get the sunshine here in the UK, we have scenery to compete with the best.
Just hope we get some more of the same this year.
Dave Hughes
Liverpool
I did this in 2005 when it was the very first Honda Varadero UK gathering. It never stopped chucking it down on the day and the rain was running down the paths faster than we were. There was 23 of the big old v twins to sling around some of those tight turns and the first one i came across i nearly got totalled by some muppet in a BMW Compact coming the other way. Still, the stay ast Eskdale Outwardbound Centre was great. A good crack and a good ride out then it was back down to the channels islands for the three of us that made the journey that April. I remember we had all sorts of weather from just south of Manchester to 24 degrees on Poole quay on our way back…a trip to remember
wow, great memories! I rode my 860 GT/ES Ducati with a Squire sidecar over the Hardknott Pass in thick mist many years ago, and afterwards found that I had muscles where I hadn’t expected to have them! It wasn’t until 15 years after that I went - by car - along the same road, marvelled at the stunning scenery, and thought myself fortunate to have kept the outfit on the road!
We did the Wynose & Hardnott from the Northern Rally 2 weeks ago, the weather was perfect.
Kevin.
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thats a great looking bike kev …
Thanks, it’s my first and favourite Ducati
i dont remeber you going to work in darlaston on a bike ?
Yes, I used to and still do ride to work… I think, but Darlaston’s a long time ago!
I managed to do this for the first time on a bike a couple of weekends ago. I was riding my Diavel and had a pillion at the time. A few of the very tight bends with fairly extreme slopes were “interesting” but otherwise no issues. Two more of my bikes (ridden by a couple of Dutch friends) did it at the same time (900 Supersport & 800 Monster). I think they found it a little easier.
Great views