East Midlands GIFThe East Midlands, including the Peak District, and is a highly recommended destination for touring.  There is very little traffic, and whilst some hills can be challenging, there always seems to be a more clutch cable-friendly route if necessary. The A57 Snake Pass, near Glossop, is a fabulous drive.  The stately home Chatsworth Park (‘Pemberley’ in the tv adaptation of ‘Pride and Predjudice’) is a stunning stop-off, and you can ride through the estate without visiting the house and gardens, if time or budget doesn’t allow.  Near Chatsworth Park is the gorgeous market town of Bakewell, bustling and lively with cobbled streets, a lovely river and plenty of opportunities to buy huge Bakewell tarts.  The Devil’s Arse (aka The Peak Cavern) is situated near Castletown and is quite interesting, if a little pricey, for what it is.  Slightly confused locals sent us to Matlock Bath, a small town famous as a meeting place for bikers, where we had a nice brunch and parked up amongst a lot of Harleys and BMWs.

DSC05332Crich Tramway Village was an excellent day out, not least because as the owners of a vintage vehicle, we were allowed in for free, in return for parking the scooter within the village and allowing people to take photos.  This is exactly the sort of recognition we scooterists deserve for all the hard graft and heartache involved, and we were very happy to accept those terms. The Tramway Village has lovingly restored hundreds of these historic vehicles, some of which you can ride upon.  It also has a museum exhibit, tracing the history of trams, and an authentic Victorian pub which, when due to be demolished, was dismantled brick-by-brick by an enthusiast and moved entirely via the boot of his car over a period of years, finally to be re-built at Crich.  Crich would be a great destination for a rideout.

1085073_580136288696754_4878196_oThe Bubble Car Museum near Boston, Lincolnshire is one of the best places we’ve visited on our tours.  A convenient two-hour stop, this little museum is a shrine to the weird and wonderful world of bubblecars, a fascinating subject for scooterists, as they seem to be something of distant cousins.  They even have a few strange scooters in there too – a couple of Douglas Vespas, a Durkopp Diana, I think, and some German space-age ones, straight out of ‘The Outer Limits’.  At £3 per entry this is an amazing value experience.

Scooter Clubs