After spending a pleasant night in Smeaton’s Lake Camping and Caravan Site we headed off for Sheffield to look at 125cc scooter at a Shiregreen Motorcycles Sheffield.
The only Robin Hood here runs a petrol station
We stopped in to see if Robin Hood was still around in Sherwood Forrest. Sherwood Forrest has been continuously forested since the end of the Ice Age,the forrestis now a little smaller than the middle ages and is today reduced to a 423 hectares.
Sherwood Forrest
We were caught up in a traffic queue on the M1 so our arrival into Sheffield was 5pm and arrived at Shiregreen Motorcycles gate just as the motor mechanic was driving out and the receptionist closing the office. We were shown the scooter and after both sitting on it to make sure there was enough room that we were both comfortable, the decision was made to purchase it, along with two new full faced helmets. They did not get to close up until 7pm when we drove out after the bike was well strapped to the bike rack we were then on the road back to Newark to stay in the Lorry Site overnight.
Steven kept a close watch out the review mirror for the movement of the bike. After only a couple of miles it was bouncing too much which indicated a problem with its weight on the bars. Finding somewhere to pull over proved difficult, but did find a layby on a busy road just before entering the motorway. The damage was serious with a broken bike rack support draw bar.It seems it could not take the weight of the scooter which was odd as the specs were for 150kg and the bike was only 90kg. This was not good!! The garage was now closed and no mobile phone number to contact the manager, we could not drive and risk a complete failure, the bike was not yet insured (required in the UK to ride on the road) so could not offload it and ride it back. Having watched a couple of episodes of the bush mechanic on TV Steven jury rigged the broken draw bar with a block of wood we just happened to have and tie down straps. We waited till 8.30pm for the traffic to lessen and crept slowly back to the dealership.
Unexpected Overnight stop at Sheffield
We parked in the entrance which was level and prepared to spend the night there. One advandage of having your home with you!!
