Barton Bike Night

If one likes motorbikes, one really must take a look at Barton Bike Night. For the last 14 years it has been held on the second Wednesday in July in the town centre of Barton upon Humber, just south of the Humber Bridge. And from the picture below, you guess that I must like motorbikes ;-) Yep, this is me on my Honda CX500 Custom. I loved that bike, it was a 'Y' reg, bought it new, and had to sell it a few years later when I moved house and needed the money :-( Not to worry, I still have all the gear, maybe if I come into money I will get another.

So, the streets were closed, I parked at Tesco well out of the way, and walked to where all the action was. Look at this mouth watering beauty, I just drool over Goldwings.

Hundreds if not thousands of bikes come from far and wide, from the conventional factory built, to the quirky custom home made efforts like this one.

The racey bikes,

and the comfortable arm chairs.

Bikes everywhere, you have to get there early, the streets close at 5pm but they start arriving long before that. Then you have to fight your way through the throngs to get photographs.

The Old Mill pub, as with all the pubs are jam packed full, it brings a lot of business into the town. This is my fave fish and chip shop, but not tonight, I wasn't prepared to wait in the queue.

Little carpets under the footplates, all highly polished, it seems a shame to put mucky boots on here. I bet they ride in their slippers, ha ha.

An unusual custom paint job.

And another.

Another Goldwing with matching side car, very smart.

God moves in mysterious ways.

This made me smile, the Catholic Church opened up it's car park, and set up a stall selling refreshments. No harm in bumping up the coffers a bit, and maybe converting a few.

Yet another Honda, I must have a fixation over them.

And a view of the rear. Is that skull a warning, I wonder.

Here is my friend Brian, setting off to go home on his 1936 Norton. I must say the vintage bikes were wonderful, all the love and devotion that has gone into preserving them is admirable. We must look after our classic museum pieces for future generations to enjoy. No, not Brian, the bike, ha ha.

It was gone 9pm when I made my way back to my car, worth a look in Tesco, just in case there was anything reduced to a ridiculously low price. The Barton store is not very big, I have been in before and been disappointed that there are not many bargains, sometimes coming out with nothing. But never give up, that's what I say.

I happened to hit lucky this time. A packet of cooked chicken for the cats, from £2.50 to 25p. Bag of chopped cabbage and leeks from £1.25 to 19p, will make nice soup. Organic broccoli from £1.54 to 23p. Bag of fine trimmed beans, which I normally wouldn't buy because they are from Kenya and far too expensive, £1.50 to 22p. I'll make an exception this time because they will get chucked if left on the shelf. An announcement came over the tannoy, cooked chickens reduced by 90%. My goodness, I don't eat chicken but my cats do. There was a stampede over to the hot roaster in the corner. I got a whole cooked chicken for 35p, normal price £3.50. My cats are gonna love me. With a couple of non reduced items, my bill came to £3.07, quite a good haul I thought.

So there you have it, a free night out, cost nothing to look at the bikes, a little bit of fuel to drive 13 miles each way, and some cheap food, can't be bad. Meanqueen strikes again, ha ha.