BMW RnineT – the boxer at Barton and a coffee trip to Tillys

With a welcome change in the weather I was out and about a couple of times in the last week.

My previous ride was the week before when I made the short journey from home to MW Motorcycles to have the annual MOT done on my BMW F900 XR (you can see the blog post here

In fact, given that it’s only a couple of miles from home to MW I suppose it hardly counts as ride really.

Not quite the smell of summer but…

Perhaps not quite the smell of summer, but for me aviation fuel and sunshine just seem to go together.

The smell is sort of sharp and penetrating and is almost instantly recognisable.

It’s a smell that takes me back to late 1960’s and early 1970’s a time when as a young boy I had a fascination for aeroplanes. We lived close enough to cycle to Manchester airport for me to cycle there with my brother and friends. Back then the airport was much smaller and was known as Ringway.  Sitting at the end of the runway underneath the bushes was routine for us as was watching and noting aeroplane numbers from the ‘piers’ that you can see in the black and white pictures.

This proximity to the aircraft meant the smell of aviation fuel was pervasive and that’s stayed with me ever since

Why Ringway?

It’s a pretty straightforward reason really. Although now known as one of the world’s major airports with more than 30 million passengers using it in 2024.  Manchester Airport was originally named Ringway Airport because it was located in the parish of Ringway, a little to the north of Wilmslow.

The more things change the more they stay the same

Decades have passed since those days of cycling to Ringway. The ‘planes are bigger and more powerful and so are my bikes, but from time to time I’m still drawn to the sight and sounds of an airport and of course that wonderful smell of jet fuel and kerosene. These days I also get to add my interest in a bit of photography as well.

Planes and bikes

With the sun out I headed off to Barton Aerodrome or as it’s more formally know (since 2023) as Manchester Barton Aerodrome. The aerodrome sits about five miles away from city centre Manchester, there’s a few posts from visit there over on the rainycity.blog. This link (Barton 1) and this link (Barton 2) will take you to a couple of posts from previous trips there.

Quieter than expected

The RnineT was my bike of choice for the trip. The bike never disappoints, but to be honest on this occasion I was a little disappointed at the lack of flight activity at Barton.  It really was very quiet with hardly any flight activity. Despite the sunny weather and blue sky it was still fairly chilly in the breeze.

Surprised to see

It was quite a surprise to see a couple of Oyster Catchers – )a pretty wading bird) on the airfield – my wife and I have seen plenty of  Oyster Catchers before in Anglesey, Ireland and in various parts of Scotland. I just hadn’t expected to see them here.

I stayed the about 45 minutes or so and then headed off in the direction of Manchester Airport and rode around that area as well as Hale and Styal before heading home.

Picture set one – boxer at Barton

There is a series of pictures from my trip to Barton, clicking any image will a picture gallery that can be clicked or scrolled through.

 

Picture set two – coffee at Tilly’s

A couple of days later, I fired up the RnineT for another ride—this time a round trip of around 100 miles, all in the name of coffee and cake. The destination? Tilly’s, a great little café bar tucked away in the village of Bunbury, Cheshire.

It’s a spot I’ve visited before, and it’s always good. Bunbury sits just south of Tarporley and north-west of Northwich – perfect for a decent ride out with some scenic roads along the way.

Tilly’s served up a solid brew and a seriously good Eccles cake, it was well worth the journey.

You can check out a previous post from Tilly’s at this link.

Click on any of the images below to open up the gallery—you can scroll through or tap to take a closer look.