The Royal Enfield Classic 500
I bought last October is sitting in the garage and I’m indoors fantasising
about a bygone age. I’ve just finished reading
Rogue Male, a Boys Own adventure with an illustrated cover designed to spark the imagination, like the ones they had on motorcycle magazines back in the
1950s. The book’s protagonist is pursued by a deadly foreign
agent across pre-war Europe before going to ground in Dorset, not too far from
where I live. In the mother of all lockdowns, he digs in and hides in a burrow
somewhere between Beaminster and Lyme Regis. And I intend, once this present
situation is over, to take the Enfield and go look for him.
I’ll start by going East down the
A3052 into Lyme Regis, where our hero risked leaving his hideaway to collect
mail forwarded from London. It’s a beautiful town with views along
the coast all the way in. It’s also a place to stop for coffee. Just pop into
the carpark at the bottom of the main street by the little clock tower and
slip through the barrier on the left - you’ll often see plenty of other bikes
there. But I won’t stop, not today, I’ll continue east out of town, climbing
through the long sweeping bends until I come to the A35. The Enfield likes
something a bit more sedate, so I’ll go through Charmouth coming out on the A
road further along. A quick right and first left will see me on the lanes
towards Whitechurch Canonicorum. I use this route quite a bit and I know the bike
will come into its own thumping along in 2nd or 3rd gear, the wonderful sound
of its Hitchcocks exhaust ricocheting off stone buildings along the narrow
lane. There’s always grass and loose
stuff up the middle, so I’ll stick to one side and take it easy through the blind
turns.
From Whitechurch I’m following
Sustrans cycle route 2, a road section that’s narrow and slow, ideal for the
Enfield, which will need few gear changes and just chug down to bang bang and
back up again. At Shave Cross I’ll go on to Broadoak. That’s where I’ll leave
the cycle route and drop down to Symonsbury on Broadoak Road. It’s hereabouts
that many people think the author described the hideaway's location but it’s down a hollow way track, so I’ll give it a miss and pop into
West Bay for a cuppa. There’s plenty of places to choose from and ample bike
parking, and a kiosk where tea is 50p a cup for bikers. From West Bay I often
head out towards Weymouth on the B3157, and if you haven’t ridden it, it’s a
must. The speed limit’s an ideal Royal Enfield Bullet 50 mph; the views before
Abbotsbury down to The Fleet and Portland are breath-taking.
Today though, I’d be heading
north, bypassing Bridport towards Beaminster on the A3066. The Enfield will
ride well on it, taking the bends at 50-55 mph in top, hitting its sweet spot
and actually feeling quite smooth for a big single. Turning right onto North
Street it all starts to get a bit tricky and the lanes become anonymous with
few signs. The idea is to head for the Fox Inn near Corscombe to the east of
the A356. In 1976, Peter O’Toole starred in a television film adaptation of Rogue
Male (I got the DVD off Amazon as soon as I’d finished reading the book) and
several scenes were filmed in the area, including one outside The Fox Inn. We’ve
been there before, the Enfield and me, so hopefully I’ll find it again. Then it’s
south and a short hop via the A356 to Rampisham, another location used in the
film and one we’ve also been to on our runs through the lanes. Like at
the Fox Inn, I’ll stop a while and try to work out if the place has changed
much since the film was made.
There are other villages mentioned
in the book within easy reach but by then, if I haven’t already stopped for a
stretch, I’ll probably be getting to the stage where I’ve had enough of
the Enfield’s single saddle for a bit and head back to Beaminster on the B3163.
Rogue Male can wait for another day. Beaminster’s not the easiest place
to find somewhere to park up in, so I’m going on to Axminster just over the
border in Devon via Broadwindsor, the B3164 and then the B3165, eventually cutting
across to the town on one or two of the maze of little lanes that run off the B
road. Motorcycles are not charged in the South Street car park, so it’s here
that I’ll stop for another cuppa at one of the many cafes - there’s even the
River Cottage Kitchen, for the more discerning palette.
I’m nearly home now but I’ll
make a short excursion to join up with one of Peter O’Toole’s other characters,
T.E Lawrence, who he played in the 1962 film, Lawrence of Arabia.
Coming out of Axminster I’ll head west
and after a short, unavoidable stint on the A35, I’ll go south from Kilmington through Whitford
to Colyton. Shortly, I’ll be back on the A3052 in Colyford not far from where I
started. There’s an old garage near the tramway crossing that’s now a cycle
shop and café with the most beautiful set of 1950s Avery Hardoll fuel pumps you’ll
see anywhere. It’s said that Lawrence often filled up his Brough here and although these pumps are from a later decade. If you
can get to them when there’s not too many cars about, they make for a great photo.
At the end of Rogue Male our hero skinned a dead cat and made a catapult out of its pelt. When the nasty foreign agent
tried to get to him, he let him have it, straight between the eyes. I’ll ride
back up the hill towards home, lockdown a thing of the past.
