Hudson Heads to the Cotswalds

[Hudson]

Phone rings from UK.

It's my pal Gerry, owner of Metisse Motorcycles in the UK. I answer those calls on the first or second ring - it always leads to good things.

If you don't know Metisse in the US, that's understandable. Probably the last of the British bike brands actually made, by hand, in England. I know of only 2 that are in the USA.

I emailed Gerry a while back letting him know I was headed to the UK. Any chance I could drop in and visit?

"Hey mate. I'd be happy to see you again. Here's an idea...Why don't you head up here for the weekend, and you and I can spend a day tootling around the Cotswalds."

Tootling in the Cotswalds. I can do that.

"By the way, my prototype café racer is now finished for production, and I know you'd like to take her for a spin."

Gerry is the master of the understatement.

So here I am in SeaTac airport. In 24 hours, I'm pretty sure I will be figuring out a way to explain to Missus Hudson why our boys' college fund may need a few extra years to mature.

 

[JamesW]

Safe trip.

 

[Mudslide Miller]

Damn, that bike is a beauty!!! Enjoy the trip. I'm envious. I spent three years in Eng. in the military and never rode over there. Hope the weather smiles on you!

 

[Donal]

Tootling in the Cotswalds. I can do that.

Is that any where near the Cotswolds?

If you have time you might enjoy dropping in to the FJ/FJR Centre.....

Directions to workshop (Ivy cottage, Cromhall, Wotton-under-edge, Gloucester, Gloucestershire, GL12 8AR)

From South; M5 Junction 14, slip road turn Right

From North; M5 Junction 14, slip road turn Left

Travel to end of road until roundabout (do not turn off before )

At roundabout take second exit sign posted 'Cromhall' (NOT left towards Wotton-U-Edge)

Travel 2 miles (exactly) then on left hand side is a 'white' cottage called Ivy Cottage.

I'm sure Doc & Ernie would be happy to show you around............

 

[thompsonian]

Wow.....that is gorgeous! Have a safe and fun trip!!

 

[Panman]

I'll take one!

 

[Hudson]

Cramped flight all the way over - I can never sleep on planes without a pill, so when I landed Friday I'd been up almost 24 hours and was wrecked. Headed to the Cotswolds in Gerry's car and landed safely at his place. His gal Norma - she's the best. For years she ran a Michelin-starred restaurant and she still enjoys cooking. So needless to say, dinner was fantastic - a perfectly prepared Wellington with a nice tender center, and happily for my low-carb diet, wrapped in Prosciutto instead of puff pastry.

Dined like a king, and tried to skip dessert (a terrific cheese plate and a lemon cream cheesecake) but couldn't. I intended to crash right away, but the think about seeing good friends is that hours can pass like minutes as you chat and share tales. Around midnite, now thoroughly knackered, I laid my head down and was out instantly.

 

[Hudson]

Gerry roused me early per my request, and by 8am we were headed out for breakfast in the local village.

He ordered up a proper English breakfast and coffee and soon we were deep in sausage, eggs, beans, and toast and veggies.

When we had our fill, we headed to Metisse's shop to get the bikes ready for the ride.

 

[Hudson]

It could have been the restful sleep or the hearty breakfast, or more likely the sight that greeted me next, but when we opened the doors and stepped inside, Hudson was instantly very happy.

Gorgeous bikes as far as I could see.

I instantly fell in love with the Mark IV scrambler. Just a stunning bike.

The craftsmanship was on another level - amazing attention to detail. The swingarm and those welds...

And there was the cafe prototype. a stunner.

The term "bespoke" has been watered down so much, but standing here among the lathes, jigs, and other tooling, it was clear that Metisse is as honest a hand forged bike as there ever was.

 

[Hudson]

Gerry had earlier picked out two Mark III models for us to start on, and we added petrol and readied them for the ride.

I have an old Matchless, so riding a vintage setup with gear shifter on the right and rear brake on the left wasn't foreign, but add to the mix of riding on opposite sides of the road, and I felt like it was opposite world.

There comes that time when you have to kick a vintage Triumph 650 and you hope you have the technique to get it to fire on the second or third kick at least. Gerry kicked the 650 over on the first kick, no problem.

And on my turn, he points to the 750 and smiles. A bit more work....but so smooth and polished it fired up on the third kick. I had my bona fides intact to start. May it helped that Colin Edwards had signed my numberplate....

I took one last look at Gerry's gorgeous 650 before we headed out on the road.

 

[Hudson]

We headed back into town and passed the lovely church where they filmed scenes in Downton Abbey.

The next stretch took a while - we headed towards a higher plateau known as White Horse, next to a castle grounds dating from 43AD. History is so much older in the UK.

The ride up was fantastic - a mix of highway, two and one lane roads. We passed horses, bicyclist and over bridges and under trees whose branches covered the roadway. Gerry kept the pace perfectly, not too fast but enough to blast through the curves with zeal. In no time at all, we were at the base of White Horse.

The weather was pleasant so we decided to hike to the top. The view was worth it - you could see 5 counties.

It was very windy at the top of the peak, and the ride had left us feeling parched, so Gerry pointed to a village quite a distance away, and we took off, taking backgroads and narrow passages until we got to the town square.

The bikes were parked, and we headed to a coffee house for some cake and tea, plus ice water.

 

[YummYam]

Couldn't see the pictures........but your words made my heart ache.

 

[Geezer]

It looks like you need to sign in to a Microsoft account to see the pictures.

 

[FJRBluesman]

Dave - Can't see pix. When you comin' to SoCal?

 

[Hudson]

Hold tight, will fix the pix issue

 

[Hudson]

Fixed

 

[YummYam]

Absof******lutely fantastic!

 

[Gary B]

Excellent, this is my home ground.

How are you finding the condition of the road surface compared to back home?

 

[Mudslide Miller]

Beautiful pics and beautiful bikes! Thanks for the ride-along!!