Rideout Reports Oct - Dec

Ockham Bites

pre-Xmas Meet

Sunday 15th December

Following an open invitation from the Ockham bites cafe to join them in their Christmas jumper day, the call was put out to the Howlers. It could possibly be the last outing of the year and being so close to Christmas attendees could be thin on the ground.

I was surprised to see so many bikes, elves, Santas and Christmas jumpers present and those numbers were added to by 6 hardy Howlers, Jens, Ian, Tom, Charles (eventually), and Karen and myself.

Jens’ Christmas sprout shirt and his Kove feature on quite a few of the Ockham Bites BIKE NIGHT ️ FB page pictures.

We stayed long enough to enjoy a hot drink and a few of Charles’ sausage rolls before heading off home before dark. As always it’s lovely to catch up with the gang and if this turns out to be the last outing of the year, have a great Christmas, a happy new year and I look forward to doing it all again next year.

Simon Butler

HOWL Xmas Meal

at The Magpie

Sunday 8th December

What a lively way to close the year as 37 Howlers and their partners met up for our Xmas Meal at The Magpie.

There were all manner of Xmas Jumpers, Hats, T Shirts and Costumes

Karen and Simon looked good in their Xmas finery

Brian and Nicole sported their Xmas jumpers

Cindy excelled as an Elf

Gary supported the Brand

Petar even turned up by bike!!

Ian wants to know where his serving will arrive!

With much merriment and laughter, we worked our way through a generous lunch that was both traditional and imaginative.

Fi dares Dan to polish off the spuds

...No problem!

Thanks go to Charles for raising lots of confusion with his alternative/alternating version of ‘pass the parcel’ then lots of head-scratching with a fiendish quiz

Secretary Dan Walton kindly made a presentation to Jude for her 44+ years of stewardship of the branch.

£250 was raised through the raffle for our chosen charity Mental Health Motorbike.

A great day reflected equally the spirit of the branch and the spirit of Xmas.

Reading Xmas Toy Run

Sunday 1st December

What a brilliant (but damp) time we had at the Reading Toy Run. After a hearty breakfast at Blackbushe Airport, 7 members of HOWL joined the 1,304 bikes and 350 pillion riders on the 2024 Xmas Toy Run in aid of Barnardo’s and other local charities.

There were scores of Biker Santas, plus Reindeers, Turkeys, Giant Teddies, Elves and Xmas Trees who to their great credit were undeterred by the drizzle...and plenty of Tinsel !!

Cindy wants one like this for Xmas!

Some people got quite carried away

And the local people of Reading and Wokingham did the cavalcade proud by their huge enthusiastic lining of the route for mile after mile, literally in their thousands, to wave the bikes on their way

We have also discovered where all the young bikers are - and yes a lot of them ride Hondas!

Bikes were brilliantly decorated

All manner of costumes, hats and helmet covers

It was exceptionally well organised and marshalled. And to top it off, tea and biscuits were provided at the end of the run.

A great experience. A big thank you to the organisers and volunteers who ran the event.

Jude's comment: ''We must do it again next year - and I may even dress up''.

So many toys were donated...

...by the 1,304 bikes plus 350 pillion passengers👍

If you’re within striking distance give it a try next year.

Motorcycle Live

at the NEC

16-24th November

This year we had surprise snow – but that didn’t deter Chris Bradshaw from riding his CBR650F the 225miles

OK - so this wasn't really Chris

We don’t have a group ride to the Motorcycle Live Bike Show at The NEC in Birmingham.

Although HOWL members fit a visit in according to their work schedules or free weekend days there is always the opportunity to bump into each other using the club stand as a base.

Some of us wanted to imitate Wallace and Gromit - trying out sidecar outfits – ‘more cheese Gromit – it is Wensleydale.

But we didn't dare try to match the stunt activities – which reached new heights - literally

HOWL at Southsea

Remembrance Day Service

Sunday 10th November

On Sunday 10th November 2024

eleven from HOWL made up some of the 1000 bikers who gathered for the Remembrance Sunday event at the Royal Navy Memorial in Southsea

The service was flawlessly delivered and impeccably observed.

Afterwards HOWLers, over a hot drink and food, shared personal experiences of combat whilst others shared their parents/grandparent’s history of armed service.

Simon, then lead us on to the Falklands Memorial where he laid a wreath to honour those that had fallen in that campaign. That included some of his fellow crew who were killed on the HMS Glamorgan when it was hit by an Exocet missile.

The day was a mixture of emotions - solemn, poignant - full of conversation - all of us were glad we attended.

Simon steers HOWL

to the Iron Bull

Sunday 27th October

Just one look at the weather forecast and it was obvious a ride out was on the cards. I’d had a whole week of night shifts at work, missed several club nights, birthdays etc and hadn’t seen The Howlers for what felt like ages.

It was short notice but I put out the call. We’d been to Ryka’s fairly regularly this year so decided to head to the Iron Bull roadhouse on the A30 just East of Basingstoke instead.

A 10 o’clock meet at that Hogsback cafe layby saw Bill on his HD 1690cc Road King and Jens on his Kove MT 450 already there, I knew Jens would be there cos he’d come flying past us on the A3 a few miles back.

The route was a fairly straightforward cruise down the A31 towards Alton, I didn’t want to ride into Alton village itself so set the Sat nav to join the A339 just to the south then head cross country up towards Basingstoke, A30, then back towards the Iron Bull.

The A339 turned out to be a revelation with fast sweeping bends, nothing too taxing, the trees in their autumn colours made it one to revisit maybe in the summer.

The roadhouse was fairly busy but when we got inside we were pleasantly surprised to see David had saved us a table so that made 5 of us in total. Time passed pretty quickly before we had to leave, there was a baby gender reveal party booked so we all headed off. I think Jens went back to the A339 for another go!! A lovely morning with good company, great roads and even better weather. Simon B.

'Afterwards Jens showed his appreciation - 'Cracking road Simon! A339 definitely one for the save pile!''

HOWL feature on

The Motorbike Show

Weds 16th October

It's a Wrap !!

When featuring the 50th Anniversary

of the 400/4 on The Motorbike Show Henry Cole put the call out to the HOC

What a lovely day we had on Wednesday in the depths of Oxfordshire helping Henry Cole with filming an episode of The Motorbike Show celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Honda CB400/4. (Out late November)

A great time was had by all and Henry was the perfect host.

Good to see Ian Troughton, Charles, Phil Baker & his daughter and friends and facilitator David Thomas.

Pub run to The Star

Sunday 6th October

Roast beef was the order of the day...

We had previously enjoyed a Sunday lunch at The Star after Rob had recommended it, so a revisit was always on the cards.

Thanks go to Dan for organising a short run and even arranging for the weather to stay dry in the morning and early afternoon until everyone was back home!

And as we know, runouts that involve food always get a good attendance.

Eight full size Howlers and one little one to be precise!

Quite naturally, Jens was keen to show off his new bike

- a CF Moto 450MT