Ian Speight Advanced Rider Training

Training today with Jim on his Tiger 900. Jim has experience of advanced driving, and wanted a review of his riding to see how he measured up to his car skills. Fortunately he measured up very well, and after a few tweaks, Jim was soon delivering a well planned, safe and progressive ride. Cracking session 👍.

More Masters Mentoring today with John on his Guzzi Mandello.
It was John's second session and today we worked on consistency in the delivery of his ride, and also covered some work on the A1 and overtakes on rural roads. Cracking session 👍

July was a scorcher — and another brilliant month on two wheels. Training, BikeSafe, FireBike, Examining, social rides and a little demo on a 1300RT — Read more: https://wix.to/6TFJvtI

July 2026 - Another sunny, hot, dry, fantastic motorcycling filled month....training, Examining, BikeSafe, FireBike and more.... July was another very hot month, as the UK enjoyed more of the sunny, hot weather. Here's what I got up to in a sweaty July.....read on.... Training.Steve kicked off the month on his Harley Davidson. Steve is an experienced rider looking for a few pointers to improve his skillset. Cracking session,....

Training today with Richard on his Tracer 9. Richard came back to biking about 6 years ago after a long break, but since then has been cramming in the miles, so decided it was time for a little refresher. Cracking session, and despite riding on some wet roads, we never actually got rained on. Result 👍.

IAM Roadsmart Masters Mentoring today with candidate John on his Guzzi Mandello. John is an IAM National Observer, hoping to take his Masters test in the not to distant future. Today was the first of 3 planned sessions. We'll be out again next week.

Training today with Malc on his BMW S1000XR. This was Malc's second session, which saw him travel 100 miles from his home in Derby for his training. Malc has previously completed a BikeSafe event, and is now working towards taking an advanced test. We met at Strawberry Fields and headed east and then over the Humber Bridge and into Lincs. 130 miles covered, and we even missed the rain. Cracking day 👍

Day 3 - 213 miles.
Total 741.

Final day today as we left Dumfries under a cloudy and damp sky line and headed home, but we still made the most of it.

From Dumfries, we headed to Lockerby, and onto Langholme. The weather picking up and the roads drying out. We then took the A7 to Brampton and onto The Nook for a tea stop.

It was then Alston, Middleton in Teesdale, Brough, and down to Tan Hill Inn, where we had intended to stop, but it looked really busy so we continued on over Buttertubs Pass to Hawes. Unfortunately, Hawes was also really busy, so we decided to keep going, and instead, stopped at The Taste of Wensleydale in Bainbridge, where we had tea and scones, with jam and cream. Very civilised.

On leaving Bainbridge, the sun came out and temperatures quickly rose from late teens to mid 20's and beyond!

We headed on through Leyburn, Masham, Ripon and then dropped onto the A1. Which is where we parted company at its junction with the A64, me heading towards York, Daren continuing south for another 90 miles towards his home.

The Scottish Borders delivered in abundance with fab roads and fab scenery, very little traffic and great weather. It really has been a fab few days, covering nearly 750 miles (over 900 for Daren). Cracking.

Day 2 - 315 miles
Total so far 528.

What a fab day! Today I've ridden roads I've ridden many times before, but never all on the same day!

After a hearty 'full Scottish', we left Coldstream at 830am, and headed across to Selkirk, passing the Abbey ruins in Kelso before reaching Selkirk and on to the excellent A708 to Moffat, where we had a brief tea stop.

We then headed back north on the fantastic A701 passing the stunning views offered at the 'The Devils Beeftub' and onto Biggar, where we turned south again down the A702, eventually reaching the M74. One junction later, we left the M74 and headed down the stunning Dalveen Pass, and then turned back towards the M74 and along the Mennock Pass, stopping at The Wanlockhead Inn for our 2nd T&P stop. My first visit to this pub, and it's very quirky, with definite motorcycle theme.

From there we continued to Abington and then turned onto the B740 and headed back towards the A76.
We had out next tea stop at the Buck tea room in Straiton and then headed south through the gorgeous Galloway Forest.

After reaching Newton Stewart, we dropped onto the A75 to Glenluce and then took the coast road through Port William and onto the Isle of Whithorn before heading back towards Newton Stewart, through New Galloway, finally arriving at our hotel in Dumfries, 9.5 hours/315 miles after leaving Coldstream.

Definitely one of my best days riding in Scotland.

Out yesterday? Maybe you were snapped by Simon Binns Photos ?

Day 1 - 213 miles.
Cracking day on the bikes, despite a slight hiccup with Darens bike (well, his top box) as we were about to set off, but a quick visit to Barrie Robson Motorcycles BMW Motorcycle Dealer York & North Yorkshire, soon had it sorted, and we were on our way.
York, Ripon, Leyburn, Richmond, Barnard Castle, Stanhope, Hexham, Slaley, Kielder Water, Jedburgh, Kelso and onto our hotel for the night in Coldstream.
Weather has been fine and dry, with temperatures between 15 and 21c.
Hotels ok, centre of 'the town' and we decided to dine Coldstream style.