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[back] Roy Ramsbottom - Second Trip Continued.. |
The trip took me through the Northern Territory to Darwin and south down to the Threeways where I would head east to Queensland. I had to go a little bit south to Tennant Creek and pick up a tyre and inner tube. I could not get a tubeless one as the rear tyre was almost worn out. I had covered around 7000miles at this point.
It was now Thursday 8th April and I finished up at Barry Caves Roadhouse and changed the tyre and tube. By now I had been on the road for 24 days.
This road was fairly easy riding and did not cause too many problems for me or the bike.
I eventually got through to the coast at Townsville and as I like this area I went north up to Cairns round Mossman and Cape Tribulations.
Then there was a warning about some bad weather brewing down south at Rockhampton and I felt it was a good idea to start to move south.
I was not long riding before the rains started and that was a real test of skill-the visibility was quite low and the rain was fairly heavy which made riding a lot slower.
I stopped that night at a motel in Bowen the other side of Townsville, hoping the next day it would stop raining. When I set off the next day it was however still raining.
The bike was now showing signs of problems and next I got diverted by floods on the main road near Shute Harbour so to get through I had to leave the main road, go on a minor road to Shute Harbour and then back to the main road futher down.
At this point my speedo cable broke so I had to ride on experience and try to keep my speed within the correct limits.
I got down as far as Mckay when the clutch cable snapped so to keep going I just had to carry on without the clutch-the hard bit was when you need to stop!
At this point I did not have a tacho a speedo or a clutch-it seemed the bike was falling to pieces.
I had a spare clutch cable but it was a bit short so I could not use it I stopped that night at Gladstone.
I got on the road the next day without a clutch and had to go into my memory and think how I should get over this problem. I thought at the beginning I would have to try to get another cable, but it was even more simple than that-all I needed to do was adjust the pushrod to get my extra length on the cable.
I stopped in the next town and borrowed a large screwdriver to open the side cover-the adjustment was very easy and I now had a clutch again. I thought to myself you are very slow you should have thought of that before.
I continued down the coast with very few more problems and I stopped at a friends place in Lismore for a couple of days and her Father fitted a new bolt to my headlight as the old one got lost again.
I made my way down the coast to Sydney and was at Newcastle, about 145 miles away when the final problem occurred-the chain and sprocket had worn, and the chain was jumping teeth. To get over this problem I took 2 links out and that did the job.
I thought all in all it was not bad. I had got most of the things sorted out for a 10,000 mile trip and 6 weeks on the road and really all the things that occurred were down to wear and tear.
After I returned to my lodgings in Sydney I had to use up some of my spares to get the bike back to a to roadworthy condition and I did this over the next few days. I also got my personal plates RR 33. The bike was a bit dirty but not bad considering the trip it had made.
I think I had done what I intended to do, so I had to set out and get some work asap.
I worked for a few months in my trade as an electrician and took a trip down to Tazmania. While there I saw this unusual sign.
This photo was taken in Hobart by a press photographer for an article in their paper.
Another picture from Tazmania.
I did various other trips and working on fruit picking in Victoria and also in Queensland. While I was there we had tropical rains that caused floods and for some reason the Norton got one of it cylinders filled with water. I siphoned out the water and then started the bike up. I am sure it caused damage and I decided I had done as much as I could, so I made my way back to Sydney and thought it was time for the bike to be sent back to the UK in July 1983.
This was a board that was made up when the bike went to a show in London it gives a good idea of where it went. The round trip was approx 10,000 miles but a further 13,000 were done in the eastern states and gong to Tazmania.
There are always things you would like to do and I would have liked to do the Birdsville Track-the biggest problem would have been I would have to carry extra fuel which is a hazard.
I must admit I would still like to do that trip-you never know what is in the future...
13th April 1988 was when I went with my dad to Stanford Hall Leicestershire where the bike was on show for a umber of years. We got it started after a 5 year rest. This was a really memorable day for me as it was the last one with my father he died 2 days later.
This photo was the last time I rode the Norton before it got sold.
I still like my bikes and would like to do some distance riding again.
What is in the future no one knows.
Click here for some recent photos of Roy