We’ve been quite lucky with the weather over the last 10 days, and so it seemed like a good time to try out yet another of my long term dreams. A ride on a motorised trike.
Calico Trike Tours
David Lister of Calico Trike Tours offers chauffeur driven rides around the Lakes on his yellow beast of a machine. If you fancy an exhilarating afternoon seeing some amazing scenery whilst being pointed at and stared at then this is for you 
Tom and I were pretty excited when the day arrived. David came down to Limefitt Park where we have our rental lodges from his base in Penrith to pick us up and immediately attracted a crowd.
Attracting a crowd
He brought helmets the right size for us and windproof jackets, which even on a sunny day in July proved welcome.
Getting kitted out
We set off via Ambleside and made our way across to Wrynose. The journey over was uneventful but great fun. After a while you get used to people pointing at you, and you start to feel like minor royalty as people wave at you and you wave back. Tom’s face was a picture – huge smiles! David has a communication system built into the bike so we chatted on the way over. He’s a genial host and knows a lot about the local area. As with our recent electric bike experience, one of the best things about this mode of transport is the immediacy of your surroundings. As you drive past a hedge you get a waft of scent and you can hear the birds in the trees.
When we reached Wrynose we swung up and round a seemingly interminable series of bends and then after cresting the pass we headed down again. The only way I can describe the descent is to say it was like a prolonged helter skelter ride, but in real life conditions. David though is a careful and considerate driver and seemed to anticipate every car we met so it didn’t feel dangerous, just exciting.
We had a repeat experience over Hardknott, passing the Roman Fort on the way. For those of you who don’t know the area this bleak but beautiful scenery is among the very best that the Lake District has to offer. I have driven it before, but when you are driving you don’t get much chance to enjoy the scenery as your eyes are on every twist of the road. This was quite different as you can take it all in.
Once over the pass we stopped at the cafe of the Ravenglass – Eskdale railway for a cup of coffee and a biscuit before returning the way we came.
A happy passenger
The return journey, whilst on the same route, gave us different perspectives on the scenery, and Tom also spotted a heron circling high up in the sky over Hardknott like a buzzard, which I thought quite odd.
We arrived back at Limefitt about 3 hours after we set off having had a thoroughly good time. It was especially good for Tom as he’s had an accident recently that has kept home from doing his crazy scooter tricks, so he had been suffering from adrenaline withdrawal. The smile on his face all the way through said all that was needed. I think he quite enjoyed the bragging rights it brought as well.
After some more attention as we arrived (very few people it seems can see this yellow hog go by without being fascinated by it) we said good bye to David and watched (and listened) to him leaving on his way back over the Kirkstone Pass.
It was a fantastic afternoon out. We saw some lovely scenery and had an experience that was definitely out of the normal run of what we do up here. In fact David told us that he gets hired for all sorts of unique days out and treats – he has even delivered kids to their school prom in full prom dress regalia (them not him I hasten to add). I’m not in the least surprised at how successful this is as it really is something very different.
David looked after us extremely well and I’ve never felt safer on a motor bike. This was definitely a day to remember.
Here is a video of the trip!
If you would like to book a tour with David you can contact him via his web site at www.calicotriketours.co.uk
I have some video we took from the trike but we haven’t got round to processing it yet. I’ll add it once we have done so.
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