Matlock Bath Parking Charge Protest Ride 6/3/2016

The council for Matlock Bath decided it would be a jolly wheeze to get people to pay for parking, despite this having been tried before and subsequently removed because it was impacting on the place's popularity and the shop's profits. Someone decided a protest ride was in order, what more of an excuse does one need to go for some fish and chips at Matlock??

It soon became apparent that this was going to be big. Much bigger than it was supposed to be..

Of course I suspected there would be some waiting in traffic so the ever trusty CB250 was employed. Check out those Konis!

As it was, there was so much traffic that even the CB was feeling the heat and we passed quite a few bikes that had boiled over, their owners looking most forlorn. If only they'd had the imagination to buy themselves a proper, sensible air cooled bike. Eventually we were near Matlock Bath but the traffic was grinding to a halt.. I thanked my own presence of mind once again and hauled the light, easy to handle CB up on the pavement and promptly abandoned it. I was messing about with this!

I walked into Matlock to see what was going on. I was soon glad I'd given up on the idea of riding all the way in..

Not pictured: World record attempt for most hoodies with "IF YOU CAN READ THIS THE BITCH FELL OFF" printed on them worn in one area. So much for the good name of bikers and what a loss it would be if they stopped turning up. I believe the idea was to ride through 'Bath to the Sainsbury's on the other side, and then ride back through the other way. But since I'm a maverick (and I was already on foot) I decided to treat it like a bike meet and went on the hunt for interesting things instead. Take that, anti-establishment establishment!

lol, foam filters on CV carbs. Never mind.

Not pictured: Man wearing a hoodie with "I GOT 99 PROBLEMS BUT RIDING HARD AINT ONE" and not even looking embarrassed.

I still don't know what this is? Answers on a postcard, please. And a nice unmolested XBR500 to round things off, I do like my eighties Hondas if you hadn't noticed.

So that was that. Absolute chaos was caused, many people's Mothers Day plans were ruined because they were stuck in traffic, and I didn't even manage to get any fish and chips because the queues were far too long. I eventually went to the cafe in the Sainsbury's and had a surprisingly delicious steak pie with mash. Also I didn't see anyone from the council or with any kind of actual authority during the whole thing, which seemed a bit of a wasted opportunity.

So, was anything gained from this? Of course not. Despite the protest, the fact that the shopkeepers were against it and the many threats of bikers on facebook stating they ain't never gonna go there again if they 'ave to pay, the local council decided it would still be a jolly wheeze to charge bikes for parking and it was promptly implemented in May 2016. Weirdly I haven't been back since this rideout..