BMW R1200GS Adventure
Northumberland: the perfect place to ride adventure-tourers on twisty roads, down a gravel trail… and into the sea
LUSH, MULTICOLOURED landscapes decorated with delicate, desolate roads snaking through rolling, three-dimensional curves. Gorgeous historic castles everywhere you look. A 12-mile-long vehicle-friendly gravel trail that cuts straight through the heart of England’s largest forest. The Scottish Borders within spitting distance. And a secret road that emerges from the sea for a few hours a day, letting you ride on water. All in England’s most sparsely populated county.
Northumberland is a belting place to ride,
so long as you’re on the right bike. You want comfort, luggage and tank range to gobble up the ride there, agility and punch to enjoy its sinuous B-roads, and legitimate all-surface confidence to take advantage of its off-tarmac excursions. That sounds like the recipe for a large-capacity adventure tourer… but which one? To compare four different ways of exploring England’s northerly adventure playground, RIDE rounded up Honda’s new Africa Twin Adventure Sports, Triumph’s updated Tiger 1200 XCA, the omnipresent BMW R1200GS Adventure and the ballistic KTM 1290 Super Adventure R.
Alnwick to Lindisfarne
Alnwick Castle catches you completely off-guard. There you are, riding down the high street of a perfectly pleasant market town, checking out the familiar scenery – Boots, Costa, Greggs. Then you turn a corner and someone’s dropped a proper, old-school, portcullis-and-pestilence castle in the middle of the road. The main entrance’s twin turrets, gaping archway and commanding walls are as impressive as they are intimidating; the rest is so spectacular it doubled as Hogwarts in a couple of the Harry Potter movies. Apparently. I wouldn’t know; I haven’t watched them, due to being an adult.
By all rights this should be the most astonishing creation I’ve encountered today, but I rode here on KTM’S 1290 Super Adventure R. Like Alnwick Castle it’s a towering, daunting proposition — its fixed seat height is set way up in the sky at 890mm, and I’m not in possession of 35in legs. Around me are sensible features like cruise control, cavernous panniers, a big TFT dash, centrestand and heated grips, which all sounds like the spec list from a worthy, well-behaved touring monolith. But crack the light twistgrip open and a 158bhp, 1301cc V-twin tries its damnedest to hurl the front wheel backwards over my head – even in third. Following the B6346 north out of town, stone wall to my left and open fields to my right, the 1290 manages to transform a quiet straight into a wild, hyperactive rollercoaster of sharp wheellifting crests. This isn’t just fast for a big ol’ adventurer — it’s a properly, gloriously, ludicrous speed by any measure.
“It’s just awesome — what a bike!” agrees Nick. “The engine is great, it really puts a smile on your face. It’s got some fire in its belly. The horns come out when you ride it — it’s a real hooligan bike.”
Half an hour down the road, a curious carved wooden statue stands all on his lonesome at the side of the road. He’s Saint Cuthbert, a seventh-century monk (when Northumberland was called Northumbria) and the patron saint of Northern England. Nick, who has family in the area, explains we’re on St Cuthbert’s Way — a 60-mile walking route from the Scottish Borders to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, where he was buried. As luck would have it, that’s where we are heading anyway.
We divert off our planned route, through Belford and pick up the A1 briefly. In isolation the KTM is a pleasant place to sit at cruising speed, but in this company it feels pretty exposed. The screen is a tiny blade and though it’s adjustable, there’s very little wind protection. The whacking great powerhouse of a motor is happy to
“The horns come out when you ride it - it’s a hooligan bike”