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Jack took long route to fun

17/ 6/2006

HE HAD taken the long road to motorcycle happiness, but now it was time to park up and part company with his trusty steed.

At the end of March 1976 Jack Williams decided it was time to end a 55-year journey that had clocked up hundreds of thousands of miles.

The 75-year-old did so with a proud record, although he had never taken a driving test he still had a clean licence.

Jack of Bentley Street, Shawclough, bought his first bike, a Douglas belt-drive, from his future brother-in-law in 1921.

Later he acquired at Rudge multi-gear bike from an auction for £3.

He used it to visit his then girlfriend Daisy in Buxton.

Jack recalled: "It was really funny because I had to run with it for 20 yards to get it started and she would be running like blazes behind trying to catch up."

The couple later married and graduated to a BSA 41/4 combination on which they regularly rode on day trips to Southport or over the Dales.

During their life on the road the pair had numerous adventures.

Jack recalled a cow jumping over the bike as they were coasting down a country lane near Disley and being stranded in floods in Loughborough and being featured in the local paper.

Later the couple bought a 1958 BSA combination and Jack attached a sidecar, utilising his skills as a wheelwright.

But after more than half a century on the highways and byways Jack decided the time was right to join the ranks of the pedestrians.

He said: "I think it's a good time to quit because the roads are busier than ever now.

"Everything has changed now. There's no courtesy on the roads anymore nowadays."