John and Jan Hughes

John & Jan Hughes -  “A potted history…..”

John and Jan have been married for over 25 years and have two off-spring, a daughter who lives in Luton with her partner and daughter, and a son who is serving in the Army as a Para Engineer.  John was in the Army serving in the Welsh Guards for nearly 11 years before becoming a Police Officer in Cheshire in 1989 and Jan is an Accountant for a Freight Railway company (and no, neither of them are as strait laced as their jobs make them sound!!!).

John has been riding motorcycles for over 20 years, of this 15 have been on police motorcycles and Jan has just over a year’s riding under her belt, although has been pillion for over 6 years.  In more recent times, following the “flying from the nest” of their two children, John and Jan have covered thousands of miles touring both the UK, Europe and parts of the USA. 

John’s current bike is a Honda VFR 800 VTec and Jan owns a Kawasaki Versys 650.  John qualified as a Police Advanced motorcyclist in 1993 and in that role he has ridden a variety of both BMW’s and Hondas.   Other bikes experienced have been  BMW 1200 GS’ hired for both a tour of California in 2007 and a tour of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, (sadly Stan & Ollie couldn’t make it….), in October of 2008.  They also had experience of a Pan European which they had to hire for a trip to the South of France – ask them to tell you the tale at a coffee stop of “how you should read the small print re excess mileage”………. (nuff said!)

John’s current role in Cheshire Police is as an Advanced Car Driving Instructor, but during his 15 years as a police motorcyclist he not only undertook full time operational duties but also covered both assessment and presentation roles for National BikeSafe.  He also works for Cheshire County Council on their “LifeTime Skills” scheme whereby using his own bike, he takes out maximum of two riders for a full day assessment, offering advice on all aspects of reading the road and riding the bike to an optimum but safe level.  It was through this scheme that John met Tim and Chippie just after they had first set up Hammer n Tongs.

Their first venture into touring was a 3 day visit to the Champagne region in May of 2003 – (Jan’s top tip here is that “pillions get to taste not only their own glass but also that of the riders!”).  Since then their European trips have included a tour of the French Pyrennes and Andorra, the Route Napoleon and South of France, the French, Italian and Swiss Alps, Austria and Germany, Belgium and Normandy.  As for touring in the UK, they have been to Scotland on several occasions, Northern Ireland for long weekends, covered Northumberland, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Dorset and Oxfordshire. 

Having done all of the trips above their favourite days out and short weekend trips are those spent locally around South Cheshire, Shropshire, Welsh Borders and North and Mid Wales.  They are looking forward to sharing their knowledge of local roads, cafes and vistas with you.