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Had a great time with the folks off the Thundercat forum again, and would like to try and set something similar up for this group next year. This is an edited version of the fun we had last week
Hard to believe that another year has rolled by and once more I was squeezing the contents of our family home into my Givi box as Mrs Radar and I got ready for the off. Mrs R had no less than 3 pairs of shoes with her! Apparently one pair were sandals and they don’t count…little wonder then that as we wafted gently through Worcestershire and into Shropshire the trusty old Thundercat was steering like a shopping trolley with a wheel missing! Like last year the weather this Friday afternoon was just about perfect and the glorious countryside that surrounds Bishops Castle looked truly amazing. What a beautiful part of the world. I have said it before, but on a day like this there is little to touch Britain for beauty. Ominously the weather forecast for tomorrow however was not so promising…at all.
Not goodThat was forgotten for now as I rolled into the car park at the Boars Head and parked up outside in what is now our usual slot. we were not the first of the group to arrive, nearly thirty were due and I sat outside, sunning ourselves in the beer garden with a long cool drink in hand and watched and listened as the Thundercat clan gathered in the wilds of Shropshire once more. Team Scotland were not here this year, flying the flag at the TT but still they came from all points North, South, East and West…Hampshire, Derbyshire, Cheshire and more.
I was always enjoy this part of the weekend, after all the build up, it is great to be here and feel that sense of anticipation of a great weekend ahead. Robertcairns and his wife are bothe members and former Thundercat owners but now run a pair of new Z1000 and his lurid green example even attracted favourable comment from the lass in the petrol station. It is the same colour as her Kitchen apparently…
We even had our first incident as one poor old lad had managed to use another rider’s as an extra brake at an island…He tapped the back of the Blade as he left his braking a touch late and that then promptly hit the back of the Ducati in front! A Fireblade sandwich! That would make a great ‘Subway’…can I have a 6″ Blade please?!. Luckily nobody was hurt, no bikes fell over and damage seemed relatively minor.
The crew gathersAs is now BC tradition The Boars Head (aka ‘The Pink Palace’) was the venue for the first night and in no time the bar was filling up with faces both new and familiar. As ever the atmosphere was great as everybody got chatting and looked forward to the adventures tomorrows big ride would bring. As ever a good night was had by all and meet some new faces too.
The food seems to get better each year and the meal was excellent. So yet again we had a stonking evening, rounded off with viewing the TT on the big screen and it felt like moments before we all headed back to our digs to get some shut eye ahead of the big day and not think too much about the weather forecast for tomorrow
6am the next morning and I was suddenly woken by a thunderclap of biblical proportions, sure enough it was pouring down too. It would seem that BC, so often blessed with great weather was going to be a little more challenging this year…Hey ho.
By the time we are started to form up the rain had stopped and we hoped for a better day. We gathered outside the pub , Bishops Castle is a interesting little place and we all grown used to some of its’ oddities…knitted covers over lamp posts…so this year the town provided us with a man dressed as an M&M…only in Bishops Castle. As in previous years the town came to a standstill and in the end around 28 bikes, 6 of them Thundercats, lined up ready for the off.
The annual take over of Bishops CastleThe first session went steadily, but while the roads were very wet at least it wasn’t raining. The roads were good as we made our way through Welshpool and headed out into the wilds. As we climbed over past Llanfyllin and our first tea stop at Bala the fog and low cloud started to roll in and the ride took on a slightly surreal feel. Riding over mountain roads where shear drops reward any mistakes while barely being able to see the bike in front is an interesting experience. Mrs. R loved it and said it felt like being in Harry Potter(!)…I know…bless her. We had been using the two marker and two tail end Charlie system again and it was working well keeping the long stream of bikes together.
Tron joined us at the first tea stop…
Taking a breather before the rain came down…By the time we mounted up and headed for the fuel stop at Dolgellau the rain was coming down, but it didn’t seem to dampen spirits too much. From there we headed towards Tywyn before peeling away and stopping for lunch at the beautiful, haunting lake at Tal-y-Llyn. A much needed break in a beautiful setting where the staff in the pub were super attentive and constantly re-filling coffees for people.
Haunting beauty
The lunchtime halt
The traditional all Cat shot, down to 6…but still the most numerous bike on the runFrom here it was Machynlleth and then to Newtown on the epic A483 to Crossgates (tea/fuel). Up front much fun was been had by all on the fastest sections of the day. The A483 in particular is perhaps the best quick riding road in Wales. I nack marked this section with another rider and it was amusing to note just how long this section really is. Normally it sort of flashes past and it was a different experience to ride it at a more gentle (legal!) pace. Crossgates is another local haunt of mine and not wishing to let Bishop Castle get all the weird action to itself, here we witnessed a horse in the petrol station, with a rider looking for all the world like they was trying to buy diesel for it!
This was also the scene of the traditional on route maintenance as a VFR from our group decided to shed an exhaust stud and was now sounded like a tractor.
Its great to have helpful friends…
The diesel Horse…From here I moved to the front of the line and enjoyed a blast back to BC. The rain had stopped by now and the roads were dry. I was impressed by one lad on a Pan Euro as he was hustling along at a decent old clip. It was like watching somebody water-ski behind the Queen Mary…Wrong, but so right!
So that was that another superb ride out and overall I thought the riding from everybody was excellent this year in tough conditions. For my part I didn’t get much quick riding in, but it was great just to be out there with an excellent group of people and see how some who were new riders a couple of years back have progressed. As ever our group of more mature riders put on a great demonstration of how biking can remain fun for many years. I was laughing my head off too at the sight of the last few bikes rolling back into BC behind a motability scooter…classic stuff, nobody wanted to overtake it, so they all trundled in respectfully at 6 mph!
No Thundercat gathering is complete without final evening social in the The Three Tuns, with some great food and some proper beer brewed on site. It was a another record turnout this year and yet again the meal was superb. Some great tales were re-counted and we all had a cracking time
Terry Enjoying a tipple
If the devil could cast his net…
Struggling with concept of chairs…the beer is goodWe all wobbled down the hill, filled with fantastic food and great beer and rounded off another superb event in the Boars Head, watching more TT races until they chucked us out in the wee small hours
So that was it for 6th annual Bishop Castle Thundercat ride out and roll on next year…
Edited version of my post from
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