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Incredibly we had a most unusual sight for a ride in Wales – sunshine! It was bloody hot too! In Wales!!
I dragged my poor old Thundercat from hibernation (I had been on holiday) and did my usual through 1 point check – does it start? Yes, off we go then! Thundercats may not be cutting edge but they are hardy old things. I gently wend my way across the wonderful Worcestershire/Shropshire border country taking the A456, A49 and A489 past Ludlow before rolling into the charming farming town of Bishop Castle that was the rendezvous point for the big ride-out. I was the first one there and did wonder if I had got it right as they seemed to have selected the smallest petrol station in the world to marshal over a dozen bikes. Many forum members had come from across the UK to be here with riders from Croydon, Reading, Exeter and Warrington amongst others. Some had stayed in few local hostelries the night before, but I had not been able to join in for that part of the weekend.
The rather quaint petrol station meeting point, suddenly descended upon by 14 superbikes on a Saturday morningAs the bikes continued to roll up we seemed to be causing quite a stir in this normally quiet town and bunch of rather charming 6th form girls on the back of bus looked on in amusement at all the fuss. Calls to ‘get a picture of the back of the bus!’ led to one of our group trailing a rather large local lady into the petrol station with camera pointed at her bum, he had clearly got hold of the wrong end of the stick…or so he was claiming..!
The group at Bishops CastleWe all mounted up and headed off with Nick (Robertcains) leading the way on his Thundercat. We had 14 bikes, 6 off them Thundercats while the rest was made up a R1, a couple of Fireblades a 636 Kwack, a VFR, a Fazer 600, a Speed Triple and a CB1000F.
As the group picked it’s way across into Wales on the A458 the challenge of holding the line together in heavy traffic was being done admirably by the leader and a ‘marker’ was left at each junction or turn so everybody knew which route to go, while the VFR and FZ600 riders took the rear of the line to collect any stragglers. The need to keep the line together and extremely heavy traffic did mean that the pace was modest for this leg, but the views throughout were simply amazing. After a brief halt at a rather busy service station we finally started to break free of the shackles and the ride flowed better; the views just got better on a glorious sunny day. Wales is a beautiful country and sometimes it is just good enough to roll off the throttle and take it all in. We stopped a Lake Tal-y-llyn that sits in a stunning valley alongside the B4405. I will let the pictures do the talking here…
The six ThundercatsAfter too brief a halt we remounted and headed for a small coastal town called Tywyn that is about 20 miles north of Aberystwyth. The roads were clearer now and the backdrop continued to be impressive. I had forgotten just how fabulous Wales can look on a day like this and I had to force my eyes back to the road on a few occasions!
Blue seas greeted us at Tywyn as we all parked up on the seafront and headed for the chippy. Now the chap who runs the chip shop here cooks everything fresh to order…fine in theory but not so good when 20 or so bikers need food in a hurry. To make matters worse he wrote every order down too, before dutifully attacking them one by one and crossing them off his list! By the time I had ground my way down the queue and through his system I had almost lost the will to live! They were excellent though!
The worlds slowest moving chip shop queueWith the chips enjoyed by all, blue seas and skies duly appreciated we got back on the bikes and headed for the Llyn Clywedog reservoir on the B4518. The route to there continued to spoil us with quite breath taking beauty and when we rolled into the car park here the view that greeted us was…well…see for yourself…
To top it all, the run organiser had even laid on a little car bound helper with a camping stove to provide a brew and some biccies for the group! This is a first on a ride out for me, but what a brilliant idea and somehow very British!
The all important man with a kettle!(Not a GT750!)Back on the bikes again and now, after making our way to Newtown, for the cherry on the ride out cake so to speak: The A483 from Newtown to Crossgates. This is a strip of God’s own tarmac and I love it. After the necessary tight discipline of the ride up to now the ‘fly boys’ were let of the lead to attack this piece of tarmac with some verve. I tucked in behind a Fireblade and a R1 then bounced my poor Thundercat along, its poor knackered Bridgestone tyres crying for mercy here and there as we hurtled toward Crossgates, mercifully untroubled by the heavy traffic that had plagued the early part of the ride. An extra bonus was no plod anywhere; normally they are all over this road like a rash. Coming with us was the chap on the Speed Triple and the other Fireblade. 20 or so miles flashed past in what seemed like an instant and the Triumph and 2nd Fireblade rider went straight past Crossgates and continued on to lap up some more action!
One by one we all gathered at the cafe at Crossgates and after a bit of a natter the main group headed back to Bishops Castle for another night on the pop while I headed back to Kidderminster with a huge grin on my face….
Gathering the troops at Crossgates, well most of them anyway!A cracking day and makes me more determined to get a decent bikeforum run organised quite soon
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Originally posted by ScouserVery nice. Next time take your fish and chips in a thermos, saves queing!
LOL good idea!
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