Bit of a Bank Holiday Brekky Bimble

[Tarka]

This`ll be a shortish Ride Report from me (distance wise,at any rate) for a refreshing change....but I saw some rather nice scenery while out and thought some of you guys may enjoy seeing it too.
And anyone reading this in work may enjoy getting out and coming along for a ride too,heh heh.

Bank Holiday Monday....until recent years a 'stay off the road day' for me due to maniacal traffic levels and hordes of people everywhere you go.
However,if there`s one good thing about a bit of a recession and extortionate petrol prices here in the UK,it`s the fact that there is noticably less 'leisure' traffic on the roads.

A banging headache courtesy of painting my garage floor without adequate ventilation or wearing a mask (yeah, yeah,I know,I know...in work I`d be banging the H&S drum and ranting about COSH sheets,PPE,etc etc) is in need of lots of fresh air and that`s all the excuse anyone needs for a Brekky Run isn`t it ?
Not that I need an excuse,living on my own,but it`s nice to 'justify' things isn`t it,heh heh.

So then.....it`s a gorgeous morning.....let`s get out there.
A rumbling stomach is requesting bacon and sausages,so we won`t be going too far before eating......so let`s go the scenic way to the Ponderosa in North Wales,a breakfast favourite of mine.

I can hear it now.......Get your motor running................

Head out on the highway.......

Looking for adventure...........

Now that the song is stuck in your head,I`ll stop the lines and leave you annoyingly humming and tapping it for the rest of the day,heh heh.

We`re off the Wirral Peninsula and in North Wales now......going from Pontblyddyn to Pontybodkin (dontcha just love the Welsh place names) and time to rant about who on Earth thought to make this wonderfully twisty and delightfully scenic road a blooming 30mph speed limit ????
There`s no houses,no turnoffs and no junctions ......so what gives ?
Furthermore,there is often a speed camera van parked along here,yet if you do travel at 30mph you get all sorts of would be speed merchants right up close behind you,almost egging you on to speed up.
Very frustrating.....and totally daft.

A cracking bit of road,ruined by stupid and misguidedly blinkered 'safety policies'.
There`s one of the 30mph signs ahead in the next photo.

And yet,after a couple of miles of crawling along at pedal bike speed,the speed limit changes to a 60mph one.....just before a side junction and a filling station....and a residential area!!!

So,you`ve got to do 30mph along the twisties where there`s no junctions or houses.....yet can do 60mph right past the front doors and driveways of the houses in the village (and so close you can almost touch the walls of them as you pass...)

Like I said above..totally daft.
I reckon whoever is responsible couldn`t read a map and got the limits posted in the wrong places.

Rant over......phew....and a bit of a 60mph 'blast' (well it is after 30mph!) past Treuddyn and down through Rhydtalog.
Take the sharp right hander and look a bit to the left as we`re just coming up to the Llandegla moors.
This area looks nice at any time of year.
I particularly enjoy riding around here when there`s been a decent snowfall (you can see it in my 'snowy brekky' reports) but at the moment it`s particularly colourful thanks to all the heathers growing there.

Here`s a piccy for those of you who`ve been scrutinising my photos and trying to work out what the instrument cluster and handlebar arrangement belongs to......

Yup...I`m out for a bit of a 'quadventure' !

Not a solo and not a sidecar combo either.....GASP...is it allowed ?????
Well,it`s a Ride Report and I`m riding...I`m sat astride a saddle,using a throttle and handlebars....and I`m enjoying it...so let`s continue!

Whatever you ride...or maybe even drive...this is truly wonderful countryside and a day like today really brings out the best of it.

A bit more of the moorland,then some great tight twisties and we`re level with Llandegla village itself...and into the tiny village of Pen-y-Stryt.
After this it`s a big downhill blast and a climb up the 'back' route up towards the Ponderosa......and the scenery changes a fair bit as we climb.

This next photo shows how much higher we are now...

This one shows how the terrain is 'toughing up'.......there`s a quarry around the corner and behind those hills.

Those hills.....'them thar hills'...and the quad is looking in askance,wanting to blast up and down them.
Maybe in another country,free from our laws and legislation,but here I`d just end up arrested and the quad impounded before the first of the dust had even settled.
Makes for a nice view though...if nothing else.

Stomach growls bring an end to the scenery gawping and we whizz up the rest of the hill and get to the Ponderosa,which is pretty busy...and it`s still only about 9.30am.

I was so hungry and so enjoying my mega bacon and sausage bap that I almost forgot to furnish a photo of the main reason why I was here.
Just about resisting the temptation to buy a second one in order to show the 'full monty' I stopped munching for long enough to show the remains.
By the way,you don`t half get some funny looks when you take a photo of your breakfast !

I`m hungry after looking at that,so I`m just off for a few pieces of toast and a coffee.
When I return we`ll do a bit of exploring down a lane I`ve never travelled....let`s see where it goes!

Hope you`ve enjoyed up to now,at any rate.
Back soon.

 

[Timolgra]

Well I thought many roads were packed in North Wales, we also went up the Horseshoe pass....this was Ange's view of the Ponderosa yesterday from her first ever glider flight....she even did a complete loop

 

[LivNorway]

I miss Wales!
I wanna go back!

Liv.

 

[MikeP]

Nice bap.

 

[Tarka]

Nice bap.

£2.95


Here`s a close up for you.

 

[Aidan1150]

Still a vegetablist I see Steve mate.

 

[Mr K]

C'mon - c'mon! I'm suppossed to be hoovering...

 

[Tarka]

Okay.....I`m back from my toast and coffee break.

And at the Ponderosa,the bacon and sausage bap plus 2 mugs of coffee have gone,and are nicely settled after having a mooch about the 'Shop in the Clouds'.

I think we`ll ride down the 'Old Horseshoe Pass' at the rear of the Ponderosa (which not many people seem to know about or bother with) and then see where this mysterious lane that I noticed leads us to.

Part of the Old Horseshoe Pass .....

Just behave,quad....we can`t legally ride there..........

Ah well,it`s nice just to look at it all.
Wouldn`t like to drop my helmet or keys down there.........

So I dropped down this track until the first hamlet,and then turned down the narrow lane.
After a mile or so I saw a small sign for World`s End,which I`ve been to,but not this way before...so onwards ho!

The trees lining most of the lane,and shrouding it at times,made for interesting variations in light levels.
Totally dark...to pure brilliant sunlight...and back again.

Out of the shadows the beast approached............

Now this was fun....I love narrow lanes and tracks...and 'exploring' new routes.
Narrow it certainly was,too.

Now here`s a rare sight...Tarka doing some water crossing!
Not much water today,mind you.....slippy ground surface below though.
Oooh,should I have engaged 4WD and diff locks for it? Heh heh.

A fair old uphill section and the track lead to miles and miles of unspoiled and open moorland....lots of heathers again,and a fair few sheep roaming about.
This section would be a bit bleak on a wet and foggy day.....and I imagine quite spectacular in the snow (one to remember later in the year)....but today it was quite spectacular.

Sometimes the track was raised with almost no verge or runoff,and a ditch either side....and sometimes the track was almost 'carved out' of the moorland.
It made for interesting times when oncoming vehicles were encountered,as some of the bends were true right angles and the twists and turns could be a bit deceptive at times.
It was a great experience to ride it though,and the colours and smells of the heather were fantastic......an awful lot better than the previous evening`s garage floor paint anyway!

This fella wasn`t looking quite as impressed with it all as I was though.

I soon joined the normal rural roads and made my way towards Llanarmon-yn-Lal and rejoined my earlier outwards route for the ride home.

I`d really enjoyed my short 'quadventure' and hope some of you did too.

 

[earthmover]

If you'd stayed out a little longer, you'd have had the chance of a brew with Denise and I.
We went up to see if there was anyone around with it being a sunny day, decided against lunch there though and ate at "The Wild Pheasant" in Llangollywatsit instead. This was in honour of the "Wild pheasant" that made the fatal mistake of flying out in front of me earlier in the day.
Mark

 

[Buz]

Looks like you had a good ride out, lovely weather

 

[tarry]

Horseshoe

Well I thought many roads were packed in North Wales, we also went up the Horseshoe pass....this was Ange's view of the Ponderosa yesterday from her first ever glider flight....she even did a complete loop

Got to the horseshoe about 1-30 ish tim and saw a glider flying round, was that ange?

 

[brassmonkey001]

I think we`ll ride down the 'Old Horseshoe Pass' at the rear of the Ponderosa (which not many people seem to know about or bother with) and then see where this mysterious lane that I noticed leads us to.

Part of the Old Horseshoe Pass .....

I wonder if it's the Old Horseshoe Pass that I remember from my childhood?
I remember going up a road and it was called The Horseshoe Pass and I can still picture it in my memory, but when I go up there as an adult it bears little resemblance to the one in my memory.
I guess I'll have to have a little ride to check this Old one out.

 

[Glyno]

Yep I miss the Sunday runs to the Horseshoe Pass and the Ponderosa, was last there in January in the motor with my mum for a drive. Nice to see the sarnies were still up to scatch. Very nice machine btw.