My First Bike Trip - (The Welsh Weekend)

[Noddy made me]

" look, if you had a long weekend , an opportunity , would you capture it or just let it slip "

Day 1. A11 - A505 - A418 - A40 Oxford to Gloucester and then the A48 from there down beside the Severn to Chepstow then Langstone and then up to Usk. 214 miles. First site as suggested by Wessie, the Chainbridge Inn www.chainbridgeinn.com
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Nice site, beside the river. I checked in, £10 for the night, which wasnt what was agreed the day before but wtf i was on holiday.
Pitched up and then wizzed into town to get some tea.
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Now i should point out that i have spent many nights on C & C club sites in the caravan up and down the country so i was used to/expecting a certain amount of shall we say decorum
I had tea ,read the paper and then wandered down to the pub for a few beers. About 10.30 ish i retired to my finest Halfords accomodation
At about 11.30 the the pub shut and i was expecting things to get a bit quieter. errrrr no. I was still engrossed in my book when at about 12 the kids decided they would start kicking all the tents I suggested that they find somewhere else to play (or words to that effect) There were large quantitys of vans on site (transit variety) with caravans so i was expecting a return visit from one or more of their dads. They didnt, but they did however decide to light a bonfire at about 1.30am which was followed about 3am by fireworks....... not sure what time i got to sleep but i was up early so i packed up and got on the road.
No one around at this time in the morning
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Was tempted to let this lot know i was leaving with a quick blast of the steibel
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Nice site/pub beside the river and it could well have been a oneoff but judging by the amount of tents/vans/inflatables and trampolines they were there for a while. Shame really cos it was a nice place.
Day 2
Dunno what you lot sleep on (please tell) but i was feckin uncomfortable on the floor. I remember camping as a kid and never bothered with airbeds etc cos i prefered to sleep on the floor. That was then however and i was in need of a bed. I didnt want to add the extra weight of an airbed so i wandered into Abergavenny in the morning, found halfords and got one of these
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Not sure the exact route i took cos i dont have satnav (dont want satnav) and i wasnt in a hurry so tended to stray down roads, plus i was also half following some routes that Allan Davies had kindly sent. I went something along the lines of Black Mountains - Brecon Beacons - Builth Wells - Rhayader. I got to Rhayader earlier than i expected so on Travellers advice i bimbled though the Elan Valley on a round ish route back to Rhayader.108miles
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8,000,000,000 gallons
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Came across this little lot jumping of the hills
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Obligatory bike on mountain shot
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Second site as suggested by madmikey Wyeside Caravan & Camping park. www.wyesidecamping.co.uk/ Top site £5.50 for the night. Nice clean shower/toilet block and right beside the river
It was however muddier than a muddy place. The site man said it was the first day that it hadnt rained that week. Had a look around and having nearly dropped it a couple of times the dryest place i could find was a little high spot near the bins.
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Only 2mins to the town centre
A 30sec walk by the river....
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Up this little hill....
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Across the road past the car park....
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And your in the high street
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The two blue cars behind me were 4 asian brummy lads who had me in stitches. It went something along the lines of ....
(Insert your own brummy accent)
Boy a, Wheres my blue tshirt ?
To Boy b , have yow seen my blue t shirt ?
Boy b na mate.
TO Boy c , have yow seen my blue tshirt ?
Boy c na mate.
To Boy d , have yow seen my blue tshirt ?
Boy d na mate.
Boy a , salright its in boot of the car.

Repeat above for hoodie , then white trainers and finally aftershave. Finally when ready he then couldnt find his car keys at least 5 others camping nearbye shouted "try the boot of yor car" You had to be there.....
Top site
Day 3
Set of early again with a view to finding breakfast on the way.
Stopped at/near Carno for a Bacon sarney and pot of tea
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And put on sticker id bought in Rhayader
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Plan for today was to drive straight up through Snowdonia np and take in Llanberris pass.
On the road...
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Shortly after i took these i had first taste of North Wales Traffic Police. The Police where everywhere i was in no hurry in any case so it didnt worry me however coming down a hill something caught my eye in a laybye. I checked my speedo at just under 55 and i was behind two cars going downhill looked again and saw a plain clothes copper on a non police bike with a hand held radar wotsit. Further down the hill on the left, (behind the big warning sign for the approaching bends) where two coppers in all the flouro gear ready to pounce.
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Stopped for lunch at Capel Curig, not knowing how close i was to Llanberris.
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When leaving there were massive black clouds so i dug out the waterproofs and and it rained for nearly .............. 30 secs so i pulled over and took them off again
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Rode down LLanberris pass and then turned around and went back again cos i thought i must have missed something I hadnt its just somewhat shorter than i imagined it Couldnt believe the amount of speed limits everywhere too
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That looks rideable snaking from oneside to the other. Anyone been up there ?
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Someone must have got into difficulty, there were hundreds of climbers/walkers around.
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Rode down the other side Penn y Pass to Beddgelert and turned round and rode up again
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By now i was all mountained out so off the campsite 140miles.
Third site was Y Fricsan snowdon inn www.thesnowdoniainn.co.uk as recommended by trangwales less than 2mins from Llanberris
The Inn is under new management and as such the inside bears little resemblance to the photos of it on the net. However reading their website they say as much but have plans for it. Again showers and toilets, bit basic this time but they are planning on upgrading them £5.00 night
Great views from the campsite.
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wtf ??<a href="http://s455.photobucket.com/albums/qq272/noddymademe/?action=view&current=73Small.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq272/noddymademe/73Small.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Met these guys who where from Rugby way.
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A plan was hatched to meet later in the bar as there was a charity music night.
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We stood and drank and talked the international language of bike bollox and waited for the bands.
The first i can only imagine were missing a few members. 1 Guitar and 1 drummer singing. The second had 1 more guitarist
However the final band were something else. Imagine Madness , a bit faster maybe a bit more ska-like, 5piece brass , 2guitars , keboards . 2 percussion and they were all young. The Inn was packed and a large amount of the audience where either with the band or new them cos the place went wild. And rightly so, they were good. I would like to add some pics here but the place was like a furnace inside with condensation running down the walls. With upwards of 150 people packed into the small area jumping and dancing, we rocked the night away (well we stood at the bar with a pint in our hands and tapped our feet)
It got hotter and hotter inside, the girls all dancing, skimpy sweat soaked clothes sticking to their curvey figur (COUGH) ahem anyway it was a good night
Up early again with a plan to catch breakfast at the Ponderosa
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However with the traffic and speed limits the breakfast turned into lunch.
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Halfway though lunch i heard voices and looked up , straight into the eyes of my beloved Carrie. Sorry , im listening to W O T W whilst typing this. I meant to say i was joined by three pensioners on a mystery tour. They had quite strong welsh accents and i do have a problem with my hearing sometimes(seeing specialist 5sept) so i can only guess that something was lost in translation.
It started okay with them asking about the bike an me explaining that it was my first time away. Then they started telling me they were on a mystery tour so i asked where they were from and they said just down the road So i said something along the lines of if your from just down the road and on a mystery tour why did the coach driver stop here ? Why not somewhere further away ?
A few pics of the bikes...
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Wait , what that ??
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It is , its a very very shiney 1100. Now i looked at this and it was very nice and shiney and was about to say what sad git polishes this and doesnt ride it when i realised it had more miles on it than mine Whoever you are
Just down the road at Trevor is a big Viaduct where i took lots of Riverboat/canal/longboat/bridge/lock pictures and can now only find one
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Stopped for fuel and the man came out of his little hut and did it for me not seen that since , well the telly probably Also had to top the oil up , rather low
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Home across the A5 - midlands then A14 A11 home. 311 Miles
Total miles about 850ish .
I know its not the LWR but we all have to start somewhere
Many thanks to all suggestions for accomodation before i went.
mmmm next year It would be nice to meet some of you lot so maybe do one of the meets next year. Scotland maybe, see if i can get a Royal Invite and combine the two. Or maybe East Midlands where there would be more of you? Having said that Shadowfists piccys of Stelvio ha got me thinking. Would be great to take the bike abroad.
It def would have been nicer to have done the trip with someone, George backed out several weeks before. Having said that it was nice to do as i pleased at my own pace( what do you prefer ? do you like going on your own or prefer it with someone )
Thanks for looking Regards Tony

 

[Trippy]

Nice report and photos. The campsite by the river will get a visist sometime and the Greeny yellow 1100 is a lovely bike.

 

[Dave56]

Great report & pics Tony, enjoyed that.
Know what you mean about camping, took myself and my tent up to Scotland few years ago, first time under canvas for 20+ years, first night, could`nt sleep, bloody back killing me so had the bike loaded and heading home by 5am - B&B`s for me from now on.

 

[Dakar-Dave]

Nice report and photos Tony

When tent camping I use a "Thermarest Pad" - not sure where you could get one over there - maybe Ebay ?

Link:
http://www.shopwiki.com/detail/d=Therm-a-Rest_LuxuryCamp_Sleeping_Pad_-_Large/jumpToFirst=t/

Ride On

Dave

 

[GS TRV]

nice one

 

[Twotter]

Not long back from North Wales from a family holiday and drove over the Llanberis pass a few times. Would have preferred to have been on a bike like you

 

[Steve the Kiwi]

Nice report and photos Tony

When tent camping I use a "Thermarest Pad" - not sure where you could get one over there - maybe Ebay ?

Link:
http://www.shopwiki.com/detail/d=Therm-a-Rest_LuxuryCamp_Sleeping_Pad_-_Large/jumpToFirst=t/

Ride On

Dave

LOL..... i believe they are called "shops" we do have 'em ye know. why they even got electricity in London just last week! And Uncle Eric got one of them television boxs! Very fancy indeed.

Great trip report too! I love my 1100 too

 

[pablo666]

Great report very well done

 

[Ash]

first trip of many i hope.

 

[AlanAce1967]

Nice report, try Scotland next and get yourself a Thermarest !!!

Alan