A weekend in the Welsh Marches

JohnnyBoxer

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Last weekend I travelled down to the area with Fritz & Bev via the Peak District (lunched at the Smithy @ Monyash) and the traffic shite hole on a Friday afternoon, that was Stoke on Trent, to make our way to Shrewsbury and on towards Leominster

Destination Kington, just off the A44 from Leominster to Crossgates/Rhayader

Reason - to attend the ukgser weekend, kindly organised by Rich (aka Madmountainman)

A cracking venue at the Burton hotel in the town, where a good few of us stayed

It was a throwback to the old GSclubuk days with
Dave & Val (infamous Princetown do organisers)
Cogs & Lisa
Steve Howard
Rich
Susie P
Pint 6x
Mike Belch
Fritz & Bev
Sim
Adventure Don
Big Rob and his mate from NI
Charlie Batty
Ralphy
Cornish Bob
Et Al

Bev enjoying lunch on the way down (pic courtesy of Fritz)

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Meeting old friends at the bar on Friday night

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One of Fritz’s pics
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Saturday dawned dry and sunny, with warm temps

Time for a wee look around the pleasant town of Kington & the pannier market etc

After a decent brekkie at the hotel, the customary GS weekend ride out went out at 10.30 and went towards the Elan valley - led by Pint6x

Fritz/Bev and myself peeled off after the Elan village visitor centre as we wanted to explore the Claerwen dam

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We took the byway on the northern shore for a good way and although gravel, it wasn’t too tricky on a big GSA in the dry - but we only did it for 2-3 miles at most as others had said it gets trickier towards the end
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After we had turned around on the dam trail , we made our way back to the main Elan valley road and saw this great stand of trees
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Lunch time it was so the Penbont cafe looked good and there we bumped into Sven from here and his lovely wife - quite by chance who were holidaying locally and a small world

After lunch we travelled up the Elan valley & then over the mountain roads towards Tregaron and then Beulah which were spectacular

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Back to Kington and Rich had organised a meal for 25-30 folks attending

All in all… a superb weekend and an area well worth visiting on the bike
 
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I have been around that reservoir many, many times but never seen it so low!
 
Great pics JB it looks like you had a great weekend in good company, I was pencilled in to attend but it clashed with Goodwood Revival so I went there as my children bought me tickets for my birthday.
 
Looks like a cracking weekend for you guys, and very good weather for Wales :)
The byway on the north side of the dam is kinda the same all the way down till the private bridge at the end. Beautiful, beautiful ride along the reservoir.

I want to go back to Wales :bounce1
 
Great pics JB it looks like you had a great weekend in good company, I was pencilled in to attend but it clashed with Goodwood Revival so I went there as my children bought me tickets for my birthday.

I saw that and glad your trip to Goodwood was a nice treat
Pity you couldn’t make it as it it’s always good to meet up with you
 
The byway on the north side of the damn is kinda the same all the way down till the private bridge at the end. Beautiful, beautiful ride along the reservoir.

It's the gate before the farm that marks the end of the public right of way. From there until the tarmacked road, it's all private. But the farmer enjoys a chat and a beer, so sling him a 6-pack before asking permission to use his drive.
 
Yes, that's what I've been told as well.
We didn't meet the farmer, so no beer and chat, but we didn't venture on the bridge and crossed the river and kept going (trail got a bit worse off).
 
Yes, that's what I've been told as well.
We didn't meet the farmer, so no beer and chat, but we didn't venture on the bridge and crossed the river and kept going (trail got a bit worse off).

I'll be up there in 4 weeks. I'll buy him some beers and tell him that one was from you!

:D
 
A few more pics from FritzyBev

The reservoir trail and lunch...why so gloomy :nenau
 

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