Good fun on Sunday. Mark messaged me to join him on a ride he’d route plotted out to the Welsh seaside and back that would take us out to Aberdovey and on to Tywyn bay followed by Harlech and Penmaenpool near Barmouth with a return via Bala. He contacted Jason too and arranged to meet him in mid-Wales at the Crossgates Cafe bike stop, so a rendezvous time was arranged for 9.15 at the Diner in Leominster, followed by a ride out to Crossgates later. For me it started with a glorious early ride up to Leominster using that scenic route I love just after Tenbury. I was running a few minutes late and low on fuel and needing a full tank and can never understand how it takes me an age to get my stuff together and out on the road despite prepping the night before, but it seemed Mark was in a worst situation and had messaged me to say he’d overslept and would meet in 40 minutes or so. In the end we agreed to meet each other at the cafe too and by now I was enjoying a spirited ride out to Leominster in the sunshine. What I initially thought was low on traffic for a bank holiday weekend I found out at the OK Diner was ‘rammed’ with cars and groups of bikes all with the same idea, a bit like a scene from the ‘Wacky Races’ .. all of us fuelling up ready for the race out West and who could blame us after lockdown 3.0? I took a gentle ‘bimble’ through the timber framed village of Pembridge, briefly considering a stop at the dairy to get some more of that wonderful ‘Blue Monk’ cheese I love but deciding against stopping again just yet, instead joining the A44 keeping an eye out for the ‘Ant Hill Mob’ driving the ‘Chugga Boom’. There were certainly a few ‘Peter Perfects’ out today that’s for sure!
While waiting for Mark and Jason at Crossgates, I got chatting to a friendly couple I’d met before who had ridden down from Malvern and later saw a group of Ducati riders who were meeting for a run out in the sunshine. I must say the Panigale (pani-garley) featured in the above pic (left) had my vote. Without doubt the most beautiful looking machine and so too the 1198 next to it. Mark arrived first, followed soon after by Jason and after a slight change to the route allowing us to ride Jason’s option around part of the famous ‘Mach Loop’ we were well on our way with Mark leading out to Rhayader and onto some new roads I don’t think I’d ridden before. I did find Jason’s paper route in a water proof case as a GPS replacement a great idea. At least it wouldn’t keep recalculating every time we headed of piste, the old ways are often the best and good to not rely too much on technology today as I’m all for ‘winging’ it these days and exploring as we go. Jason was riding his FJR, a nice machine and a tidy ex-blood bike he’d bought at a good price in great condition. Really good to meet up with him again after such a long time and good to get the lowdown on his blood bike activities and IAM assessment. I’ve been thinking of joining an advanced motorcycle group this year and getting some training in, but can’t decide on ROSPA or IAM. At least I have a better idea now to try and find a group I like that suits me.
Our ride passed through Llanidloes and around the eastern edge of the Clywedog Reservoir. Good to see several Red Kites up close hovering around the waters edge and we all had few near misses dodging pheasants with Jason almost colliding with a young lamb wandering out on the road. One pheasant seemed to fly right under my bike and just as I thought I’d killed it, it flew off within inches from my head. Our lunch stop was at the beach front at Tywyn and we joined the queue at the fish and chip shop. I’m not doing lunch these days but took today as an exception ordering a mini cod and chips sitting in the sun to eat, chat and look out to to sea for a change. On the way out of Tywyn I did notice a huge queue for the famous honeycomb ice cream this time, unlike last time when it was shut due to Covid.
The coastal road up toward Barmouth is something quite special, and as Mark suggested is like the Welsh ring of Kerry. The sea in parts were azure blue with a series of stone walls surrounding fields from the coastline, it did remind me of our trip over to South West Ireland a few years ago. Very picturesque, as I continued to follow along at the rear to the wooden toll bridge at Penmaenpool. I do enjoy stopping and admiring this bridge. I was here a few years ago on my own and have wanted to come back for a while. It’s quite peaceful passing over it, and the surrounding area known as the Mawddach Valley and Estuary, a great habitat for all sorts of wildlife, I’d really like to stay over and explore on foot for a day or so sometime.
Since time was pressing on we had decided to drop Harlech off the route plan and head inland instead. The run down to Bala and then on to Welshpool was fun and the sun was still shining with the odd cloud cover in parts by the time we stopped it was now past 6pm. The quick route home for me would be across to Knighton, Craven Arms and Tenbury etc, but Mark suggested we could ride down to Newtown and back to Crossgates to see Jason on his way down south. Despite the late time, that twisty run along the A483 towards Llandrindod Wells had my vote but not before phoning home and suggesting Helen might like to cook tea tonight instead. Thankfully she agreed and with the weather changing now we had a cooler, slightly damp yet fun ride down to the garage at Crossgates, rolling onto the forecourt with a mere 8 miles range left in the tank and my heated grips on full. I was getting concerned since every other petrol station I passed had closed by now and thankfully, although the cafe was closed the service station was still up and running. Myself and Mark said farewell to Jason (I do hope we get to meet up again soon for another ride), and off we both went for a bit of a blast home, taking it steady on the wet bends but having some more fun nonetheless. I arrived home just after 8pm to a ‘banging’ cottage pie and a nice bottle of Butty Bach to top of such a great day with great company. Many thanks chaps 👍😁.
