Last Sunday, with fine sunny weather forecast after a busy week at work and some building work going on at home I decided to ride out West into Powys. A late morning start in the direction of Far Forest I was tempted to have a late breakfast somewhere that took my fancy. My ad-hoc route had me stopping for an early lunch at the little cafe in Clun, feasting on their very nice Mushroom Quesadilla with Humus Salad. Plenty of bikes parked up along the road and the car park was full as usual, with chance to have a chat with other bikers and a right mix of machines too that include a few Ducati Multistradas and the now popular Triumph Tiger 900’s, 1200’s and a few Speed Twins. Soon after I was winding down to Knighton enjoying the run through New Invention I couldn’t resist continuing on to Newtown before curling back round over the mountain road and on to Crossgates for a refuel and quick drink. A brief chat to a lad on GS Rallye who’d just ridden up from Rhayader he gave me the idea to ride around the Elan Valley reservoirs and along the Claerwen Valley.
And so it was, since I hadn’t been out that way for a few years, I couldn’t resist taking the trail road that winds around Claerwen reservoir starting just past the huge Victorian Dam. The trail starts out quite smooth but quickly becomes choppy, full of pot holes so I switched my GS to Enduro mode and started to relax standing up on the pegs I was soon humming along nicely between 25 to 30 mph, the softer suspension now soaking up the bumps and ruts and the throttle response calming the power to the rear wheel. The main thing is to let the bike go where it wants by relaxing your grip and try not to yank the front brake too much on the really loose stuff. After a few miles I realised there wasn’t much opportunity to turn the bike around without risking getting the wheels sunk into the soft grass and earth at the edges and getting the big GS stuck or even worse losing it down the bank and disappearing under water!
Eventually, I came across a lay-by next to a pile of slate wide enough to turn around so I stopped to consider if I should continue, grabbed the snack out of my tail pack and sat on a pile of slate to admire the view. In the distance I could hear some bikes heading my way from the opposite direction. Three lads were having a lot of fun on their MX bikes, all from out Coventry way they weren’t just keeping to my trail, instead up and over the fields and hills too. They’d parked a van somewhere nearby, and spent the afternoon just riding around and having a laugh. They confirmed I could continue on and find the road in a few miles on, so we said our farewells after a quick photo of the three together (I’ll email on to them later).
I did try and ride the few more miles on as the lads suggested but came across a couple of gates where behind one of them right in the middle of the trail stood a huge bull. I contemplated opening the gate and ‘gunning’ the throttle but I’m ashamed to say I wasn’t quite convinced I could mount my bike and get away fast enough. I remember how fast those bulls could run while over in Pamplona a few years ago, and didn’t fancy playing ‘Matador’ today so turned around and retraced the route I had taken. On the way out I’d been concerned about a rutted incline I’d climbed and didn’t fancy attempting going down it on the way back, now I had no choice. As it turned out my confidence had increased and it didn’t seem anywhere near as bad as I first thought.
It was early evening as I found my way back to the dam with the sun lowering in the sky after a brief stop I enjoyed a nice quiet uninterrupted ride home. Good fun today, and looking forward to visiting the Elan Valley again soon.
