Having collected my new bike earlier in the week and covered a couple of
hundred miles riding around local roads in the evenings, it was time for a
longer ride out somewhere more interesting. Ron and Lindsay were up for a
ride too, the weather looking good for Sunday so all that was required was for
us to decide where. Out West in to Wales was the obvious choice, so many great
roads to ride and I started thinking I hadn't been out to Lake Vyrnwy or Bala
in a while. Looking at the map I fancied a run out to the two lakes
(reservoirs) that are joined together by this wonderful mountain road known as
Bwlch y Groes that roughly translates to 'Pass of the Cross'. Its one
of the highest mountain roads in Wales linking Dinas Mawddwy, Llanuwchllyn and Lake Vyrnwy with views across the
Dyfi valley and Cadair Idris.
Years ago British Motorcycle and Car manufacturers like BSA, Austin and
Triumph used the pass as a formidable test road, and in 1926 BSA won the ACU
Maudes Trophy
for 60 ascents of the pass - a kind of endurance test award to prove machine
handling and reliability. So where better for me to ride my new GS I thought,
I soon plotted out a route on the Basecamp software to take us through some nice country roads in
Shropshire, across the border near Welshpool and around Lake Vrnwy toward
Bala then along the pass. The ride out was fun, and some great roads but I
must confess I was spending too much time playing with my new bike and made a
right 'pigs ear' of leading us along and kept missing turnings or leaving Ron
and Lindsay behind in the distance where they didn't have the route loaded to
follow... oops sorry gents!
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Ron on his Versys |
As we came closer to Vyrnwy the roads became more and more congested and the
narrow road around the lake was full of cyclists, walkers and other vehicles.
Not the best ride around there this time, but we soon picked our way out into
the valleys and found the Mountain Pass road.
By now we were getting hungry and ready to get tucked in to our packed
lunches. I pulled up in the middle of the pass near the gate and soon after
sure enough a British car club consisting of mostly Austin Mini's came along,
obviously re-creating one of the test runs like a scene from the Italian Job.
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Picnic lunch |
Later, we all took a look at the map and decided to head off to the coast.
Ron tempted us with a visit to Tywyn where apparently there is a shop that sells
honeycomb ice-cream. Sadly and much to Lindsay's disappointment the shop was
closed here's a link to Holgates Ice Cream Shop .
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| Tywyn Bay |
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Lindsay and his very tidy looking V-Strom. |
"Awww.. won't someone buy me an Ice-Cream?"
"Oh no, they are shut !"
Ron had us so tempted I guess we will have to go back and try again another day.
I have to say I was well impressed with the condition of Lindsay's V-Strom he bought in 2015 just before our epic Spain/Portugal tour. Over 30 thousand miles now and still going strong. I always admired his highway pegs straight out of the accessory catalogue and new for that year. Touratech - please take note !
Very good fuel economy on the 1250 - 64.2 mpg
Great ride out today, and as a footnote would like to say a big thank-you to Lindsay and Ron for putting up with my poor navigation skills and being so preoccupied and such a 'show off' on my new bike. Always good to ride with you guys at last, the first time this year for the three of us together. Cheers 👍
