A weekend ride around North Wales

Last weekend I was all set for a trip down south riding around Devon and Dartmoor but the original plans changed so with my camping gear ready packed I decided to head off anyway and visit Snowdonia, some of the Castles of North Wales and combine it with a circular route around Anglesey Island.

I was pleased after a quick phone call on the way to work when Lindsay confirmed he was able to join me, this time with his annual mileage up on his 'wee Strom' he'd be riding his trusty Bandit 1200 instead. We arranged to meet outside my place of work in Worcester at 2.30 Friday afternoon to ride up as far as Snowdonia National park to stay two nights at a pre booked campsite near Beddgelert recommended by Brayf' (who sadly couldn't join us). 

The route up from Worcester 144 miles

After a good run down the A44 to Leominster, then on to Rhayader before tracking North up the A470 avoiding the Friday afternoon traffic, we took a quick stop for fuel on the edge of Snowdonia national park. Fuelling up and  looking up the valley we could see rain over the the mountains in the distance so decided get our rain gear on, a good decision as 3 miles out we hit the real wet stuff, however, within 20 miles from Beddgelert the rain stopped and we had a great ride through that twisty section on the A4085, a tree lined road with mossy stone walls as we passed through Aberglaslyn and the very tempting smells coming from the chip shop by the side of the road. We made the campsite by 6.30pm and decided to skip an early tea to ensure the tents were pitched in the dry. 

   

Later, we took a short walk to town and settled in the popular Prince Llewelyn Hotel and pub for a cracking veggie curry and Lasagne with a couple of pints of the rather more'ish 'Dizzy Blonde' ale before a walk back to our interrupted nights sleep as the rain hammered the tent for a few hours before finally getting off to sleep about 2am! 

Early up Saturday morning, we took off on a ride through the Llanberis Pass , a bit wet on the road but a cracking ride up and around a dry but cloud shrouded Snowdon. Loads of bikers out, we met what must be the Triumph owners club with a token R1200RS leading as it seemed. We took off ahead of them, and followed the road down the pass. A nice run, a bit like a mini Alpine Pass, but uniquely Welsh.

Llanberis Pass A4086

 

From Llanberis we made our way to Caernarfon and parked our bikes right outside the Castle in the town, pulled up next to a local guy by his Triumph Tiger who was joined by his mate. Got chatting about bikes and stuff and how the English built the castle to keep the Welsh under control so I avoided asking where we could get a good full English breakfast and asked for a good cafe that serves a fry up instead! They suggested the place over the road so we headed over there to fill our bellies, by this time mid morning and nothing more than a biscuit and brew at the campsite we were both ready for the large breakfast with black pudding (Lindsay donating me his pudding as he's not so keen), washed down with a mug of tea.

  
Caernarfon Castle

After brekkie we left Caernarfon to head over the Britannia bridge crossing the Menai straight on to Anglesey island following a pre planned clockwise route where the first point of interest was an Iron Age burial chamber called  Bryan Celli Ddu. We parked up and walked about 15 minutes down a narrow path to a field with the chamber encircled by stones a bit like a mini Stonehenge type barrow. 

Burial chamber entrance. 

  

Other 'barrow' rock formations.

   

Roll that slab across now!

View of Snowdon from Anglesey

Always amazes me how these Iron Age folks moved great slabs of stone to form the roof above the chamber. Looking out you could see a great view of the Snowdonia mountain range. The weather over on Anglesey quite clear and bright, yet the micro climate of the mountains suspended in a layer of cloud filled rain.

The next stop on the planned route was Newborough Warren, the beach South West of the island. Cars pay 4 quid to drive down the road to the beach car park, we were allowed to ride the path around the barriers for free.

Newborough Warren

We didn't stay at the beach for long, back on the bikes for a ride on to Holy Island and to South Stacks (named after the cliff rock formation) on the north west side. Parked at the RSPB reserve and ordered a cup of tea at the cafe. The Garmin took us a strange but enjoyable route, crossing country one minute, down narrow lanes and farm tracks. I was forgetting Lindsay was on the Bandit not the V-Strom, he did well on the looser stuff, luckily the route took us on the main dual carriageway through the island for the next part, I guess it  was due to not enough way points on this section of the route forced my Garmin to 'make it up' using its own interpretation of 'fastest'. Lindsay had his TomTom fitted to the Bandit and it was trying a different route, but I guess we are both aware of these differences now, so just go with the route of the leader without too much fuss. 

The cafe was quite busy during school holiday season and plenty of cake on offer, but we resisted and after tea to refresh the lull of the afternoon we were set for the next leg, stopping at South Stacks Lighthouse briefly to grab a quick 🤳 selfie .... !

South Stacks Lighthouse

Next stop Beaumaris to see the Castle there, and what a ride. Superb coastal route getting a good run on through the twisties on the east side of the island as we headed for Amlwch, the most northerly town in Wales. The ride south was free of traffic, the Garmin choosing a most satisfactory route this time down to Beaumaris along the B5108 and B5109. We both commented on how it seemed we were riding on the Isle of Man the kind of roads similar to some of the TT course.

Beaumaris Castle  

A busy time in the town on a Saturday and we struggled to find a parking space and ended up having to buy a parking ticket for a few hours, never done that before on my bike. Lindsay amused me with his idea of photographing the tickets against our license plates in case someone nicked our tickets - very obvious when you think of it. It's about tea time as we arrived,  so the obvious choice was Fish and Chips in a very busy chip shop over the road. Not bad, but strange batter though. I like Beaumaris, I'm going to come back one day and have a good look around. The view of Snowdon across the Menai was sublime, and we were well aware the cloudbase in the distance was positioned right over our tents. The weather on Anglesey was so different, those Welsh bikers in Caernarfon said it would be better despite rain storms on the Welsh mainland and they were right. The Castle is credited with having perfectly formed round turrets on each corner, we didn't go in and visit it closes at 5pm but managed to get a good look from the fence outside.

 

Rain over Snowdonia?

 

The Saturday Route around Llanberis, Snowdon and Anglesey 146 miles.

Heading back to the campsite we crossed back on to the mainland over the Menai Suspension Bridge and then it became clear I had entered the coordinates of the campsite incorrectly, realising something was wrong as we headed back through Caernarfon again it looked like we were heading too far in an easterly direction, so I turned up toward Beddgelert and asked Lindsay to take the lead. Back at the campsite we changed and headed out for another pint, before turning in for the night after that long dark walk back up the unlit lane. 

The following morning we were dealt a lucky hand with the weather, and no rain so thankfully we got to pack our gear away in the dry before heading across to Porthmadog for Breakfast. Another great run out to the coast, typical quiet Sunday morning following Lindsay through the valleys and farmlands, I spotted the cafe at the railway station in Porthmadog centre that runs up to Snowdon e.g. the famous Ffestiniog rail line, so where better to get our second fry up of the weekend! Very nice spot and a good breakfast too.

  

Porthmadog Harbour

On our way home we decided a run down through Bala and across the Bwlch y Groes pass to Lake Vrnwy. I have ridden this pass before a few times and I love it. It's one of the highest roads in Wales and featured in Adventure Bike Rider magazine quite often and has the nickname Hellfire pass. Years ago it was used by Midlands motor manufacturers (Austin) for road tests, and BSA for bike testing too. 

While parked up I spotted a bird of prey fly on to the stone wall rising up the valley. I wipped out my binoculars from my top box to spot the feather markings, mainly brown with a lighter breast markings, not sure at the time and thought it might have been a Marsh Harrier, but looking at books since my return  I'm now convinced it was a Buzzard. 

Lindsay pointing toward the pass

 

Looking back down Bwlch y Groes

After a tea break at the Cafe on Lake Vyrnwy our final route home took us back through Welshpool, Montgomery, Ludlow and over Clee Hill. Great weekend, great company - cheers Lindsay. North Wales is a great substitute for missing out on a bike trip abroad this year, certainly put a smile on my face, look forward to our return some day.

Dodging Summer Showers

These last few weeks of July has seen plenty of weekend summer showers, I've been looking forward to a ride out somewhere but recent days out visiting National Trust places with Helen left me resorting to a ride to work this week just to get my kicks on the bike. I don't usually commute by bike, choose to leave motorcycling to fun times not associated with work but the weather in the week was good enough to take a nice run down through Astley and Shrawley via Hallow and a return home via Martley and Great Whitley. I fitted my panniers to transport my heavyweight laptop, bit of an overkill but I do like the exhaust growl resonating off them ! Good fun riding those Bewdley switchbacks, they always get the adrenaline flowing.

On one rainy Sunday I decided to spray the Givi Airflow screen from the inside. I really like the Givi Airflow on Lindsay's V-Strom, it has a black band across the centre and really tidies the look. The GS version of the Airflow is clear, and shows all of the GPS brackets, clocks and other hardware, doesn't look as 'sporty' as I think it could. I was convinced by copying the design of the V-Strom version it would tidy the front end up a bit. I removed the screen and gave it a thorough clean first and masked off the remaining screen carefully follwing the contours of the cockpit shape with just enough height to hide up to the clocks.I used Plasticote Barbecue Matt black paint sprayed on to the inside of the screen. Really pleased with the results, see above photo.

Finally today, the weather looked promising, Lindsay just back from his trip away with Roy and Ron riding the Alpenstrasse in Germany so we agreed to meet for a local ride with a cafe stop somewhere so I can hear all about his tales. The forecast was showers later, depending on our chosen route, so we decided to 'wing it' with me leading and left for Bewdley and Button Oak taking the back roads into the countryside toward Kinlet and on to Cleobury Mortimer, over Clee Hill, then down to Tenbury, before diverting down towards Bromyard in the usual spirited fashion!

Just as we passed Ledbury, while really enjoying the ride, a few rain drops on the visor turned into the start of a deluge just after we passed a posh looking cafe / garden centre called The Nest. Definitely one to remember, they do a really nice Eggs Benedict it seems with what seemed like a Parma Ham. Lindsay went for a healthy looking bacon buttie, so we settled in comfort while waiting for the rain to pass, listening to his time riding the Alpenstrasse and the Gerlos pass. How I remember it well from 2013, and so glad he got to see that Krimml waterfall. 

 

Later, our mostly dry run took us back up towards Leominster before turning off the A49 on the edge of the Berrington Estate taking us back into Shropshire, the outskirts of Ludlow and that wonderful road through the little village of Caynham before riding the edge of Clee Hill, this time turning off right down the lanes to Corley before popping back out on the main road at Hopton Wafers. 

We covered over a hundred miles this morning, despite taking the Garmin I didn't need to use it at all. Another great ride just making it up as we go, turning off the main roads on roads only travelled by the locals. 👍😀

Shropshire Back Roads and Stiperstones Summit

Laundry Day

This past month I have been agonising over how to clean my BMW Rallye Suit. It's getting on for three years old now, although I've owned a set of textile riding gear before (Heine Gericke), I have never washed and treated one. After several summer trips in the Alps, Spain,Portugal, Scotland and many days riding around Wales the suit was beginning to 'hum', the sleeves and trousers were soiled from that last trip to Scotland in torrential rain near Applecross, and heat and dust of last years GS Challenge. The zips were getting stiff, the whole suit was er, quite 'rank' really so with the dry weather ideal for drip drying I decided to go for it and see what happens. Here's a guide for the very pleasing results and how and what I used (In case I forget for next time).

   

My now cleaner Rallye 3 Jacket after wash and treatment with NikiWax

The labels suggested a cooler 30 degree wash after removing the liners and body protection (back,elbows,knees and hips), and then a repeat wash at the same temperature with BMW's own none silicon based rain resistant proofing. I didn't fancy paying BMW prices for what is essentially none silicon NikiWax, I discovered I had a sachet in the garage anyway, so Helen gave the jacket a cleaning wash first, followed by another wash with the NikiWax TX.direct wash in in a ball dispenser.  I then hung it out to drip dry on the washing line, avoiding direct sunlight. The jacket came up like new, and the zips glide smooth now. All of he grime has gone and has a nice new shine to it. I bought another sachet from Go Outdoors and repeated with the trousers and with a spray bottle of the same stuff treated the seams, sleeves etc for additional repellency at places the wear is greater. I'm really pleased with the result, and hopefully better protected from a rain drench ride now.

Stiperstones 

  

For last Sunday myself and Lindsay agreed an 8am meet at my house for a fairly local ride. The usual options are down in to Hereford, up into Shropshire or the Welsh Marches, but rather than plan a route we agreed to just see where our bikes took us, heading in a westerly direction. I started the run, in the direction of Bridgnorth but this time instead of taking the usual route down to Much Wenlock I continued straight at Bridgnorth on toward Telford, then toward Coalbrookdale and Ironbridge before riding back down toward Shrewsbury passing the power station. We pulled over at this very picturesque bend on the River Severn near Buildwas on the B4380. 

Quite amazing how the river runs a course like this, it does make me wonder how or why the river loops round without any obvious (to me anyway) obstacle. Was this a river 'meander' where faster currents on one side of the river eroded the bank on one side (see left bank on bend near the tree) or was it some other hidden feature? 

I then set my Garmin for a direct run to Church Stretton to avoid the boring A roads up and around Shrewsbury instead for the  back roads and lanes crossing the river near Cressage, then on through the lanes and fords to Acton Burnell before arriving at the Cafe near the foot of Long Mynd. The cafe quite a popular stop for cyclists before they attempt the Mynd, so we got talking to a few and one guy in a particular with a bike worth £6000 who seemed to cover a lot of ground on this incredibly light carbon fibre bike. We both polished off a nice small breakfast and cuppa before taking a ride over the Mynd and down to Stiperstones car park to climb one of the six Shropshire summits and visit the unique rock formation known as the 'Devils Chair'.

  

We decided to climb up to the summit, and since it was a fine summers day again I had my shorts and sandals in the top box, not the most appropriate footwear on this rocky terrain, following Lindsay who was getting a great run up in his bike boots. I recently watched a TV documentary about prehistoric Mammoths roaming these Shropshire hills, where the ground back then was a tundra - a great source of food for them. During the last Ice Age the hills were covered with ice and the rock formations were a product of ice millions of years ago. Amazing to think the ice flow covered everything in sight.

The Devil found his Chair!

I haven't been up here on the summit since walking all six Shropshire hills back when I was at school. Great view out across Shropshire and into Wales. We reckon we could see the start of Snowdonia and Cadair Idris from here.

 

Later after setting the Garmin to avoid a return trip over the Mynd by forcing the route down along that wonderful twisty road to Clun, first stopping at the School house cafe Lindsay suggested at The Bog, so named because the village was literally built on a watery bog continually fed by water coming off the hills. This was a lead mining village and the guy in the cafe explained how it flooded so often they dug many soak aways until the advent of steam power helped them pump the water away further down the hill into the next village! Sadly, because of this and despite being a great source of lead, the mine was continually close to bankruptcy so ceased to operate sometime during the 1930s. 

After a cuppa and cake the run back home cut cross country via Craven Arms toward Morville until I took a right and up another narrow lane up a hill on the outskirts of Bridgnorth to cut the corner through the lanes down to Kinlet, Button Oak then Bewdley, with twisties and lanes all the way. Great for the GS and V-Strom. Just proves we don't have to ride far from home to have a fun day on our bikes.

A Good Biker Read

Recently I started reading the latest (3rd in series) of Neil Peart's books bought for me by Helen last Christmas describing motorcycle travels between 'Rush' shows on his GS. The book 'Far and Wide' covers the 40th anniversary tour (R40) interspersed with biographical accounts of his life, latest projects, family, the guys at work and other thought provoking matter. The first book I read and mentioned in the blog post here called Far and Away set the scene, then his second book on the same theme titled Far and Near covered rides 'shunpiking' In Europe too. 

   

For Far and Wide the motorcycling tales are based on his rides through North America and Canada using Wal-Marts as a truck stop to unload the bikes after shows, where they head off with his GS riding security guard Michael (and others) on adventure rides from city to city visiting National Parks, Indian reservations always via remote back roads on the way to his next Rush gig. How the guy manages to arrive and play a two hour set still amazes me. This latest book describes how at age 60 plus he has decided to stop touring as he explains how he arrived at the decision after 40 years of shows, drum solos and lyric writing. I have to say, these books really do inspire me to ride in the US and Canada soon. A bit of a pipe dream I know but looking at the photos with Neil's narrative you can't help adding some of his routes to the great rides to do before you kick the bucket list! I just wish he would publish the routes he has taken over the years along with GPX files too.