Me and my son Rhys woke at 6:00am
so we could have time to get ready without getting into a big argument (he's 10 and I'm childish). We had a nice size bowl of porridge each to set us for the journey ahead
. Here in the Llynfi valley the weather was looking quite good but decided to take over the leather waterproofs all the same. my sons two piece waterproofs needed the collar repaired and my oversuit wouldn't get over my leathers.
Anyway, by the time we got through the waterproofs situation it was time to leave about 7:50. As we were riding out of the valley and stopped for petrol in tondu station the rain started. As we were about to join the M4 it got really heavy. I couldn't see the car in front of me on the M4 it was just a wall of spray and had to drop right back. It looked pixelated I would say. I hadn't gone one junction before I could feel the rain soaking my t-shirt through the venting in my jacket and trickling into my boots.
First stop was at J32 to meet up with Don and BadHarry and Son, Josh. We all decided it was weather dependant and when I woke I pm'd both Don and BH to say were going anyway and they both replied they would be riding too. Don was the first there then me and Rhys then BH and Josh. BH filled his tank up and we were off. I missed the junction and headed up a one way system leaving the petrol station, Good Start. Don got split from us for a minute or two but when we got on the M4 he caught up straight away. We followed BH to the stadium because he was the only one that knew the way.
It was dry by the time we reached the stadium. My son liked Douglas1987's Bike and we began chatting ( he was showing Rhys his war wounds). It was time for a nice warm coffee as my wet clothes were feeling a little chilly now. There was a cheerful character from Blackwood wearing a red swim cap and riding a ninja there who my son said was a bit of a header. There was a disappointing show of numbers when we arrived
but that number grew as the leaving time got close. This was obviously due to the weather.
It was time to line up and get ready to leave.
Markfredrickson about to lead us out.
below is me and Rhys circled on the outside of the line up and BH and Josh circled on the inside (not a very clear pic, I cropped it from one of narkfredricksons on fb). Will add him as a friend.
Don joined with the Group of BLOOD riders that were lined up behind us.
And off we go to our first stop at Abergavenny bus station, Blueracer came over introduced himself to us there, thank you and nice to meet you briefly. A few more riders had joined the group by this stage. 'pic to follow, need to upload'.
A cuppa in a bus shelter as the rain crept in but it was just a little teaser and it passed. We stopped there a hour before heading off to West End Cafe in Llandovery. Before leaving Abergavenny my son asked who these men were with BLOOD in bold red across their back were. You could see the relief in his face when I explained it for good reasons.
BH and Josh had to break away down the A470 back home as Josh was performing that afternoon with his theater group. The rain had caught us by then and I did consider following but on to Llandovery we went. We had lunch in the West End Cafe, Douglas1987 joined me and Rhys for lunch. We were breaking away from the Group to head home over Brecon common, the Rhigos and the Bwlch and decided to leave Llandovery earlier than the group.
markfredrickson spoke briefly to me and my son outside the Cafe just before we left,
we said goodbye to Douglas1987 and blueracer and started to make our way home. I hadn't made the A470 turn off before it started raining, I pulled in to petrol station to fill up and by the time we pulled out the rain had stopped and we never seen another drop all the way home.
We got to Hirwaun roundabout and had a choice of heading toi the M4 and come over the top from Port Talbot or take the mountain roads and we opted for the mountain roads. Bad choice, they had resurfaced (bad choice of name) both the Rhigos and bwlch with tar and just threw loose over the top to be worked in. A terrible excuse for road maintenance. We took our time as you could feel the road moving under your tyres. As we were coming down towards Treherbert there were police cars, an ambulance and a fire engine parked at the side of the banking, it appeared something had lost traction and gone over but we couldn't see anything.
We got home safe and dry
and 20 min later it emptied down here.
All in All it was a good day out, The weather was not great but we were lucky with the little amount of rain we did catch. A nice bunch of people with a friendly atmosphere. Nice to have met you the people mentioned above (and not) and hope to meet all of you again soon.
That was our day, by Ryan and Rhys.
Off to work now, afternoon shift.
