Well, arrived at Terry’s with Sharon and Sarah where we met stunning sunshine and several of you guys. Dhd and Ange, Rosie, Pope and Chamz, Fuzzr, Rumble, Pingu, Bendintheroad, slappa, wedge, diligaf, valleygixer, and probably a few iv’e missed. (pm me if you were there so I can edit the post) A few of the guys were only there to wave us off, but if iv’e got this right there were still about 14 in total that set off for Gog land.
Departed Terry’s just after 9.30 and took the usual route through Brecon and Upper Chapel - freshly gravelled sections ruined this bit for us - but the roads would more than make up for it for the rest of the weekend. A brief stop at the Little Chef in Builth just to re-group and top up the tanks.
The troops
Ange
Dhd
Fuzzr
Onwards to Newtown and beyond via the superb A483 with warm tarmac, great views, and fast twisties. This is why we work!
Eventually arrived for dinner at the Ponda Rosa cafe just north of Llangollen on the Horseshoe Pass, where I met up with Carl and Dionne (son and his gf) who had travelled down from Rotherham, and Rosie caught up with Nigel and Tiv who run Bikers Retreat - You are not allowed to view links.
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Carl and Dionne
Rosie, Nigel, and Ange
Plenty of bikes about at the Ponda as always, although this is only a few...
We then headed to Ruthin where we picked up the B5105 to Cerrygydrudion then turned right on the awesome B4501 as recommended by Red. Thanks for that Red
B4501
When we got to this junction we turned left down the A543..........
.....Well, most of us did. Pingu and Rumble thought they needed some time alone so headed the wrong way. How was Denbigh lads?
More of the 543
When we got to the end of the road Carl headed back oop North, and a few others headed back to South Wales. We waited as long as we could for the missing riders but decided to move on to Llanberis having made phone calls to various people to get a message to em that we'd see em at the hotel.
Eventually arrived at the hotels only to find that lord and lady llanberis in the Erw Fair had let one of our rooms go. Twat! So, Dave and Jaquie in the Mount Pleasant hotel came to the rescue and all was well with the world. It's a basic hotel but it's cheap, clean, and most importantly is run by biker friendly people. Well worth a visit
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) to order some drinks, and a sit down outside while we waited for the lost boys to arrive.
Rosie
'Cousin It', Dhd, Ange.
Chamz
Rumble, and the fashion god that is Pingu
So with the group back together we headed off to Padarn lake to stretch our legs and basically fuck about.....
Like kids on a school trip
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Aww bless
Peace restored at Llyn Padarn
Time for some more nom noms.....
...then off to the pub where I would teach Dhd and Fuzzr how to play pool. Badly!
Dave looks on in disbelief as I win yet another game
My fans
We were then entertained by a solo artist from Liverpool called Jane. Cue Dhd to start taking the piss. How we didn't get thrown out i'll never know. We were in fuckin stitches
You can only appreciate this if you know him, the bloke is fuckin mad and he even had an effect on Rosie
(scouse accent) "Me heads choka!"
Apply alcohol and stand well back
Sharon and Ange gettin jiggy wid it
Guess who
I hope that was a 9volt battery you just put your tongue on Fuzz
The things you do when you've had a few
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And this one
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We found the offending socks in a tree the next morning. Fuzzr had launched em out the window
A superb full english was served by Jaquie for those of us in the 'friendly' hotel, whilst Dave and Ange feasted on freshly murdered Swan that was killed with a Blunderbus sometime in the early hours by Lord llanberis. Pompous twat!
Hungover, fully fed, back on the bikes, and off we went along the Llanberis Pass.
Turned right at the end of the pass for Beddgelert and stopped for a quick photoshoot in the foothills of Snowdon. This is Pergyl territory. We've all seen the signs - 'Danger-Pergyl'. Well, according to Dhd Pergyls are creatures that live in the long grass of Snowdonia, and if you're walking in a group and fall behind they'll drag you off and kill you
Fuzzr wondering why we've only done 10 miles in half an hour
Guess who. Again.
My lovely girls. Snowdon somewhere in the background.
The road to Beddgelert (which is Welsh for Dead Dog. It's true, google it)
Dead Dog
South from Beddgelert on the 498 and the 4058
Much needed fuel.....
....and then the 470 and 478 to Dolgellau and Machynlleth and Fuzzr was 'On it' all the way. Fuckin mentaloid
Luckily we were flashed by oncoming vehicles warning us of plod. We passed said copper sedately and saw that he'd already pulled a bike or two. Then some twat towing a caravan decided he'd pull out of a lay-by in front of Rosie causing her to get real hard on the brakes. It wasn't as if he didn't see her coming as it was a long straight that he was parked on. Tosser didn't even appologise - instead just chose to flash his headlights and gesture out the window at her as if it were her fault!
Time for a coffee stop in Machynlleth
From there we headed along some twisty B roads to get to Llyn Clywedog.
Just one bike parked the wrong way round if you look carefully, and I won't say who it was. She also bottled it on the hairpin to get to here and carried straight on. Fuzzr to the rescue as he can read Rosie like a book
An abandoned Pergyl settlement at the foot of the dam complete with stables for their legendary 'Arafs'. You've seen the signs for them haven't you? Slow - Araf. You don't wanna hit one of those buggers at speed!
Plenty of ice cream later as i'd forgotten the previous arrangement to stop at Beddgelert for one
and it was off on the final leg for the 470 to Terry's. Waved goodbye to Fuzzr as he turned right at Beulah
A massive thanks to all that came along, you guys made it all worthwhile
Will have to arrange another one soon.
Footnote:- As you've probably noticed i'm shit at write ups, but I hope the photos more than make up for my lack of literary skills. A few of the above pics were pinched from Google Streetview, and my missus did a great job of taking some from the back of the bike
The End
