Everything But The Track

[Trinity765]

I can't just go to Wales for a track day, no, I added a few of my own bits and had a really great time with a mix of many things.

Friday

Day1 by Trinity 765, on Flickr

My brother and his family live on the north Devon/Cornwall boarder and by coincidence happened to be traveling my way (Sussex) for the weekend to see my Mum and friends. Sorry that we were going to miss each other we decided to cross paths in Stockbridge. While I've seen my brother a couple of times since covid hit, I've not seen his wife or my niece and nephew. My Dad also decided to join us from Berks and as if things were meant to be, we all arrived within five minutes of each other and could enjoy a long hours catch up before we all had to get on. I left Stockbridge emotional but very, very happy.

I went through Lacock as it's great for a photo and misses out Chippenham, then scooted as far along the M4 as I could before jumping on it and crossing over the old M48 bridge for Chepstow at its gets proper twisty from there. I dropped in on the relatively new biker coffee haven Baffle Haus, south of Abergavenny on the A4042. I headed up to Brecon to then cross the Black Mountains over the A4067 and down to Kidwelly. The last hour of the journey was a nightmare as it was mainly towns, 20s 30s and 40s, Ammanford, Cross Hand, Pontyberem.

My Airb&b cottage was an old petrol station owned by a young family, the husband of which was a through and through petrol head. He competed in dirt bike and rally racing and despite how tired I was each time I arrived there, we chatted for at least an hour about our petrol passions. His wife worked for a vets and kept bringing dogs home, they have 10 at the moment. I could see my bike from the sofa which was nice.

Lacock

2021-08-23_06-12-20 by Trinity 765, on Flickr

Baffle Haus

2021-08-23_06-12-45 by Trinity 765, on Flickr
2021-08-23_06-13-20 by Trinity 765, on Flickr

Mountain road
2021-08-23_06-13-45 by Trinity 765, on Flickr

A couple of the neighbours

2021-08-23_06-14-23 by Trinity 765, on Flickr

Keeping an eye on each other

2021-08-23_06-14-59 by Trinity 765, on Flickr

Saturday

I did a trackday

PBGreen21_4191pp by Trinity 765, on Flickr

Sunday

I planned a route along the coast to Aberystwyth as I like the B4120 east from there. I've ridden the welsh coast a few times and while it has some wonderful views, there's a lot of towns, 30s and 40s mixed with tankers and caravans crawling up the inclines which is a shame as the roads are great. From there I headed to the Abergwesyn pass and onto the Caffi Sosban, Llanwrtyd Wells for coffee and Jaffa cake in the garden by the river. I did the military road from Tirabad to Llywel, sorry, can't stop for photos there - but boy is it a good one! Then the obligatory A4069.

Aberystwyth

2021-08-23_06-15-38 by Trinity 765, on Flickr

Abergwesyn pass

2021-08-23_06-17-15 by Trinity 765, on Flickr

That's what I call Jaffa Cake

2021-08-23_06-18-03 by Trinity 765, on Flickr

Views from A4069

2021-08-23_06-19-20 by Trinity 765, on Flickr

2021-08-23_06-19-50 by Trinity 765, on Flickr

I returned on Monday the same route as I went but went Head of The Valleys to save time.

These are my favourite kinds of long weekends

[Yorick]

Glad you had fun

just sorry you had to put up with Bigyin all day

[Trinity765]

Glad you had fun

just sorry you had to put up with Bigyin all day

I have no idea what he said all day long! I said "um" and "ahh yeah" at the right times and I don't think he noticed

[Yorick]

Glad you had fun

just sorry you had to put up with Bigyin all day

I have no idea what he said all day long! I said "um" and "ahh yeah" at the right times and I don't think he noticed

He's better when he's sober

[Bigyin]

Glad you had fun

just sorry you had to put up with Bigyin all day

I have no idea what he said all day long! I said "um" and "ahh yeah" at the right times and I don't think he noticed

You can go off people quite easily you know

[Yorick]

Glad you had fun

just sorry you had to put up with Bigyin all day

I have no idea what he said all day long! I said "um" and "ahh yeah" at the right times and I don't think he noticed

You can go off people quite easily you know

[Trinity765]

Glad you had fun

just sorry you had to put up with Bigyin all day

I have no idea what he said all day long! I said "um" and "ahh yeah" at the right times and I don't think he noticed

You can go off people quite easily you know

Um, yeah. 28, 34?

[Dodgy69]

Cracking ride that @Trinity765 , you know how to spend a weekend.

[Trinity765]

I forgot to add the screenshot of my day trip. Here is it now.

Day2 by Trinity 765, on Flickr

And as it happens, I've been invited to the Sander's ranch in Machynlleth on Friday. Mr Sander's won't be there as he's in Ireland promoting something so I'll be helping his better half around the garden......and drinking wine and gossiping about bikes and bikey people n all that - living the dream Assuming I get my bike back on Tuesday like what they told me I would.

[Yorick]

I have no idea what he said all day long! I said "um" and "ahh yeah" at the right times and I don't think he noticed

You can go off people quite easily you know

Um, yeah. 28, 34?

[The Spin Doctor]

That road out of Tregaron up and over the Cambrian Mountains and down the Devil's Staircase is one of my favs. Unfortunately, last time I did it, after having lunch in warm sun at the cafe at Devils Bridge, a huge thunderstorm broke over our heads just as we started the climb. The rain was torrential, washing fist-sized rocks into the road, and lasted all the way back to Hay on Wye. The scariest bit was seeing lightning strike the crest we'd come over about 30 seconds earlier!

[Trinity765]

That road out of Tregaron up and over the Cambrian Mountains and down the Devil's Staircase is one of my favs. Unfortunately, last time I did it, after having lunch in warm sun at the cafe at Devils Bridge, a huge thunderstorm broke over our heads just as we started the climb. The rain was torrential, washing fist-sized rocks into the road, and lasted all the way back to Hay on Wye. The scariest bit was seeing lightning strike the crest we'd come over about 30 seconds earlier!

A guy in my group got stuck at the top with a puncture a couple of years ago. There is no phone signal up there. Another guy run him to an outbound centre near by where he phoned the AA. This was around 2pm and he wasn't recovered until 10am the next day. The people at the outbound centre said many people get into trouble up when there is heavy rain. Flash flooding has claimed many lives. I left him with someone who had never ridden in Wales but he had a Serv sticker so I thought "he's a big boy, he'll be ok". The Serv guy got back to base at 1am. I asked him how doing The Devil Staircase for the first time at night went (that region has dark sky status). He said "Eyes! All I could see was eyes"

[The Spin Doctor]

A guy in my group got stuck at the top with a puncture a couple of years ago. There is no phone signal up there. Another guy run him to an outbound centre near by where he phoned the AA. This was around 2pm and he wasn't recovered until 10am the next day. The people at the outbound centre said many people get into trouble up when there is heavy rain. Flash flooding has claimed many lives. I left him with someone who had never ridden in Wales but he had a Serv sticker so I thought "he's a big boy, he'll be ok". The Serv guy got back to base at 1am. I asked him how doing The Devil Staircase for the first time at night went (that region has dark sky status). He said "Eyes! All I could see was eyes"

Bloody heck... that's not exactly 5* service is it? I know the road's remote... but it's not THAT far from civilisation. They should be able to get a truck up there in a couple of hours.

There is actually a public phone box partway along the road up on the most remote bit, if you know it's there... but you've still got to get to it. I think I'd have just ridden on, on the flat. If it's tubeless it'll stay on the rim even if corners get a bit tricky.

Time to remember to pack the puncture repair kit with the sticky string

If Hurricane Ida doesn't create a weekend of rubbish weather (which looks rather likely) we're planning on taking the bike to visit a friend near Cardigan, spend a couple of days there, then take two days to get back to London which would give us time to detour into the mountains and do the Tregaron - Abergwesyn road on Monday! If it looks like it's going to pee down, it'll be the car! I spent too many years as a courier and full-time instructor getting soaking wet to ride in pouring rain when I don't need to.

[Trinity765]

A guy in my group got stuck at the top with a puncture a couple of years ago. There is no phone signal up there. Another guy run him to an outbound centre near by where he phoned the AA. This was around 2pm and he wasn't recovered until 10am the next day. The people at the outbound centre said many people get into trouble up when there is heavy rain. Flash flooding has claimed many lives. I left him with someone who had never ridden in Wales but he had a Serv sticker so I thought "he's a big boy, he'll be ok". The Serv guy got back to base at 1am. I asked him how doing The Devil Staircase for the first time at night went (that region has dark sky status). He said "Eyes! All I could see was eyes"

Bloody heck... that's not exactly 5* service is it? I know the road's remote... but it's not THAT far from civilisation. They should be able to get a truck up there in a couple of hours.

There is actually a public phone box partway along the road up on the most remote bit, if you know it's there... but you've still got to get to it. I think I'd have just ridden on, on the flat. If it's tubeless it'll stay on the rim even if corners get a bit tricky.

Time to remember to pack the puncture repair kit with the sticky string

If Hurricane Ida doesn't create a weekend of rubbish weather (which looks rather likely) we're planning on taking the bike to visit a friend near Cardigan, spend a couple of days there, then take two days to get back to London which would give us time to detour into the mountains and do the Tregaron - Abergwesyn road on Monday! If it looks like it's going to pee down, it'll be the car! I spent too many years as a courier and full-time instructor getting soaking wet to ride in pouring rain when I don't need to.

You have three choices in places like Wales, around the mountain, over the mountain or along a river valley. All good fun in good weather. I avoid going over mountains in bad weather.

I am being kind about the guy who got the puncture. He had a bald tyre. I didn't know until he went through it at the worst possible place so my sympathy had a limit.

Someone told me how the AA work, they would have phoned the nearest contractor and they would have said "no thanks". Then they would have phoned the next nearest contractor and they would have said "no". And so on until they would have sent one of their own pick up trucks which could have been anywhere in the country. All the time the stranded guy was being told "they will be there in an hour". They offered him a hotel and he asked how he was supposed to get to it and they had no solution.

The guy with the bald tyre was lucky, the outbound centre put him up for the night and the pick up truck, a local, was a biker and knew somewhere that had a tyre. He had a KTM but they didn't have the tool needed to remove the wheel. Again, as luck would have it, they phoned around and found one for him. He was back on the road that day.

[The Spin Doctor]

You have three choices in places like Wales, around the mountain, over the mountain or along a river valley. All good fun in good weather. I avoid going over mountains in bad weather.

In better times I run courses in Wales... start somewhere on the border not to far from Craven Arms, then ride over the top on the A44, lunch at Devils Bridge, then back via the Elan Valley to Rhayader.

But I also have a Plan B route which stays in England in the Shropshire Hills if the weather turns bad.

I am being kind about the guy who got the puncture. He had a bald tyre. I didn't know until he went through it at the worst possible place so my sympathy had a limit.

Best not tell you about the trip to the Bol then, the one where Andy and I looked at our respective despatch bikes on a Wednesday night, eyed up the well-worn tyres, and thought "they'll do".

They didn't.

My rear was bald by the time we got to the Paul Rockard, and wore down to the cord between Maidstone and Catford (Watling Tyres). Andy's front lost all tread on the shoulders thanks to Gorge de l'Ardeche on the way back.

Someone told me how the AA work, they would have phoned the nearest contractor and they would have said "no thanks". Then they would have phoned the next nearest contractor and they would have said "no". And so on until they would have sent one of their own pick up trucks which could have been anywhere in the country. All the time the stranded guy was being told "they will be there in an hour". They offered him a hotel and he asked how he was supposed to get to it and they had no solution.

The guy with the bald tyre was lucky, the outbound centre put him up for the night and the pick up truck, a local, was a biker and knew somewhere that had a tyre. He had a KTM but they didn't have the tool needed to remove the wheel. Again, as luck would have it, they phoned around and found one for him. He was back on the road that day.

Still pretty crap service. A mate of mine waited 4 hours after the igniter box failed on his morning ride to work, before giving up. He pushed the bike home - about four miles, which took him another couple of hours. He got a call just as he wheeled the bike into the garage from the AA - "our van's on the scene and can't find you".

[Trinity765]

You have three choices in places like Wales, around the mountain, over the mountain or along a river valley. All good fun in good weather. I avoid going over mountains in bad weather.

In better times I run courses in Wales... start somewhere on the border not to far from Craven Arms, then ride over the top on the A44, lunch at Devils Bridge, then back via the Elan Valley to Rhayader.

I enter/exit the Elan Valley via Llanwrthwl/A470 when I take a tour and sometimes for fun as it goes through the Elan Village and over an iron bridge.

Where do you lunch at Devils Bridge? I am a long time customer at The Hafod and have had a few interesting stays there. It has new owners and is being modernised, I'm not complaining. I had a date with my helmet there a few years ago and limped back home through the Elan valley.

149 by Trinity 765, on Flickr

[The Spin Doctor]

It's here - Woodlands Caravan Park.

Doesn't do much in the way of food but I don't want a big meal whilst riding. A cuppa is more important.

https://goo.gl/maps/ujwQx8J4K4MKmo8BA

[Druid]

My wife and I stopped at the Woodlands a couple of years ago (in a campervan). Nice enough site but it had been raining hard for a couple of days and the pitches were waterlogged. Who would have thought it in Wales. We had planned to go down to the pub for a meal and a few beers but it was shut because the new owners were moving in

[Dodgy69]

and there's this place.

[Trinity765]

and there's this place.

That's is the one that seems the most popular with bikers, probably as there is limited parking outside of the Hafod. You can't beat sitting on the verandah of the Hafod on a warm summers day (a rare occurrence I know) with a cold drink, watching the world go by. You normally see a few nice cars there as well as plenty of bikes.

All the roads that lead away from Devils Bridge are ace

From Devils Bridge to Tregaron, then to Lampeter on the A485 and back to Tregaron on the B4343 - so a circle. Unless someone knows the area, the don't know they've been through Tregaon twice. I've had a few lunches at The Talbot too, but more often or not, grabbed something from the Spa and sat in the square.