We love Wales 
In Welsh & English
Wednesday 21st October 2020
Having already enjoyed trips to the North of England and Scotland it was time for a visit to Wales before the winter; I can then say I have visited all the countries of Great Britain in 2020!
Wales is rather like Scotland in that it rains a lot this time of year, so planning dates ahead is rather like playing roulette. Thankfully I have formed a good relationship with Martin, the owner of The Elan Hotel in Rhayader, having brought various groups of bikers to his hotel over the years. Not only does he kindly offer us a discounted room rate, but also will be flexible on cancellation terms in the event of heavy rain forecasted. I booked rooms for a group of 7 of us for 3 nights starting Tues 22nd Sept; when it came to our decision deadline sure enough rain was forecast during our 4 day ride. At the last minute Martin let us change the dates and we brought the trip forward a day; this turned out to be a great move as Monday 21st Sept was a beautiful warm sunny day 🙂
5 of us (Chris, Matt, Colin, Andy Shep and me) set of from Oxford on the Monday morning and by lunchtime we were in the Brecon Beacons National Park to meet up with our 6th member, Yorkshire John. (Big Richard, the 7th member would join us at the hotel the next day)
Our route took us through the National Park and then over the Black Mountains to the fantastic Llyn Brianne reservoir not far from Llandovery. The scenery here is spectacular but the roads around the reservoir are narrow, undulating, strewn with sheep and often areas of uneven surface..ideal for our Adventure bikes..2 x BMW GS, 3 x KTM and then Shep with his Yam MT-10 Naked street bike.
After more great roads our next stop was Devils Bridge and the Two Hoots café for a cuppa; unfortunately the café was closed because of Covid and the lack of tourists. There is a little shop opposite which sells ice creams and chocolate, so it was ice cream on a sunny day in Wales. From there we took the mountain road to Rhayader; fantastic open moorland, narrow road, lots of sheep..a great ride to the Elan Hotel and a couple of pints of the local beer at the end of a good day.
The next morning, after a full Welsh breakfast, we set off on a 250 mile loop up to Snowdonia.
The route took us via the fantastic Crossgates to Newtown road..20+ miles of fast twisty and sweeping road and after Welshpool to Lake Vyrnwy, where we stopped for coffee. We set off again for Bala via Bwlch y Groes (Pass of the Cross) a stunning, narrow mountain road. Some of the guys had a quick stop to water the foliage on the way..
We filled up with petrol in Bala and then headed off to Snowdonia. As we started to climb higher the temperature dropped and it started to drizzel; as we turned onto a long stretch of open moorland road we rode into thick mist. After a quick discussion we decided to abandon that part of the route and head back South to try and miss the worst of the rain..such is the weather up in the hills and mountains of Snowdonia.
By the time we had ridden 40 miles South and had lunch the rain had stopped, so we took the superb mountain road from Machynlleth to Llanidloes. On reaching Llanidloes I pulled in at a petrol station thinking that Andy Shep would need to fill up his small tank..and noticed coolant spurting out from the front of his bike!!! Turns out that a few miles back he had collided with a pheasant!! Upon closer inspection it soon became evident that the radiator was punctured. Colin tried in vain to fix it with Radweld purchased from the garage, so we concluded that was the end of Andy’s ride and it was time to call the breakdown recovery service, by now it was nearly 4pm 🙁
They told Andy it would be several hours before they would arrive to transport him and the bike back home to Chesham that night. Being decent guys we waited with Andy for a couple of hours and then decided it was beer’oclock and time for us to get back to the hotel and leave Andy at the garage with his wounded bike. Its all part of the Adventure 🙂
About 9pm that night Andy actually turned up at our hotel, having spent 5hrs or so by the side of the road waiting..change of plan; they would take him home by taxi in the morning (180 miles away) and deliver his bike back a couple of days later!
Day 3..weather forecast for our route up to Caernarfon and back via Snowdonia looked like we would miss any rain. Big Richard had joined us last night, but we were still 6, as we had lost Andy. We set out via the Elan valley and took the mountain road to Aberystwyth for coffee on the sea front.
After Caernarfon the plan was to take the A5 to Caple Curig; about halfway there I had planned a surprise for the guys in the form of a narrow side road that runs parallel to the A5 for a few miles through fantastic scenery. The entrance to this road even caught me out (and I was expecting it) so I did a quick U turn, followed by Colin, Matt & John Y; but Chris and Big Richard did not follow, believing I had made a mistake.
A mile or so down this narrow track I pulled over and shortly we were joined by Chris & Rich, who were surprised when they realised I’d actually researched and planned the route.
Day 4..time to head for home..in the RAIN! We’d had 3 days good riding so we took the shortest route back. Wales has great roads and scenery and if the weather is good its biking heaven..we’ll be back again for sure 🙂
So for me that’s pretty much it for 2020..3 great trips within Great Britain. As winter closes in only a few odd days riding now until the Spring; so my thoughts turn to 2021. I’m already committed to a 4,500 mile ride from Anchorage, Alaska to San Francisco, CA via the Canadian Rockies..bike rental deposit paid and BA sale price ticket bought to SFO! Hopefully the World will be more settled place by September 2021 when I will do the ride.
I’ve just checked the site stats for bigjohnsmotobikeadventures.com and I am amazed to find that I’ve had visitors from 52 different countries, covering 6 continents of the world during the year to date. Not bad for a little blog that was only ever aimed at friends and family!
Thank you all for following me during 2020. Please stay tuned and stay safe and watch out for updates as I plan for the big Alaskan Adventure of 2021.
