Welsh National Rally; May 2012
An Unexpected Helicopter and Lots of RBRs
View the 2012 Welsh National Rally in a Google map.
Well April 2012 turned out to be a very wet month but the goods news for the Welsh National Rally (WNR) was that it was going to be sunny for Saturday 12th May the day it was to be held. And so it turned out. Saturday was a gorgeous day to be riding around north Wales. It was also bracketed by two good travelling days, Friday when we travelled up and Sunday when we travelled back home.
As has become the custom, we combined the WNR with visiting a many Round Britain Rally (RBR) locations as we could. From Friday to Sunday we managed to bag 18 RBR locations, 8 of them doing the WNR on the Saturday. We also bagged Grim's Quantum Leap sculpture at Shrewsbury on the Friday.
Chris and I took the Varadero on the WNR. I had done quite a bit of work on it replacing the warped front discs and sorting the backfiring exhaust so this would be its shakedown run. I'm pleased to say it went well. The kangarooing at the front completely gone and no more huge backfires on the overrun. The only problem we had with the Varadero was with Chris getting on it with the top box on. She had a bit of trouble getting her "leg over" as they say.
The route we took below combines a WNR Platinum and Dragon with 8 RBR locations. We have found that using a satnav helps a lot so visiting the RBRs adds a bit more challenge. That made 15 unmanned WNR controls, 3 manned WNR controls, 4 WNR Dragons and 8 RBR locations to visit. A total of 29 locations. We carefully pre-planned the route with the satnav pre-loaded with where we needed to go. The Dragons were Welsh Colleges this year and weren't difficult to find.
It was a gorgeous day and we pretty much kept to the times Autoroute had predicted for us. We did get a bit behind at RBR 75 which involved a bit of back roading on gravel and mud strewn lanes. Some people took a much easier route. We passed an expensively dressed couple strolling down the lane and then came upon a helicopter complete with pilot parked on top of a grassy peak. There were no cars around so we assumed that this was their transportation. Alright for some!
We were hoping to take a break at the Beaumaris manned control but it was mobbed so we kept going to Snowdonia. Where Anglesey disappoints, Snowdonia is always magnificient, especially on a sunny day. We pushed on through Snowdonia to the Harlech manned control which was a great place to take a break. In a nice cafe we sat having our macaroni cheeses whilst looking up at Harlech castle. Harlech gets our vote for the best manned control. We spent 45 minutes at Harlech and then made our way down the coast. With the sun shining on the Irish sea to our right it was a lovely ride through to Dolgellau.
We only had a couple of problems at two WNR unmanned controls, funnily enough the last two. At Newcastle on Clun there was no sign at the crossroads stating the distance to the campsite. It looked like it had been removed. However, after riding around the village we did come across a sign stating the Clun Valley Camping was 50 yards on the right. The other problem unmanned control was Church Stoke where the hotel in question wasn't actiually located in the village. Strange one that.
We finished at Castle Caerineinion pretty much as predicted around 20:45. We managed to get a curry and have chat with Tim Stiles, Graham Flint and his daughter before heading off to the Shrewsbury Travelodge. Another WNR done, this one in lovely sunny weather, which was great. Many thanks to Clive for organising it.