Welsh National Rally; May 2013
Man Flu Strikes
This year the Welsh National Rally was held Saturady 10th May which was a shame really as the previous weekend had been gorgeous. The weather was altogether different the rally weekend!
There was a slight change to the rules this year for those entering for Platinum and Dragon. There were two special manned control points and it was necessary for you to plan yoiur route to take in one of these. Chris and I had planned a route to go north and our route took in the Aberdaron special manned control point. That's the small town stuck at the end of the peninsula that sticks out into the Irish Sea.
Unfortunately because family circumstances had conspired against us Chris didn't manage to get away for the rally this year which was a real shame because she was looking forward to it. I had also picked up a stinking cold. Never mind, with my weekend pass in hand I gave my old mate Rob a call to see if he was up to riding around with me. He took pity on me and agreed to keep me company.
I would have taken my Varadero but the poor old thing still needed a few things fixing following my slurry slide so I took the Blackbird. The Blackbird really took a beating that weekend with the weather. It looked like I had been off-roading on it at the end of the rally. As I have come to expect, it performed flawlessly. The only problem was that I had been riding my Varadero a lot more than the Blackbird and I wasn't feeling as confident on those wet and muddy Welsh roads as I usually do on the Blackbird. A couple of front end slides were a bit unsettling. My shoulders did ache a bit at the end of the rally. Mr Flint always takes the opportunity to remind me that I'm getting a bit too old for it.
I must admit I didn't feel at my best on the rally with my stinking cold. Rob doesn't tend to stop for long at control points but when we got to Aberdaron he eventually let me have something to drink and eat. We'd been at it since 7:30 am and it was 4:00 pm by then.
We managed to start and finish together but it was touch and go in a couple of places. I went for a pee in Llanwrst and when I went back to meet up with him he'd left me behind. (If you've seen the 'Men Behaving Badly' episode where they pretend to play hide and seek with Gary it had that feel about it. He goes off to hide while the rest watch TV.) I caught up with him at the next control point, Llansannan, where his defence was that he thought I had left him behind. Yes, Rob. You had all the answers to the clues so why would I ditch you? He also went a bit Rambo at Llandwrog looking for a jet. (Brit Butt mode engaged!) At stops, I'm feeling hassled while Rob's feeling frustrated as I'm taking my time to put my gloves back on and set my Sat Nav for the next stop. I won't go into details but I don't think riding around with Rob is good preparation for my next RoSPA test!
We started at 8:30 am and finished just after 10 pm. The ride was hard at times due to the weather but overall very enjoyable. I have to thank Rob for doing the lion's share of the work on the rally. I was done when I got to the end. We picked up a few RBRs on the way around. We were looking to cross the estuary to Barmouth using the track/walkway that runs alongside the railway bridge but unfortunately we must have missed a turn. Chris and I had crossed it on a previous rally when we took a wrong turn and couldn't reverse. At the end of the rally we met up with a few of the RBR regulars including Graham Flint for a bit of a chat. Another Welsh National Rally completed and it's the 20th next year.