Welsh National Rally; May 2018
Gallery
A First Outing for the Big One
I have done every Welsh National Rally (WNR) since 2004 but I must admit I was thinking of giving it a miss for 2018. Truth be told, I was still smarting over last year's tenuous Llandudno clue. However, after I returned from holiday on 20th April, the next day, the last day for entries, those winding Welsh roads were calling to me again and off my entry went for the 2018 WNR. Competitor #412. I planned a 3 manned + 15 unmanned + 4 dragon Platinum route which took me north around Snowdonia and came to 275 miles. As I had also entered the 2018 Round Britain Rally (RBR) I added 4 RBR landmarks as stops on my route. This took my route to around 315 miles.
I set off from Oswestry Premier Inn (my thanks to Steve for the room) around 06:30 and parked up at the new venue, Welshpool Livestock Market, around 07:00. After a cup of tea and bit of chat with the usual suspects I signed on and, picked up my control card and clues. I used a red permanent pen to copy the clues for the controls up to my first manned stop at Harlech onto a laminated route planner gaffer-taped to the top of my my tank bag. My cunning plan was to use a green permanent pen to record the answers onto the route planner. It worked quite well as it meant I didn't have to stop and dismount at many of the controls. (Of course the good weather helped a lot.) While I was in the process of copying the clues a couple guys set off on a thundering grass tracker outfit with the brave passenger standing on a running board clenching hold of an horizontal bar. I was thinking to myself that it wouldn't be long before the Heddlu pulled them over. Turns out that the guy standing on the running board was none other than Pete Churchill. These Somerset boys!
I set off for my first stop at Llanwddyn and caught up with a queue of traffic following the grass tracker. I filtered to the front and watched Pete working hard to keep the outfit stable through the corners. Looked like he was getting a good workout. With clear blue skies and the tower reflecting against the lake it was a real fairy tale ride around Lake Llanwddyn. The blue skies continued on the ride to Bala through to Dolgellau. However, on the way to Ffestiniog it got a bit misty and overcast. I had debated about taking the liner out of my jacket but I was glad I didn't because it was a distinctly chilly ride around the Llyn Peninsula. The Dragons at Bala and Dolgellau were straight forward as was answering the clues for Llanfor, Penmaenpool, Ffestiniog and Talsarnau. Harlech is a comfortable stop and gave me the opportunity to have a break whilst I updated my control card with my answers and to copy the clues for the next set of controls onto my laminated route planner.
Finding the correct pebble dashed building at Llanbedrog took a bit of time. It's a sizeable town and most houses seemed to be pebble dashed. At Pistyll there was no sign of a telephone box. A few of us searched high and low for it. We decided it had been removed so we identified were it likely stood and recorded the numbers on the adjacent telephone pole. The Llaelhaeran Dragon was straightforward but there was a problem with Nantlle. Yes, you guessed it, the telephone box had been removed. There was a fresh patch of tarmac were it had once stood. Now the clue was "what is the date of the payphone kiosk removal notice inside?" The puzzling part is that the lady who lives next to where it stood said it had been removed Friday 27th April. Did the organisers not twig that the kiosk together with its removal notice would be long gone by the time the rally was on? Strange.
After Nantlle the sun started to reappear and the views of Snowdownia with clouds scudding off the tops of mountains was magnificent. Lovely riding conditions. On the way to my next manned control at Colwyn Bay I picked up 3 RBR landmarks which were quite costly in time. For those not familiar with the procedure, it consists of park the bike as close to the landmark as possible, affix your RBR card to something and take a photo of the landmark, bike and card. It was at the Anglesey RBR landmark that I came across bank holiday traffic jams getting on and off the island so that was a particularly time consuming diversion. (My fault for adding RBRs to my route.) The clue for Capel Curig was straightforward but I did get caught out with Tal-Y-Bont as I had copied the wrong clue for the more southerly Tal-Y-Bont control. I just couldn't find the White Lion pub anywhere! Sneaky Clive organisers, two controls with the same name. One north Wales and one mid Wales. I didn't stay long at the Colwyn Bay manned control as the place was heaving. Just long enough to copy over the clues for the next set of controls.
The next part of my route was to my last manned control, the Doof cafe, at Ruthin. The clues for Llansannan and Hellan were straightforward and I also picked up another RBR at St Asaph. I had a great stop at the Doof Cafe were I met up with a couple of friends. The bacon buttie and coffee were very welcome. The Doof definitely gets my vote.
It's always nice when you've done the last manned control and I had a gentle ride to the finish at Welshpool. On the way, the Dragon at Derwen was straightfoward as were the Pandy Capel and Pontfadog clues. I arrived at the finish around 18:45 to claim my platinum. (Was there a special test?) There, I had something to eat and a chat with Mr RBR (most of you know who he is) before returning back to my Premier Inn at Oswestry.
So to sum it up, it was one of my favourite WNRs. It stayed dry throughout with beautiful weather most of the way. I love the Welsh roads. They are some of the best motorcycling roads I know of. (Although I have never seen so many potholes in UK roads.) My route was good and I didn't encounter any real problems apart from missing telephone kiosks and the 2 x Tal-Y-Bont. The Doof cafe gets my vote as favourite manned control although Harlech comes a close second.
I took my CB1000FS Big One. I had forgotten how enjoyable it is to ride an unfaired bike in such good weather. The bike had been standing SORN'd since 2011 until I restored it over the last winter. In total the bike did 884 miles on the rally and in getting there from and back to Dorset. This was its first real ride since I put it back on the road and it didn't miss a beat. It was great to ride although the clutch is a bit snatchy in town. (New friction plates and springs needed or maybe better clutch control.)
I was worried that the bank holiday traffic might spoil things but it wasn't really an issue for the roads I took. The new venue was good and very functional. In some respects it was better than Castle Caereinion, e.g. parking, but I did miss Castle Caereinion. There was still an issue with sign-on queues so maybe something to think about for next year? However, I miss the ride to Castle Caereinion village at the start and the Community Centre has character. Food is always subjective and although I thought the food this year was OK I preferred previous years'. I don't think there's anyone to match Clive when it comes to organising and running a motorcycle rally. My thanks to Clive for running such a great rally. One to remember.