Welsh National Rally; May 2019
Gallery
There's Snow on them Hills
My planned platinum route for this year came to around 270 miles which was pretty good considering that as well as the 22 Welsh National Rally (WNR) controls it also took in a couple of Round Britain Rally (RBR) landmarks. Last year with temperatures soaring into the mid to high 20 celsius I opted to take my unfaired CB1000FS Big One. I was hoping to do the same this year but a cold arctic blast put paid to that option and my trusty Varadero XL1000VAB, with its big screen and hand guards, was the sensible choice. Prior to the WNR and for Friday night 3rd May I was booked into the Oswestry Premier Inn but after the WNR and for Saturday night 4th May I was booked into the Woofferton Travelodge just outside Ludlow. The reason for the split lodgings was that we had tickets to see "Strictly Come Dancing The Professionals" on Sunday evening 5th May at Bournemouth so staying at Woofferton meant that I got back in good time on the Sunday.
Aside from a few heavy showers around the Welsh valleys, the ride up on Friday was quite nice and I picked up a few Round Britain Rally landmarks on the way. I got to bed early that night and I was up around 5:30 the next morning raring to go. It had rained overnight and the temperature had dropped as low as 2C. The ride from Oswestry to the start at Welshpool Livestock Sales was bracing. (Necessitated me wearing my thermals in May!) I arrived around 7:30, registered and copied the control questions onto a laminated sheet, which I stuck to my tank bag with gaffer tape, before setting off around 8 am. I find copying the control questions over makes it much easier to quickly read them and record the corresponding answers as you go along.
My rally didn't get off to a good start as the road I had planned to take from Welshpool to my first unmanned control #7 at Bwlch y Cibau had been closed. Undeterred and fed up of road closures, myself and a fellow WNR entrant ignored the signs and pressed on confident in the assumption that road closures obviously didn't apply to bikes. We eventually came across a couple of blokes digging a trench in the middle of the road which with some deft manoeuvres we were able to get past. It was bitterly cold at the start and the roads were still wet from the overnight rain. I have done the WNR every year since 2004 and I have never seen snow covering the hills as happened this year. On some higher up stretches there was also a light dusting along the sides of the road. Heading north to Denbighshire over the higher hills I was a bit unnerved by what felt like the front wheel losing grip on the tree shaded stretches where it was that bit slower to warm up. Real or imagined, it made me slow down and stay nearer the vertical for fear of encountering black ice.
Now Clive, the organisers, always do a great job but I do find some of their control questions a tad ambiguous. Could be me but I thought that the term "glazed opening" was a bit ambiguous? I ended up answering 18 for the question about how many glazed openings the front of the chapel at Llangynog (unmanned control #26) has. I counted each round porthole as a glazed opening but I know others counted a grouping of 4 portholes as a single glazed opening. I guess take a look at the photo and judge for yourselves?
The theme for the 4 dragon controls this year was Welsh historic homes. The ones I had planned to visit were at Llanfyllin, Pontblyddyn, Llanwrst and Penarth Fawr. I must admit to googling the named dragon towns for any nearby historic houses as part of my route planning. I struck lucky for 3 of the 4 dragon controls. The one I didn't get was the Llanwrst dragon control which turned out to be a nice little tea room called Tu Hwnt I'r Bont located just the other side of the narrow bridge across the river Conwy.
By the time I got to Snowdonia it was warming up a bit. I think the highest the temperature reached all day was around 9C but there was a good bit of blue sky and it didn't rain so that was great. The ride from the dragon control at Llanwrst to the Llanberis unmanned control via the Nant Gwynant unmanned control took in some great views and I stopped to take a few photos along the way. The only 'fly in the ointment' was that being bank holiday, there were quite a few visitors and cars around (but riding a bike has its advantages).
After Llanberis I visited 3 unmanned and one dragon control on the Llŷn Peninsula before reaching the manned control at Tan-y-Bwlch Station. I must remember to avoid the town of Pwllheli in future as it has a dreadful road system that took an age to cross. (Not the first time I've been through that town.) The Tan-y-Bwlch station is part of the Ffestiniog Railway. It's in a pretty location and has a good café and facilities. It gets my vote for the nicest manned control. It was my last manned control and I guess I got to it around 3:30 pm. After that it was 4 unmanned controls and I was done.
After Tan-y-Bwlch Station it was a nice ride down the coast to Barmouth followed by a nice flowing ride along the A548 back to Welshpool and the finish. Being a bank holiday, 'kiss me quick' Barmouth was heaving with people and it took a while to get through it. I got to the finish around 5:30 and given my route had taken in a few Round Britain Rally landmarks, that wasn't too bad. I didn't spot any of the usual suspects in the cafateria as I tucked into my chicken curry so I arrived at the Travelodge fairly early around 7 pm. On Sunday I picked up another RBR landmark on my return to Dorset and arrived home around 12:30 pm.
The controls this year were located very favourably and this year's WNR route was probably the shortest distance I have ever had to do for my platinum award. I have done the WNR every year since my first in 2004 and the snow on the hills was a first. It was a bit chilly to start with and to be truthful it never really warmed up but modern motorcycle gear (and thermals) are good and I was comfortable enough. The main thing was that it didn't rain. You can't beat the north Wales scenery and that's a big reason why I do this rally. However, I'm not convinced that running it over a bank holiday is the best thing. It was very busy in some places and competition for lodgings. Clive did a great job and, for me, it's still the best domestic rally. I'm still not sure about the new start/finish venue? Plenty of space but the cafateria seemed a tad souless to me. Too many old geezers like me sitting by themselves at a table!
Oh yes, "Strictly Come Dancing The Professionals" was great as well so a very good weekend overall.