Wales and The Welsh Borders; August 2022
This year, 2022, is turning out to be one of my leanest as far as motorcycling goes. It's not because of Covid (already had that) although I admit the whole experience left me with a bit of anxiety about leaving my comfortable home to venture further afield. It's not because of not having a good touring bike. I really like the Tracer 900 and it's probably the best bike I've had in terms of suiting my touring needs. In part it's probably due to getting on and encountering the usual ailments that come with age. But that doesn't entirely explain my low biking miles this year. What happened was we got a puppy in January and I found a new interest in life. I suddenly found that I enjoyed walking the dog more than going on solo rides on all too familiar roads. I don't intend to give up on biking just yet. The club I'm in, PEMC, organises a lot of European rides and I'm planning on doing some of these next year.
The demise of the Clive MCC Welsh National Rally (because of Covid) has left a bit of a hole in my biking calendar. I've done every one of their rallies from 2004 until their last rally in 2019. As a substitute, I decided to ride a route based on the 2022 Carpe Diem landmarks in Wales and the Welsh Borders. A trip of 710 miles it turned out. On Sunday 21st August I headed north along the Welsh Borders and overnighted at the Wrexham Ramada. The next day, Monday 22nd, I made for the north Wales coast and then onto Anglesey. From Anglesey I headed south down through Wales to overnight at the Pontypool Best Western. On Tuesday I stopped off at Newport on the way home to Dorset.
The ride up to Wrexham was pretty uneventful. My route took me through the Forest of Dean for my first Carpe Diem, CD 24, and then it was onto CDs 17 and 20 at Tenbury Wells and Church Stretton respectively. After that it was to CD03 Stretton Mill and finally to CD 18 and the Ramada at Wrexham. A trip of around 265 miles from Dorset to the Ramada.
After a comfortable night at the Ramada I rode to CD 25 near Rhyl. From there I had an enjoyable ride to CD 28 passing The Sportsman’s Arms along the way. The weather was nice and the A543 is a lovely road to ride (although there are constant speed cameras all along it). From there I took the A5 to CD 41 on Anglesey. I don’t normally like riding along the A5 because it’s usually so busy but, whether it was because of the forecast heavy rain, there wasn’t a lot of traffic on it and I quite enjoyed my ride along the A5. The description for CD 41 was it’s a memorial and its inscription in English which was a problem as the memorial I found was inscribed in Welsh. The local Postie was able to roughly translate for me. He also told me that heavy rain was due at 11 am.
Right on cue it started raining at 11 am as I left CD 41 for CD 36. After crossing the Menai Straits for the second time it was on to CD 36 and Bill & Ben. Unfortunately when I got to the Royal Goat Hotel where Bill & Ben were meant to be displayed prominently out front there was no sign of them. After searching high and low for them in the rain I couldn’t find them so I asked at the hotel’s reception about their whereabouts. Unfortunately they are no more owing to some morons vandalising them.
Next it was to CD 33, Jubilee Arch, near Devil’s Bridge. A place that’s featured in several previous rallies. The ride of around 60 miles to CD 33 would have been great if not for the heavy rain and poor visibility. Great roads but slippery with running water and the poor visibility meant that the stunning scenery was unavailable. Shame really. As I neared CD 33 the SatNav took me down a series of dirt tracks in ever decreasing circles towards it. Not pleasant in the rain and mist.
Onto CD 36 which was a familiar spot as it featured in last year’s CWMPAS challenge. I was tired by the time I got to CD 36 so I was disappointed to see the SatNav tell me it was a trip of 70 miles to the Best Western at Pontypool. My trip from Wrexham to Pontypool was around 310 miles so I had ridden around 575 miles over Sunday and Monday.
Despite the Best Western being right next to the busy A4042, with my ear plugs in, I spent a comfortable night there with a decent breakfast thrown in for not too much money. On Tuesday morning I left the Best Western and rode to CD 47 at Newport. CD 47 was set back off the road and there were a lot of shiny little canisters sprinkled liberally around. Nitrous Oxide I guess? After CD 47 it was just over 100 miles home to Dorset. In total I rode around 710 miles from home to home. An enjoyable ride but Monday was a bit challenging with the heavy rain and poor visibility. I always enjoy a ride around Wales.