Wales; April 2025
Gallery
Ride
Back in December 2024, in an attempt to rid the Blackbird of its long running electrical problems (I lost count of the number of stators and rectifier/regulators it went through), I fitted it with an expensive Shindengen SH847 regulator/rectifier I had purchased from Roadstercycle.com (of California) and a stator from Rick’s Motorsport Electrics (of New Hampshire). Luckily I got them before The Donald started his tariffs experiment! The Blackbird is a great bike but its R/R and stator are weak points. The guys on the forum were recommending the Shindengen R/R because it doesn’t stress the stator as much as the alternatives do. I had slowly been building up confidence in the new R/R and stator by doing short to medium rides and had covered around 800 miles on this new setup. So with some unusually fine weather for the start of April 2025 I decided I would risk taking the Blackbird for its first long ride around Wales. The weather was promising to be exceptional for the start of April 2025 and so it turned out to be. Each day was cool to start with but it soon warmed up and the sun shone throughout. I had been doing the PEMC Carpe Diem challenge so I planned to structure my route around the Welsh Carpe Diems and one at Clun on the border. The trip was for 3 days, 1st to 3rd April, with stopovers at Wrexham and Sennybridge (just up from Llandovery on the A40).
Day 1: Wimborne to Wrexham
I left Wimborne and travelled to Usk and from there to Goytre and the first Carpe Diem, Baffle Haus. After that I rode onto the second Carpe Diem at Rhayader. It was such a nice day I had to go up to Elan and take in the views of Caban Coch Reservoir and its dam. Next, I dipped into England to visit the Postcard Café Carpe Diem at Clun. Clun is a pretty little village and, if you visit its toilets, you get music played to you while you go about your business. I had planned to take the A488 north from Clun but, as so often seems to happen these days, the road was closed, forcing me to divert east and take the A49 north. A real shame, as the A488 is a much more engaging road. I headed north on the A49 skirting Shrewsbury and took the A5 to Wrexham and my next Carpe Diem Demon Tweeks. I stayed the night at the Wrexham Ramada.
Day 2: Wrexham to Sennybrdge via Anglesey
I left the Ramada and rode to Ruthin for the Moto-R Carpe Diem. Moto-R is a garage that specialises in Ducatis. I then had a lovely ride to Llandberis. I’ve never seen so little traffic on the A5 and it really is a nice road to ride when there’s so little traffic. After Capel Curig I stopped on the A4806 to admire Llynnau Mymbyr and Snowdonia. The sparse traffic made for an enjoyable ride over Pen-y-Pas . At Llanberis I visited another Carpe Diem, the Snowdonia 360 Snowdon Railway Shop
After Llanberis, I crossed the Menai Strait to visit the Anglesey Circuit Carpe Diem. I did think about missing this one out as it was a bit out of the way and I’ve never found Anglesey roads that interesting especially when you return back to the mainland on the same roads you took to get to where you were visiting on Anglesey as I did. After that I had a lovely ride to Dogellau, stopping at a very pretty spot next to Llyn Cwellyn for lunch. The Carpe Diem at Dogellau was Moto Junkies. The guy there was very friendly and showed me around. It used to be a golf course and now has accommodation that would be ideal for bikers to use a base for touring the area. Off rode riding is a thing they do there. Then it was a long stint via Aberystwyth to Lampeter and Pure Adrenalin, another Carpe Diem. Pure Adrenalin offers off road riding amongst other things. By this time I was getting a bit tired so the Blackbird and I didn’t really appreciate the backroads on the way to Llandovery and the Owl’s Nest Tea Room Carpe Diem there. When I got to Sennybridge and my stop for the night at the White House I was well and truly knackered. Unfortunately I didn’t get a good sleep there owing to the dodgy motion sensor in the en-suite turning the light and extractor at various times through the night.
Day 3 Sennybridge to Wimborne via The Gower
The day started with quite a nice ride across the Brecon Beacons to Swansea and The Gower. My last Carpe Diem was at Rhossili on the Gower, The View Rhossili, a restaurant. I parked up in the National Trust car park and had a wander around taking in the views of the Worms Head and Rhossili Bay Beach. It’s definitely a very nice spot but the riding through Swansea and The Gower was a bit tedious to get to it. After that, I rode back across the border on the M4 stopping at the Bridgend Welcome Break for a much needed break. The it was familiar roads from the M4 to Bath, Warminster, Shaftesbury and home to Wimborne. I was home around 15:45 which wasn’t too bad.
I had forgotten how good a bike the Blackbird is to tour on. Smooth effortless power delivered without any fuss. Although not being so young anymore I did find my shoulders and upper arms ached a bit with the more forward riding position. I had no problems with the new R/R and stator. The voltmeter showed a healthy 14.5V charge all through the ride. The Blackbird did around 750 miles over the 3 days and the new setup has now done 1,500 miles. I’m really hoping the Blackbird’s electrics are now fixed. Fingers crossed! Although it could be a bit chilly first thing in the mornings it soon warmed up and the sun shone throughout. As it was so early in the season the roads were fairly clear of traffic which made for enjoyable riding. I always say Wales has some of the best roads I’ve ridden. I just wish they had used some common sense with the 20 mph zones.