ell, here it goes. Myself, Sam and two of his fellow biker mates (Alex & James). They had arranged it a month or two ago and I asked if I could tag along on the Pan, now I have a bike that can do the distance.
Alex is from Belgium and is still completing his mammoth UK tour, I came home Sat night, and Sam came home Friday, as I think James did.
Pan Loaded up, I made my way to Sams to meet him, and get on our way. Sam had serviced his trusty bros and was just loading it up, after 30mins or so, we were all loaded and ready.
We were off! Well, Sam was. For some reason, the Pan would not start. It was like I had a flat battery, it would barely turn over. all these months, no issues like this and now of all times. So I beeped at Sam and waved my arms at him like a madman, and he made his way back.
Two minutes later I was bump started and we left the sunny Romsey town.
We had a route planned out, so we headed via Salisbury, however, my sat nav decided it knew better and wanted to take us A303 – M3 and M4. We told that to sod off, and after a few missed turns we found our way.
The Sun was shining and all was warm until we hit the M4 and got into Wales. The heavens then opened. We found a little town, and pulled over and tried to chat with all the other bikers that had taken refuge in a bus shelter. However, their accent was so Welsh we had trouble understanding them.
After another hour or two, we made it to base camp one. This was in the town of Rayder. Sam had booked a tent pitch at a bunkhouse, which was in the middle of nowhere. The other two guys were staying in a B&B at the only pub in town. We set up camp and walked 30mins into town. Luck would have it, there was a beer festival that night. So food and beverage were drunk!
A great view, and some friends in the form of 2 cats, 2 chickens, and two Geese joined us this eve.
Day 2 arrived and we met the guys at the pub just after breaky where we headed up into the Elan Valley and took in the scenery. We were recommended a route by the land-lady and followed up on her advice.
Our 1st stop was the Dam. This was built by flooding a village, which is still in there somewhere!
Further along the valley we stopped off a few more times and took a few more pics
Weather at this time was fairly good. the roads were sweet and it was warm. There were sheep everywhere. and we had to avoid this like the plague. There were corners where they were laid down, and we had to take avoiding action.
We hit up the A40 and A487 amongst others to Aberystwyth the uni town of wales. Such a nice place, views were great, and the weather was amazing. We went to the beach where they had their own bike park. Again took some pics, and saw some other nice bikes.
And so we headed to Maclyneth.