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chickenstrip
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 Posted: 20:06 - 19 Aug 2015  Post subject: |
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Hmmm, should I do this?
Feck it, it's where I've been on my bike, so what the hell 
On Saturday, loaded up the bike, and headed for...guess where? 
Stopped at my usual, Erwlon campsite at Llandovery, got a quiet corner:
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0563_zps5kagzy5u.jpg
On Sunday, met up with a couple of mates, and took them up to Llyn Clewedog:
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0520_zpsnlwbaoe6.jpg
That evening, up the A4069, and rode the tiny back lanes (up above and around the BCF BBQ venue), looking for a certain elusive view of Carreg Cennan castle, which I've seen a watercolour painting of. Unfortunately, I couldn't quite get it - I think it will involve walking across some fields/footpaths to actually get the shot I want, and by the time I got this, the light was wrong anyway; best I could do with my little camera:
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0509_zpshb7hvzrw.jpg
Had a bit of a climb to the top of the hill above the roadside viewpoint on the 4069, combining the biking with some hill walking:
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0533_zpsgzgsgk7b.jpg
Looking east along the line of the Brecons:
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0550_zpsvqjmjszm.jpg
Beautiful light that evening:
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0552_zpse7xohe2d.jpg
Next day, I plotted a route up to Snowdonia, using mostly mountain roads; no police, no traffic, no people, great roads, great scenery. Talking to a regular at the West End café, he said even most of the local bikers there don't know some these roads. I think you'd have to be crazy to live in Wales and never explore off the beaten track, cos away from the main A roads are the greatest rewards.
Llyn Clewedog again, but a sunnier day:
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0571_zpsyaluj2vk.jpg
And got a tip-off for the highest pass in Wales, so just had to incorporate that into the route. On the way up:
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0591_zpst7qbf3li.jpg
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0604_zpsbggqcjry.jpg
Half way up, looking back:
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0605_zpsnsyy1lus.jpg
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0607_zpscwknwxor.jpg
At the top:
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0617_zpsrqkxmtfa.jpg
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0621_zpsoldtoq8r.jpg
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0624_zpsx4x2tlks.jpg
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0629_zpscyvne9g2.jpg
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0634_zpssvwyv8sj.jpg
And heading down the other side:
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0637_zpsuamchqpf.jpg
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0638_zpszkxnssif.jpg
Anyway, got up north, and to Betws etc. Flash git at Betws had this - take the TL engine and wrap it in exclusive Italian exotica:
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0643_zpsxywa6oar.jpg
Then on up to Anglesey; Menai suspension bridge:
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0658_zpsxrrxdnpy.jpg
Beaumaris castle:
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0665_zpshqdqkaih.jpg
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0666_zpslrrais5g.jpg
Looking back at the mainland across the Menai Strait:
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0676_zpsc9iq652n.jpg
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0680_zpstdtl77zo.jpg
That night, I didn't get back to the campsite until around 11pm, after a late start, and the fact that the bastards closed the A483 at Llandovery, meaning a diversion of over 20 miles via Brecon. There may have been a quicker way back, but by narrow country lanes, which I didn't fancy in the dark. And I hadn't planned to be out that late, and was feckin freezing by the time I got back, but after a great day, so on balance, I was
Next day, I did a similar trip, with a view to concentrating on getting shots of some of the mountain scenery.
Cadair Idris forms the horizon line:
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0709_zps2be5eie9.jpg
WARNING: THERE NOW FOLLOWS A STRING OF MOUNTAIN PHOTOS! but I went there on my bike, so naaa
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0712_zps7yh16gdn.jpg
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0724_zpsdfn3xwwh.jpg
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0725_zpsom08wndf.jpg
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0728_zpsjhzfsspd.jpg
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0733_zpsouhydyju.jpg
And the first time I've seen the summit of Snowdon clear of cloud from this viewpoint:
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0737_zpsn81aq8tb.jpg
On the way back (a bit earlier in the day this time), I decided this is one of my all-time favourite biking roads. No one up there, dry and sunny on this occasion, only the ubiquitous sheep to beware of, but what a ride!
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0750_zpspgrbtgcz.jpg
Can you hear the silence?
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0752_zpsq9o8r5mw.jpg
Until 2 F15 jets came tearing over, but as usual, the camera was back in my pocket by then 
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0756_zpsnqffsllo.jpg
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0762_zps1x8bk6kg.jpg
Then today, rode home in the pissing rain - payback for 3 days of sunshine in the UK version of Atlantis I suppose
Ok, anyone want to pay me for guided biking tours of Wales? 
Now I wonder if the Welsh tourist board has put the cheque in the post yet...
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Pigeon
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Kris
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Posted: 22:13 - 19 Aug 2015  Post subject: |
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Bloody hell Nick, you do love Wales don't ya!
Great pics, must take a day off and attack the Welsh lanes again soon... 
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Pigeon
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chickenstrip
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Posted: 22:30 - 19 Aug 2015  Post subject: |
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| Pigeon wrote: | | Chickenstrip wrote: |
On the way back (a bit earlier in the day this time), I decided this is one of my all-time favourite biking roads.
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Sorry if I missed it, but which road was that? Go on, please tell. If you whisper it quietly I promise not to pass it on |
If you ever get the chance, do this route:
Welsh mountain road extravaganza
Plus a couple of different ones on the way back down, but this covers what I consider to be the best of this last trip.
The road you're asking about Steve, turns off the A4212, which runs from Bala to Trawsfynydd. About half way from Bala, you turn right for Ffestiniog - that's the one, B4391, although both times on this trip, I did it coming back the other way. It's incorporated in the route shown above. Do it!
Kris, just getting as much time there as I can before moving north (it will happen soon!  ), as there's nothing else to compare down here in the south
(Route edited due to mistakes.)
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Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE!
Last edited by chickenstrip on 22:56 - 19 Aug 2015; edited 1 time in total |
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chickenstrip
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Posted: 22:44 - 19 Aug 2015  Post subject: |
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| Pigeon wrote: | Cool thanks!!
Maybe we could get a few BCF'rs to do a long weekend? |
Sounds good to me. Difficulty being the weather. Wales is no fun in the rain, so needs to be sorted at short notice when there's a definite dry spell forecast, for me. I've been watching the forecasts this whole summer to grab at this chance I've just taken - hasn't been more than a day or two of sunshine together before now, and had to use a couple of weekdays to get that.
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| Carvel |
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Carvel
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Posted: 23:01 - 19 Aug 2015  Post subject: |
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Ride looked incredible
I've been wanting to do a long weekend in Wales for a while. I agree about it being weather dependant.
Count me in.
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Kris
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| Posted: 21:38 - 20 Aug 2015 Post subject: |
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Moxey
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| Posted: 23:52 - 20 Aug 2015 Post subject: |
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@Chickenstrip those pictures of the Menai Bridge and Anglesey, takes me back a few years when I went to see a mate at uni in Bangor (can't remember.if I did bang her though, too much booze and I ended up wandering around the bridge pictured shirtless and shitfaced for a good few hours), such a beautiful place, recall how till that point it was the biggest single journey I had ever made, 600 mile round trip from Co Durham.
Would love to go back sometime but don't think.I could recreate the sense of adventure it had at the time for the bored uni student who was thinking more with his dick than his head when setting off in a galeforce monsoon!
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RedPanda
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| Posted: 19:59 - 22 Aug 2015 Post subject: |
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Canterbury and Whitstable. Sadly I couldn't get closer to the sea.
https://i57.tinypic.com/332m1x5.jpg
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delsol
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| Posted: 22:12 - 22 Aug 2015 Post subject: |
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Cracking report and pics chickenstrip.
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| Posted: 19:24 - 23 Aug 2015 Post subject: |
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doggone
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| Posted: 20:59 - 23 Aug 2015 Post subject: |
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Lone-Wolf
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| Posted: 00:24 - 24 Aug 2015 Post subject: |
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Wotcha.
I always thought this was the highest too . . . . apparently the Gospel Pass is some ten metres higher . . . . .but nowhere near as scenic.
Just sayin' like
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chickenstrip
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| Posted: 10:15 - 24 Aug 2015 Post subject: |
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| Lone-Wolf wrote: |
Wotcha.
I always thought this was the highest too . . . . apparently the Gospel Pass is some ten metres higher . . . . .but nowhere near as scenic.
Just sayin' like |
I think I've seen you mention that one before LW. Care to say where it is? I may already have done it, not knowing it's name, but there are a few more roads between the Brecons and the north coast I've yet to sample - looks like another trip is on the cards!
I haven't explored any of Pembrokeshire yet, and wonder if some of the valleys south of the Brecons are worth a look - I keep getting put off by folks saying it's much more built up down there, but maps show some interesting-looking areas.
I'm also trying to find out if there are any roads that a bike (not off-roader) can use headed in towards the Rhinogs - think there might be one worth exploring. That range looks fantastic from near the coast, on the way up to Harlech:
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/RHINOGS%20FROM%20SOUTH%20OF%20HARLECH_zps30ruee2e.jpeg
At least, I think that is the range pictured here ^, also this shot from this trip, but from the other side:
https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b550/nicknicklxs/DSCN0762_zps1x8bk6kg.jpg
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thx1138
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| Posted: 00:32 - 25 Aug 2015 Post subject: |
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you still got the mirrors on, and it's in better shape than mine all round really |
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Alex A
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Posted: 22:34 - 26 Aug 2015  Post subject: |
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Pigeon
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| Posted: 22:42 - 28 Aug 2015 Post subject: |
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Got a bit angry during the week as I realised that Summer is coming to rapid end and I've not been out on my bike much this year. I couldn't think WTF I've been wasting my time doing!!
Had Friday off as only decent day of bank holiday. Expected the worst from the roads traffic wise and it didn't start well. Two mins from my front door and I'm already having to overtake a mobile Dignitas station. Fucking caravans.
But it was to be expected, so I tried to lower expectations for the rest of the journey. It was going to be hell, stuck behind miles of caravans and lorrys who can't pass. But at least I was on my bike and it was sunny. Queue the rain shower. I was soaked. OK, lower expectations further, possibly abandon ship and return home.
Thankfully the sun came out and traffic wasn't too bad on the A272, and almost non-existent the other side of Salisbury, especially the A30. Happy days.
Went to Old Wardour Castle. Hoped it was the kind of place that wouldn't be too busy. And it wasn't.
https://i1329.photobucket.com/albums/w559/pigeon35/150828%20-%20Old%20Wardour%20Castle/20150828_142143.resized_zpswom4gubk.jpg
https://i1329.photobucket.com/albums/w559/pigeon35/150828%20-%20Old%20Wardour%20Castle/20150828_142553.resized_zpsjotevdyt.jpg
https://i1329.photobucket.com/albums/w559/pigeon35/150828%20-%20Old%20Wardour%20Castle/20150828_144330.resized_zpsdfdegoug.jpg
Then went to Osmington Mills and the Smgglers Inn for Sausage & Chips and to oggle the very attractive staff.
https://i1329.photobucket.com/albums/w559/pigeon35/150828%20-%20Old%20Wardour%20Castle/20150828_165358.resized_zpsus9chg9y.jpg
https://i1329.photobucket.com/albums/w559/pigeon35/150828%20-%20Old%20Wardour%20Castle/20150828_165552.resized_zpsw8fcutne.jpg
https://i1329.photobucket.com/albums/w559/pigeon35/150828%20-%20Old%20Wardour%20Castle/20150828_172030.resized_zpslsg4sa6l.jpg
Came back and the scenes of devastation on the opposite carriageway on A31 and M3 were horrific. Mile upon mile of misery, broken dreams and wrecked marriages.
Did a mile of filtering on the M3 only to find at the front of the queue was.....nothing. Police had pulled someone (presumably for a traffic offence) and everyone else was rubber necking and it had caused a massive traffic jam.
Hit the A272 around 7pm. The sun setting behind me, casting the late summer yellow light across my horizon. Lighting up the tree moss emerald and fields golden as I chased my shadow across the south downs.
And almost no traffic
The agile Striple skipped between corners, hunkered down on long sweeping bends and squirmed a tiny bit as it was wound on.
It burbled, chatted, snarled, barked and roared. And at all times, was completely engaging.
Didn't want the day to end, took the long way home to hit my favourite local roads and scare the shit out of the wildlife having their dinner by the hedgerows.
Returned to the main road as the fuel light came on, was met by a bright red / cerise sky. Perfect.
Didn't expect much from today, was blown away. 300 miles. Good times.
I bloody love my Street Triple! ........so why the hell have I not been out much this year  |
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