Skybaba

Day Two was certainly eventful........I crashed twice!!!!

The day started with a full on English brekky to get us ready for the ride ahead. We set off a bit late in the day around 11am and made our way though Snowdonia park and travelled through Bala.
We travelled steadily and stopped a few times for photos.







We then headed down some B roads and took a detour into a single track road. I tried to avoid a puddle by moving to the right (over a bit of gravel) then tried to move back to the left and encountered some mud!!
I lost the rear end and couldn't control the bike, so headed into the soft verge and crashed into mud and grass on bike's right side.

I was thrown off the bike and I landed on the tarmac and felt the impact as my head hit the ground.
My mate riding behind me jumped off his bike and rushed to my aid.
I felt some pain on my right side and my head but was able to get up after sitting down for about a minute.

I suddenly jumped up because I realised the bike was still on its side. My mate helped me get the bike back up.

Surprisingly, the damage to the bike was minimal; the front indicator broke off and the rear indicator was knocked off by the luggage strapped to the bike.
The rear brake pedal was bent but not broken.

The luggage took a lot of the impact so I quickly checked the contents of my panniers. My iPad was OK but my laptop had cracked; the crack only affected the casing and not the screen.







My textile had ripped in a few places but the most damage was to my left boot. It seems my boot was caught in the foot rest and ripped.







I was a bit worried at this point and wished I had the number of a Welsh Organ, like Runako so I could find a place to buy new boots.

After worrying desperately for a few minutes, my mate asked if I had tape.........which I happened to have (after reading different posts on the Org about travelling gear, I knew I had to take some tape along ).
We taped up the boots and it was good as new......well almost



After cranking the bike a few times, she finally came back to life. We set off again, only for me to crash a second time, less than 50 metres from the first crash. It appeared that my back tire had some mud which caused the bike to slip.

This time, the bike crashed on the tarmac and my head took a second pounding on the same side. My right leg was trapped under the bike so I couldn't move.
The engine was still running so I pressed the horn to get my mate's attention as he was in front then I hit the emergency switch to turn the bike off.

My mate rushed to my rescue (once again) and helped lift the bike a little so I could get my leg out. Then we got the bike back up together.

This time, the top fairing had scuffs on it from the fall, but still nothing was broken; the mirror, the fairing, the lever, the foot-rest and pedal didn't have a crack or bend!!!!




At this point, I looked at the trip gauge and realised we had only travelled 80 miles; just over a third of the planned mileage for that day!!
Before we set off, my mate made me promise that I wouldn't crash again, which I did, so we cracked on!!

We travelled through Dolgellau, and hugged the coast for a bit.








We continued through Aberdovey and then pushed till we got to Newtown where we had planned to have lunch but got there around 6pm.

We were well rewarded with what I can only describe as a great meal at Mirrens Steak and Tapas.






After filling our tummies, we decided to ditch the planned route towards Builth Wells and just headed in the quickest direction to the guest house my mate had booked.

The guest house was tucked away deep in the countryside so we had to get on single-track roads again........this time I plied the roads more cautiously and we arrived at the location without incident.
As we turned off our bikes, all we could hear was the chorus of birds singing and sheep baa'ing........glorious!!!!!

We settled in, tweaked the route for the next day and hit the bed........oh boy I slept as soundly as a baby dreaming about all the twisty roads and mountains we had traveled through and wondering what Day three might hold