Sorry guys for not making it to ARO7. I tried to reach Scotland but decided to detour to Wales instead which wasn't a bad thing either as I did have loads of fun on Welsh roads even though it rained most of the time.
My route was like this;
Fri 29th June: London to Stratford-upon-Avon. We took the M1 with a 35mph wind against us in hard rain, not nice. Really nice place Stratford-upon-Avon.
Sat 30th June: Stayed in same B&B in SUA but rode to Birmingham to buy some waterproofs. Saw a girl in red leathers on a red S curvy but could not follow as we needed to stop and shop
Who was she? Had a good laugh at a karaoki in a local pub. Friendly people.
Sunday 1st July: Rode to Montgomery and stayed the night in a cow farm. We rode through really nice roads to get here.
Monday 2nd July: Off to Conwy using mainly the A470, still raining. Is it gonna stop? Visited Conwy castle. No B&B's here so went to Llandudno nearby and found a place there. The guesthouse lady had a really nice American car parked outside.
Tuesday 3rd July: Stayed in the same B&B to rest a bit and enjoy the local scenery. Took the tram up the hill with great vies of the area.
Wednesday 4th July: Arrived in Chester and found a guesthouse in Newton Lane. Visited the city center at night and got lost! Nice old wooden houses here and locks. A pub owner helped us out and insisted on paying us 4 a round. He got us a taxi which took us home. Should have taken my portable sat/nav with me.
Thursday 5th July: Stayed in Chester so we could visit the zoo which we did but the animals were mostly huddled in some remote area to shelter from the rain. When is this rain gonna stop??
Friday 6th July: Off to Aberystwyth. Again, rain and wind making progress slow. Loads of nice things to see on the road here; old water mills and beautiful landmarks, sheep and horses in the countryside. Passed by the mountains and saw rows of towering pine trees and springs fowing with rainwater. Loads of nice cars on the road today sharing the space but everybody rides/drives in a respectful manner here. We are more like Londoners in our driving manners so quite a relief.
Saturday 7th July: Pontypridd next. No rain today so we rode in jeans and leather jacket only. Wow what a relief. Feels so much better to ride this way. Loads of bikers on the roads today all saluting us with a cool nod as they pass by the other lane. They were also signalling that there were police on the road (A470 again). Wow no wonder there's so many bikers here, this is the one great road. Touched 110mph many times here and with the missus and all that luggage on board (wish I was riding solo if only this once).
Sunday 8th July: Destination Salisbury. M4. Rode over a long bridge very fast taking the outside fast lane a lot. I'm getting used to this. Visited Bath on our way. Nice place. We made Salisbury in good time to go visit Stonehenge which looks great as we approached it from the road. Such nice gray stones agains the green grass. We have older megalitic temples in Malta but they don't look so magnificent as we don't have this much rain to water our grass. All dried up at home. What a contrast, 40 degrees at home, 18 degrees here!
Monday 9th July: Rode to Windsor. Visited the castle but couldn't find a place here. Decided to head to London. What traffic! Just like home. We followed a courier who lead us through gaps and filtered ok. He complimented us on our riding saying, "you're ok mate following me with all that luggage", which felt real good. Only then did I realise how close we were filtering with the panniers nearly rubbing! It started to rain again and thunder started to clap. We found a hotel in Shepards bush, took the bikes back to the rental company, ate Indian and called it a day.
We stayed in London till Wednesday and when I woke up home the next day I started to think where I'm going today and what room I was at! I guess I must be really tired. My wife told me she woke up thinking the same. I'm already missing your roads guys. You don't know what you've got believe me.