At last - I've been out!

It all came together yesterday - no kids, decent weather and my girlfriend adamant she was spending the day painting the garden fence. As we've only got one brush and I didn't want to get under her feet, I thought I'd blow the dust off my bike and go for an impromptu ride out around beautiful North Wales.

I headed from Wrexham though Llandegla towards Bala, turned right at Bala and took the lovely A4212 around Llyn Celyn towards Trawsfynydd. Another right on the A470 up to the Shell garage near the A55 (queues anyone??), fill up, check my phone and find a mate of mine is also out and about and heading towards Betws-y-coed so it's back down the A470 to meet him.

A quick catch-up and we're soon north bound roughly heading for Colwyn Bay motorcycles. We turn right at Llanrwst and pick up the very, very, very twisty A548 to Abergele and then Colwyn Bay. A quick look at bikes I can't afford followed by a short run on the A55 and we're heading home through Halkyn and Rhosesmor.

Did about 160 miles in all and it was bloomin' brilliant. Didn't see a spot of rain and better still, no police or scamera vans!

Arrived home at about 5 o'clock to find the missus still painting the fence panels and considerate bloke that I am, didn't want to get in her way so I cracked open a bottle of wine and watched the F1 qualifying from earlier in the day

All in all, a great day!

And you know what , I didn`t step foot outside all day as it looked very grey and blustery and threatened to drop rain . So I think to myself "go out tomorrow" , Aaaaaaand today we have misty rain ....... typical .

Pouring down here too so no more bike riding for me this weekend. Shame, cause I could quite easily go again. Oh well.

Roll on summer, I say!

Like the Non-Summer we had last year , I bought my Varadero on the 22nd of July last year , and I swear blind , ever since then it`s rained or blown a gale , I get the SV and the weather has been fairly OK but damned chilly .

Went for a ride on Saturday and felt rusty!!!

Originally Posted by xXBADGERXx

Like the Non-Summer we had last year , I bought my Varadero on the 22nd of July last year , and I swear blind , ever since then it`s rained or blown a gale , I get the SV and the weather has been fairly OK but damned chilly .

Something similar happened to me about 4 years ago - bought a new bbq and I swear the minute I handed the cash over, clouds formed and it rained for the rest of the year!

Originally Posted by Speedy Claire

Went for a ride on Saturday and felt rusty!!!

I'm always a bit rubbish when I haven't been out for a ages and I was quite glad to ride alone for while, gives me chance to ride at my own pace and gradually build my confidence up. I wasn't too bad on the twisties but my low speed control was rubbish. Might find a quiet piece of road/empty car park soon and brush up on my u-turns, turning right from a standstill etc.

Originally Posted by xXBADGERXx

And you know what , I didn`t step foot outside all day as it looked very grey and blustery and threatened to drop rain . So I think to myself "go out tomorrow" , Aaaaaaand today we have misty rain ....... typical .

Now, see, yesterday looked a little grey & rainy. I had the front pads to change, so did that & it wasn't raining.

Explained to the other half that I must take the bike for a run to bed the new pads in, and that I'd be as long as it took as I couldn't gurantee when they'd start to bite properly. I also convieniently forgot my phone.

So I headed off down the peninsula, aiming to find a secluded beach that we stumbled across last year. So despite the grey clouds I headed down past Caernarfon.

Two mins before I got to the beach (memory was a little hazy but I was pretty certain I was heading the right way)... Whoosh. All the clouds gone, and bright blue skies. Found the beach, parked up & had an ice cream from the shop (why was it open in such a remote place at this time of year?).

Anyhow, headed away from the beach & turned the wrong way (heading away from home, honest, wrong turn. ). Found a very remote small natural harbour. By remote, I mean this was about 3 miles down a track I wasn't sure if the bike was legally allowed on!! So decided to park the bike & wished I'd brought the camera.

The water by the rocks was so clear I could see a good 3-4ft down, and there were loads of crabs etc in the rockpools. Had a good chinwag with a diver, then came back home.

On returning, I was asked how the ride was. Ah, so-so.

Originally Posted by Baph

parked up & had an ice cream from the shop (why was it open in such a remote place at this time of year?).

They instinctively know when a sale is happening , at the moment you left home for your ride that seller was washing the dishes at home . He looks out the window in shock and drops the fork he was cleaning , before it clatters into the bowl a Toyota Hiace is fired up and leaves tyre marks behind in the fading exhaust soot fall . He was there for the sale and returned home happy and told his children the happy story .





Some of the above may not be true

[Luckypants]

Oi! Gary, any chance of seeing you at The Bridge on Wednesday then?

If it's this Wednesday coming then there's a good chance! I'll be in Northampton that day so I shouldn't be too late back.