Our Welsh Adventure 2024

What an adventure!! What started with six people and six bikes, ended with six people, seven bikes and a van!

We had booked a house in the Brecon Beacons for a week. I have been to mid and north wales many times but somehow have never ventured south so I was looking forward to exploring somewhere new.

Day 1

The weather forecast for our journey was good, fingers were crossed it stayed that way! We met at 9 o’clock in the morning at the fuel station, grabbed a coffee, fueled up and set off. Our accommodation was in Bethlehem, Llandeilo which is not far from Llandovery, 220 miles away.

We had planned two planned stops – The Old Prison in Northleach which was 64 miles away (2 hours) and then The Baffle Haus, Near Pontypool, 75 miles (1 ½ hours). From there it was 55 miles to Bethlehem (1 ½  hours).

The journey to The Old Prison was good and the breakfast was delicious and just what we needed, food and coffee. 

Likewise, we had a good run to The Baffle Haus too although we mis-timed it for a busy period as we couldn’t get into the car park to start with and had to queue outside before spaces became available.

Definitely worth the queue. I have not been here before but saw a couple of familiar faces and met some new ones. A great place and one which I need to venture back to.

We set off for the last leg of our journey. We knew that our accommodation was pretty much in the middle of nowhere so we planned to stop at the nearest supermarket on the way to stock up on basic essentials and something for dinner.

Onto our accommodation. It was a beautiful house and, the description was bang on, other than a couple of other houses nearby, it was pretty remote. We knew the security of the bikes was not going to be an issue, perfect.

We lit the fire, got out the beer and settled in for the evening.

Day 2

The forecast for the afternoon was heavy rain and strong winds, so we headed out on the bikes in the morning to make the most of the dry roads.

We were not far from the Owl’s Nest diner so headed there for breakfast. I have not been here before so I was pleased to be able to check it out.

The guys here are very friendly and the food was delicious. As it was a Sunday morning, there were a fair few other bikers too so it was great to chat and look at bikes too. Another great place that I need to venture back to.

We headed off for a ride, stopping to grab something for dinner later as the prospect of heading out in the rain did not hold much appeal.

We took the opportunity to explore the area on foot in the afternoon and although we didn’t dodge the rain, it was good to get out and explore.

We lit the fire again and settled in for the evening with beer and food.

Day 3

The forecast today was okay for the morning, rain by mid afternoon. This was very clearly wrong!

The plan was to ride the black mountain pass, aka the ‘Top Gear’ road and head to Brecon. We set off in the morning and within ten minutes of riding it started raining. There was a lot of debris in the road from the heavy winds yesterday and the roads were still damp.

On the way to the pass, there was a sign saying the road was closed so the sat nav took us on a diversion. Oh wow, this was a buttock clenching diversion, the road was very narrow! Put it this way, even on the bikes we were being hit by branches. There was grass down the middle of a very slimy road and this wasn’t even the buttock clenching bit! This part came when you had to do a 90 left on a slimy, slippery bend going downhill.

Phew! Made it to the end of this road, turned left only to be met by a policeman and a cordon blocking this road and what looked to be a telegraph pole down in the road. OMG I really didn’t want to go back the way we came! 

Luckily we were able to turn around and stay on this road to take us back to the first road closed sign. Coffee was definitely in need by this time so we headed to Llandovery and came upon the West End Cafe, which turned out to be a biker haunt too, excellent.

We had a coffee, some breakfast and re-set the sat nav!

We headed off again but the route we picked turned out not to be what we thought it would be. It was still raining, the traffic was heavy and then Graham’s bike broke down. Standing at the side of the road in the rain trying to fix the bike was not working. In the end the bike was parked down a side street and Graham had a pillion ride to a cafe and then I had a pillion ride back to our digs and Graham rode my bike.

On the way back to the digs we encountered a herd of cows crossing the road then a lorry reversing down a lane as we were going up followed by a van doing a three point turn. An interesting day of riding to say the least. We were glad to get back!

Day 4

As Graham could not get his bike going, he decided to catch a train home, collect his van and another bike and drive back, he would be gone for the day.

The rest of us headed to Pendine. We parked up by the sea front and noticed a beach buggy hooning on the beach so of course a closer look was needed.

There were many vehicles on the causeway too and it turned out that Tim Shaw and Fuzz Townsend were filming for their new series of Car SOS and had the pleasure of driving up and down the beach in a borrowed buggy. Looked like great fun.

We headed to the Land Speed Museum which tells the iconic story of Pendine Sands and the renowned sporting records set on the beach. Between 1924 and 1927 Pendine was used for World Land Speed Record attempts. The sands were seven miles long, hard and flat and able to support large vehicles.

Malcolm Campbell was the first to try a record attempt at Pendine and in 1924 he succeeded in his Sunbeam Bluebird returning again the following year and breaking his record.

In the same year, J G Parry Thomas came with his car, Babs, which had a 27 litre Liberty airplane engine under the bonnet, but it was not until he returned the following year that he was able to take the record.

Campbell re-took the record in February 1927 and then Thomas returned in the March in Babs. Unfortunately, Thomas crashed and died trying to get the record back. Babs was buried on the beach where it crashed and this ended World Land Speed Record attempts at Pendine. 

Some years later Babs was recovered from the Beach and restored and can be seen on display in the museum.

The sands did, and still do, attract other land speed record attempts including Guy Martin and Idris Elba but I will let you visit the museum to find these out for yourself. A really interesting place indeed.

We came back via the ‘Top Gear’ road. What a road! There are 40 mph average speed cameras along this road but the views and the road itself is amazing. You cannot help but stop along the way just to take in the views. Stunning.

Graham had made it back with another bike, our group was all back together again.

Day 5

What a day! We took a ride to Elan Valley. For some reason my sat nav took us on a winding and wonderful back road lane to the visitor centre, I have not been that way before, but it was certainly interesting!

After a coffee we headed off for the first dam and parked up. John then noticed that his rear tyre was pretty much flat. The bike was backed up into a puddle, air put in (we had puncture repair kits and mini tyre compressors with us) and the hole was found, plugged and pumped up.

By the time we got to the next dam, the tyre was nearly flat again, more air was added. John noticed another nail in his tyre at this point but the nail seemed to be staying in place so it was decided not to remove this.

We carried on but had to keep stopping to re-plug the hole and add more air. The repairs did not seem to be working, we have not experienced that before, normally a plug will hold until we can get the tyre checked out. We were trying to find a tyre repair shop.

After one stop to add more air to John’s tyre, Giles noticed a nail in his rear tyre too, he had lost some air but the nail seemed to be staying in place so it was decided to leave it there and continue on our way.

We stopped for fuel and next door was a tyre place. This was like an oasis in the desert! The guys there were amazing. On inspecting John’s tyre, it was discovered that the ‘hole’ we had attempted to repair turned out to be a one inch gash. No wonder the plug wasn’t holding. A new tyre was ordered, arriving the next day.

Giles’ tyre could not be repaired and a new tyre was ordered, again arriving next day but he was still able to ride the bike.

John rode my bike back and I went pillion!

We got back to our digs, showered and then headed to the pub for dinner. It had been a long and stressful day.

Day 6

Graham woke up to a flat tyre with a nail being the culprit. Off came the tyre and into the van along with Giles tyre. Graham, John and Giles headed off for the tyre place. David left today as he had to get home.

That left Jeff and myself. The sun was shining so we were not going to waste it, we got on the bikes and set off for the ‘Top Gear’ road. This road is so much fun to ride and we stopped several times along the way. Having got to the end, we turned around and rode it again.

We then headed to the Owls Nest for lunch. There were a fair few other bikers there too which was great.

When the guys were back from sorting the tyres, we met back up. Graham had missed out on the ‘Top Gear’ road previously so back we went and rode this again, went back to our digs, showered, changed and headed to the pub.

Day 7

We decided to take a ride to Aberaeron and what a great choice this was. Really lovely place where we found a lovely little cafe for a late breakfast.

The road to Aberaeron via Lampeter was so much fun, we decided that we needed to ride it back too 😜

We met a couple of bikers on the seafront and chatted for a while. One of the amazing things I love about biking is that you can rock up anywhere, bump into other bikers and have a great conversation. 

I have met some amazing people along the way in my biking journey, the biking family is the best.

Day 8

That’s it, this is the end of our Welsh adventure, we were riding home today. Because Graham was in his van, he and his bikes set off early, whilst the rest of us set off later and had a good journey home.

Well, Wales certainly held some adventures for us but they were all part of the holiday and certainly gives us a lot to chat about in the pub!

We saw some beautiful scenery, rode on some fantastic roads and met some really lovely people along the way. 

I count myself very lucky to be able to have some truly great mates to go away with and share my riding experiences and I absolutely cannot wait for our next adventure.

Planning our next adventure has already started …..

BK