Page 151 - Classics Issue

At critical spots Ade would pull over, put a pin drop into the satnav and refer to the maps before driving a stake in the ground in a visible position and take a photograph for reference, this was going to be a tough but great round trip for his competitions and it was a pleasure to be up in the hills helping pull this together. Another advantage, believe it or not, was the weather, the forecast had been good, but when was that every accurate right? But I don’t think any of us could have predicted how good and by mid-morning and with a couple layers and body armour under my jacket, I was sweating. I called home to discover that Ascot was enjoying higher temperatures than Marbella and there was even talk of a barbecue! As it turned out we picked the hottest weekend of the year so far and likely the whole summer, unbelievable luck as I would not have wanted to be out on the Beacons in driving horizontal rain and cold winds, which is the normal MO in these parts.The day went by all too quickly and despite a few ‘moments’ I managed to keep everything just about upright and pointing in the right direction but I was feeling pretty knackered by the end of the day as we started to head back to base. We trudged into the local mini market near to our campsite, tired and muddy, to collect some essential beverages before sinking into canvas chairs by our tent. I selected bag, duvet, pillows and we had somewhere to plug in phones, music and what proved to be an essential fan heater – more of that later. Within an hour or so we were ready to set off but not before a short walk into the village for an essential ‘full English’ as it would be some time before we would have the opportunity to eat again and as all bikers know – you don’t ride anywhere on an empty stomach.Now I must confess at this point I have been to many, many spectacular places around the world but I am guilty of not exploring my own back yard and I am ashamed to say I had never really bothered with Wales – which proved to be a huge error of judgement on my part as what we were to see over the next few days was nothing short of spectacular. With fully tanks and fat bellies we set off. Ade, of course, was extremely organised with satnav on the bike, maps in his rucksack, and a bag full of stakes and a mallet strapped to the bike so we could plot a course for his participants to the event in the summer. roads and found ourselves blasting from gate to gate along gravel tracks and muddy bridal paths, the terrain changed for area to area, tight tree lined routes gave way to vast open felds of sheep and cows and I saw more welsh lamb than the meat aisle at Waitrose. It was tough going in parts and required being up on the pegs (standing on the bike to let the knees ride the bumps) to carve the bike though the ruts, over the tree roots and rocks under our tyres and being Wales of course there was plenty of water. I am ‘reasonably’ ft but soon the arms started to pump and the legs began to strain at the physical input required to hustle the Yamaha across the landscape. Very soon we had pulled off the winding tarmac 151