Adventure Bike Rider

VANVAN IN THE VALLEYS 2011

A bit later in the calender for this years Vanvan in The Valleys we once again based it in Ludlow and also had two seperate ride outs over the Friday and Saturday

Meeting up Thursday night at the Travelodge/Squirrell Pub were Useitright/Phill, 125er Crazy/Harv, Tweeky13/Lee, Gwjak/Gary, Hamwick/Mark and also joined early Friday morning by Diabolic/Ant

Friday North Wales

Leaving Ludlow at 9am we headed North for breakfast at the Station Cafe in Craven Arms before making our way over the Long Myndd via Bishops Castle and over the Welsh border to Montgomery...

Leaving Montgomery we headed North West towards Lake Vyrnwy, heading down to Abertridwr is Harv and Phill...

Ant sporting his new Arai...

Tweeky heading over the Lake Vyrnwy reservoir...

We arrived at the Artisans cafe and met up with Lyn who had travelled down from Holywell...

From left to right we have Phill, Gary, Harv, Mark, Tweeky and Lyn...

Altho the sun was shining while at the cafe the road around Lake Vyrnwy was very wet and covered in fallen leaves until we headed out towards Y Gadfa...

At 1,788 feet is Bwlch y Groes, the highest public road in Wales...

Mark...

Harv...

Phill...

Lee...

Lyn...

Ant...

Gary...

Also known as Hellfire pass due to its steep climbs and descents it was also part of the test route for prototype Austin and Triumph cars...

Refuelling in Bala Hight St...

Lyn looking at Ants gloves in disgust...

Heading south from Bala then west towards Dolhendre we picked up the gated road that twists it's way over Ffridd Trawsgoed...

A quick blast down the A470 thru the Coed y Brenin Forest we headed into Barmouth, altho out of season we did manage to get some lunch on the seafront but gave the ice creams a miss...

As the weather was turning for the worst a new return route was decided so Lyn said his goodbyes and headed home and we made our way south towards the brighter weather

Leaving Barmouth we took the Penmaenpool bridge over the Mawddach estuary, this rickety wooden toll bridge was built in 1879...

Foel Fadian and the Wynford Vaughan Thomas Memorial/View point...

Total mileage for the day was around 212miles...

Saturday Mid Wales

Saturday Morning we were joined by Big C who had driven up the night before and also Welshxpress and Ort Dunlo, luckily one of them had also bought the sunshine along for a bright start to the day...

Heading out from Ludlow we made our way to Shobdon airfield for breakfast then onto Builth Wells before heading East to Garth, then towards Epynt via Garth Bank...

Epynt is a live military training area and artillery range and Army vehicles are a common sight...

Halfway accross Epynt is the Drovers Arms closed down since 1940 www.silverdragons.co.uk/Histo..._history_6.htm ...

Ants reaction to the pub being closed...

Left to Right, Big C, Welshxpress, 125erCrazy, Hamwick, Tweeky13, Gwjak, Diabolic, Useitright and yours truly...

Heading into Brecon we then took the A40 towards Sennybridge and turned off onto the Military road to Tirabad, the red flag is a sign of live gunfire and to stick to the main road...

To the North west of Tregaron is Abergwesyn Common, also known as the roof top of Wales...

The above road twist it's way up and down the valley until it climbs steeply up the Devils staircase...

Tweeky climbing the 25% Devils Staircase...

Welshxpress...

Big C...

Diabolic...

And of course what goes up must go down, Big C and Harv heading down the other side of the Staircase...

Taking the left fork after this descent leads you onto a fantastic single track road with a stunning view over the Llyn Brianne Reservoir...

Big C on Soar Y Mynydd...

Followed by Tweeky...

From here it was a run back to Tregaron, Ponterwyd for much needed fuel, Devils bridge and back via Elan Valley and Rhayader to the hotel in Ludlow...

Total mileage for today 218miles...

Karl

Great report & pictures Karl

Looks like you had a cacking time , the vanvan is a tuff little tyke

Great report and pics Karl.
My wife has recently passed her CBT and so far done 400 miles on her fantastic little Vanvan. She thought I would get bored following behind but to be honest I've really enjoyed seeing the scenery instead of just blasting along as normal.
Thanks also for the route info

Top ride report with great pics.

I want one now.

Thanks for that great ride report I thoroughly enjoyed looking through that, spent many a happy day on a 650 Bonnie around those roads in the late 70's 80's top report those
vanvans are something else, I wish they made a bigger version for my bulk

BIG D

Brilliant. I want a Vanvan now!

Superb

Been riding the vanvan lately and am suprised how tough it is. Will hold full throttle for mile after mile without missing a beat and go up some good trails to break up the route. great report by the way will have to come to one of the get togethers.

Some great pictures there guys and a great route , may have to borrow that ...
as a new biker I hadn't.. realised the vanvans were only 125 cc ... ive just had my first adventure on a 125, all through the lakes and across the country .... the bike was more than enough for me ... for now

Tony

Nice one lads

amazing wales is a great place to ride, i was there last weekend and done 500 miles round wales, i recognise some of them places.
great report and pics, man those little bikes look great fun, bet theyre great on fuel too

Nice report and pics, thanks for taking the time and trouble to post.

I enjoyed the report and pictures: I now know what I'm doing tomorrow if the sun keeps shining! Llyn Brianne, Soar-y-mynydd, Tirabad/Epynt etc...... cant get enough of that scenery.

Excellent report and great pictures... nice one