Wales in the snow and ice last Sunday 5th Dec 2010 (UK)
Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:32 pm
Copy of my ride report from last weekend
There ended up just the 3 of us going, myself, camsdad and drew
Our street was like a giant sheet if ice and you could hardly stand up but gary was on his way from Yorkshire and drew was coming out of his brandy induced stupor so there was no going back !!!
It was a bit dicy getting the bikes up the ramp but my roll of carpet came in handy again as a grip mat so after loading all 3 bikes in my van we were off towards Wales
We were cruising along the M56 in the inside lane doing about 55-60mph when we were passed by about 5 ambulances with the blue lights flashing so we beginning to think there must have been something serious ahead but after stopping for drew's petrol at Chester services and then heading for Wrexham we were fine.
It was sensible to stay in the left lane as it didn't look too safe in any other and we were soon met by the sunshine and blue skies of Llangollen.
After breakfast at Mc Donalds
we parked below 'the staircase' and got ourselves ready to ride!!!
Seeing as 'big chief broken thumb' (dan ) was absent we thought we'd take his 'lost' flask instead so here are drew and Gary (RV TRF) posing with it
you may get fed up with the sight of this flask but Dan (Wr_kid lancs TRF) broke his thumb a fortnight ago when hitting a tree going up the slippy part of Pandy
Dan goes tree hugging on Vimeo
and the whole days proceedings were planned around taking pics of his flask in random locations to wind him up whilst he's sidelined till the new year
As we were getting ready to leave .......... 'the flask' was playing with snowballs!!!
We romped up 'the staircase' and negotiated a few icy roads to get to the bottom of Pandy where dan went tree hugging a fortnight ago and with a gentle approach we made it to the slippery climb that contains 'dan's tree'
1 drew heads toward the staircase on Vimeo
I went first and after losing momentum i found my self being attracted to 'dan's tree' but i managed to resist copying dan and got up the complete hill without stopping and closely followed by drew so i got the camera out for a few pics and a breather in the balmy sunshine and blue skies
2 drew conquers Pandy on Vimeo
Gary got a bit stuck so drew had to go down and help him over the hardest part and by the time he got back to the top i thought he deserved a cuppa and so did his WR
4 gary's Wr450 'brewing up' after struggling up Pandy on Vimeo
3 drew helps gary get going again up Pandy on Vimeo
So out came 'dan's flask' again ......
The 'flask' was missing 'our dan' so we did our best to make a dan snowman and they wanted a picture taken together at the top of Pandy
The upper part of Pandy was easy
5 drew and gary finishing off Pandy on Vimeo
We did some icy tarmac and a lane or two to end up at the west arms in Llanarmon DC for our lunch
Dan's flask took centre table much to our amusement !!
After lunch we headed for 'the wayfarer' to further progress 'The travels of Dan's flask'
6 Gary, Gary, Gary gary !!! on Vimeo
EDIT: After hearing myself on this vid Gary found this funny clip
YouTube - Gary!
and i made this as well
7 nice up here 'innit' gary on Vimeo
8 Icy but beautifull on Vimeo
Here the lads approach the wayfarers sign
9 just before the Wayfarer sign on Vimeo
And when we got there 'the flask' came out for its 'piccy' taken
Not long after the wayfarer pic we took the right fork to try out some virgin snow on a lane we had never done before
I ploughed on uphill as far as i could (about 50 yards
)
and as it looked to be deeper drifts ahead i called it a day and got me camera out instead
The drifts of snow seemed to be formed like 'whoops' which made it harder than it looks
I had one last go and managed about another 25 yds before i felt sorry for the little crf230 and gave up
[COLOR="Red"]The next few pictures are actually videos so just hover over them and 'click' to watch them
[/COLOR]
so we all turned around and rejoined the wayfarer at the fork and carried on along towards corwen
Just before we got back on the tarmac near Corwen we took another pic of 'dan's flask' with the blue skies and late afternoon sunshine to prove how great of a day we'd had in North Wales
We rode all tarmac back to Llangollen and when we got to the van ...guess what?
There was a 'brew' left in dan's flask so seeing as i had carried it around and photographed it ALL DAY i drank it
BRING ON THE BAD WEATHER
There ended up just the 3 of us going, myself, camsdad and drew
Our street was like a giant sheet if ice and you could hardly stand up but gary was on his way from Yorkshire and drew was coming out of his brandy induced stupor so there was no going back !!!
It was a bit dicy getting the bikes up the ramp but my roll of carpet came in handy again as a grip mat so after loading all 3 bikes in my van we were off towards Wales
We were cruising along the M56 in the inside lane doing about 55-60mph when we were passed by about 5 ambulances with the blue lights flashing so we beginning to think there must have been something serious ahead but after stopping for drew's petrol at Chester services and then heading for Wrexham we were fine.
It was sensible to stay in the left lane as it didn't look too safe in any other and we were soon met by the sunshine and blue skies of Llangollen.
After breakfast at Mc Donalds
we parked below 'the staircase' and got ourselves ready to ride!!!
Seeing as 'big chief broken thumb' (dan ) was absent we thought we'd take his 'lost' flask instead so here are drew and Gary (RV TRF) posing with it
you may get fed up with the sight of this flask but Dan (Wr_kid lancs TRF) broke his thumb a fortnight ago when hitting a tree going up the slippy part of Pandy
Dan goes tree hugging on Vimeo
and the whole days proceedings were planned around taking pics of his flask in random locations to wind him up whilst he's sidelined till the new year
As we were getting ready to leave .......... 'the flask' was playing with snowballs!!!
We romped up 'the staircase' and negotiated a few icy roads to get to the bottom of Pandy where dan went tree hugging a fortnight ago and with a gentle approach we made it to the slippery climb that contains 'dan's tree'
1 drew heads toward the staircase on Vimeo
I went first and after losing momentum i found my self being attracted to 'dan's tree' but i managed to resist copying dan and got up the complete hill without stopping and closely followed by drew so i got the camera out for a few pics and a breather in the balmy sunshine and blue skies
2 drew conquers Pandy on Vimeo
Gary got a bit stuck so drew had to go down and help him over the hardest part and by the time he got back to the top i thought he deserved a cuppa and so did his WR
4 gary's Wr450 'brewing up' after struggling up Pandy on Vimeo
3 drew helps gary get going again up Pandy on Vimeo
So out came 'dan's flask' again ......
The 'flask' was missing 'our dan' so we did our best to make a dan snowman and they wanted a picture taken together at the top of Pandy
The upper part of Pandy was easy
5 drew and gary finishing off Pandy on Vimeo
We did some icy tarmac and a lane or two to end up at the west arms in Llanarmon DC for our lunch
Dan's flask took centre table much to our amusement !!
After lunch we headed for 'the wayfarer' to further progress 'The travels of Dan's flask'
6 Gary, Gary, Gary gary !!! on Vimeo
EDIT: After hearing myself on this vid Gary found this funny clip
YouTube - Gary!
and i made this as well
7 nice up here 'innit' gary on Vimeo
8 Icy but beautifull on Vimeo
Here the lads approach the wayfarers sign
9 just before the Wayfarer sign on Vimeo
And when we got there 'the flask' came out for its 'piccy' taken
Not long after the wayfarer pic we took the right fork to try out some virgin snow on a lane we had never done before
I ploughed on uphill as far as i could (about 50 yards
)
and as it looked to be deeper drifts ahead i called it a day and got me camera out instead
The drifts of snow seemed to be formed like 'whoops' which made it harder than it looks
I had one last go and managed about another 25 yds before i felt sorry for the little crf230 and gave up
[COLOR="Red"]The next few pictures are actually videos so just hover over them and 'click' to watch them
[/COLOR]
so we all turned around and rejoined the wayfarer at the fork and carried on along towards corwen
Just before we got back on the tarmac near Corwen we took another pic of 'dan's flask' with the blue skies and late afternoon sunshine to prove how great of a day we'd had in North Wales
We rode all tarmac back to Llangollen and when we got to the van ...guess what?
There was a 'brew' left in dan's flask so seeing as i had carried it around and photographed it ALL DAY i drank it
BRING ON THE BAD WEATHER
