"The Gap", Brecon Beacons - September

[Drift]

Lawrence, any news of time and location.
The Doc (Paul) might come as gate opener.
He doesnt finish a night shift untill 0730 but might be able to get off earlier.
If times work out I could pick him up from the Hospital , he doesnt sleep for 24 hours when he comes off nights , to get his body back to normal (long way to go there then )

Cheers,
Ste

[gotafrontera]

Cheers Bump - maybe next time.

Cheers Ste - I knew you'd be there.

Revised list:
1. me - confirmed
2. Ste - confirmed
3. gotafrontera - (been a bit quiet on this thread lately)
4. Dave - confirmed
5. Steve - (depends if car is sorted, or might passenger with Dave)

6. Paul - 1st reserve

Lawrence

sorry lads, ive been putting in the hours in work to err pad the bank acount out ready for my fine lol.

not going to be able to make this 1.

have fun tho.

[Drift]

Shame Luke
Dont worry to much about the fine mate.
Hey was it a traffic cam that got you?
Ste

[Trugga]

Thanks for letting us know Luke

Revised list:
1. me - confirmed
2. Ste - confirmed
3. Dave - confirmed
4. Steve - (depends if car is sorted, or might passenger with Dave)
5. Paul - confirmed

I'm proposing a meeting point near Merthir Tydfil [sp] for 10:00 on Saturday morning. We should allow a couple of hours per lane and perhaps an hours liasion between lanes - could be a long day, but for those that stay awake, the chance to do the Wayfarer in the dark.

Is 10:00 ok, or should we make it 11:00

I'll PM the meeting point out this evening.

Lawrence

[lotusfrontera]

Can you give a guestimate of nearest point to last lane, just in case Steve doesn`t get his car done and we can collect him, or someone can, I`ll have a word with Paul on this.
Difflock Dave.

[lotusfrontera]

I`m up for all four lanes, Wayfarer sounds good in the Dark!!!
Difflock Dave.

[Drift]

After me getting the dates ballsed up, Ive cleared it with her the boss
And I should have no problem,.
Anyone wanna come along for the ride room for a gate opener?
Ste

[paul higgi]

cheers trugga
cya on sat

[Drift]

Ok my unique route planning is swinging into action.
(I just hope there is some one in Morda walking a dog a 0800 Saturday morning )
Ste

[Drift]

I found the pub , bst not mention the roads .
1 hour 20 minutes from me
Ste

[lotusfrontera]

Ok then Lawrence, looks like were nearly all sorted.
Ste is going to pick Steve up at a pub in Morda, oswestry( check the beer Ste for our return!!!!)
Paul is either going down fri night for B&B or come down to me fri night.
All we need now is a time and place for us to meet for our little convoy down to Merthr tydfil.
Difflock Dave.

[Trugga]

For those that are interested, this is an outline of this Saturdays outing.

Steve will travel from south Wales to somewhere near Oswestry, leave his car and then get a lift with Ste back down to south Wales. Meanwhile, Paul, (having driven from Lancashire and stopped over at Dave’s) and Dave will meet Lawrence in Walsall and travel down to south Wales in a three vehicle, two hour convoy.

After a social just south of the Brecon Beacons, our laning starts off with "The Gap". I'm guessing this will take a little under a couple of hours to cover the 3.6 miles, stopping occasionally to pose for photos and the inevitable video clip. Alas, this might possibly be the last time this particular lane can be driven legally by motorised vehicles (we’ll know more in November).

A 40 mile road trip will bring us to the 6 mile long “Strata Florida” lane with its 15 river crossings. Only the brave, stupid or extremely well prepared vehicles should attempt this lane after a rain storm, so we’ll play it by ear on the day.

Another 40 mile road trip brings us to the 3 mile “Happy Valley BOAT”. An interesting mix of gravel and bedrock with lots of twists & turns and ups & downs.

A 25 mile road trip should then bring us to the Barmouth sea front, for a spot of fish & chips.

After taking in the sea air, we then have the option of driving the Coed-y-Brenin part of the “Sarn Helen” Roman road, taking the gated mountain road to Bala before driving the 5 mile “Wayfarer” probably in the dark.

With a bit of luck, we’ll end up in a pub in Oswestry before closing time.


I love it when a plan comes together.



Dave/Paul - I'll meet you at Morrisons carpark for a 07:30 departure.
Ste/Steve - We'll meet you in the appointed layby for around 10:00.


Lawrence

[lotusfrontera]

Evening Lawrence,
Paul has phoned and said he won`t be travelling down friday night now because he`s got a prior engagement he forgot with family, so he`ll meet us at the designated layby at 10.00am, so its just you and me in the convoy, so I`ll see you at 7.30am on morrisons carpark rubber duck!
Difflock Dave.
P.S. Channel 8 everybody.

[Trugga]

Okerly dokely CB channel 8 and I'll bring a couple of PMR set to channel 4.

Rough workings out suggest the above schedule should get us to Barmouth for 18:00. If we take time to admire the vies, take piccy's etc (and not have any mechanical issues), it should definatley be getting dusk as we approach the Wayfarer - a cracking experience to drive it in the dark.

My only concern is Strata Florida - but we slways have the option of turning back.

Lawrence

[BUMPTJ]

Hope you have a great day..

[Trugga]

Cracking day out - currently in Barmouth scoff'n fish & chips.

The Gap was amazing - tougher in real life than the videos give it justice.

Strata Florida was wetter than I'd seen it before, but that made it more interesting.

Happy Valley was very rough, but Paul and Dave lapped it up.

All 4 vehicles are running fine, with no damage - now we're off to do the 5 mile Wayfarer in the dark.

Lawrence & Co.

[sollihull]

Excellent, Glad you all are having fun and there's no damage YET!
I hope the rest of the Trip is as Safe and Exciting as the Sections you've already done

[Trugga]

Just thought I'd report in - I'm back. Its quarter to two in the morning and I'm drinking coffee (decaff to try and negate the Red Rooster).

Cracking day all round me thinks, with 4 LWB Frontera's show that what they can do they do very well - ie, the Gap Road in front of an audience (I'l strip the video later today).

Met about 16 other 4x4's on the lanes and even 4 Citroen 2CV's - more later, a couple a dozen motorbikes, a hand full of mountain bikes and probably 50 walkers. No real problems though.

On the Wayfarer in the dark, we not only came accross sheep, but rabits, hares and frogs !!!


Oh, and good news... Ste did not get stuck (but Dave did, sort of - he needed to engauge the lockers to drive off the grass!)

Looking forward to seeing some piccies.

Lawrence

[paul higgi]

would like to thank lawrence for the invite and the coffee, had a great day (long day got back home 2.25am ni torrential rain)it was good to meet a couple of new faces also a big thankyou to dave for letting me stay over on friday other wise it would of been a much longer day for myself
thanks to everyone and hope to see you again sometime on some other event

[lotusfrontera]

I`ll like to second Paul`s comments, a big thanks to Lawrence for organising it all, and thanks to all the guys who turned up and made the social trip very enjoyable.
Difflock Dave.