Goldfinder arrived Friday afternoon and booked into the campsite and after the preliminary setting up of tents and nattering we went to my house for a cuppa where my mother promptly started feeding everyone.
Not wanting to waste what was left of Friday, Goldfinder, Steve (Graeme's friend) decided to do a night run on a wonderful lane not far from the campsite. Finishing up at about 11.30pm. As you can guess though it was dark so no pictures were taken.
Saturday was far more eventful and involved Alex joining us shortly after 9am at the campsite. As is the norm there is always a late comer to the party and at 10.45am Rich and Claire turned up with family in tow. Fair dues to them though, after only 2 minutes of banter they started getting their camping gear set up and were like ants in their efficiency. The rest of us would have helped but Im sure we would only have gotten in the way.
Setting off from the campsite we headed in the direction of Brithdir for a nice amble across open moorland before heading into the trees for a spell. While stopping at the campsite for a quick pit stop Alex discovered both his front driveshaft gaitors had split and thought it best if he left it at that rather then destroying driveshafts.
After the stop its onwards and heading in the Tywyn direction to do a beautiful tarmac UCR that runs up and behind Abergnolwyn before heading on to the Happy Valley trail. After a couple of stops and the obligatory tea and cigarettes it was decided to move on to a lesser travelled and very overgrown byway near Machynlleth. this is where we spotted the Red Mushrooms beside the track which apart from a few gorse flowers was the only speck of colour in the place. This byway has a rather nice section with some washout and a couple of drops which dont seem so bad the second time around and a lovely drop into a stream crossing.
After this we travelled back towards Aberdovey to do a nice lane that runs along the mountain ridge overlooking the Dovey estuary. Graeme finally got to see the sea. This ended in a short tarmac section before hitting the final lane of the day just as the sun was starting to set we made it into Aberdovey for fish and chips at the seafront before heading back to the pub for a nice relaxing pint and a natter.
Sunday started well and having rested well after the previous days excursions I was at the campsite to find almost everyone ready to go. Setting off for Rhyadar we all settled in for the 45 mile drive. Starting with a byway just North West of Rhyadar that starts out as a slow rocky climb before settling down and becoming a hard-packed gravel track. Again the obligatory tea and sandwiches and a quick look at the map and we moved onto the next lane which is called the Monks Trail. Unfortunately this was closed and currently has a TRO on it, much to our disappointment . There is another byway on the opposite side of the reservoir which I was planning on doing but we decided not to see if it was open or not in favour of going to the southern end of Strata Florida instead. This is a trail I have always wanted to do since I got to Wales and it was definitely worth it althoug I would say (since we went both ways) that it is a far nicer drive coming from the Southern end.
Once we finished this it was time to head our seperate ways. unfortunately Rich had some starter problems but he managed to raise me on the CB when I was only a hundred yards away. We managed to tow start the truck and Rich and family were able to make their way home safely.
Heres the pics, Im sure the others have many more. Enjoy!
expand any further than what Phill has written, except to add that it was a great weekend and this does not do it justice.
