Moto ADV: We Went To Wales

Our Yorkshire mates had already arranged a moto trip to Wales a week or two hence. From a coffee shop in Derbyshire we phoned them and said, "Can we, the usual suspects, join you please?" With barely a detectable hesitation, the answer was, "Of course you can. But accommodation might be difficult."
Somehow our Expert (AM) got us rooms in the same hotel as the Yorkshire boys. Sorted! It would be DAB meets HAB. Derbyshire Advanced Bikers meet with Harrowgate Advanced Bikers.
One of the "usual suspects" - GW - was missing. He is blatting across North America with a certain Nick Sanders. The scenery, therefore, will be just that blurry stuff on the side of the road!
Soon the day of departure arrived. The plan: AM and JM to RV with TE in Staffordshire. MP, MF, JK, RD, JA, CA to RV with us at The Dragon Hotel, Montgomery, Powys, Wales.

My machine ready to go.

The clock reads 45613. Trip to be reset at refuelling stop about 3 miles away. Moto does 11+ miles per litre. 30 litre tank. 330 miles range.

 At 10:00 am AM arrived for the first RV of the day. Today he will be mostly wearing Cordura and Nylon.

After successfully RV-ing with TE in Staffordshire, he took the lead to guide us on beautiful secondary roads through forests (Cannock Chase) and by waterways, valleys and escarpments to beautiful Powys.

 This is Park Gate Lock.

 TE and AM. They make a great TEAM!

TE and JM.

 Tudor dwelling Staffordshire/Shropshire border.

 TE navigated via public houses mostly! I think that this is Brewood.

 AM checking his vanity case.

 Straight on at the Bridge Inn.

But first a quick look at the canal.

Turn left at The Bell Inn.

 Snack stop at The Woolbridge Inn....

.....on the River Severn. 

Left turn at The King and Something!

We pulled into beautiful Much Wenlock, Shropshire.

The Market Hall.

 AM in the sunshine.

 Another view of the Market Hall.

 The Talbot Hotel (hidden piazza).

 Canary Wharf? This is prettier!

 No plastic here.

Much Wenlock is a delightful town.

 JM - AM - TE plus ices.

 A shady stop.

 Wenlock Edge.

 A village in the valley.

 We don't let the grass grow under our feet.

 Straight on at the Plough on Wall pub.

 Any questions?

Entering Wales at the border post(s).

 Straight on or left?

 There wasn't much traffic.

 TE's navigation was spot on.

 Actually, we araffed most of the way.

 Here we are at our destination. The Dragon Hotel.

As you can see - not very far from home.

 About 8/10 for neatness.

 My room was good. 

 It even had a bathroom with plugs.

A few minutes later the gang from Yorkshire rode into town. We all met up for a pre-dinner sundowner and generally compared notes. Later .......

....... AM opted for bread and beer.

And soup.

And fish. Nice!

The hotel looked after us very well. The food and service was good. 

The next day we set off for a ride via Bala, Tywyn, Aberdyfy, Welshpool and back to Montgomery. MP had done all the planning. We had a great day out - about 185 miles.

 Coffee stop at Lake Vyrnwy Hotel.

After a stop for lunch near Penmaenpool we rode to Aberdyfi.

JK. RD. MF. AM. TE.

 AM. TE. JA. MP. CA. JM.

 MP taking a zoom shot.

The Next Day TE, JK and JM left the team and headed for home. We all had commitments elsewhere. JA also had to go back home but he was headed NNE 200 miles whilst we were headed ENE 100 miles. 

 TE and JK in Ludlow - a beautiful "Middle England"-type place.

 A place of culture.

 Fine alleys.

And Tudor buildings.

From the lovely market town of Ludlow we rode back to our respective homes via Bridgnorth, Shifnal, Penkridge and Rugeley.

This is what the speedo looked like:

So, 424 miles round trip. 250 miles since refuelling at Bala.

More moto adventures to follow. Thank you for reading.

Moto ADV: We Went To France ....... AGAIN!

Our standard French Trip Organiser went to a party in South Africa and left the rest of the MotoMates to their own devices. So Mr GW made some phone calls, sent some emails, got on line, pressed some keys, agreed some prices and bingo a formation 5 get geared up for Le Shuttle and Le Moulin.

This time we opted for:
a.) Not over the sea AND
b.) Not on the sea BUT
c.) Under the sea.

Except for the pain of 200 boring motorway miles M1, M25, M20 (relieved only temporarily by the Queen Elizabeth Bridge) the Eurotunnel is a brilliant option.

Here we are at Maidstone Services:

And here we are at Folkestone Eurotunnel Terminal:

Once we popped out of the hole on the French side we took the minor 'D' roads to Tigny. Basically D304, D305, D127, D215, D901.

View Eurotunnel - Tigny Noyelle in a larger map

Soon we were at Le Moulin at Tigny-Noyelle. It is a beautiful place, AND less than two hours from Calais.

Monday dawned and we set of for Gazaincourt Military Cemetery, Somme, France.

Andrew found where his great-grandfather is buried.

Visiting the graves of those who died in The Great War is a humbling and thought-provoking exercise. Later in the day we went to Thiepval, the memorial to the 72,194 officers and men missing on the Somme battlefields of France. Click HERE for the link to Thiepval Memorial.

We also went to Vimy Ridge, the Canadian Memorial. I have no pictures of this moving memorial but you may click HERE for a link.

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Once or twice the weather was slightly inclement, but we were on motorcycles and not in muddy hell hole trenches so no complaints.

Here we took shelter under some accommodating trees.

This is a pic of the motos parked in a line outside a military cemetery. Looks like: ENG 1 - 4 GER.

This pic has been arranged in order of height more or less.

One day we went to Le Crotoy and then pulled in to Rue for lunch. The weather was improving all the time.

We chose a wonderful restaurant in Rue. Click HERE for the link.
The food was excellent. Dr AM had a whole German helmet full of mussels.

We repaired back to Le Moulin for a lie down and some beers then some beers, and dinner and some wine and some beers. GW then decided to phone everyone he had ever known. There were some surprised responders, especially the taxi driver in the Caribbean and the missing official French Trip Organiser in South Africa.

But the next day everyone was up bright and early.

 Snack Stop near Hesdin

 Flower Stop?

 Poppies were kind of the theme of this trip.

BMW confiscated Dr AM's moto just before the trip. He protested and they gave him a 6 cylinder 1600cc sofa as a temporary replacement while they figure out a new design for his 1200 RT shocks.

 Too soon it was time to ride on the beautiful French roads to Calais Eurotunnel Terminal..........

........ and then the hell of England's motorways and Dartford Tunnel fiasco en route to our respective abodes.

Adieu.