Chairman's Blog

The scenic Sychnant Pass

Having been caught in some heavy rain the previous day in Caernarfon (See Caernarfon ride), we decided to return to the area on Sunday 11th July for the Anglesey Ride-out.

The route for this trip was organised by our rides-coordinator, Chris Phillips, as a circuit of Anglesey. This area is well known to me and I do enjoy a ride around the island, providing the weather is fine.

Jan and I, accompanied by Steve D. on his recently purchased 1500, turned up at 8.50 am at the home of Nigel and Jo, to find Nigel again awake and dressed at this hour, and helping Jo to get ready.

Another scenic shot from the Pass

We were soon heading westbound on the A55 to Llandudno Junction, to meet up at the Black Cat Garage, where we waited for Chris to turn up to guide us around the island according to his route.

Soon enough, Chris and Amy arrived and so did Steve M. on the trike, and we were off.

After a slight detour via Llanrhos and Deganwy, we headed towards Conwy and the Sychnant Pass. This was the very old road that connected Conwy to Penmaenmawr, especially when the tide was in. It is a scenic diversion to the A55 dual carriageway if you have the time to take it.

Break-time to stretch the old aching joints

We pulled off the A55 road just after we crossed the Britannia Bridge onto the island, and followed the road towards Llanfair P.G. before turning left again to head for Newborough.

The roads on Anglesey are interesting for bikers as they are constantly twisting and turning with some decent straights along the way, though speeds cannot be particularly high due to volume of traffic and the not bad but not perfect surface over most of the roads. At least, we did not see many of the body jarring potholes that we find further inland on the mainland, and which are more prevalent since the snow earlier this year.

Meeting up with John and Marilyn

As we continued around the island, I was somewhat disappointed to find so many nice stretches of the road reduced to slow crawls due to speed limits, which were too long and too low. These have crept in over the past couple of years.

We eventually arrived at Beaumaris and were able to pull into a parking spot directly opposite the entrance to the pier.

At this moment we were greeted by John and Marilyn W. who had gone to Beaumaris for a ride and some lunch, having just finished working at the Wing-Ding held at Bangor over the weekend.

We also met Pete Hodge and Diane who were waiting for Steve M. as he was carrying some parts needed to get Pete’s trike back on the road.

'After lunch' photo shoot at the beach

We split up for lunch at a couple of different premises, and when Jan and I returned to the Wings, there was another Wing parked up with them. I was then informed by Nigel that Mike M. and Helen had been following us around the island but just missing us.

Following lunch, we made our way to the view point overlooking the Menai Straits between the Britannia Bridge and the Menai Bridge. This was to enable Nigel to take some decent photos that he wanted for the website.

At this point Chris announced that we were at the end of the official ride-out. He and Amy needed to visit Betws Y Coed to deliver some items. Several of us decided that we would also go along for the ride, at which point Chris announced that we were welcome to come along, if we could keep up with him!

The view between the Bridges

Steve M. decided wisely that the roads would be a bit of a workout for him as his trike does not yet have raked front forks, and was quite heavy to steer, so he set off back to the A55 and home.

Chris was obviously a bit concerned about the time for the items which needed to be delivered so he set off at a gentle pace until the roads allowed progress to be made and off he went with a red 1800 in hot pursuit.

This left Steve at the front not knowing the route.

Fortunately, I was able to get to the front of the other two wings from my position at the back, just in time to lead Steve and Mike with the correct way to go.

I then led the ride to Llanberis, where we picked up Nigel, who had slowed down and waited for us. Chris and Amy were nowhere to be seen as Chris had rode off in a spirited way. He suspected that Chris had turned off somewhere to deliver something.

The view on Sunday - totally invisible on Saturday

We continued the ride up the valley to Pen-y-gwryd and through the same route as Saturday, all the way to Betws Y Coed.

The weather for Sunday was the opposite to the previous day’s trip, consequently we were able to compare the route.

On arrival at Betws Y Coed, I pulled into a motorcycle parking spot to see Chris and Amy parked just the other side of the wall, on the pavement.

After a break for coffee, tea and ice cream (guess who?), we parted company with Chris and Amy, and the remainder of us headed home via the Clocaenog Forest.

Another fine ride-out arranged by Chris for our members.

As usual, there is a record of photos taken by Nigel, Jan and I to be found at Goldwing North Wales Anglesey 2010 on our website.

Dave T