GL1800 headlight pattern after changing the right hand side to HID

Motorcycles really are one beam wonders.  Though many bikes only have one headlight that switches between high beam and low beam, others do actually have two lights, which still often appear as one because of their close proximity to one another.  In the end, what matters is what other drivers see when driving toward a bike on the road, and having one distinct beam often sets apart motorcycles from other larger vehicles.

Many car, truck, and SUV drivers depend on the single beam array to discern between other large vehicles and motorcycles.  This allows them to build a greater distance between a bike and their car than they would between their car and another car.  Motorcyclists have less safety features protecting them, and that greater amount of space can potentially save lives.  At nighttime, when driving is at its most dangerous, discerning between motorcyclists and larger vehicle drivers comes down almost exclusively to how the headlights look.  Cars and trucks clearly have two headlights set widely apart, while a motorcycle would only have one headlight beam (or two very close together that almost merge into one).

This is one reason why it’s critical for motorcycle drivers to maintain a central position in their driving lane, particularly at night or during severe weather.  In the dark, a motorcycle leaning too close to one side of the lane or another may actually appear as a car with one headlight burned out, instead of as the motorcycle it is.  This confuses other drivers and makes them less well prepared to build that distance between their car and the motorcycle.

Another way motorcyclists can help differentiate their bikes from other vehicles is to utilize HIDs.  An HID headlight beam is several times brighter than a stock halogen beam, and can be set to a different color as well (such as vivid blue, piercing purple, and bold white).  The increased brightness and the variation in color will already cause drivers to take greater notice of the bike, but an HID’s up-to-10x as long-lasting durability makes sure that it’s less likely to burn out while driving.  When you’re only relying on one headlight on the road, making sure it doesn’t burn out is key to one’s safety.

Headlights are often passed over, receiving little attention one way or the other.  But for those riding motorcycles, a bright, enduring, and clear headlight can keep them safer for longer.  When someone wants to be able to continue driving his or her motorcycle for a long time to come, then, a powerful headlight is a necessity.

Rack-mount with my SS rack

Jan and I are making a couple of trips abroad on the Wing this year, and as these are for 2 weeks duration, we have been looking for a bit more luggage space.

Having done some research, I found an American Company who make a rack mount which fits on the back of the Wing.

This rack mount does not need the full fittings for a towbar which many other rack mounts do.

I do not want to fit a towbar on my Wing so the basic rack mount appeared to be very attractive to me, but it appeared a bit flimsy for the rack with some luggage.

My option was to find someone locally who could fashion one up for me with a bit more strength to it.

Wing with centre panel out

I was lucky in that I already had a stainless steel rack which had been made for a previous Wing but that Wing went with the towbar assembly fitted to it.

I discussed the issue with several Wingers but the only one who seemed interested was Dave Partridge of AwingAway. He decided to have a go at making a rack mount for me, using my Stainless Steel rack as the basis for his mounting system.

Having left the idea with him for a couple of weeks, Dave contacted me to say he had completed the rack mount and using my rack, he needed to fit it to my wing.

I rode the Wing down to Dave’s workshop near Telford and watched and took photos while he fitted the rack mount to my Wing.

Rack fitted to the Wing

It fitted first time as he had used his own wing to get the measurements.

All I need to do now is wire in the LED indicators that I had previously fitted to the rack when it was on my previous wing. When carrying luggage, the number plate and indicators can become hidden, so the LED indicators are there for safety. I also have a number plate to fit on the back of the rack.

The rack is not meant to carry heavy items,  but it is stable enough to carry extra luggage for our holiday in a roll bag strapped down securely to the rack. It can carry a quite bulky item which is too big to fit into the top box, providing it does not weight too much.

Rack in place (Central panel still to fitted)

If you are interested in a rack mount without the expense of having a towbar fitted, give Dave Partridge a ring as he now has the patterns to duplicate the item and I’m sure you can negotiate with him.

His contact details are telephone: 07795 095043   Email: dave©awingaway•co•uk  (dave©awingaway•co•uk)  

Dave T

Quite discreet when the rack is not needed

Some rowdy customers in attendance

On Saturday12th March Goldwings North Wales members were invited to The Bridge Inn, at Pontblyddyn, where Lyn Crowley together with the members of the band she plays with, were going to provide an evening of music for customers of the pub.

The pub is reasonably easy to find being on the main road between Mold and Wrexham, right on the junction with the road to Penyffordd and Corwen.

It was good to see quite a few of our members present on our arrival; Steve C-P, Alun and Sheila, Carl and Maureen, Dave S and Wendy, Derek and Babs, Pete Hodge, and Jan and I.

The musicians were just setting up on our arrival and I saw that Dave C was busy helping out.

Stevie C-P waiting for food while Dave T enjoys his

The pub provides meals which were quite good value for money with the offer of 2 mains for a tenner. Jan and I were quite pleased to find the menu gave a very good choice of meals and if anyone plans to visit the premises I don’t think they will be disappointed with the choice at all.

We were served quite quickly with our food, which was very tasty and a good portion too. Jan took the opportunity to have one of her favourite meals, liver and bacon, which I cannot eat, and I had a superb meal of braised steak which hit the right spot.

I think all of the members attending ate and I didn’t hear a single complaint. Further more, the drinks prices were very reasonable.

The Band playing

Once the music started we were able to listen to Lyn and the rest of the group who entertained us well for the next couple of hours. The music was interesting and Lyn is a good singer, as well as a very good double base player. She was able to show off her latest birthday present from Dave, a new electric double base.

The music that they play is ‘Blue Grass Music’ and the closest I can find to a description for it is Anglo Celtic Country Music. It was different to the usual Country and Western Music that I know. It certainly had more rhythm. The audience in the pub certainly enjoyed the evening and that was definitely true of our members.

Yours truely in a happy state

All in all the evening was a good social meeting .

I will be revisiting the pub in the near future as I have heard that other bike clubs have been made very welcome by the landlord, and it may be a possible future venue for our club if needed.

Dave T

Having thought long and hard about this, he decided that he must devise an obvious test to see if anyone spotted a variation to the web-site.

What can be more obvious than a change to the name of our club, which had not been decided and agreed by the members -it would be bound to be spotted quickly by someone, who would be immediately on the phone, demanding a return to the correct authorised name of the club..

No Chance!!! Just pure wishful thinking on his behalf.

Being fully aware that several members of the club happen to own motorcycles from that famous German works of BMW, he decided to target his attention in their direction.

Chairman Dave, the proud owner of a BMW F650 GS as well as his silver GL1800, visited the site evry day and never spotted any alteration. Now surely, he should have been able to spot the test and comment on it.

Ed the Techy, owner of a BMW K1200LT, must be able to spot it as he is a trained observer. Took him a good week to spot it

Stevie, also the owner of a BMW K1200LT, matching in colour to Ed, did spot it, but liked it and wanted to keep it so he didn’t rant off at our web-master but congratulated him.

Does this new name deserve to be kept on this web-site?

Answers by email to the web-master!

Dave T

The new name for Goldwings North Wales!

They deck out their Wings with hundreds of Christmas Lights each year and then tour the local communities to give the sick and elderly a taste of what they maybe aren’t usually able to see.

Well done guys!

Lee Andrews, aka our Carl

by Joanna Mackintosh

Wow, what a great evening we’ve just had! Dave & Jan and Nigel & I braved the snow to go to ParcFarm Caravan Park in Llanarmon yn Lal to watch someone called Lee Andrews entertain. Now, you may know this guy as Carl Pearce, one of our newer club members. He’s the chatty fellow riding the white 1500 known as The Gangster. Back in August when we did our Ride for Rotary from Ewloe Auctions, Carl appeared with a large bag of cash which he’d collected at this same venue the night before – he happened to mention to his audience the reason why he had to stop singing and get home, and they duly passed around a ‘hat’ and collected over £100 for Help For Heroes!

Forced to try the local wine!

Carl invited some of us to go and say thanks to the people there but unfortunately he’d been told there wasn’t a lot of room so that’s why we didn’t push it too much and bully more of you into joining us – we apparently wouldn’t fit in the small room. Sadly, the weather was so bad (we have had snow and it’s very, very cold) that not a great many people turned out to watch and listen to him so it’s a great pity that we couldn’t have had a bigger presence there – we could have easily fitted in a lot more.

Oh well, I’ll try to give a flavour here instead .

Presentation to The Honey Rose Foundation

We arrived before Carl/Lee did, so we enjoyed the always-pleasurable pastime of watching someone else work while sitting drinking. He set up his equipment quite quickly and sang a couple of songs to test the settings – sounded pretty good but he was looking a bit scruffy (jeans and a jumper!!). He did let a certain wannabe crooner in our party use his karaoke gear to sing Mack The Knife during this time (I don’t think Nigel’s ever been a warm-up act before!).

Carl's a singer....and a very good one at that!

After popping out to his car briefly, he returned resplendent in a dark suit ready to begin his ‘set’ – but only after a presentation had been made by the Parc to another charity (very generous lot here!). The first half of his show was ‘requests’ mainly – he’d sing a couple of songs of his choice and then ask if anyone wanted anything special. I still don’t see why he refused to sing any Robbie songs for me – though he did manage Fergal Sharkey for Dave!

Dave presents the thank-you letter from Ride for Rotary

Carl has a very wide range and sang an incredible variety of songs by many artists; Roy Orbison; Queen; Elvis; Sinatra; Dean Martin; David Essex; Cilla Black; Barry Manilow; Barry White; George Formby; Tom Jones; Billy Ocean; Simon & Garfunkel and best of all (in my opinion) Neil Diamond! When asked for Neil Diamond, he presumed Sweet Caroline but I asked for America and he sang it wonderfully. Seems he used to be in a Neil Diamond Tribute Band (amongst others). For a laugh, we had Moon River by a mixture of Andy Williams & Matt Munroe sung in the style of Wagner from X Factor!

I have to say that he did finally find a bit of Robbie in him and sang Mr Bojangles for me.

Carl leaves the amateurs to the mic

Although it was a small audience, they really seemed to enjoy Carl’s performance. We were very pleasantly surprised at how good he is – but don’t tell him, wouldn’t want him to get big-headed. At the intermission, Dave and Nigel had to take his place at the microphone and Dave made a brief speech and thanked them for the collection they’d made and he gave them a letter from the President of the Rotary Club showing their appreciation also.

The very versatile "Lee Andrews"!

To finish the evening, we were presented with a glass full of coins and a very apologetic lady telling us that they’d made this collection for us but there really weren’t many people there….sorry! These ‘few’ kind people gave us a little over £40 for our chosen charity!

After a few encores, Carl managed to stop singing around 12:15am and we made our way back home in Dave’s car – which was showing the outside temperature to be minus 8! I do hope Carl makes it back to Stockport safely.

We would all heartily recommend going to listen to him sometime if possible – it was a very, very good evening.

Addendum: Here’s a short video clip to whet your appetite!

Trouble hits the quiet Tenby town

We held our AGM this morning and I gave a brief report to those present on the last year within the club.

This article is to give a little more information to the  members and public alike.

We started off the 2nd year of GoldWings North Wales with 20 bikes .

The year has seen a steady increase in the club membership, currently we have 36 bikes at this time.

I am also aware of another 2 bike owners going to join us in January 2011.

Fund-raising for ASDA Tickled Pink Day

We have had a modest but successful year in our events and rides.

Chris Phillips, our ride co-ordinator, has managed to arrange some very well received rides over new routes for the members to enjoy and a weekend away for the club members to Tenby, which was a great success.

He has been requested to continue with arranging the rides in the same vein as this last year.

He has also been tasked to arrange another weekend away for the club members, again to a similar sort of venue.

A mix of Wings in Germany

We had a few of our bikes travel to Germany for a week’s holiday in the Mosel Valley, where they met up with some German Goldwing friends from Dortmund, and other GoldWingers from GoldWings North West.

As a result of the success of this trip another trip to foreign lands is arranged for 2011, again to Germany but further to the East this time, to the Harz Mountains area for a longer period.

The profile of GoldWings North Wales has been helped this year by participation in several charity fund raising events for the RNLI, ASDA’s Tickled Pink Charity which raises funds for breast cancer research and Ride for Rotary.

Ian - the new Vice Chairman

The RNLI events were held at Rhyl and Hoylake. Rhyl was a 2nd time for our club but Hoylake was a new request to help with fund-raising and it was a very successful event, with plenty of crowds seeing and sitting on GoldWings. We were also joined by a member from GoldWings North West.

For the second year running, ASDA requested the attendance of GoldWings to help with their fund-raising at their Queensferry store and we were able to supply a good number of bikes for this display. Again, we were joined by members from GoldWings North West.

We were also requested as a club to assist with the marshalling of the 2010 Ride for Rotary from Ewloe to the Ponderosa, which due to the efforts of Nigel, assisted by Chris and myself, went off very well.

Dave and Elaine- Tresurer and Membership Sec

The profile of the club this year has been raised by the use of a new club banner, purchased through a grant given by the Federation of UK GoldWing Clubs.

This sail banner is portable enough to be carried on a solo Goldwing with ease, and is useful as a focal point at events as well as a publicity tool for the club and has helped to increase the awareness of the public to the GoldWings North Wales Club.

Additional publicity methods are being looked at by the club at this time to increase even further our profile in the GoldWing Community and to the public in general.

The election of additional club members to the ‘management team’ reflects on the success of the club and the necessity of more help to run the club with the growing numbers of members.

'Do I talk about engines or do I eat these?' - Eddy Quayle

We welcome Ian Murison as Vice Chairman of the club, Dave Large as Treasurer and Elaine Large as Membership Secretary.

We also benefit from the technical advice of our own mechanical guru, Eddy.

The next years ambition is to increase membership even more and to provide more interesting rides and events for the enjoyment of the members.

Dave T

Meeting up at Dolgellau

Jan and I have been on a good run and to a great location  – The Tenby weekend, as organised by Chris, our rideout co-ordinator.

We had arranged to meet up with Nigel and Joanna at 8am on the outskirts of Mold at the petrol station (really! – 8 am in the morning!). We were not sure whether Nigel would be able to make it – after all he does not believe the day contains two 8 0′clocks.

It started well with the petrol station being closed due to a fuel tanker unloading fresh supplies, so after a hasty trip to another close-by petrol station to fuel up, we returned to a nearby street where we hoped Nigel would spot us and pull in.

Tenby Harbour

At this moment a white 1500 came into sight and there were Ian and Val, on route to the meeting point at Dolgellau. Ian diverted and pulled in behind me. This was their chosen route to go to Dolgellau as well.

A couple of minutes later, Nigel and Jo joined us and we set off. The weather at the start was quite clear and sunny, but it soon became obvious it was not going to continue that way.

On reaching the outskirts of Bala, I had decided I was getting cold and there was every indication that precipitation was about to be encountered (it was going to rain!), so a quick pull in was called for to don the waterproofs. A few minutes later we carried on in time to encounter the wet stuff.

Evening at the Lamb Inn

We continued down to Dolgellau where we pulled in at the Little Chef to meet up with Chris and Amy, and John, Marilyn and Kidogo.

With everyone present, we were about to set off when Chris decided to put on his waterproofs.

I must admit to wondering what we were letting ourselves in for when he started to put on a dry-suit!

Being a resourceful chap, Chris had utilised one of the best bits of waterproof kit he knew – a old dry suit for watersport, which he had very carefully adapted for use as a motorcycle over-suit.

2 solos and a crowd puller

Soon we were on our way, but I can’t say with good progress – the first leg from Dolgellau was dogged with roadworks and slow speed limits for long stretches with no reason for the length of some of them. It was obvious that it was making some drivers of cars very impatient, as was witnessed at the junction of the A487 and the A 493 north of Machynlleth.

We had come to a set of traffic lights, which had plenty of warning of long delays, and after we had queued we were able to proceed in a convoy led by a car towing a caravan. We all made it through with Nigel, riding as last bike, commenting on the CB that the traffic lights just changed to amber as he passed them.

How to sit on a cannon.....

We followed the slow moving traffic behind the caravan for a fair distance before the road turned left over the river bridge.

At a point some 50-60 yards beyond the bridge, which was narrowed down to one lane due to the road works, we were still approaching the traffic lights at the other end with the road barely widening when a reckless 4X4 driver had lost patience and decided he was coming through, regardless of the GoldWings still in his way.

He pulled sharply across in front of me causing me to swerve and emergency stop, only just holding the bike up.

How to fall off.............

He then swerved around the other bikes behind me before heading off over the bridge. He had no regard for the safety of others and used his vehicle as a weapon to force us out of his way.

It was a pity I didn’t get his registration number as he would have been reported to the Police.

Progress was slow due to heavy traffic and caravans.

We eventually stopped for a break (and loos) at a cafe & petrol station at Llanrhystyd, I will be avoiding the cafe in future as it seemed to take 25 minutes to be served with a coffee after it was ordered.

Nigel showing how to not fall off....

We continued after the unintended extended break toward Cardigan, where we were able to find parking spots in a Pay and Display car-park where everything paid, including 3 GoldWings each having to pay – despite only taking 1 car spot.

We were warned by a local that the Council make a fortune out of the unwary motorists in town who park crossing one of the white bay lines.

Lunch was taken in a cafe in town, though we had split up by this time, as Ian was famished and couldn’t wait for the rest of us, then Chris found a cafe in a Jewellers shop that he fancied trying.

The moment the sun shines...

After lunch we met up and continued to make our way towards Tenby, where we arrived about 3.30pm. This was good timing as it gave the ladies time to dump the bags at the hotel then walk around the market stalls and the shops in the town, which was only a very short walk away.

Later that evening we all met up at the Lamb Inn where tables had been booked earlier in the afternoon, as it was one of the few places which allowed Kidogo into the bar area. We then had a very enjoyable evening chatting and drinking after a good meal.

The following morning we met up again after a leisurely breakfast and wandered around the town.

Get together at Tenby for the homebound journey

We visited the Statue of Albert the Good and had great fun at Jan’s expense when she fell off one of the cannons while trying to pose for Nigel’s camera. I am not, and I emphasise not, going to send the video I took of it to that TV programme.

Soon it was 1.15 pm – time to get ready to meet up for the return journey.

Luckily we had nice weather all the way back, along a very well chosen route that more than made up for the frustrating busy road the previous day. Chris led us to Llandovery, where we turned left and went cross country to Rhayader, then onto Newtown.

I can say that this route was an absolute dream to ride along.

Normal tasting sessions in progress

The scenery was great and we managed to spot numerous Red Kites – very distinctive birds of prey with a forked tail, which are managing to repopulate the area after having been nearly wiped out.

Just before Newtown we parted company with John, Marilyn and Kidogo, as they turned towards home in Dolgellau. We continued North, and at Chirk, parted company with Chris and Amy.

Jan and I arrived home under a dull grey sky, and it was no surprise to me to take off my coat and put it away, then walk outside to help unload the bags, only to find it had started to rain heavily.

The whole weekend was a pleasure and worth the effort.

Thanks to Chris for organising it.

Pictures of the ride can be found on the GoldWings North Wales website at The Tenby Ride Photos (courtesy of Nigel, Ian, John and myself).

The following poem has been sent to those on the ride by Ian and Val and I thought I would let you enjoy it.

Goldwings Black, Red, White, Silver and Blue,
Went to Tenby as a rideout crew.

Over the mountains down the lane,
Wherever we went came the rain.

Arrived at Tenby and out for a meal,
7pm was the deal.

At the Lamb Inn we did meet,
Plenty of food for us to eat.

Beer, wine, chatter did flow,
Somebody else turned up – Kidogo!

Goodnight all – evening over,
Off to bed to get sober.

Glorious Sunday did arrive,
All refreshed and still alive.

Take some pictures, lets have fun,
We’ll watch Jan fall off the gun!

Dave took footage as she hit the ground,
Thank you ‘You’ve Been Framed’ £250.

Downtown Tenby painters dream,
Off went Nigel in search of ice cream.

Cup of tea slice of cake,
In the sunshine lovely break.

Time to leave, fuel tanks full,
John & Marilyn got a trailer to pull.

Leader Chris plans the route,
Partner Amy packs the boot.

‘Help me on the bike’ Joanna stressed,
‘Ok’ says Nigel i’ll make sure you’re dressed.

On our way through Mid Wales,
Up valleys and down dales.

Once again me and my gal,
That’s the lady I call Val,

Enjoyed ourselves on this trip,
Good riding and the odd tip.

Goldwings Black, Blue, White, Silver and Red,
Trips over…… get to bed!

……..Ian and Val

Dave T

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

Time for the waterproofs!

Saturday 10th July was scheduled for the ride-out with the Goldwing Riders Group.

Accordingly David and Janet, and Nigel and Joanna set off from the Chase at 8.40 am precisely to head West on the A55.

Our destination was the school in the village of Rhosgadfan where we were due to meet up with David Williams and riders, who were at the Mini Meet and Greet that he was hosting at his home address.

This is one of the several events that the Goldwing Riders Forum arrange throughout the year. As they were visiting North Wales and David had organised a route for a ride-out we decided to join them. (I am a member of that Forum anyway).

Having travelled to Conwy I was somewhat dismayed when we rode through the tunnel at Penmaenhead to find heavy rain clouds in front of us and looking rather damp.

A couple of chefs trying out the new wear for fast whipping up of chocolate sauce!

It soon started to lightly drizzle and by the time we got to Caernarfon it was time to don the waterproofs. We made a  quick trip into Morrisons supermarket for petrol for Nigel.  Jan and I  donned our boil-in-the-bag oversuits, while Nigel and Jo put on their Froggs Toggs.

That normally sounds straight forward but, in this case, Nigel is having to help Jo put on clothes, especially oversuits, at the moment with her arm being in plaster (which she must keep dry!).

We then made our way towards Rhosgadfan. This is a Welsh village on the side of a hill and you cannot get there without climbing a hill or dropping down one. On top of it all David Williams lives at the very top of the hill overlooking Rhosgadfan. (Does anyone recall old maps with ‘Here be Dragons’ on the unknown areas- thats about right for David’s place, apparently).

By this time it was noticeable that the weather was becoming even more inclement.

For this reason the meeting place arranged was outside the school in the centre of the village.

Coffee and cake in the dry at Betws Y Coed

Sure enough, as we pulled up there was a Red 1800 waiting – David Williams himself but there were no other bikes. David informed us that there was not going to be any ride-out due to the weather conditions and due to the attendees being soaked after arriving the previous evening in similar weather.

We were invited up to his place but the reputation given to David’s drive preceded it and we graciously declined the offer.

As we had rode this far, and had managed to get Nigel up before 11am, he decided that he would like to do part of the suggested route anyway, on our way back home.

We then set off to follow the start of the route that David had posted. It was a wet ride! We rode to Llanberis and at this point the visibility was substantially reduced due to the rain, but we soldiered on and as we climbed up the A4086 road toward Pen-y-gwryd, I was amazed at the amount of water coming down the Afon Nant Peris. This river is normally  a small trickle during the summer months but at this time it was a substantial white water river!

The rain was such that there were torrents of water pouring off the banks straight into the road and running down the sides until a break was found for it to drain away. This made riding conditions ‘very interesting’.

After passing Pen-y-gwryd we turned left and travelled towards Capel Curig, renowned as one of the wettest places in Britain, and as we approached it stopped raining and the roads were dry!

We then made our way to our second home – Betws Y Coed – for coffee and cake before heading back across the Clocaenog Forest for home.