Lake Vyrnwy

Following a last minute change of plan due to the low number of Wingers available for a big planned ride, we had a change of plan to ride three of the reservoirs in North Wales, Vyrnwy. Bala Lake and Brenig.

As it turned out only Dennis, Jan and I were able to go, but what a wonderful day we had, particularly in riding new roads.

I had decided to change the roads normally used for getting to Vyrnwy and found some new roads on the maps to try, so careful plotting

A popular destination for Bikers

them in the Sat-nav I looked forward to a trouble free ride, and it nearly was too.I decided to try a new road cutting across country from south of Oswestry towards the west and it was a very good decision as it was very good biking road.

We followed this road until due south of Vyrnwy then turned north to find a road leading to the reservoir. This was the only hitch in the plan as the sat-nav was not as quick in updating as the road was in turning so when told to turn right I did – down the side road just after the apex of the right hand bend in the road, and before the Sat-nav could say turn left with the road as it swung to the left immediately after.

Jan and Den admiring the views

Consequently we found ourselves off the intended route but heading in the right direction. We then travelled some completely new roads for me and eventually ended up at the reservoir.

Vyrnwy was proving to be a very popular destination to ride to this day as there were a multitude of motorcycles at the cafe parking area , and indeed after a stop for photos we continued around the lake to find many more motorcycles parked up in all the small lay-bys and parking areas.

Proceeding on our route I went across country along a very narrow winding route, which eventually bought us back to

On the back lane to Llanuwchllyn

civilisation at Llanuwchllyn, at the south end of Bala lake. A quick ride up the side of the lake bought us to the favourite bike stop at the north corner of the lake. Again there was a large number of bikers at this location and a caravan from Bikesafe who were doing observed rides. This was a perfect spot for a picnic which we had prepared.
It also gave me a good opportunity to have a good look at the bikes.

Following lunch it was a nice gentle run across country to Brenig, where I was quire disappointed in the lack of an Ice-cream van at this venue, as by this time I was quite warm, and I know that Jan and Dennis were also looking forward to an ice-cream.

After a pleasant stop at this location it was time to head off home and on leaving the Lake I was doing an overtake on a nice long straight when I spotted two police officers

Llyn Brenig on a nice day!

Dennis split off at the top end of the Lake to head for home , while Jan and I carried on through to Denbigh and back home, in nice time for tea.

The weather for the whole trip was superb and it made the North Wales roads one of the nicest places to be riding.

Emergency Loo stop

We managed to have a very interesting day today with the ride which I led. We didn’t do an exotic route or a very long distance one.  – Mold to Bala, Bala to Oswestry and back home.

We started off with the monthly meeting at the Beaufort Park Hotel which was at the new summer time of 11 am. Following this meeting we decided on a route – Bala and Oswestry. A half day run with some good scenery.

The trip to Bala started off with a nice trip over to Ruthin where we had an emergency loo stop for someone who had drunk too much Cola at the meeting.

Corwen trafic lights

Following the loo stop we made our way to Corwen and along the A5 to the Bala turn, passing over the new crossing of the river on the A5.  The trip to Bala from the A5 had a couple of hold-ups to slow it down a bit (including an Arrive-Alive van doing the statutory 35 m.p.h. while it was moved from one trap area to another. – it was also interesting to see it using flashing red lights which alternated from one side to the other of the rear of the van.).

Enjoying the Sun.

On arrival at Bala we parked up at the lake side car-park  in amongst all the other bikes there. The site attendant was very helpful allowing us to bunch up in one area of the car park.

A lunch break  followed and everyone had a relax in the very warm sunshine.

I then did the most unusual route on my sat-nav to get us to the next location, Oswestry, via the village of Llangynog.

Without my computer I did this at the lakeside at Bala, and you could tell!

Over the tops

Now here I have to make a confession to all my fellow Wingers on the ride. I thought my sat-nav was set to find the fastest route to the next destination, but as we now all know, it was set to the shortest route.

As I was passing along the very narrow single track lanes -even without passing places,-   I somehow suspected that not all of the solo riders following my trike would appreciate the grass  growing in the central third of the road!

Grassy bits in the middle

Indeed, the CB radio comments from the back marker are not fit for repeating on a family orientated web-site.

Suffice it to say my wife and other pillions enjoyed the very scenic route we took, and it was very scenic,  but I doubt if many riders can recall anything except very tight walls and central grass in the road.

When I eventually stopped on the A5 just outside Oswestry the range of comments from the other riders was certainly interesting to say the least.

Just goes to show that Sat-navs can lead you to some very interesting places.

I plan to revisit the area and stop to take in the scenery a bit more, and get some decent photographs.