North Wales

In the blink of an eye our time in Wales is over. We have covered over 1,000km in this small but beautiful country and have visited some truly magical places and as always met many friendly people. We moved our base from Rhayader in mid Wales to Betwys-y-Coed in the Snowdonia National Park area of North Wales. This little village is set in a valley of two rivers running through town with sheer hill sides behind. Add in the bluestone cottages and pubs and you have a classic Welsh setting. This place is a mecca for adventure seekers trekking, climbing, mountain biking or canoeing across the diverse National Park region.Highlights for us included a train trip to the top of Mt Snowdon  (at 1085m the highest in Wales), the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct (a masterpiece of late 18th century engineering) and the adjacent village of Llangollen, Caenarfon Castle and the seaside towns of Conwy and Llandudno.

In some parts you could liken the countryside to the high Australian and Victorian Alps but at lower altitudes it is unbelievably green. Local stone has been put to good use in the buildings and endless boundary fences that give the place its character. Some of the A roads are magnets for English Bikers from Liverpool and Manchester who slip across the border for a ride over these more sparsely populated and more challenging Welsh roads. The Ponderosa Cafe at the top of Horseshoe Pass is similar to Brisbane's Maiala Cafe atop Mt Glorious with lines of Sports Bikes cooling down after a hot run up the mountain.

The Snowdonia area has been heavily mined for its slate deposits over centuries and many areas bear the scars of this activity. The area is also used extensively by the RAF for low level pilot training from their nearby Raf Valley base at Anglesea. It is quite something to get buzzed by a couple of Hawk Jet fighters about 300 feet overhead.

 As we head back into England the BMW has clocked 2,276 trouble free kms on this trip and is on the cusp of rolling over 50,000km in her life. We look forward to many more.

Cornwall to Wales

Newquay proved to be a good base for further exploration throughout Cornwall. We rode down to Lands End and had the obligatory photo taken with the bike at the signpost. The wind was blowing so hard the seagulls were flying backwards.The arrival of the Olympic Torch was 2 days away and the whole south coast route was adorned with Union Jacks and bunting. A visit to the Minack Theatre just north of Lands End was recommended and it did not disappoint. Google it and be impressed by the labour of one very determined lady. It is simply stunning.

We followed the Coastal (B) road north and in places this was barely wide enough for the bike let alone a campervan and lorry which came head to head. Coastal ports at Falmouth, Penzance and St Ives were all interesting and distinctive. You could spend a week dropping into and out of all of the little bays along these rugged coastlines.

We left Newquay for the run north visiting Port Isaac on the way. For those in the know (not us) this is the setting for the fictitious Portwenn of the BBC series Doc Martin. This fact had this picturesque bay swarming with camera toting location spotters. On this fine Sunday the roads of North Cornwall and Devon were also swarming with motorbikes breaking out after the cold and wet northern winter. They were intrigued to see our Australian numberplate and bemused on how far we had traveled.

Despite warnings to the contrary Wales has treated us with fine weather throughout. This small but beautiful country deserves to be better recognized as a holiday destination. From a motorcycling perspective the roads are in good order and far less populated than England. Their road gradings however only extend to (A) and (B) grade. The (A) roads are invariably smooth, 2 lane line-marked and well maintained. The (B) roads however vary from just below the (A) standard to what in Australia we would describe as goat tracks. These roads are often populated with great numbers of sheep which display the same level of intelligence as their Australian cousins. The rewards of traveling these roads however is the stunning scenery in very rugged terrain. The run around the five reservoirs of the Elan Valley was especially enjoyable as were the mountain descents into Aberystwyth and Tregaron.

 We have now based ourselves in North Wales in the Snowdonia National Park and look forward to more great weather and roads before we head onto Liverpool and the ferry crossing to the Isle of Man.