What a blinding weekend. I wasn't able to leave Cardiff until quite late on Friday, but I had a lovely ride to Carmarthenshire on Gareth's XBR. The rally was being held in a hamlet near Llandeilo, called Cwmdu. The pub was easy to find and looked fantastically twee and lovely
Mark had gained permission for us to camp in a field directly opposite the pub (here's a picture of it on a summer Fete Day).
After seeing to my tent I decamped to the pub and had a fantastic meal of pie and mash. Unfortunately this made me thirsty so I had to have a few beers. There was a good turn out and it was really good catching up with some old faces... and meeting new ones. After the pub we headed back to the marquee and tucked into the supplies that mark and Gareth had organised. I went to bed very late
I had a little run on Saturday morning and it was very pleasant indeed, the rally was located in a very pretty part of Wales, although a tad hilly for foot power
After a magnificent breakfast in the pub we split into two groups. One headed off on a scenic ride out and the rest of us went off to Pembrey to watch the CRMC classic racing. Lots of this sort of thing:
Towards the end of the afternoon we had the good fortune to be buzzed (twice) by the Battle of Britain flight (Pembrey is an ex WWII Spitfire base).
Back at the pub we all settled into good natured banter, drinking and scoffing more lovely food. The atmosphere was really nice and I can't say I've had a better night out for a year or so. The Ying to that Yang was the monumental hangover I had the following morning.
I loaded the bike up as best as my headache would allow and eventually made my way back down to the M4, but detoured near Port Talbot to visit a club old timer, Roger. Despite me turning up unannounced during the MotoGP, he made me a coffee and we had a nice catch up.
A short ride later I was back in Cardiff and came across a line of Harleys outside my local so I stopped to have the last beer of the weekend with the chopper types I drink with.
Thank you to all involved in making the rally so bloody wonderful. And especially to my brother Gareth for letting me loose in rural Wales on a 500 single road bike
GC
