A Few Days In Wales, Camping

[nick crisp]

Seems such a shame to take all the camping gear there and not do anything with most of the day though. I couldn't stay on the site cos there was no shade, tent way too hot: also, it was difficult to find anywhere cooler where I could just hang out all day. Also, I have a 15% burn scar covering my chest and neck, it has no pores and is like wearing a skin tight jacket, so I tend to overheat easily.

[red98]

great pictures nick  ......a few days away with your bike is better than none + it gives you an excuse to go on another short trip when its cooled down a bit 

[noggythenog]

Nick, no offence intended but i think you should be known as Nick " burned to a , in wales" Crisp!!!!!!!! :lol


Or maybe Nick the "sunbaked, not fried" Crisp!!!! :rolleyes


Or.........oh you get the idea he he!!!!,easy for me to say as all of wales is within striking distance without tent poverty but regardless we shall still have a successful focer camp sometime soon.

[slimwilly]

I was looking forward to an evening ride up them hills with you guys, next time !!

[bri h]

Hi nick, i should have warned you about the midges, i came back looking like a lepper. I had the opposite problems to you, it was blazing hot when i left so i only had summer mesh gloeves and lightest jacket and stuff. It turned cold once i got half way there and i ended up buying a fetching pair of marrigolds to keep my gloves dry. Still like you it was worth it and ill go again maybe next year.

[Dave48]

Great pics, Nick!
Wales is simply stunning and while often so wet & misty you cant appreciate the scenery last few days it has been really too hot for me to ride and fully concentrate-even with the air vents open on jacket& trousers. Are Welsh midgies as bad as the Scottish variety?
Hoping weather will hold as doing a ride to Lakes Vrynwy & Bala next Tuesday with mate on his 22yr old CG 125 so its not going to be a race! but have worked out a very scenic route from S. Birmingham avoiding the most heavily used A roads. Cymru am Byth!
Will also be doing a run to Brecons  early August to pay respects to my late partner by visiting stone circle where her ashes were scattered. Beautiful spot where the river Tawe rises before starting its journey down to Swansea Bay. This time will be even more poignant as will be riding Rhondda Red with its Welsh registration  plate.

[nick crisp]

I usually do most of my camping trips in late April/early May, but because we had such a crappy spring (and the slight technical hitch of not having a bike by then!)  I left it very late this year. So I'd forgotten how uncomfortable it can be when it's really hot. For me at least, the Welsh midgies were equally as bad as the Scots variety. I couldn't find any Skin-So-Soft locally, and the "proper" repellants never seem to work for me. But, now I know how quick/easy it is to get to Wales from where I am now (used to live London/Essex, now Oxfordshire) it'll be easy for me to just go for a couple of nights camping on, say, a long weekend whenever the mood takes me. So hopefully I will be able to meet up with some of you guys over there soon. Have heard many unfamiliar Welsh place names since being a FOCcer, so obviously still plenty of places left to explore.
I love Wales, Scotland and the Lake District, Have walked many miles in Wales and the Lakes region, as well as biking it, done two rides to Scotland, can't get enough of any of them! And, despite three years in Germany whilst in the RAF, still don't feel I've cracked my European cherry - I'd love to ride around the Alps, but time and money have not yet permitted this, and I'd really like to do it with someone who has been and is familiar with the hotels, roads, customs etc. One day....

[nick crisp]

Well, have just finished putting camping kit away handy, having made adjustments from backpacking gear to bike gear (not a great deal of difference), so ready to go again at the drop of a hat. Hmmm, could use more bungees. Bungees, Bungees, gimme more bungees!

[nick crisp]

Part 2!
Just got back from 3 days hooning around Wales to complete this little bit of unfinished business, over 850 miles covered, rear tyre has just about had it, and front not far off, something I've never achieved before, both fitted at same time.
Day 1, met up with Noggy and the Noggyfighter at the West End Café, Llandovery, after a ride largely through thick fog up the A40. We then pretty much repeated the ride that Slimwilly, friends and myself did a few weeks ago. Great fun, the Noggyfighter going well with no sign of post-crash nerves from it's pilot. We parted company at Devils Bridge, Noggy to head home and myself back to Llandovery and the campsite there.
Day 2, did a blast up to Snowdonia, trying a few roads I haven't seen before. Wound up at Pen-y-Pass and was lured further than I meant to go up the Pyg Track, still in full textiles, before getting all hot and sticky and thinking, this is meant to be a biking holiday, not hill-walking! Oh well, old habits die hard...
Got a soaking on the way back to the campsite, but all dried out by the time I got there, so that was alright...
Day 3, tried various other roads I've not ridden before, all of them good fun including one where the red flag made me suspicious, turned back to check a sign I just glimpsed in passing, MOD property, No Admission, oops! Ah, the firing ranges on the Mynydd Eppynt, better not ignore that flag then, and turned around sharpish! Couldn't tear myself away from exploring until I finally hit Crossgates café and the A44, and so home.

And some pics (on more than one post, cos it's not accepting them again all on one post)

Nog and the Noggyfighter before setting off on first proper rideout since rebuild

[nick crisp]

Some nice Welsh scenery

[nick crisp]

And a bit more nice Welsh scenery (who keeps parking that bloody thing in the way?!)

[noggythenog]

Nice pics Nick.......well apart from the one with me in of course


Looks like the trip was a great success...a few days well spent me thinks, i really need to explore North Wales next time, like we said if a few more foccers want to visit from afar then an overnight camp would be ideal.


Really enjoyed the days riding...i was in the sticks on my way home on that small road,  i was nicely knackered by the time i got home at 6pm.still havent washed the noggyfighter either, shame on me!.


Cheers!


Nog

[nick crisp]

Mine's a little better for wiping over with a couple of jiffy cloths at the campsite this morning, but then I gave it another coating of flies after, so another (back breaking) clean needed! :\
Yeah, Snowdonia's nice, but as others have said, there's less choice of good routes than in mid Wales. Still, I've been up there 4 or 5 times on a bike now, and still enjoy it, even though it's all getting very familiar now.
I think Wales, more than any other part of the UK, would be good for a major Foccers meet with camping, and a few days of really good riding. It's easier for more folks to get to than Scotland and I think has more packed into a smaller area - truly God's biking country!

[dickturpin]

Great pics Nick, Isn't bike camping the best way to get away from it all for a few days?
I managed to squeeze three trips in this year, living in Yorkshire coast I had a good long run to Padstow in May, then did Pembrokeshire in July before doing Newquay in August. I wait till last minute to pick the weather and it was great this year although on my return from Padstow in May I found myself in a thunderstorm round Birmingham at 7 degrees which wasn't good!
If I have time I travel the Fosse Way through to the Cotswolds to break the motorway boredom but it adds a few hours on.
Did Scotland about three years ago in May and have some great memories of that too.
I travel alone so I can completely chill and do my own thing for a few days....bliss!

D

[nick crisp]

Hi dickturpin
Yeah, I tend to book time off at the last minute too. This time, I booked these dates cos of getting the bike Ivanised last Saturday and wanted some quality play time with it! Kept looking at the forecast leading up to it and thinking, oh, not looking great, but sometimes if you just go for it, you find it turns out better than you hoped, and this was such a trip.
I have loved camping since going on deployments with a Puma helicopter squadron in the RAF. I've done several good UK bike tours with tent, and a lot of backpacking/hill-walking too. I have 2 rigs now, one is derived from my hill-walking kit, which I use on short trips like this one, the other is my "glamping" rig, complete with 3-man tent (for one!), table and folding chair, for when I go for 2 or 3 weeks at a time. But the lightweight kit is far less agro than dragging all that stuff around.
I do like the convenience of not having to pre-book for camping, especially outside of the holiday periods, and I reckon the weather is nicer for it in spring and autumn (generally, of course!).
Wales I have recently discovered is very handy for me since moving to Oxfordshire. I can now ride out there, get several hours riding  in and head home same day if I want, which, for a London boy like me, is really fantastic 
Just got to get a European trip under my belt still...

[dickturpin]

For you Wales, for me Lake District or Yorkshire Dales are within an hour or two but so far I haven't bike camped at those cos I tend to think I will head home if within an hour or two. Maybe next year.
I do like to head into Devon or Cornwall to see places I was taken on family holidays as a kid. The Pembroke stop this year was also for that reason having stopped in Tenby in 1973 and again in 1979.
Doubt I'll get away again this year with the tent as nights close in....but next summer is coming!

[bri h]

Great pics nick im jealous. Bloody tax dodging student son and daughter keep coming between me and a new dunlop roadsmart so the fazer hasnt been out of the garage much lately. Im looking forward to spring so i can get back to west wales.

[slimwilly]

Noggy, the bike looks good, glad you are out again.

[noggythenog]

Noggy, the bike looks good, glad you are out again.

Cheers Bill
i can send you a small 30 minute clip of my Blue Brake lever if you like!

[slimwilly]

oh no,pleease,no more


i may try some bike clips tomorrow
good weather ,,you out anywhere?