Off on another jaunt at the weekend, this time crossing borders to the land of sheep and dragons for some mountain air, with the general aim to have a nice ride around some beautiful countryside and have a stroll up Pen Y Fan.
We left packing up til friday morning and the pace was nice and leisurely until my valve sheared off whilst checking tyre pressures, making it impossible to get more air in the tyre than was rushing out. Not an ideal start. I limped to the nearest mechanic shop and we managed to top up from 9psi to somewhere that looked decent. Paula went on a mission to grab a spare tube from home, but we then found that all the tyre places in Chippenham don't touch bikes and the owner of the 0ne bike shop in town had closed down to go racing.
Anyway, eventually we dropped into the local Autospeed and turns out the manager loves bikes, used to work for Pirelli tyres and has daydreams of owning a BMW 1200 GSA. He bent over backwards to get us sorted and on our way and we finally got started.
We chose our preferred country road trail up via Tetbury, Stroud and Gloucester, enjoying the perfect breezy/sunny weather and the quiet roads thanks to Will & Kates wedding it seems. 100 happy miles later we arrived at Cantref Adventure Farm campsite..
It has to be said that this is probably the best promotional shot Cantref could ever have. The view south to the Beacons is fantastic, however what they don't mention in the brochure is that you camp in the overflow car park .. and bank holiday weekends are very busy!
So after a swift thunder storm and a restless night, we awoke to the sound of chav music blaring at 7:15 and the decision was made - Cantref Campsite is shite, we're off.
Loaded up with supplies from Brecon we headed closer to the base of Pen Y Fan and camped at a farm called Cwmgwdi. Very minimal, but really nice people and extremely quiet .. as in it was just us, in a field and surrounded by new born lambs for entertainment.
With the stain of Cantref forgotten already we enjoyed 2 tranquil nights cooking on an open fire and watching the stars appear over the mountains. £2 a night and a perfect base for our trek up Cribyn, Pen Y Fan and Corn Du.
Another National Park ticked off the list for the
ABR nature rally. Not sure if we'll get to any others now that we've done the local ones and we don't have any holiday to use, but we'll see.
Spent monday pottering back at our usual casual pace, picking a way past reservoirs, valleys and viaducts. The bikes were great as usual, first decent run using my sheep skin cushion and I was pleasantly impressed. Paula managed to scratch her new visor which was understandably irritating, especially since we had no idea when or how it happened.
The tent passed trials of wind and rain with inspiring ease and is a pleasure to erect and pack. We dusted off the PMR radios for this trip too, always good to chat and point out stuff as we trot around, but note-to-self: need to sort out a bunch of rechargeable AAA batteries and a 12v charger.
The final task was to dash across the Severn bridge while enduring a gusting northerly wind, pretty exhilarating I have to admit with a loaded top heavy bike and a vented jacket acting like a sail, but all in all a weekend of happy memories.
A few pics from a local Steam rally with a decent collection of (non-steam powered) motorcycles. Anything from Ariels to Bulltacos, Guzzis to Douglas's, with a few BSA's and Triumphs to boot. 
Some interesting ideas for touring too..
