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[tunnie]

Some may remember that a couple of years ago I did a similar thing, I just finished one of my shifts and had 3 days before next one. The weather reports looked stunning, the beautiful weather was set in for at least the next week. With Wales saying Sun Sun Sun, I thought I'd load up the bike for another quick camping trip.

So I did. Glad I did as well, best 48 hours on bike I'd ever encountered, weather 18-21c is all day, warm, sunny, no clouds, nice breeze and no traffic. Perfect!

I planned to go on Sunday, however the bike needed a new battery & wash, tyres checked and so on. Plus a few other jobs crept in so I spent the day getting bike ready. I loaded it that night, ready for the off Monday morning.

So here it is washed & ready to go, with no real aim other than just to explore bits of Wales I'd not done before:



I usually stop for a greasy breakfast on the way, place I used last time had closed down, so I tried a new one



I called by Church Stretton again as the weather suggested I should:



I got a bit lost in the single track lanes, finally found a small village that was actually on my map. Still there are worse places to be lost...



Reached the first place I was aiming for, Lake Vyrnwy.



People always come up to me and chat to me while on the bike, shortly after taking this a couple who used to ride BMW air-heads were chatting to me for about half an hour!





Not a cloud in the Sky all day



Apparently this is a pumping station of some sorts, not your usual 60's disaster!



Yet more miles of empty roads, heading towards Bala.



Now the campsite I wanted to use, which allows camp fires was shut 

However, I was glad this was the case come morning (read on)

I setup camp for the night



and put dinner on the go



Now I checked weather before I left, they said it would be around 5-7c at around midnight to 05:00, well they got that wrong....





Now I was glad I did not use the other site, as its just basically a field with no real facilities. This place had decent shower block so I was glad of the long hot shower !

By 9am though it was 9c again 

Weather continued from Monday





Spotted at end of another Lake another Dam/Bridge, went to take a look, a gate was across the road, but luckily the bike would fit through the pedestrian gate 





Lake at Bala looked like a Mirror:



Just as I stopped a Hercules flew over



Next, I found by accident Bwlch y Groes, famous for its Hill Climbing days, cracking bit of road:







Back at Lake Vyrnwy, it looked stunning



Stopped off for some lunch



Had a visitor while I ate....



I planned my route home after quite possibly some of the best biking weather I'm going to see this year



Next trip? Scotland!

[mantahatch]

Nice pics  some sadly spoilt by lousy piece of german rubbish in them 

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

Great piccies Mr Tunnie.

[Rods2]

Excellent pictures. 

Spontaneous holidays are very often the best and I'm glad you have a good time. 

My older brother goes out every Sunday with a group of friends on his bike and did over 1,000 miles in January. The bike stayed at home for most of February due to the cold snowy weather and a couple of weeks ago he went to a bike show in Edinburgh as part of a long weekend into the Scottish highlands and back home via the Lake District. Weather was very good and he had a fantastic weekend. 

Sadly my bike is currently off the road a victim of recession cost cutting. 

[b4ndit]

Nice pics and nice bike as well

[aaronjb]

Nice pics and a nice trip! Had one of my favourite automotive outings in a very similar area a couple of years back with a whole bunch of MR2 owners

[Kevin Wood]

Yes, did a tour of that area in the MX5 about this time last year. Very nice roads.

.. and first rule of camping above sea level. Don't rely on the minimum forecast temperature!

[Radar]

Some nice shots there 

[Varche]

Excellent pics.

Like that sky reminds me of ours.

[Jimbob]

I'd have popped down if I had known you were so local

[omega3000]

Great pictures , brings it all back when we use to go out biking and camping . I had a CBR1000XX blackbird which ate the miles up in comfort 

[Elite Pete]

I'd have popped down if I had known you were so local

Yep, same here

[cem_devecioglu]

nice pictures Tunnie.. thanks for free trip
 
yesterday it was snowing here

[MaxV6]

nice pics mate.....   know it all very well indeed......   had some "fun" drives along that road from Vyrnwy  to Bala  , it's been used as a special stage in several rallies over the years...

much of my childhood was spent at the far end of Pen Llŷn,  (around Aberdaron, Sarn, Rhiw, Nefyn and so on...  )  and quite a bit of time spent trekking between south-east england and there....  lots of routes, lots of picnics,  then later, I lived up there full time for 15  odd years ...

still miss it
....

[bigboykarl]

looks stunning......