Archive for the Diary Category
Wednesday 28th May 2008
28/05/2008 by admin.
To all who were following our little trip sorry for the lack of postings after Day 7. The dial-up network on our Lap Top could not load our comments or photos so here goes I will try and summerise what has happened since:-
Day 8 and we headed for John O’Groats this is what we were all looking forward to, not just for the scenery but also this is where we feel that we are now on our way home. We left Inverness early to allow us to make a little detour over to Thurso. It didn’t disapoint the roads, Mountains with Snow on them, the valleys of Scotland were absolutly Awesome got to to go back but this time on a proper Bike. About 12 hours and 260 miles later we were back in Inverness tired but what a day.
The following day it was down from Inverness along Loch Ness (Visitors Center Closed got there too early before it opened) Fort William, Loch Lomand, through Glasgow and onto Kilmarnock for our overnight stay. Not our biggest milage day about 250miles but because we kept stopping what felt like every mile or so to take photos just emphasises the magnificent scenery we were travelling through. While we sat having food and a pint that evening we planned our route for the following day Kilmarnock to Bangor this was not going to fun.
310 miles Kilmarnock to Bangor nearly all “A” Roads including Motorways, Dual Carriageways, Towns and City’s including the Mersey Tunnel. The plus point of todays trip was making it back home to Wales visiting my Sister in Colwyn Bay where she had made us some Hot Pies (Well I think it was Keith her Husband who had actually cooked them as she was drinking the Wine). Getting to our hotel in Bangor a quick shower and change and out for some food and a well deserved pint. £6 Taxi ride into Bangor, got dropped off at a pub which was recomended for its food and it was closed 15 min walk later we found the Town Center. Again all closed only 3 pubs open none doing food finaly found an Indian Restaurant for a third night on this trip. Our last night OUT on the TOWN was disaster so much for coming home to Wales.
THE LAST DAY.
As we load the bikes up for the last time that morning Gary and Myself just looked at the bikes and realised what we had just put them through. They have run for at least 10hours every day for 10 days, been ridden full throttle nearly all the way round, up mountains, motorways and roads that they are not ment to be on, they had one little oil change in Aberdeen and NOTHING has gone wrong they have started first kick every time (Just like Nick does in the mornings) we have just taken them for granted Total Respect to the Mighty Honda C90.
The journey home reminded us of Scotland, We take for granted how lucky we are to have such a beautiful country ourselves but now we cant wait to get home. Again the normal early start ment we were having some chips in Aberaeron by dinnertime.
Arrived back in the Crossraods Office by about 3.00pm and what a welcome all the family’s had turned out and the staff from the offices came to greet us. After some photos and a cup of tea and biscuits we left for home tired but happy.
Gary had another supprise when he got back to Mynyddygarreg the whole village and the Mayor of Kidwelly had put on a party for him.
A Week On.
Its taken us all about a week to catch up on sleep none of us seem to have the energy to do anything, could be just that all that adrenalin has now worn off. Anyway the result of our little trip is that the money is still coming in from various places so we still cant disclose the exact milage but anyone around the 2550mile mark is close and at the moment we have 3 winners of the Balls but are still waiting for a few more forms to come back in so we will announce the winners soon.
So far we have raised about £5000 and with Richard in “The Stag” at Five Roads wanting to hold a quiz night the Golf Society planning a Golf Day and Mynyddygarreg Rugby Club holding a Talent Night we hope to raise even more. The down side of this is that it will take some time to organise these events over the next few months so there will be a delay in actualy donating the funds but that could be a small price to pay if more can be raised.
For now we would just like to Thank everybody who supported us and donated to our little event there are so many we would like to mention but it would be endless. We will post an update on the final mileage winners ASAP and on the amount we have finally raised.
Thanks Again to you All
Gary, Barrie, Nick.
Day6 14th May 2008
15/05/2008 by admin.
Hi all its Nick Ive been bullied into updating the blog again as if I dont do enough during the day for our two heros.
The day started early as usual but instead of normall start into the mile munching we went to have some photos taken at the angel of the North then a never ending spin around Newcastle in the morning traffic to the Tyne Tunel and staight over to the coast road heading north towards whitley bay and up to Edinburgh but half way there some winter gear had to be don the wind had picked up a bit and was quite cold making riding hard work.
We went through Edinburgh with the video camera on and i think before the end of this trip we will all be offered jobs with courier companies although the 2 heros do forget that my bike cant squeese through some of gaps and isnt as manoverable with all extra weiht and that dosnt include me. It took an hour to get in and out of the city so we had lost some valuable time so a quick dash across the firth bridge then onto Dundee accross the Tay bridge another quite impresive bridge and onto our final leg to Aberdeen the sun came out for about an hour which made riding a little easier we pulled into the hotel at about 6.30pm and had covered around 260miles, we will upload some photos as soon as
Day5. 13th May 2008
14/05/2008 by admin.
My turn to write tonight so hear goes :- all a bit tired but still laughing at what we are doing. Early morning start today pulled into petrol staion at 7.00am, Nick and Gary pull up to pumps and fill up, Gary pushes bike forward for me to fill bike and pump wont re-start. Girl in Station decides to close pumps for 15min to raise prices as I am about to fill my bike. Not happy and tell her where to put her nozzel.
Smiles soon return when we start to ride again but the weather has changed, fairly windy today and we get thrown about a bit as we cross the Humber Bridge bikes struggling to make 30mph in places.
12.00pm sees us in a Cafe in Bridlington giving Hywel and Nia from Radio Cymru an uptate on our progress.
Tonights stop is Newcastle and another 240 ish miles done. So far some of the roads have been fun but others are intense with traffic coming at you in all directions, Nick is doing a fantastic job in watching our backs the stints that we have had to do on the Motorways/ Dual Carriageways would have been frightning without him.
Cant wait for tomorrow this is when we cross into Scotland and what I consider the half way point where we are then on our way home but also are on the most interesting roads of our tip.
Better sign off now as its 11.30pm Gary is Snoring, Nick has fallen asleep reading the map for tomorrows route and my eyes are closing fast.
More photos and notes again tomorrow all being well.
11th May 2008 Day 3
11/05/2008 by admin.
Hi everyone this is my first time at updating the blog and probably the last after Gary and Barrie spell check it. im just going to start by recaping on yesterday from the guy in the backs point of view, normally its their back on the long straight road but yesterday we took a small country lane from lands end to Penzance the bend were so sharp and tight I just couldnt keep up with the 2 heros, neither could the driver of a brand new BMW Z4 who had just been overtaken i think he will give the dealer a ring in the morning compaining of a fault.
Today we made our way from exeter hoping to go through poole and bournemouth but ended up taking a two hour journey on a dual carriageway because of road works and sunday drivers going to the seaside, but got to go through bognor and brighton and eastbourne all the way to hastings.
Also managed to post a photo of us at Lands Ends see the Photo Album.
Folllowing on from Nicks post :-
Thanks to Ben and Calir who we met last night in Exeter for yor company and kind donation.
we’ve had an interesting day today paid an ad-hoc visit to Gary’s Aunt and Uncle in Southhampton where we had a lovely cup of tea along with a generous donation.
Day 3 and about the 700miles done aready a few sore bums and knees all round and thats got nothing to do with the sleeping arrangements. Must admit this has been the worst day so far could not go and see the places we wanted to, traffic jams going into all the seaside resorts and had to divert to a motorway not a happy place for a C90 could not find a twisty bit of road at all today. On a serious note Nissan have recalled all Nissan Micras nothing wrong with this lovely little car its just that anyone who has bought one must re-take their driving test as they are not fit to be on the road.
If all well post again tomorrow
Barrie,Garry, Nick.
6th May 2008
06/05/2008 by admin.
Just 3 days to go and were all excited just cant wait to go now. Started packing and sortring out spares and tools required. Dont think we will have much trouble carrying what we need as Nicks bike is now in “Full Tour Mode” Panniers, Top Box, and Tank Bag. A Big Man on a Big Bike with Big Bags hope he doesn’t drop the thing as well never pick it back up.
Just a few Thank’s to people for their support this weekend :-
The Five Roads Sports Society Dinner raised over £200 last Friday where Pete’s Plumbing bought a signed photo of Stephen Jones in the auction.
Our local Motorcycling Club has also made donations they can be found at:- www.mcawales.co.uk
We have a CBT motorcycle test available for auction donated by SMART Motorcycle Training located at Busters Motorcycles in Llansamlet.
Again many thanks to all who have contributed.
21st April. Big Thank You.
21/04/2008 by admin.
Saturday saw us with a fund raising stall in the St Elli Center in Llanelli. Nick and Gary prowling the center with buckets begging for money, Jo (Nick’s Wife) and Julie (My wife) supplied the charm and surprisingly giving advise to a number of people who were interested in possible support from Crossroads, Anouska (Gary’s wife) also brought their son Owain to make it an all family affair. I in the mean time hid in the background and supplied the Coffee.
We raised £300 and a Massive THANK YOU must go to the people of Llanelli for their Generosity. With news this week of redundancies in various local industries things are getting a bit tight but the support and the good wishes we received was fantastic.
Monies are also starting to come in from several local businesses to many to mention but again a “Big Thank You” to you all.
Next Saturday we are hoping to take the bikes down to Carmarthen Town Center with our collection tins to see if we can rise some more funds.
Saturday 16th February 2008
16/02/2008 by admin.
Been busy this week stripping the bikes and changing Garys forks. Hopefully we will start putting them back together tomorrow and maybe being road worthy by next week. Colin in Scorpion Motorcycles Trostre has supplied us with some engin oil and will probably be able to get his hands on the other little bits we need to get the bikes up to scratch.
Some sponsership has started to come in as well we have received a signed ruby ball from The Scarlets and The Ospreys and also One of the actual Match balls used for the Wales and Scotland game at Cardiff this year signed by man of the match Martin Williams and Ryan Jones. We plan to auction these balls at a venue that is yet to be arranged.
Tuesday 5th Feb 2008
05/02/2008 by admin.
Gary’s had his bike (See the Photo Page) and apart from the bent forks it looks good. Next weekend we plan to start stripping and checking the bikes out in full.
“THE” Date has been set Friday 9th May 2008 departure day. The exact route has now been finalised and the timescale set. Friday 9th May to Monday 19th May with 10 overnight stays.
The cost of a backup vehicle was getting too expensive with petrol etc. and carrying tents and camping equipment on these little bikes would seriously slow our progress. Result Nick has managed to book us 10 nights in Family rooms in Travel Lodges all along our route, the cost of this was belive it or not cheeper than piching 3 tents in campsites along the way. This would also allow us to carry less equipment and to be able to dry out our clothes and equipment overnight. (Not that it rains much in Britain).
The overnight stays are:-
Day 1 Friday night 9th May Barnstable
Day 2 Saturday 10th May Exeter
Day 3 Sunday 11th May Hastings
Day 4 Monday 12th May Kings Lyn
Day 5 Tuesday 13th May Newcastle
Day 6 Wednesday 14th May Aberdeen
Day 7 Thursday 15th May Invernes
Day 8 Friday 16th May Inverness (Round Trip to John O’Groats)
Day 9 Saturday 17th May Kilmarnock
Day 10 Sunday 18th May Bangor
Arrive home hopefully on the Monday 19th May 2008.
02/02/2008 by admin.
Another week has gone by and we have sorted a cpl of bikes out,
Although we have searched the country high and wide and fed up of signing into e-bay!! we have found Barrie a great little bike on our doorstep, John Mills a local bike dealer has come up trumps, so finally got to ride the infamous stepthrough tonight and was pleasantly surprised, may have a different view after 2500miles!!
Get to pick up the other bike tomorrow, delivered from a scrap yard in Heathrow, mate Nige has found and picked it up for us, travelled to France whilst in the area for wine spent over twelve hrs in the mouth of the Dover dock in gale force 12!! slept in the car with a wooly hat on his feet, and taken into customs don’t ask what for but no wasn’t for excess wine and tobacco import The plot thickens!
Colwyn of precision bikes has offered his services, be it in parts or work so big thank you to you.
Nick our third team member has been busy this week mapping our route in more detail and looking at possible camp sites for our overnight stops. Plans for our backup vehicle seem to be up in the air at the moment, can’t decide on the cost of using a camper van kindly offered to us by a friend Arwyn who’s son Shaun rides a mean motocross in local competitions, a use of a car which would be cheaper on petrol or the favorite at the moment is to just loading up the bikes and do it without any support vehicle at all.
All in all a pretty busy week, had packs delivered from MND for sponsorship, Crossroads been busy chatting on the phone with Barrie,
Bottom Line there’s no turning back!!
Update
24/01/2008 by admin.
Nothing major to write but we have spent a week looking for suitable bikes, Barry is busy mastering the Web page and is getting to grips with it very well in fairness.
So thought I’d better place a posting.!!
Think we have sorted one bike out, Honda C90 cub with bent forks, found by a mate, but is based in Heathrow, And he is going to collect when he gets a chance, so look forward to seeing this. The Cub promised from the Isle of Man as still not surfaced, but we are not writing this off, and have been searching local bike shops and yards, who have offered a variety of bikes in all sorts of conditions from immaculate(pricey) ones to a couple in boxes( more parts than you could shake a stick at), but I’m sure we will get sorted soon.
Barry is fancing the Yamaha Townmate, and we have been offered one a little rough and one ready to go, think the 4 gears are sounding appealing only 2 less than his ZX9!!!!
WE have recruited a video man!! Nick a good friend and fellow biker is keen to join(another ZX9 freak!!) but haha reduced to a stepthrough tour.
So we are progressing with the arrangements, and have contacted HTV Television who are keen to know more about the whole episode,who knows the more footage the better:-