Weekender 2016 itinerary

[MrsC_772]

Only 5 weeks to go :woot:

Andy & I thought it's about time to share with you all our plans for the weekend.

Friday 29th April

4.00 onwards - arrive and check in
7.30 - meet for drinks in Spencer's Bar
8.00 - dinner

Saturday 30th April
Breakfast 7.30 to 9.30

Choice of two ride outs:

Andy's Great Northern route
Departing 10.00 a.m. a figure of 8 route of 184 miles heading up into Snowdonia, with spectacular lake and mountain views, lunch at the Lakeside cafe (and 2 fuel stops at 60 and 120 miles). In the unlikely event that the "guaranteed sunshine" fails to materialise, the route can be cut short at the crossover point.

OR

A Brecon Beacons Bimble
Departing at 11.00, for the 75 mile shorter route, a fun mix of A and B roads heading south to the Brecon Beacons with a tea/lunch stop at the very welcoming Owls Nest Cafe, Llandovery

Before dinner at 7.30, there should be time to check out the hotel spa, and/or the Arvon Alehouse across the road. :booze:

After dinner, the Great Welsh Pub Quiz! :scratch: :confused: :dunce:

Sunday 1st May

Breakfast 8-10 am
10:30 - the National Monster Ride Out - we know what JP has planned, and we're sure you'll love it!
Lunch wherever and whenever you fancy
Afternoon: get your vote in for the 2016 Bike Awards!
15:00 - awards presentation, followed by...
15:30 - the raffle, in aid of the Wales Air Ambulance

After the raffle – chill out, back to the spa and/or bar, and head out for dinner - we'll see what people fancy (although I'd never object if the vote is for curry!)

Monday 2nd May
Breakfast 7.30 to 9.30
Check out by 11 am.

If anyone would like the gpx files of the Saturday ride-out routes for their satnavs, let me or Andy know and we can make them available before the weekender. We'll provide hard copies of the routes in the welcome packs.

There are still rooms available if anyone else is tempted to join us (whether for all 3 nights, 2 or even just 1). PM me or AndyC_772 if you're interested.

Likewise, if you fancy just turning up for the day, whether to join us for the National Rideout and/or the show on the Sunday, or one of the Saturday rides, you'd be very welcome.

Looking forward to seeing you all :banana:

[alan c]

Sounds brilliant, cannot wait :woot:

Well done you two :hail:

[Rally]

If we have enough Scrambler attendees, I know quite a few off road tracks as well in the area!
It looks like it going to be great fun once again.

[J.P]

Yes, GPX Files for me please

[AndyC_772]

GPX file is on its way :)

[bigredduke]

What is a GPX file? Can it be loaded on to any satnav?

[slob]

What is a GPX file? Can it be loaded on to any satnav?

you've just answered your own question Paul

[bigredduke]

I guessed it was a satnav file (sharp as a pillow, me) but I don't understand how one works. Do you copy it on to the existing SD card or do you have to use a separate one?

[slob]

just google "loading .gpx file" and "tomtom" or "garmin" depending on your satnav, for garmin it has to go in a particular folder

[bigredduke]

just google "loading .gpx file" and "tomtom" or "garmin" depending on your satnav, for garmin it has to go in a particular folder
Thanks Rob.

[NewMon]

The itinerary sounds great - nice one! Looking forward to this...

[Tokke007]

Gpx file for me also please with all the pubs in the area marked as 'points of interest' if possible.

[AndyC_772]

File is on its way :)

Believe me, you won't need GPS to find the pub... it's about 100m from the hotel, and you can always just follow me!

[bigredduke]

Just in case it's wet on Saturday & Sunday, there is an alternative activity::booze:

http://www.llandrindod.co.uk/event-calendar/food-beer-festival

[slob]

Big thanks to Eleanor and Andy for organising and leading today's rideouts:
the Brecon Beacons Bimble, blessed with good weather and the Great Northern Route, which gave us 'three seasons in one day', fortunately missing Autumn's leaves on the road.
Hailstones bouncing around inside my visor was fun and at least we were dry again by the time we got back. Snowdonia was spectacular.

Thanks also for organising the Great Welsh Quiz after dinner, your perseverance paid off for the winners
http://www.thelasturl.net/img/winners.jpg
and losers
http://www.thelasturl.net/img/loser.jpg

[uksurfer]

I think I sat on the wrong table, must learn for next year!

So far a very enjoyable weekend, good ride yesterday in the Brecons, and looking forward to the ride out today :)

[scrapps]

Yes thanks to Eleanor and Andy for a great weekend so far,the great north run was stunning and very well organised Andy did a fantastic job of leading us around some awesome roads.
I enjoyed the quiz and the answer's from a certain table who thought it was a kebab based quiz ?

[buzzbomb]

Just arrived home after a great couple of days,

Thanks must go to Eleanor and Andy for organising the whole show and choosing a wonderful location, also it was great to meet again with our friends.

[slob]

The rain doesn't seem to matter when the roads are this good, a very wet rideout this morning was still excellent :-D

[uksurfer]

I won a prize!! Yeahhhhhh :)

[Albie]

I won a prize!! Yeahhhhhh :)

Well done mate.
Thanks for a great weekend and for a fun filled Saturday. Eleanor and Andy did a great job organising it but without the attendees it is nothing. I sadly only managed to attend in a car but still went out with the ride for backup and for a cuppa. Really enjoyed the venue even if it was a journey.
Thanks all .

[Char]

And we're back all in the dry to

Fab weekend thanks to mr & Mrs C

[rollo22]

Made it home in the dry

Found a Black EVO under all that dirt

Many Thanks to Elanor and Andy for doing a sterling job getting it all together

[utopia]

Many apologies for not turning up.
It wasn't because of the rain, honest.
I would've made it by sunday but the post-rebuild, shakedown run revealed a rattle that I daren't ride with.
Its not engine and probably nothing much, but by then the rain had arrived and fault finding in the dark and wet wasn't really on.
Somewhat gutted ... I was particularly looking forward to this year's weekender.
Thanks anyway to Eleanor and Andy for their much appreciated work in organising.

[slob]

HUUUGE thanks to Mr&Mrs_C for organising! plus J.P for leading Sunday's rideout, Oz for trophy making ...and everyone else for showing up.
Nice ride home, not the soaking we were expecting, just the usual bank holiday drivers chicken****tery on the roads. Must've been making decent progress out of Waless, since we met J.P and bex leaving a petrol station in Bromyard just as we were arriving.

[alan c]

Great weekender
Thanks to Eleanor and Andy for all there hard work organising a great weekender.
Andy for leading Saturdays rideout, Jp for leading Sundays rideout, Oz for making brilliant trophies.
Brilliant company as usual.

Nice food, curry and kebabs !
Great real ale bar across the road.

[Mario]

It really was a great weekender. Thank you Andy and Eleanor for organising the weekend so well. The hotel was great and the ride out on Saturday with Andy leading was brilliant. Thank you also to JP for leading a great ride out on Sunday. The weather was not great but it was all superb. Thank you.

[bex]

Thanks Andy and Eleanor and all those mentioned above who helped make a great weekend.

Similarly a mostly dry ride home, albeit a bit dull after being spoiled by the Welsh roads.

[Bradders]

Yeah, enjoyed it, worth saying thanks a second time :)

And no idea what you are all talking about, never got wet once ;)

[bigredduke]

Many thanks to Andy & Eleanor for organising a great weekender. The hotel and town was a terrific venue, I think Mrs BRD & I may well take the MX5 down for a break in the future.

Although I am a big poof & didn't take the bike I had a very relaxing & enjoyable weekend. The alehouse was a real bonus.

Good to see some old friends & meet some new peeps as well. I may bimble over to Cadwell next Saturday to see some of you.

[Grumpy]

Thanks Andy and Eleanor for a great weekender.
The ride out on Saturday was fun and some of the views were spectacular.
As for catching up with people, thanks for the crack, had a brilliant relaxing couple of days.

[uksurfer]

A big thank you to Mr&MrsC for all there hard work in organising a weekender and the best roads available
I had a great time, and enjoyed the food, hotel, beer, banter, bikes and great company

Well done to everyone involved in helping out and putting together a great weekend away in Wales, top riding enjoyed on great roads especially tea and scones at the Owls Nest, I'll be going there again.

Shame about the weather on the Sunday, still enjoyed the National Ride Out route, thanks to JP, the run from Newtown chasing a grubby 821 through the twistys

Thank you

:)

[AndyC_772]

Hi everyone,

We're finally back home, unpacked and fed after nearly 200 miles' worth of pouring rain. The house is strewn with gently steaming bike gear, and I expect my hair will have just about dried out by Thursday afternoon. Hope you all made it back safely and that you too are well on the way to feeling human once again.

Thank you all for the tremendous feedback we've had. Even though the weather put a bit of a dampener on things, the positive comments we've heard really make it all feel worthwhile, and we're delighted you had a good time. The hotel staff we spoke to also said they'd only heard positive things from UKMOC.

We dropped off the collection bucket with the Wales Air Ambulance staff this morning, and we're expecting to hear the final count of what we raised within the next couple of days. Thanks again to you all for your generosity... and if you can think of a simple way to transport a bucket of cash by motorcycle in the pouring rain, do please let us know!!

Highlight of the weekend for me was leading the long Saturday ride out. It's not that many years since I couldn't even ride a bicycle, much less a motorbike, and often when it comes to social events there's a little part of my brain that likes to just curl up into a little ball and hide... so if you'd told me that I'd be leading a group of bikers half way across Wales, I'd never have believed it. I'm sure there's an inspirational story there waiting to get out, somehow.

[Shuffy]

Plus one to all of the above! Brilliant Weekender, thanks to everyone who worked so hard to make it all happen.

[J.P]

Well Done Andy it was a very nice route into deepest Wales.

[jotr1960]

Thanks very much to Eleanor and Andy for all their hard work in finding a brilliant venue for this year's weekender. Thanks to Babs, Caroline and Heather for the alternative activity on Saturday morning - yes we really did walk up the huge mountain behind the hotel and thanks again to C & H for the party in the tower!
Pity there were so few Monsters, or even naughty corner bikes, missed the sound of the mass of bikes riding out together.