RIDEOUT REPORT

Great Orme, Llandudno – 31 August 2008  

Now we all know that the British weather forecast is a national institution – some may say it is an institution that the weather forecasters themselves ought to be confined in, but that’s another matter….

The month of August has been “disappointing”, weather-wise, to say the least, not helped by several inaccurate forecasts for Sundays, resulting in either club rideouts being cancelled, or being undertaken with the promise of good weather and then being completely washed out…   you all know the feeling…

…been there, got the rather damp T-shirt…..

This particular rideout was different in the sense that the forecast – for once – was actually accurate!   The BBC had shown a big blue dollop of rain right over North Wales for most of the day and this time they weren’t wrong!

It was also unusual because we took the view that – although it was 99.9% likely that we would be getting wet, we were going to go anyway, having been rather twitchy of late at not being able to get out on the bikes.

And so a select few met up at Lymm – Rob, Pete and Irene, Andy Tankard and myself, suitably togged up and ready for whatever the weather systems were going to throw at us.

It was dry at Lymm, but we knew the rain wouldn’t be long in finding us – it found us shortly after we left Lymm, actually – a gentle drizzle, just getting us a bit damp (in preparation!), but not too full-on.

We made good progress along the A55 and then Rob (and his trusty satnav) decided that we would get off at Abergele and take the smaller roads, to make the trip a bit more interesting…

Only problem was, the satnav gremlins were out to play and having passed Abergele, we suddenly found ourselves back on the A55 again, this time heading towards Chester….???  

At this point, the rain was getting a bit more persistent – in fact it was definitely persisting it down…..!

It’s an interesting concept – trying to reach a certain place by heading the completely opposite way, but Rob’s light bulb went on again and we headed off the A55 to turn around – guess where…?   Yes, that’s right – Abergele!!  We’d just done a loop for no good reason whatsoever!!

Anyway, this time we decided it was safer to stick to the A55 and motored along, by which time the rain was getting steadily worse and the visibility wasn’t too good at ground level, never mind up the Orme!

However, shortly past Colwyn Bay, things cleared up a bit and we came off at the junction signposted for Llandudno, where the satnav presented another challenge and sent Rob the wrong way to Ludo Junction instead of along the main road…  Pete and myself waited patiently on the right road, while Irene dashed around the corner to rescue Rob and Andy, who were wondering where everyone else had gone and we eventually joined up again to head into the town.

Another interesting scenic tour of the town took place (still in the pouring rain), courtesy of the satnav (it’s ‘avin’ a larff) but we eventually found our way out the other side and onto the single track road which leads up to the top of the Great Orme (nb:  for future reference, this is a toll road and we were charged £1 per bike!!).

It was worth it, in any case, because the views were spectacular – the low cloud had cleared away by now and the coast looked wonderful, if a bit sombre…   and a bit wet….

We stopped for the obligatory photo call (see website!)(photo still to come) and Andy commented that Rob was putting
in the co-ordinates to get us to the café at the top….!!

We rode slowly up the winding track to the summit and parked up, looking forward to a hot cup of tea and a bit of respite from the rain (yes, it was still raining!).

We dried out a bit over some brews and a bite to eat and decided to head back east.

We stopped to fill up at Llandulas, as Peter was having some problems with fuel consumption) and then headed back along the A55 – this time, it was raining even harder and it occurred to me as we were motoring along getting soaked – actually, we had been following the rain all day!!

As we got back onto the M6 heading north, the rain seemed to ease off and it looked like we would dry off before we got home …… WRONG!!!    A couple of junctions up, having dropped off Andy, Pete and Irene, down it came again and didn’t stop until we got home – well, it actually didn’t stop then either, not until about 7pm, when all of a sudden we had bits of blue sky, red, sunset-tinged clouds and NO RAIN!!!    Would you Adam-and-Eve it…???

No matter – at least we had been out and had a damned good time, despite the weather!

Thanks to Pete, Irene and Andy for a great day, for the great company and good laughs.

We could set up HOCC as a sideline – you know, Harley Owner’s Canoe Club – “for fun on those damper days…!”

Perhaps we should put it to the vote!!!

Deb