Post by soggybiker on Jun 14, 2011 21:37:25 GMT
M and myself took a trip out to Marloes in South West Wales last weekend and as much as I would like to write up to be an epic tale of traveling 170 miles of B roads the practicalities did not allow it.
Traveling with a nine year old for that distance on a Friday night after school it was going to be a motorway journey.
The route taken was M5 to M4 then M48 over the new bridge back to the M4 due to heavy congestion on the old bridge. At the end of the M4 the A48 to the A40 then the A4706 to the A487 Then into the interesting stuff from Haverford West the Dale Road
B4327 easy to do on google maps not so clever when you remember that not only do the Welsh sign everything twice on the major routes but they don't sign anything at all on the minor ones. Marloes is the Welsh Brigadoon. We found it by the lights having driven through well the middle of nowhere, but I get ahead of myself.
The reason for going is my daughter has a thing for puffins. Strange but easier to manage than ponies. I had promised her this trip last year and for various reasons we missed the rearing season when you are most likely to see what is a shy and elusive bird.
So I took Friday off work loaded up 3 Givi 45L boxes strapped a tent to the top of the left box and two self inflating sleeping mats to the top rack. M somehow squeezed on as well
This is a 96 D6 with 46k on the clock and a nasty cam chain rattle
350 miles of overloaded touring coming up.
As soon as we got over the bridge the rain started. Not the real you are in Wales rain just the i am messing with you as you have just started your journey type. This faded by Bridgend and the sun even came out before we had finished with the M4.
Once we were clear of the 50 alleged roadworks zone that seems to be there purely to fine tourists for the last 4 years the road cleared and we made pretty good time. Not fast but no delays and lots of breaks so M wasn't too bored or uncomfortable.
google maps directed us to the 3rd exit onto the A486 this confused me as I dint tend to count no entry roads as available exits from a roundabout.
The A40 was fun with sweeping roads and great views and a complete lack of petrol stations. When I found them the prices made me wince. 10p a litre more than Gloucester.
We made it to the ends of the A roads with the only excitement being directed the wrong way up a one way street in Haverford West by google again and onto the B4327. The Dale road a real twisty turny just resurfaced bit of wonderful except there were no signs to anywhere and the houses when they infrequently appeared were in twos and threes after about 15 miles of this the road became single lane and the houses stopped. Still no signs and the country turned to downland. eventually we find a sign for Dale 8 miles and travel on for about 3 more to find a sign for 'Dale 11' well theres no where to go so we carry on and find a T junction with a sign for Marloes 3 miles after 5 miles another sign for Marloes 2 miles still nothing but headed for streetlights on the hill and found it.
We stayed at a campsite called Foxglade. A very friendly site well set up and recommended by a friend. The site was full of would be dive instructors training at Pembroke dock but they were a pretty subdued lot and very quiet. Not how I remember divers at all most of them were not even drinking.
From Martins Haven you can get a boat to Skomer this is a 21/2 mile walk from the campsite or there is a National Trust car park charging £4 for all day parking. Landing fees for the island are £8 for adults and kids under 16 are free the boat out there is £10 for adults and £7 for kids. There are toilets but no shop on the island and no water so you need to carry what you need for the day.
Landing passes are on sale from 08:30 the first boat is at 10:00 then one every half hour or so until 12:00. A maximum of 250 people a day can travel out there. we got our landing pass at 09:00 and our boat was 11:00 lots of people are there really early.
Well M wanted to see puffins and was nervous that we wouldn't see any. Before we landed she had seen more than a 100 from the boat. The island is a mass of holes Manx Shearwaters, Puffins and Rabbits have tunneled pretty much all of it so you are only allowed on the paths of which there are 5 or so miles across and around the island. We headed for The Wick which is the best puffin spotting point. Not at all shy or elusive they were sitting within 3 foot of the path. Photos below:
s791.photobucket.com/albums/yy197/soggybiker/Simonskomer/
I brought a Fuji bridge camera for the trip and am very glad I did appalling photographer that I am I got a couple of good shots, none of puffins with beaks full of sandeels as they move pretty quick then before the gulls get them and the camera does not have a motordrive. We were supposed to be on a 16:00 boat off which turned into a 17:00 due again to queues. We had seen a variety of sea birds,a short eared owl, bull grey seal and a bunney.
M was dead on her feet and slept for 11 hours straight at the end of it. At 03:00 the proper Welsh rain started and the wind picked up enough to lift the tent and get under it.
On leaving she went and hid in the utility room on the site while I dropped the tent and packed. I had resorted to the wet set of clothes and had the dry change with the bike gear. Not that it made a difference 20 minutes later we were both soaked.
A truly mad ride back towards the A roads and a wrong turn set us back a while as did a small flood. Torrential rain is obviously a good reason to drive a grey car with no lights at 15 mph or 35 on the motorway. However i digress we hit the bottom of the M4 and the services to feed my girl and pour hot chocolate down her until she stopped shivering. The motorway was at 50 or 40 for the journey back with a lot more rain and high winds. The Bridgend raised sections and tiger bay were just scary. At Chepstow taking the A48 rather than the bridge and motorway was the right choice even so bits of the Severn valley were interesting with the wind ripping in off the water
I had a Fieldsheer jacket, Forma boots RST jeans with Targa over trousers and Buffalo gloves all of it leaked even the helmet is still sodden except the jacket which the cuffs got wet because the gloves filled with water. The best £50 I ever spent.
All three givi boxes leaked and the bike was covered in sand (bridgend?) despite not getting within a mile of the sea.
Although my riding was probably slower I reckon the fuel economy was about the same as if I had been solo I ran the trip to 140 miles and filled up and never hit reserve.
The bike never missed a beat and despite the buffeting and how high I had loaded it, it felt under control with the exception of turning into the wind on bends where it got a bit scary.
Traveling with a nine year old for that distance on a Friday night after school it was going to be a motorway journey.
The route taken was M5 to M4 then M48 over the new bridge back to the M4 due to heavy congestion on the old bridge. At the end of the M4 the A48 to the A40 then the A4706 to the A487 Then into the interesting stuff from Haverford West the Dale Road
B4327 easy to do on google maps not so clever when you remember that not only do the Welsh sign everything twice on the major routes but they don't sign anything at all on the minor ones. Marloes is the Welsh Brigadoon. We found it by the lights having driven through well the middle of nowhere, but I get ahead of myself.
The reason for going is my daughter has a thing for puffins. Strange but easier to manage than ponies. I had promised her this trip last year and for various reasons we missed the rearing season when you are most likely to see what is a shy and elusive bird.
So I took Friday off work loaded up 3 Givi 45L boxes strapped a tent to the top of the left box and two self inflating sleeping mats to the top rack. M somehow squeezed on as well
This is a 96 D6 with 46k on the clock and a nasty cam chain rattle
350 miles of overloaded touring coming up.
As soon as we got over the bridge the rain started. Not the real you are in Wales rain just the i am messing with you as you have just started your journey type. This faded by Bridgend and the sun even came out before we had finished with the M4.
Once we were clear of the 50 alleged roadworks zone that seems to be there purely to fine tourists for the last 4 years the road cleared and we made pretty good time. Not fast but no delays and lots of breaks so M wasn't too bored or uncomfortable.
google maps directed us to the 3rd exit onto the A486 this confused me as I dint tend to count no entry roads as available exits from a roundabout.
The A40 was fun with sweeping roads and great views and a complete lack of petrol stations. When I found them the prices made me wince. 10p a litre more than Gloucester.
We made it to the ends of the A roads with the only excitement being directed the wrong way up a one way street in Haverford West by google again and onto the B4327. The Dale road a real twisty turny just resurfaced bit of wonderful except there were no signs to anywhere and the houses when they infrequently appeared were in twos and threes after about 15 miles of this the road became single lane and the houses stopped. Still no signs and the country turned to downland. eventually we find a sign for Dale 8 miles and travel on for about 3 more to find a sign for 'Dale 11' well theres no where to go so we carry on and find a T junction with a sign for Marloes 3 miles after 5 miles another sign for Marloes 2 miles still nothing but headed for streetlights on the hill and found it.
We stayed at a campsite called Foxglade. A very friendly site well set up and recommended by a friend. The site was full of would be dive instructors training at Pembroke dock but they were a pretty subdued lot and very quiet. Not how I remember divers at all most of them were not even drinking.
From Martins Haven you can get a boat to Skomer this is a 21/2 mile walk from the campsite or there is a National Trust car park charging £4 for all day parking. Landing fees for the island are £8 for adults and kids under 16 are free the boat out there is £10 for adults and £7 for kids. There are toilets but no shop on the island and no water so you need to carry what you need for the day.
Landing passes are on sale from 08:30 the first boat is at 10:00 then one every half hour or so until 12:00. A maximum of 250 people a day can travel out there. we got our landing pass at 09:00 and our boat was 11:00 lots of people are there really early.
Well M wanted to see puffins and was nervous that we wouldn't see any. Before we landed she had seen more than a 100 from the boat. The island is a mass of holes Manx Shearwaters, Puffins and Rabbits have tunneled pretty much all of it so you are only allowed on the paths of which there are 5 or so miles across and around the island. We headed for The Wick which is the best puffin spotting point. Not at all shy or elusive they were sitting within 3 foot of the path. Photos below:
s791.photobucket.com/albums/yy197/soggybiker/Simonskomer/
I brought a Fuji bridge camera for the trip and am very glad I did appalling photographer that I am I got a couple of good shots, none of puffins with beaks full of sandeels as they move pretty quick then before the gulls get them and the camera does not have a motordrive. We were supposed to be on a 16:00 boat off which turned into a 17:00 due again to queues. We had seen a variety of sea birds,a short eared owl, bull grey seal and a bunney.
M was dead on her feet and slept for 11 hours straight at the end of it. At 03:00 the proper Welsh rain started and the wind picked up enough to lift the tent and get under it.
On leaving she went and hid in the utility room on the site while I dropped the tent and packed. I had resorted to the wet set of clothes and had the dry change with the bike gear. Not that it made a difference 20 minutes later we were both soaked.
A truly mad ride back towards the A roads and a wrong turn set us back a while as did a small flood. Torrential rain is obviously a good reason to drive a grey car with no lights at 15 mph or 35 on the motorway. However i digress we hit the bottom of the M4 and the services to feed my girl and pour hot chocolate down her until she stopped shivering. The motorway was at 50 or 40 for the journey back with a lot more rain and high winds. The Bridgend raised sections and tiger bay were just scary. At Chepstow taking the A48 rather than the bridge and motorway was the right choice even so bits of the Severn valley were interesting with the wind ripping in off the water
I had a Fieldsheer jacket, Forma boots RST jeans with Targa over trousers and Buffalo gloves all of it leaked even the helmet is still sodden except the jacket which the cuffs got wet because the gloves filled with water. The best £50 I ever spent.
All three givi boxes leaked and the bike was covered in sand (bridgend?) despite not getting within a mile of the sea.
Although my riding was probably slower I reckon the fuel economy was about the same as if I had been solo I ran the trip to 140 miles and filled up and never hit reserve.
The bike never missed a beat and despite the buffeting and how high I had loaded it, it felt under control with the exception of turning into the wind on bends where it got a bit scary.
