Me , baybirmingham and zed set off from my house on Friday to meet Rickyroo1 at Gigrin farm campsite Rhayader mid wales , our trip was swift and uneventful bbs lights were playing up so we got a move on and arrived just before dark , we inadvertently drove onto a camping and caravan club field and were duly interrogated , i being the only member was spoken to in slightly less condescending tones and pointed off in the direction of the farm camping . Once settled we were descended on by Mertha Tydfil John and his very bright head torch , after regailing us five times with his story of sleeping there in the winter in his lavou in temperatures of minus 18 -when if you put your Guinness can down it froze in Seconds - we decided it was time for him to go forth and wait for Rick to help him unpack, so we told him to do so . Rick eventually arrived stressed and late , John promptly strolled over sporting a big smile and shiny head torch called Ricks van the poo bus then followed him around for the next hour properly winding him up – result !!. After a nights sleep we were ready for the trip up through Elan valley we declared Gigrin farm – adequate and laid back . http://www.gigrin.co.uk/ The trip up and through Elan valley was a scenic mix of man made beauty and Welsh ruggedness , some of the sights were breath taking and awe inspiring , the loneliness of some farms and dwellings were thought provoking and the little mish mashed convey of vw campers snaked along gently taking in the wonder of Elan valley each in their own thoughts !. Finally Elan valley petered out to lead into Aberystwyth along high more orderly farmed lanes that ended at the sea . http://www.elanvalley.org.uk/ Aberystwyth provided a Morrisons , petrol and supplys , we left Aber and headed north to a our prebooked spots at Morben isaf a campsite 18 miles north near machythleth . Morben isaf is the sort of campsite that prides itself on manicured fields , spotless toilets and regular customers - somehow i felt our little band of fun and the fire pit never really sat well in the orderly surroundings but they were pleasant and tolerated us with bemused kindness . http://www.morbenisaf.co.uk/ Sunday after a long drawn out breakfast we wondered down towards Aberystwyth for a better look around , we stopped off at a great car boot and bought trinkets and other indispensable camper tat , what would we have done without the Sunday car boot at Trei Dol ? , Aberystwyth was beer chips and a stroll , zed, Rick me and Will had a trip up the funicular railway to the camera obscura and spent a nice hour or so taking in the views the ice cream and the sun. On Monday baybirmingham set off home early , the rest of us headed off later through Nant y Moch in the rain towards home but not certain whether we would stay somewhere another night or head home , Nant y Moch was as ever both beautiful and rugged , the mountain road clung to the side of the hill as precariously as ever and constantly threw up nerve tingling drops and tight bends that made Lou grip the passenger handle and tell me to slow down . we stopped for a bite to eat overlooking the reservoir before moving off towards home driving over the dam itself , wonderful !. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nant-y-moch_Reservoir After Nant y Moch the three van convey headed 80 miles east in the rain to the Unicorn campsite on the banks of the river severn at Hampton Loade , we settled in and headed back up to the pub en block to order drinks and a meal – we needed it . http://www.unicorninnhamptonloade.co.uk/ After a good nights sleep we then spent a sunny day in Bridgenorth a lovely hillside Georgian town on the banks of the river severn just down from the famous ironbridge gorge , the birthplace of industrial Britain , Zed remarked on it being far nicer and a lot less gloomier than he expected the West Midlands to be , i just smiled to myself - what do you soft southerners know ?. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgnorth A nice road trip and nice company , i highly recommend the route to anyone .
nice review malc, i'll add vids and pics when i get chance, i spent all yesterday washing and cleaning stuff, back at work today to claw a day back so i can go again later in the year if i can, off tomorrow to clean and polish van.
Were they picking on you & the Poo bus Rick? :'( People can be soooooo cruel. Nice review Malc, now we need the piccies :ttiwwp:
A relaxing weekend. Once we left Malcs I had very little idea of where we were or where we were going - just how I like it. . If I had my way we'd have just kept turning off onto smaller and smaller roads and tracks until we were completely lost, but I did my best by not looking at the map. Also, thanks to John's habit of repeating the same story 20x to everyone he met, then turning round and repeating it again until he was so *******ed he couldn't stand up, I now know that you attract midges with CO2 then suck them up with a big vacuum cleaner and there are several million to the Kg. Fascinating stuff. : I enjoyed driving to Malc and Lou's speed - very very slow indeed. In fact so slow I rarely got out of 3rd gear. Proper laid back camper living. Remembering to bring the camera along was a stroke of genius I thought until I realised it was useless without the memory card I left in the laptop at home. Looking forward to seeing the mighty Winchester Club negotiating hair pin bends on the vid Ricky. It's such a joy camping solo in the bus - loads of space and nobody to fall out with. No kids to entertain, no dogs to take for a poo at 4am. When you can shut the door on the world and chill for a bit all's good. The only downside was I turned round too far to laugh at Rick while we were driving on Saturday, properly tweaked my neck, then spent the evening semi-comatose dosed up on pain killers snoozing in he back of the bus. Even that was enjoyable though.
lavvus,midges super bright head torches that forget to be turned off and getting absoulutly piddled sounds like some of the bushcraft enthusiasts ive come accross lol Was he really all that bad? oh and :ttiwwp:
Mertha tydfyl John ( left ) partaking in my beer and zed looking on pleading for me to tell him to go away .
Yeah Rick was well tolerant , i quote - " i've got the f'in nutter on the bus again , i always get em he's getting on my tits !!" five minutes after meeting him !
i should have followed you and not gone my better route..... it went downhill from leaving work an hour late
We met Malc at his house and headed to Ryader, but no photos of that. We got there just before dark, and after encountering the "friendly" club (I turned to Malc and said "this shows you why I didn't renew my membership". They could best be described with words that would be moderated if I used them here. We got set up and Eddie got comfy. In fact we all got comfy. Even Ricky's "friend". The following day, we went down the Elan Valley. I don't know the names of the dams or the reservoirs, (maybe Malc can help) but it was really peaceful (if a bit damp at times) Rick had got over his Welsh Nutter experience Look! Sunshine!! We then moved on to another reservoir that was overflowing - no surprise really, with the amount of rain that's been falling this year: We got to Aberystwyth and camped up - I had to go looking for fuel because I thought I must have used it all on those Welsh mountains, but I only needed 32 litres, which I thought was odd because the last time I filled up was in Birmingham. The following day we went to the car boot sale (loads of bargains!) and then went into Aberystwyth: We found a pub, and the dogs found Pringles: Sunday night back at the campsite was lovely, with the sun going down over the Welsh hillsides: " /> Zed looking mysterious in his bus: Will getting warm: And Rick in shorts! (Weren't you cold??) And then after a couple of beers I tried playing around with my camera: Monday was wet and there are no photos of me packing up in the rain, or unpacking in the rain on my driveway. All in all, we had a really nice weekend.
Cheers bud , love the pics especially the sun going down over the hills that was a nice moment and the one of me and Steve by the pier chatting thanks for confirming we did actually roll and didn't just sit at my house getting drunk
