Report on May 2007 activities

Hi Wingers

This month we would like to start off by saying ‘welcome’ to our three new members who are Paul and Steph Foster and who ride a smart 1500 and Steve Curry-Peace who rides a bright yellow 1800. We all hope they enjoy being part of our club for many years to come.

I am writing this at the last minute which will come as no surprise to anyone who knows Loopy and I. At the first meeting of the month we decided to set out early and got to the Beaufort Hotel at about 10 to 12. We were feeling quite smug as we walked in only to find everyone there to remind us the meeting time had been changed to 11 o clock and they were ready to go for a ride. We put our helmets back on and headed into the hills. The idea was to ride to a waterfall but along the way we called into the Ponderosa for what should have been a loo break.

The car park was quite full with loads of bikes but even these were outnumbered by the sidecars. The waft of food drifted from the cafe and so the combination of us drooling over the food and Ed drooling over the sidecars meant that the ride out fell apart and only the brave few led by Dave T ventured further and we waved them fair well as they disappeared into the cold mountain mist.

After the meeting a few of us headed back to Ed & Q’s where we had a cup of tea and I got to have a go on Collys white PC 800 which was great fun to ride.

The next day Ed & Q came to our house and while the girls chatted about fluffy kittens and fairy cakes Ed and I put the 1200 combo back together and spent another hour terrorising the neighbours as Ed rode the bike with us all taking turns to scream like girls in the sidecar as he played dodge the traffic!

On the 12th Ed went for a day out trials riding. Judging by the photos he had a great time falling off the bike in varying depths of brown smelly mud but his grin just seemed to get wider with each layer.

It was about this time that Loopy asked if I would sort her trike out. Her idea was for me to give it a clean then paint it but I got carried away and stripped it down to the last nut and bolt and when she walked into the garage I pointed to the engine on the floor next to a pile of metal and told her “you’ve been framed”.

For the next two weeks Loopy and I were in Spain and so Dave T collected notes on what happened back home and kindly passed them to me on our return.

Dave wrote..... We started off with the ride to the Pistyll Rhaedr Waterfall when some people decided that that outfits where nicer to look at than one of the natural beauties of Wales, of course others decided that their lunch was more important than the ride :-) :-D :-D Had a good ride though

Due to weather, only Ed and I attended the Thundersprint but, Boy, was it worth it!!!! We had a great time with old bikes and being so close to the action. Ed was in his element with the outfit owners there; not one got passed him without a chat. We got rained upon heavily on the way back but the nylon baby-grow kept me dry. We will be going to this event again in future.

Another trip was to a French Market at Llangollen. Nigel and Jo, Allen and Christine, Stuart, Kath and Jan and I visited and sampled plenty of the produce with a glorious lunch of sliced potato with melt French cheese and bacon, all cooked in a large open pan. It was delicious.!!!!! Of course, Joanna and Janet found a craft shop or two and went browsing.

After the market we went to Trevor Basin and walked across the Froncysyllte Aqueduct. Nigel went for the photo marathon of the year and recorded the event for the web-site. This was followed by a ride to Garth, Panorama, and through World's End over the tops to Minera, ending up at Allen and Christine's for tea and biccies. What a great day!