Wye valley ride report

Went out Sunday on shockers ride few a few regulars who turned up almost an hour late.
not the best of places to be waiting around when the car park soon started to fill with the dreaded walkers
finally Rich and Rees manged to find us after driving past the meeting point how they managed that is a mystery its like driving under black pool tower and not noticing





I think after keeping Garry waiting he must have been thinking of a pay back time..... hence the first lane i went off in front while Garry held back a bit so i could get some pics of the pursuing carnage.
well first there was the task of a rather large tree blocking the way that was interesting and im sure some found it more entertaining then others.








this first lane doesn't look that interesting or difficult down to the amount of leaves that were covering the 2 foot off camber rock steps that were lurking beneath them.
almost everyone failed to get up these without help bar one............................












only one bike manged this section without being manhandled......










few random shots







animal pic of the day one for wege









big mixture of lanes around here from flat broken tarmac to some real tricky interesting ones
























now this is not the best of places to stop when theres a bike directly in front of you....











this next lane pen plass steps i think its called? is a cracker proper real challenge on how much you can hang onto your bike.

after seeing Garry's mate getting it a bit wrong
Graham decided he didn't like the look of this so wimped out and went the road way.
photos doesn't do this any justice are you come around the bend and just see this wall vertical rock





















fast Gareth



wheres all this fog come from?



glad of the smokers needing petrol or we wouldn't have had food that crf of Garry's runs on fresh air










warp speed Gareth












was starting to get dark around this time, throughout most of the day Garry would stop at the start of the lane to let me past to get the pics he also said the last lane was going to be interesting but forgot to tell me when we were starting it.
so when he stopped and pointed i shot off head to get the pics not knowing the impending doom i was heading for...
this lane had a stone wall on one side (i think? it was dark) about head hight and a large bank the other just wide enough for a bike.
to look at you,d think nothing of it but under the foot of leaves covering the floor were again rocks holes tree roots everything you can think of and going up hill around a sharp bend meant you couldn't get a run up.
this was the first time i was thinking mmm this is....
by now the others had caught up well i mean Graham rich and Rees the others had taken the road way around.
Graham shouts you cant get up there Garry said there was a tree blocking the way.
by now i had steam coming out of my ears and was thinking this is not the place to be in the dark on a bike that weighs a ton
and not knowing how long the lane was or what was coming..









this was just the first section lots of mud leaves and a slick rear tyre wasn't doing me any favours and the mighty blue soon started to boil
and to make it even more fun my electric start decides to give up.




don't know how long it took us but felt like ages at one point graham in says ive had enough ive got to back down, cant i said my bikes stuck there and its only going in one direction up.
couldn't have turned around even if i wanted to witch i was thinking of quite a lot.
been thinking of doing a night ride but didn't have this sort of thing in mind.

man and machine beaten



Then out of the darkness there a voice hello..
who's that shouts graham?
me come the voice
graham: or rich ive never been so glad to see someone in my life or something like that
bit mellow dramatic if you ask me.

top of the lane we find Pembroke and fast Gareth waiting



soon to turn up was Garry and his mate who,d gone back to the start looking for us.
proper dark now and not being able to see the map Garry says we should head back to the vans on the road about 4 or 5 miles a welcome break.
then not having a clue where we are Pembroke and Ree's decided to shoot off, in the WRONG direction!
all good fun through and we get back to the vans about half 6



Think shockers has a few photos to great day out roll on the weekend.

great report bruv looked like you had a good day. looked rarther technical though i would have been sweatinglike a rapist there...

nice one stephen......................

Some of that looked 'Extreme'
Nice one lads. Looks like shocker is testing you steve

Brilliant report and photos supprising whats out there if you look...

Think your getting lined up for the LDTs...lol

first lane was limekiln woods,a right bastard to start the day off."pantglass steps" is the name you were thinking of for that other nasty one with the rock steps...sorry to be pedantic.great report mate.just a bit of info for you.if you go past chepstow race course and out into the sticks you will see a forrestry car park on your right.its very quiet there and it leads straight onto the lanes.only a short distance from pantglass.

maybe its getting old but those lanes(limekiln and pantglass) hold very little attraction for me any more.not that i enjoyed them the first time around.

Excellent pics and report, looked like a tough'un.
Be up for a bit of that if you go again.

[img:c6f2]https://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i329/2shocker/Wye%20Valley/008-1.jpg[/img:c6f2][img:c6f2]https://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i329/2shocker/Wye%20Valley/027.jpg[/img:c6f2]

Steve asked me to post a report and any pic's i had, but think he's already done such a good job it's let me off the hook!
Currently struggling with this picture posting caper, so bear with me while i try and conquer this bloody thing, and please excuse me if random picture's pop up where they shouldn't!

If any one else fancies a run around the 'sameish' route post it here or PM me, and will do it again soon- after a little rest!

Some 'Top Tips' for next time if any out last Sun fancy it again
Steve - WR's are also avaliable in 2WD?!
Graham - Get a bigger head light bulb, where did you get a 2w one from last time?. (And an orange KTM handbag while your there!)
Gareth - Get an eletric start, and your own packet of wet ones - don't ask!
Rhys and Richard - Don't get your start place directions off Graham ever again.
John - ''Follow me'' means...................yep, you've guessed it!
Ray - Get a Michilen X11 trials tyre
Me - most of the above - except the orange handbag bit!

Cheers chaps, it was another 'memorable' day out with SWTR!

Ps do you like Steve's new water-proof trousers? They're the one's sticking out from under the WR being manhandled down a bank!

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Oh, some more!
Why do i move 6 photo's and ony half turn up here i wonder??

[img:eaac]https://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i329/2shocker/Wye%20Valley/027.jpg[/img:eaac]

Sorry about this, but now seem to have mastered sending 2 at a time only!!
A quick word with my computer mentor (Steve) will have me sorted.
Words between pic's would be usefull too!