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Easter
8th April 2012
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This was the date for Philippa Wheeler's Welsh Run from Abergavenny. A VMCC event and always a date for the section to get their bikes out for a ride. The weather promised to be dry, if not sunny, and the forecast proved to be right as 8 of our section turned up at the Castle street car park in Abergavenny, as some blue sky started to show through. Glyn had brought two bikes, his 1977 Puch Grand Prix and a new acquisition, a 1996 Yamaha Townmate. The latter being on loan to Ray. Barry
brought his newly built covered trailer - all homemade and a pretty
super job, fully carpeted and with twin axles. It was designed to take
two bikes and also double up as accommodation with an airbed, when
needed. 2012 St Davids Day run Eight bikes turned out on an absolutely super day, weather wise, for the first ride of the year. Ray was still suffering a bit with his knees so had opted to follow in his van which could act as backup.    However,
Will, our usual breakdown
suspect had decided to outwit the facility of the backup by bringing
his 1971 Honda P50. 10.30 arrived and we all set off, following George
who was the leader. Things went quite well until we came across a slow
moving tractor at
one point that soon decided to stop - on a hill, of course - it had to
back
up to let a Range Rover past, causing absolute chaos with us all
right behind it. After we sorted outselves out we headed
down towards Llancarfan and then out into the Vale.  We stopped to regroup at the usual point on the mornings run at Llantrithyd - just outside the medieval church of St Illtyd. It's a pretty spot and quite a few took photos - anyway, we were soon on our way again and heading for Llandow and the small cafe there.    On
the road
towards Flemingston village, one of the bikes decided to just stop - it
had to
be Will on the P50, of course. Terry supplied a plug spanner and a
spare plug from his Ariel Pixie that he just
happened to have in his pocket. Job done and the P50 started up
straight away and soon we were all on our way again but
within half a mile or so we lost the P50 and left him to be swept up by
Ray and the Van as a mug of tea and a bacon roll
were calling, just half a mile down the road.Suitably refreshed, my New Hudson decided that it wasn't going to start, plug changed and we were on our way again down onto the coast road and heading west before turning back towards Cowbridge and the finish. All in all a super day for the first run of the year.    At the finish Ken decide to give us all a lesson on how to strap a bike on the back of a car. One strap, two, three, four, I think - then one through the back two doors of the car and finally a trailer board. It was entertaining, for sure. NACC 2011 national Rally, a weekend on the little ones! by Ivor Moped. Arrival on Friday where we set up camp on an area allocated to us by Wolverhampton Rugby Club. Jack, Glyn & myself were tasked with erecting Ray's Gazebo as he choose not to arrive until later!  Some time later the thing was finally positioned despite somebody omitting to include the tent pegs. Vans, campers etc were manouvered into place around it. Later it developed a mind of its own as a gust of wind caught it and flew it off to do its own thing. Finally, after Ray had arrived it was nailed down and we retired to the club house for a curry and a pint.    Saturday and there was a run of approx 45 miles organized to Bridgnorth, a market town on the river Severn, which consists of a high and low town connected by a funicular railway. Bridgenorth is also the home of the Severn Valley steam railway. A coffee stop at a fishing lodge in Patshull park was included en-route. Back at the campsite an excellent evening meal was provided, followed by a pint or two, in the clubhouse.  Sundays short run of approx 35miles was to Halfpenny Green airfield for coffee and refreshments in the control tower cafe. Ray decided to ride his New Hudson autocycle instead of his Rudge today which, after numerous stoppages during the previous day, had cried enough and was loaded onto the breakdown van. Seen back at base:          An excellent weekend and well recommended. Friday 29th April 2011 - Run out to West Wales using larger bikes than usual. Five intrepid riders eventually arrived at the pretty village of Porthgain on the North Pembs coast and had lunch in the Sloop Inn - over 245 miles in all, and would have taken an age on an Autocycle. Thanks to Terry for the pictures         Sunday 21st November 2010- Peacehaven Farm run and the VMCC Cyclemotor section AGM Six of us went to the Peacehaven Farm run to join the 43 other riders. It meant an early start from home, on a cold but dry day and when Jack, Glyn and myself arrived, Terry and Barry were already there. Pretty soon we were joined by Alan W and Steph. The Honda mounts included Barry on his trusty PC50, Jack with his PF50, Glyn with his Camino and Alan with his DAX. Terry rode his 'beagle-ised' Ariel Pixie and I was on the New Hudson. Soon we were all signed on after downing a warming coffee. We readied for the off, with Barry being elected to take the lead as he was the only one who remembered to bring a roll-a-route. Such difficult decisions!! The route was just under 20 miles and consisted of two loops using some nice B class roads - nothing too arduous. We were soon back at the finish but without Jack and Glyn. However, they soon appeared after they had suffered an enforced stop with Jack's Honda - which a plug change soon sorted. Lunch was provided and, I must say, was excellent. That was followed by the Cyclemotor Sections AGM and a tour of the Peacehaven farm workshops to view all the Bugattis in their various states of repair. Quite some sight, I must say and a real privilege to be allowed the access.                     Sunday 1st March 2009 - NACC St Davids Day run  There was a very good turnout of machines for this, the first run of 2009, for the NACC. I counted over 20 machines of all shapes and sizes. Gordon Suddery was out on his sons Honda PC50, whilst we also had the pleasure of the company of two members from the Bristol area. One other person that we don't normally see out on a bike was Emile Materne from Brussels. Ok, it is a long way to come for a ride, but as Emile was over for the weekend and he was a small capacity machine enthusiast it seemed only appropriate that he should have a ride on something, so he was loaned the Italian Testi Champion that is owned by Bill Phelps. Will Moore was the only one out on a 'real' autocycle - a 1939 Excelsior Autobike, fitted with a two-speed Goblin engine. Unfortunately the Excelsior was the only machine not to make it around the course.           Top of Page |
