The day dawned fair and promised even better. So, off I toddled to the meeting point at 9:00 to find the others. As it turns out, we had 10 bikes on the run - a good crowd for that time of day. After a bacon butty and a chat about the buddy system, we set off. Everything was going well - I was leading and everyone following OK. Then, I stopped to take some pictures. I assumed that by then everyone would know that we were stopping in Bala, about 10 miles down the road. But of course, the best laid plans never survive beyond the first moment. Peter (Pan) decided to follow another group of bikers and ended up in Betws-y-Coed; Adam (Kwak 400) ignored the rest of us and sailed on gaily past Bala. The rest turned up in dribs and drabs.

At this point, we found that my new(ish) Givi rack had cracked. Shame on Giv i - this is a known problem and they need to sort it out. So, we spent some time with sticky tape and bungee cords - the top box ended up on a side rack (made for some interesting handling).

Next stop was Barmouth. After a rainstorm we got down to the beach to find glorious sunshine. No other recourse, but to sit out eating fish & chips. At this point, we phoned Gary (runs co-ordinator) to tell him what he had missed. Superb !

After that, we planned to go to PortMerion. But Ian mis-heard us and we ended up in Portmadog. Still, never mind, we found a really nice ice cream shop.

From there, a lazy ride back past Snowdon over some very nice roads and home.

Some piccies: