The Manchester Honda

Owners Club

After the Floods - the Lake

Why do I always start a report discussing the weather? Well, this one is no different. On Friday we had 30 days of rain in 24 hours and flooding all over the country. So, where we going to have to postpone our ride again? Saturday came - and so did some dry weather. Sunday came and it looked great (any day where it doesn’t rain is great at the moment). So, we were off.

Up at silly o’clock (for me), breakfast down my neck and I was off to Poplar 2000 to see what other fools would turn up. I was the first to arrive, but soon followed by Mark and 7 others. So, 9 bikes in total, but no pillions for the second ride. We chatted for a while, got some tea and other refreshments and were soon ready for the off. This was Bobs ride, so he was leading and I was tail end (a rare position which I mostly enjoyed). We set off, me with music blasting through the headphones, Peter with music blasting through the speakers (Gold Wings can do this!!!). Bobs route was great and we were soon zooming our way around the Welsh roads heading for this mythical lake. Paul was on his little VFR400 - but you wouldn’t know it be the way he was riding. Zooooommmmm.

Once there, we parked up (or abandoned, depending on your point of view) and headed in for lunch. I wandered back to the bridge at the head of the dam to take pictures. I didn’t realise that the waterfall overflow wasn’t normal - apparently it is only the heavy rain which has done this. It was impressive!! Back at the cafe, we all tucked into some lunch (I can recommend bacon & sausage butties with extra brown sauce) before another trip for everyone to see the dam.

Setting off again, we rode around the lake before turning sharp right onto a small track that goats would be proud to walk along. It was “interesting”, but with no mishaps we soon navigated across it and onto some real roads. Then, a quick petrol stop and on to the Bison Cafe where more food and drink was consumed.

Once on the move again, I felt the need for a bit of decent cornering so, for a while I stopped being back maker and had a play. But it didn’t last long and I soon got back into “poodling” mode. We eventually made our way back to Poplar where a last tea was consumed and we made our way home.

We had very little rain and, while the roads were wet where the trees were, we all stayed dry and had great fun on the Welsh twisties (quote from Phil “I messed that one up didn’t I”). So, thanks to Bob for showing us around and here are some pictures so you can see what we got up to.