Royals one Barbarians nil !!

[abarbarian]

Well me collar bone has healedup, I have 99% movement but need some work to build up strength all round. I still have some pretty awful bouts of pain if I overdo stuff. No matter I think all will be well in time and I am being quite dedicated with the exercises etc.

That said I can ride me luverly battered girl again.

 

 

Entrance to the show ground above.

 

Rode out to the Llandovery Motorcycle weekend show on Sunday which is around a 130 mile trip. Started of in the damp as it rained but stopped before we left. Luckily the rain stayed away and the sun came out so the roads were dry in no time.

Good day out but me right arm was darn tired by the end of the day. The old girl is easing up engin wise and much nicer to ride, not so grabby and power is much smoother and responsive. Well if you can describe an old girl as having power. Me neighbour who rode out with me was on a 500 Suzuki and disappeared in the blink of an eye when he opened her up on the few straight stretches. He did wait for me to catch up which was nice of him.

 

Can you spot the Royal in the poster ? no not the bike the real Royal.

 

 

Can you spot the barbarian riding in the town ride ? video quality is not great.

 

 

Edited July 10, 2017 by abarbarian

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Last time I had my fat arse on a motorcycle was Christmas of '10. A friend loaned me his spare so we could all ride together to the club Christmas dinner. I'm am sooooo jonesin' for a bike. This has been the longest stretch in 40 years for me to not be riding.

[abarbarian]

Last time I had my fat arse on a motorcycle was Christmas of '10. A friend loaned me his spare so we could all ride together to the club Christmas dinner. I'm am sooooo jonesin' for a bike. This has been the longest stretch in 40 years for me to not be riding.

 

Yer welcome to ride the royal any time mate.

 

Did you spot me on the ride ?

[V.T. Eric Layton]

If I ever hit that lottery, I'll be coming for a visit. I'll rent a Harley to ride with you, but it'll be weird riding on the wrong... er, I mean left side of the road.

[abarbarian]

If I ever hit that lottery, I'll be coming for a visit. I'll rent a Harley to ride with you, but it'll be weird riding on the wrong... er, I mean left side of the road.

 

I know what you mean. I had to think hard when I visited the states. Mind you you have bigger wider roads over there so more room to recover from errors.

I'd love to see your reaction to some of our fine "C" class roads out in the boonies.

 

Did you spot me on the ride ?

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Did you spot me on the ride ?

 

Nah... all you bikers look alike to me.

[abarbarian]

Did you spot me on the ride ?

 

Nah... all you bikers look alike to me.

 

Ah but I am a mod on a motorcycle

[abarbarian]

Well we have an update.

 

ROYALS 2 v BARBARIANS 0

 

Not been too bad a summer. Managed a few rides out on the old cycles motorised and manual.

 

Sun was shining on Bank Holiday Monday a couple of weeks ago so of we went for a ride to New Quay about 50 miles away. Luverly ride with little traffic despite the holiday sightseers.

Arrived at New Quay which has a steep hill road down to the beach, this is the only place to park for free. Spotted an opening between two cars big enough to park in, wheeled the bike in and started to pull it on to the centre stand. As I did so the bike started to fall away down the hill and would have fallen on to the parked car. I made a huge effort to pull the bike back upright but it was very difficult to do. I did feel some strain on my back but there was no sharp pain, just a small tug at the base of the spine.

Walking away I felt no after effects and of we went for sit down fish and chips and a pot of tea.

Riding home my right leg felt as though it was cramping up. Not wanting to stop I rode for a short way with the leg extended and made it home. I felt a bit stiff the next day but spent most of the day and the next day sorting out me sisters pc, so a lot of sitting at the desk.

Woke up Thursday and the leg was giving me excruciating shots of pain every time I tried to move it let alone walk on it. So for three days all I managed to do was get up and down the stairs at the start and end of the day, make two ready meals and several cups of tea or coffee, and the rest of the time I spent trying to find a position standing or sitting where I could get some relief from the pain.

By the following Monday I could manage to stand and walk for a couple of minutes before the pain kicked in again. So at least I could fill a kettle , make a cup of tea and take it to the front room without having to sit down between each action.

Five days later, today, I can manage to walk without a stick and have made it the the supermarket but I still have to keep on sitting down as if I stay on my feet too long the pain washes in again.

Typically we have had some very nice days this last fortnight unlike the previous month of almost constant wind and wet. Also I was due, after waiting for almost five months, to go for a driving test for the Welsh Ambulance so I could become a voluntary driver with them. Luckily they have made another appointment for me in ten days time.

The doc came to see me at home and has given me some new pain killers as the dihydrocodein wreaked havok with my internals.it appears that I have nipped or trapped a nerve somewhere in the small of my back, possibly the sciatic nerve but it could be one of several. So here I am happily spaced out as I have been for the last ten days on Gabapentin. Which is much kinder to my internals but makes me drift of frequently and makes it hard to concentrate.

So if I have not been so active or my posts have seemed odder than usual that is the reason. Looks like it will take quite a few weeks for me to recover and I have to take it steadily as it is quite easy to cause a relapse.

The really bad news is that I should be busy planting bulbs and sorting the garden out for next year. That ain't going to happen for at least a month if at all. It does depend on how quickly and well I heal up. After the terrible weather which has held me up in the garden and the high winds me garden is not at its best. I never got netting up for the sweet peas. The nasturtiums went wild and took over the path. I never got to plant on the carnations and pinks. The tomatoes and greenhouse never got sorted, but I have been eating home grown toms for a few weeks and it looks like I will be for a few more. The raised veg border went wild and was sort of a disaster. I did get quite a few mange touts, then peas, some french beans but not many, radishes,a few various salad greens, some luverly young spinach and I may get a couple of coloured beetroot. So not a bountiful harvest but at least I have a bed ready for next year.Oh and I had wild and cultivated strawberries too, very yummy they were and there will be even more next year.

all is not doom and gloom though as I have some perennials that look as though they have established and I have two beds that will be better next year. Not quite what I had planned but then thats the way with plans.

Here are a few pics of the garden from when I moved in to today.

 

https://imgur.com/a/2e4M0

 

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Codeine based medications always make me sick to my stomach. After my 2010 hospital experience, Codeine, cortico-steroids, and Aspartame (artificial sweetener) are ALL on my official allergen/do-not-administer list at the hospital and all my doctors' offices.

 

Fortunately, I don't have issues with pain; just the normal over-50 stiffness and aches occasionally. I'm lucky. I have many friends with chronic pain. It's not a fun thing to deal with, I wouldn't think.

 

Keep hangin' tough, Erik. It's worth it. Just enjoy all you can everyday!

[ebrke]

Glad you're improving. I had just a taste of what you're experiencing after my mother fell earlier this summer. A neighbor helped me get her up (can't do it alone), and a few days later I started some fairly strong and persistent back and leg pain. Kind of thing that's bearable during the day but keeps you awake at night. Saw the chiropractor once a week and did the stretching exercises she advised and it did finally improve. But I did absolutely nothing in the way of weeding or cleaning up in my yard, so aside from the mowing and some bush pruning done by someone else, my yard got zero maintenance this year. Let's hope next year's better for us!

[abarbarian]

Glad you're improving. I had just a taste of what you're experiencing after my mother fell earlier this summer. A neighbor helped me get her up (can't do it alone), and a few days later I started some fairly strong and persistent back and leg pain. Kind of thing that's bearable during the day but keeps you awake at night. Saw the chiropractor once a week and did the stretching exercises she advised and it did finally improve. But I did absolutely nothing in the way of weeding or cleaning up in my yard, so aside from the mowing and some bush pruning done by someone else, my yard got zero maintenance this year. Let's hope next year's better for us!

 

Sorry to hear about your woes too, hope you make a full recovery.

 

The doc thinks I have trapped or strained some nerves in the top of my right leg/pelvic/lower right side of the back. I asked him about chiropractic relief and he gave me a detailed explanation of the possible damage and advised against chiropracty. He did advise gentle movement and not to sit in the same position for any length of time. I have a folder with several hundred yoga style exercises from my Chinese health arts days and have been trying some of them out with some measure of success.

The secret is as with almost all things in life, steady as you go.

Or in my case do not be a silly old git and buy a motorbike

[abarbarian]

I forgot about this thread an it looks like it has not been updated fro a while so here is a titbit to kickstart it again.

 

Bank holiday Monday this week, that is where the whole country gets a day of work. So you are obliged to take a traditional trip to the coast if you are workin class like me.

 

It was a glorious sunny day, blue sky with nary a cloud to be seen. Me and two buddies decided to ride out to Dale,

 

http://beachguide.wa...eshire/dale.php

 

 

Where we refueled at the Griffin Inn sitting outside on the raised decking area. Great local real ale and tremendous views.

 

http://www.griffininndale.co.uk/

 

 

Refuelin done, shame we could only partly fill up with just the one pint, we decide that cooling down was most necessary. As we did not wish to frighten the children and tourists with our superbly muscled , tanned and fearsome bodies as we strode into the sea to swim, we decided to ride to another quieter beach.

 

http://beachguide.wa...e/monkhaven.php

 

 

Monk Haven is a small sheltered cove near to the village of St Ishmaels. The rocks are out in full sun all day and as the tide comes in, which luckily for us was the case as we arrived, warms up the water. Which was needed as even though it was the hottest day of the year so far the water was shall we say just a tad cool. Naturally I did not spend too long in the water but did manage to swim about ten lengths. As the day was so warm I dried of in just a few minutes and hardly need to use my towel. It was most pleasant sitting drying in the sun listening to the sounds of nature, munching on Welsh cakes and sipping blueberry juice that someone had thoughtfully brought along.

Regretfully we left behind this lovely scene and rode home. Rather tired as the swim had, even though brief, rather drained energy reserves, but happy and contented.

 

[raymac46]

I remember this particular bank holiday in 1981. I had been in Geneva on business and returned via London to visit my company's office there. I arrived on Friday so I had a 3 day weekend in London - first time I had ever been there.

 

 

This weekend had a Scotland-England football match at Wembly so the powers that be shut down the Tube on Saturday to keep the Scots at bay. I had to take buses everywhere - that would be insane today. The next two days I had the Tube, fortunately.

Back then London was British to the core. Not so much on my last visit in 2013. There was a big game in London then as well - Champions League final and two German sides in it. Germans were taking London to pieces as I recall.

[abarbarian]

I remember this particular bank holiday in 1981. I had been in Geneva on business and returned via London to visit my company's office there. I arrived on Friday so I had a 3 day weekend in London - first time I had ever been there.

 

 

This weekend had a Scotland-England football match at Wembly so the powers that be shut down the Tube on Saturday to keep the Scots at bay. I had to take buses everywhere - that would be insane today. The next two days I had the Tube, fortunately.

Back then London was British to the core. Not so much on my last visit in 2013. There was a big game in London then as well - Champions League final and two German sides in it. Germans were taking London to pieces as I recall.

 

Travelling through London on the top deck of a double decker bus is probably the best way to see the city, an the cheapest.

 

Sounds like you had a very interesting career.

[raymac46]

Back in 1981, London Transport had a special 'Round London Tour bus you could take to get from one part of the city to another - today you'd probably need to choose a private operator like Gray Line. On my first visit, I went to Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and the Tower. Walked around Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens too.

[abarbarian]

Seems like I have neglected this thread. So here are some updates on my two wheeled life.

 

This one is from back in Aug 2018.

 

Rode out on the Royal yesterday. Was supposed to be a short ride but I ended up on a 200 mile marathon as the sky was blue and it was luverly and warm.

First stop should have been Llandelio where I fancied a cup of coffee at a bikers cafe. However the cafe had around fifty Hells Angels sitting outside on the tables and low walls. At least I recon there was around fifty of them, I did ride by very slowly and had a good old gawk at all the bikes lining the roadside. I decided that it was too crowded and carried on y journey.
 

Next up was Llandovery which should have been the end of the journey. There is a bikers cafe opposite the castle car park. Once again there were tons of bikes and slightly cleaner leather clad folk thronging the tables and street. As I need a drink and facilities I decide to stop. Cafe prices were partly a decider in this decision, £3.50 for a large mug of milky coffee and a slice of home made Victoria sponge. I recon my good ol Royal was the smallest bike parked up amongst all the large modern high powered speedsters. It did attract a fair amount of attention and comment but thankfully no one twigged I was the owner so I did not have to do the "yes its new, yes its made in India etc etc etc" speech.

 

 

I have not come up with a way to carry me camera comfortably and safely yet so hence the stock pics. They are probably better than mine would be anyway.

So suitably refreshed I set of home. Hey up though what did that sign say ? Llyne Brianne Dam and only eleven miles away. Sounds interesting , lets have a look.
The road to the dam is narrow and follows the most delightful valley with glimpses of super scenery and ends up here,

 

http://www.enchantedtowy.co.uk/llyn_brianne_and_the_upper_towy.htm

 

 

As the water level is pretty low at the moment water does not run down the slipway but comes out of pipes from the generator. An it were a grand sight too.
 

 

Overnight motorhome stops are allowed so I might very well spend a odd night or two up there at some point.
I had long leisurely cruise home and arrived rather late on at around eight thirty. Best of all as on the journey out there was hardly any traffic going my way. As on the way out though the other side of the road was chock a block. I pity the poor sods on the Red Roses by pass, almost five miles long. Mind you it was all down hill so anyone with any sense would have cut the engine and coasted slowly down the hill.

 

Edited September 15, 2020 by abarbarian

[abarbarian]

This is from a trip in May 2019.

 

Had a 4 day holiday in May in Snowdonia. It was one of those save up the coupons for a caravan holiday that the Sun does every year. We managed to book a three bedroom unit, with site passes and towels and bedding with the beds made up for a super expensive £50 each. The site was fifty yards from Black Rock Sands although we did not spend much time on the beach. We did paddle up to our knees one evening though.

http://beachguide.wales/midwales/blackrock.php

This is the valley leading up to the Llanberis Pass. The A408 looking west down the valley at Llyn Gwynant.
 

 

Down the pass we find Llyn Padarn
 

 

This is the Menai Bridge photo stop on our trip to
 

 

the station with that name
 

 

Being only a couple of miles away from here we just had to visit to try and find 6. Probably the most expensive part of the trip as we had a ice cream, and a coffee and a slice of cake.

 

For those of you too young to remember 6,

 

I am not a number. I am a free man.

 

They have certainly made the place look tons better than the last time I visited.
 

 

An even though it had not rained for some time we had to stop at Swallow Falls
 

 

Was a great trip and not one single rain drop.



Pics were all from me mates phones as I did not have space to take me camera. I'll post a couple of pics of the bikes when me mate gets around to sending me them.

Mileage was 750 for the whole trip and me Royal did 82 to the gallon.

 

 

Edited October 24, 2019 by abarbarian
ooooooooooooooops x 2

[V.T. Eric Layton]

I checked the HTML source code on the above two postings to see how you were attempting to post images. I tried the links in the HTML manually, but no images would load. However, I did see this link of the place where you visited:

 

http://www.enchantedtowy.co.uk/llandeilo.htm

 

You cannot upload images that are this large to this site. However, if you serve the images on a 3rd party image server like Imgur or some such, you can then edit your posts above to add the images using links from the image server. You click the "Insert other media" menu button on the bottom right side of the posting area and choose "Insert Image from URL". The URL must be a raw link to the image ending in .jpg, .png, or .gif. for them to appear in your posting as embedded images.

 

Anyway, sure sounds as though you had a great time. I'm glad  things have gotten a little better for you compared to how they were in the first posting on this thread. :)

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Ah... improvements. I can see some of the pics in the second post now. :)

[zlim]

Picture removed because today I see it above.

He must have been uploading it while I posted.

 

Edited October 25, 2019 by zlim

[V.T. Eric Layton]

And oddly enough, I see that one fine. :)

[abarbarian]

So I had a ride out today. Looked like we might have had to cancel as it wer overcast in the morning but the afternoon turned out to be a barnstormer, sunny with blue sky and warm. !60 mile round trip and of course stops were made for refuelling.

Took advantage of the free parking at the chapel near Cenarth Falls and walked down to the very small quaint cafe near the car park. Refuelled with a Welsh Tea as it was only £1 more than a cream tea and you got a slice of Bara Brith and a Welsh Cake along with the scone ,jam,cream and pot of tea.

Cenarth Falls

 

As the weather was so nice we decided to carry on to New Quay. An as it was so hot we refuelled with a cool ice cream from the ice cream shop overlooking the harbour. This was a difficult task as there were twenty flavours to choose from.

New Quay

As the town was closed to traffic we had to park up on the cliff top and walk into town. Its a bloomin steep hill let me tell you.

 

 

 

 

 

Chilled out we headed for home. An as it happened our route took us past the Cresselly Arms at Cresswell Quay which is only 8 miles from home and my favourite watering hole.  Now it would have been rude not to stop and say hello and even ruder not to support a local business in these difficult financial times. So pints (one each) and crisps were purchased and consumed before carrying on with the last leg of the journey.

Cresswell Quay

 

 

Now you may think that we were out on a jolly. However let me tell you it was a serious undertaking to test out the camera on my new phone under differing conditions.

 

 

 

 

[sunrat]

Looks beautiful, abarbarian. You're making me consider visiting Wales if I ever get to do my Europe trip which was cancelled for this year. We are still not allowed to travel more than 5km from home in Melbourne currently.

Is your bike the Royal Enfield? I guess since you are taking the photo. It's a classic and looks like you take good care of it.

[abarbarian]

17 hours ago, sunrat said:

Is your bike the Royal Enfield? I guess since you are taking the photo. It's a classic and looks like you take good care of it.

 

Ha ha if only you could see it close up

 

It is a classic but a new one. Funnily enough the model is called the Classic 500, a 500 cc single cylinder thumper. Bought new in 2015, it has a EFI all in one engine as opposed to the old engin plus gearbox from yesteryear.

 

I have still not repaired and painted some of the damage caused when I had my accident three years ago when I broke me collar bone. The Indian chrome is pretty awful and has rust spots that are worsening. An the supposed english chrome replacement parts are even worse. I have made quite a few modifications though and look after the running gear very well as I value my life. Mind you if you saw me riding that last statement might puzzle you.

 

[Cluttermagnet]

This was an interesting thread that escaped my attention til now. Maybe I was

inactive when it originally posted in 2016. I know that was a very busy year for

Betty and I- she was in and out of hospitals and had to rehab to walk again.

Pretty much a miserable year for us...

 

I winced several times as I looked over the blow by blow on the injuries.

Abarbarian, you must have  9 lives. And at the end it was so nice to see photos of

you and buddies (mates) again out for a day on motorcycles. So you healed it.

Good on ya...

 

Clutter

 

 

 

[abarbarian]

I dropped lucky moving to Wales and even luckier moving into the street I am living in as two of me neighbours just across the road from me are both bikers an just a couple of years younger than me, an they are both friendly.

 

A national newspaper teamed up with a holiday company that has large caravan site throughout the UK to offer ultra cheap rentals at the very start and end of the holiday season. Reason being that the weather is even more unpredictable at those times, as if we have predictable weather here anyways. So a caravan that would normally cost mid season £200 for a three bedroomed fully central heated all in, would cost at the offer price £50 for four nights mid week or three nights over a weekend.

 

So after the success of the Snowdonia trip we booked a three night over the weekend trip to Exmoor in Somerset at a place called Doniford Bay which has the caravan park right next to the beach.

 

Doniford Bay , Watchet, Somerset

 

The trip was booked for 5th October 2019 and as it happened it rained on us all the way down to the site, 170 mile trip, and funnily enough all the way back again.

However the three days we spent in Somerset were rain free. So we had great days out with the best one including a trip to ,

 

Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway

If you want to see more pictures of bearded welsh dwarves and some stunning scenery have a look at the Imgur album, the best pictures are towards the end,

 

https://imgur.com/a/t3ek6lA

 

 

 

Those were the biggest and tastyest scones I have ever eaten, came with lashings of clotted cream and strawberry jam washed down with gallons of tea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[abarbarian]

Decided on a whim to take a bike ride over to York where me sister was due to have a 70 th birthday. Weather looked good for a few days and as we are into autumn here it looked to be one of the last really sunny weekends.

Set of on Friday at 11.00 am and fuelled up at the recently completed ASDA petrol station at the end of the road.

 

 

The idea was to take some pretty shots of the luverly scenery on my route. Here is the first one, an they wonder why we call it mother earth.

 

 

This was the second shot. An it was truly impressive with the valley falling away to left and right for miles.Sadly the picture does not do it justice.

 

 

The trouble with my plan was that all the best shots were in awful places to stop and all the best stops had awful scenery. Also I had not realised how unfit I was and how much the journey would sap my reserves. So I did not take any more pictures on route.

The journey took me nine hours, should have been seven and a half hours but I turned right instead of left at J11 on the M56 and ended up travelling across the Pennines on the M62 which I did not really want to do as it is a very busy road. Also it took me 50 miles out of my way and of the smaller quieter roads I had planned to travel.

This is the view out of my sisters spare room looking down on to her garden.Thought you folks might be interested in a typical english suburban garden.

 

 

I did not do a great deal on the Saturday as I was well and truly tired out. Managed to accompany big sister on a walk around York University taking her dog for exercise. I took loads of pictures as there is some neat architecture in the new buildings and the new lakes are neat too.

However I could not seem to make the camera perform well at all, though it did seem to be taking pictures, sort of. Later on I found that in carrying the camera without its bag I inadvertently moved on of the tiny dials and this was the cause of the camera  gremlin. I did take it seems movies of my feet and some very shaky footage of various things. I only managed to get a screenshot of one small movie clip that was in any was ok.

 

 

Apparently the teepees are over spill accommodation for the students. Really they are some sort of distancing measure due to covid.Shame about the rest of the pictures.Blame it on old age and weariness.

 

The journey back on Monday was in glorious sunshine all the way. I found a super route across the Pennines, after climbing up from the Yorkshire side I followed a valley down towards Manchester that had four or five very long reservoirs running down its tree lined length. Journey took eight hours. Luckily for me I stopped in a lay by just short of Carmarthen as I was worn out and thought a stop before tackling the last leg was a sensible idea.

Luck for me I did as I noticed a drip dropping from my carburettor. Yes it was petrol and whooops that was not a split tin the fuel line. It had severed completely and as I touched it petrol flooded out. I quickly turned of the fuel,no whoosh of an exploding bike, and set to to shorten and re fix the fuel line. The adrenaline from that set me up for the last forty miles and I arrived home safely after a 664 mile marathon. I was tempted to drive around for a couple of miles just to get 666 on the clock but was far too banjakcsed.

Oh and big sis appreciated the large balloons I gave her for her 70 th.

 

 

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Very COOL! I envy you your road trip and hope your sis had a wonderful birthday w/ MANY more to follow!

[ebrke]

7 hours ago, abarbarian said:

no whoosh of an exploding bike,

Whew!

[raymac46]

Hope to go see Wales one day myself. Some of my ancestors come from Forden, Montgomeryshire. Also want to take a ride on a famous railway.