We left Cambridge services at around 10:15, myself five minutes earlier because I was meeting with Katherine and Alex at Kettering. After moving some stuff from their car into my fridge we eventually caught up with everyone else at hopwood services on the M42.
Traffic had been a little heavy due to roadworks but nothing too horrendous.
After a lovely “Harry Ramsdens” fill up we set off on the second half of our journey.
Our convey now consisted of
Andy Sanders
Nick Nash
Candice Pither
Darren Southernwood
Graham Toomey
Darren Roberts
Alex Chambers
Me! (Kirk)
Lawrence Batters
A short hop down the M5 then the long cross country journey heading west to builth wells
Apart from getting split at one point the journey went well and most importantly the rain held off so once we arrived we could strike camp in the dry.
From memory and in no particular order in addition to the people mentioned earlier we had
Kev, George,Steve, Steve’s mate, Stuart, and Lee. Apologies if I’ve missed anyone out.
After a barbecue and drinks we headed to bed at around midnight.
Day one-Saturday
We left in thick fog/clouds with a drizzly rain but after a couple of hours or so the sun broke through and we laned until about 6, that way we’d be back at camp for about 7.
We were doing the “east” route and encountered a couple of problems, one tree down and one lane impassable due to deep ruts
Day two “West” including strata Florida and the reservoir.
The day started worse than the day before, almost as soon as we left the rain started and it got steadily worse until it was a deluge, but almost as quick as it started it stopped and after about midday the sun came out and it was a warm beautiful day. We drove the lanes around llandrovery then struck north so we could enter soar mynodd from the west.
A fantastic track that starts low down then climbs extremely steeply to a plateau, once at the end a short sharp rocky drop to the chapel at the bottom which is ideal for lunch because it’s got a carpark, river, chapel with toilet and is in a beautiful spot, only about 5 miles from the west end of strata.
Once we finished at the chapel we headed off to strata which as usual didn’t disappoint, for the uninitiated strata has a little of everything, if driven without any stopping or holdup takes around an hour and a half, it has numerous water crossings, rock climbing, forest,open Moreland and spectacular views.
Our crossing took a little longer because we stopped for a leg stretch and a field repair on Alex’s cooling fan.
Once completed we hooked back up with Andy Sanders group for the reservoir section which at this time of the day was truly spectacular, despite the amount of times I’ve driven this I think this was the best, millpond smooth and sun setting-fantastic!
We finished by parking on the dam and took time for a chat and some photos.
By now we realised that we needed to strike for home because it would be 10pm at least before we got there.
After a lovely Chinese from town and a few we’ll earned drinks we retired for bed.
Monday morning brought a late start, full English breakfast and breaking camp followed by a Great trip home in glorious sunshine
A short couple of stops and a final fuel up!
I’m really pleased with the weekend, we’ve received no complaints whatsoever and lots of positive comments throughout.
I’d like to say a special thanks to “team Pearson” who from the start really were a team, despite my reservations concerning children lees family were an absolute pleasure to be with, Stuart and sharon were unfazed at anything and Alex was in his element helping out whenever he could Katherine who sorted the food and last but not least Charley and Rueben who did lots of gates and drink making!
A genuine heartfelt thanks to everyone who made this trip possible and look out for next years dates!
Kirk Pearson – Chairman – All Terrain UK