I was woken by the sound of a hard revving
engine. Through bleary eyes I looked outside
and saw my brother with a 1960 Triumph Herald.
The bonnet was open and he was sitting on the wheel revving it via the
throttle cable.
I wrapped a towel around my waist and sneaked
up behind him. As he turned I shouted:
“I love the smell of petrol in the morning!”
in my best impression of Lt Col Kilgore in “Apocalypse Now”. He wasn’t expecting to see me and it’s fair
to say he was surprised. He is totally
addicted to anything that runs on petrol and soon I was being shown around his
latest acquisition. I broke off the tour
in favour of a shower, breakfast and strong coffee. When I re-emerged he had gone out but was
coming back soon. So I said goodbye to
Tileri and went to get the bike and load her up. When I had finished Jezzer had returned and I
said farewell before riding into town to get a present for mums birthday. With my town mission accomplished I headed
west to see my other sister. She wasn’t
in but would be back soon so I hung around and when she came home we had lunch together
before she went back to work and I rode to Pembrokeshire.
Because of lunch I had lost track of time and
realised that I wouldn’t arrive in Pembrokeshire until about 7:30pm. Never mind, I’m taking the back roads so it
was never going to be direct and I was never going to arrive early. As I rode across the B roads of
Gloucestershire I hit a patch of deep mud on a corner and very nearly went down
for the first time on the entire ride (discounting a little off-road drop in Romania
and the fall on the ferry). It took a
strong stamp from my right boot in order to keep the bike upright. Vowing to take it easy I carried on towards
the Welsh border.
I was aiming for the Heads of the Valleys Road
and A40, it’s a route I have always know and one that evokes great memories
from home, school and my early days in the Army. As I crossed the border into Wales I felt my
heart lift slightly as it always does when I return to the Land of My Fathers. Once over the border it doesn’t take long
before the road becomes great fun as it heads towards Brecon. However, true to form, it started raining
just east of Brecon and it gradually got heavier the further west I went.
 |
| If I go much further west I'll get wet feet. |
It’s typical that the only day of rain I have
had during the entire course of the ride is on the last leg heading for my
parents house. It didn’t lift and as I headed
further from west it got gradually worse and, at its height, was joined by
thick fog. I wasn’t going to let it
force me into taking the quicker route and I continued to strike out over the
hills. Maybe it was because of my
refusal to take the easy option that I ended up somewhere I hadn’t been before. I wasn’t lost you understand just in the wrong
place. A quick map check and I was back
on track in no time and would soon smell the sea.
As I came into the final few miles of the ride
I had visions of an “Easy Rider” style ending so I rolled off the throttle and
took it easy, “I’ve just got to bring it home, don’t mess it up now.” I kept
telling myself. Finally, after the best
part of 5,000 miles I rolled down the drive to the house, arriving just as it
was getting dark and was able to enjoy the view over the Irish Sea in a moment
of quite before putting the bike under cover and going in to see my parents.
After being away for so long it was great to be
back and in time for mums birthday tomorrow.
We caught up over a drink and I went to be early looking forward to
waking up in my childhood home.
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| Planning the next ride.... |
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