The Big Smoke and the Icy wilderness

Last Friday was spent with Big L in London. The excuse was a bike show at Excel in London Docklands. I have not been to Excel before and after a long and agonising public transport journey (I'm not good when I don't have my own transport under me) we arrived. The show was disappointing but it was still a good day spent chillin gout, walking around London and drinking copious amounts of Vanilla Lattes. Walking amongst the tourist made me realise that although I live less than an hour away I felt like a tourist. Some visitors travelled for thousands of miles to see Buckingham palace or Big Ben and I live up the road and take it all for granted.

Whilst mooching around the capital I decided a small road trip was needed. A quick jaunt up to Wales would clear out the cobwebs. I set off at about 7:30 on Saturday morning (alone as Big L didn't fancy it much). It was BC freezing out and after about an hour of my hands in agony with the pain I conceded defeat and stopped for a coffee break whilst the outside temperature warmed up. I set off from the services again and had a nicely spirited (read quick) ride up and along the A5 to Betws Y Coed. My trip was only made slightly less direct by the hour I spent riding around West Brom and Dudley. After I booked in to the YHA and dumped my stuff I rode through to Llanberis to check out the winter scenery. It was a photographer's heaven. The winter light, the lack of wind and the empty hill sides made vistas that any amateur photographer could turn into a work of art. A couple of swift pies later and I was settled into the pub for a beer and some intensive magazine and MP3 time. After a stroll into the village for another pint I grabbed an early night. The next morning began with a 15 minute de-ice and I was on the road heading south through the Welsh Valleys by 9am. The scenic route is always less stressful than the main road as the need to wind it on disappears. I couldn't hold back for long though and I was soon in a rhythm of 5th/6th gear overtakes and sweeping corners. Some pies and a couple of fuel stops later and I'm sat in a pub in Swindon waiting for Big L to meet me for a coffee. His bike's not well so he drives up from where we head over to Newbury for a Starbucks. Even after heading home and covering over 250 miles whilst sat in the pub in the evening I feel like I could jump back on the bike and head out for another road trip. Damn I love the biking road trips.