Jam and “Do you sell ’em?”

Do you see what I did there?  In the title?  Sounds like “Jam and Jerusalem”.  A bit.

But in the real world …….

We do sell jam!  We grow lots of fruit and make jam from some of it.  Why might this be of interest to you?  Because we hope to be at the “Real Bread” festival at Ruthin Gaol on 31st July.  Selling our jam.  Every month in the summer there’s a local produce market held in the courtyard of Ruthin Gaol, itself a fascinating glimpse of how cruel we used to be to each other (in the name of justice).  This year we’ve had a good crop of gooseberries, raspberries and blackcurrants and are looking forward to lots of damsons and some plums.

We make the best jam in North Wales, possibly the world, and sell it for the ridiculously low sum of £2.25 a jar.  I know, a bargain way beyond belief.  If you’re in the area go and have a look at the Gaol or better still, stay with us at Plas Efenechtyd Cottage and try our jams for free.  Well, after you’ve paid for at least one night’s B&B, obviously.

Last time I promised to tell you about BRO Ruthin and Ebb and Flo and to keep an eye on Nick and Dave.

First off – the BRO Ruthin Loyalty Card.  “Support Ruthin and let it support you with the Bro Rhuthun loyalty card.  Enjoy special offers and promotions from a range of independent shops,
restaurants and businesses.”  That’s the official line from the website   http://ruthindirectory.moonfruit.com/  It’s a brilliant idea to help small, independent local businesses survive the current troubled times.  Go and have a look at the website, get the card and spend lots of money in Ruthin.  We haven’t decided yet what our own special offer ought to be.  Suggestions welcome.  I’ve already come up with “Stay 2 nights and get a free hour’s lecture on the history of the British Motorcycle”  and “Two hours gardening will get you an extra big sausage”.

Ebb and Flo.  Obviously they are our new hens, light Sussex hybrids.  We bought them as young ‘uns from a smallholder near Cerrigydrudion.  They’re proper hens, they are not like the poor worn out brown ones who are ex-batts.  Ebb and Flo lay lovely eggs, regular as clockwork (that’s once a day).   Even though they are now bigger than the rest, they are still at the bottom of the pecking order.  The others are Big Hen, Dora and Nondescript Hen.  Only Nondescript Hen doesn’t lay eggs regularly.  Maybe it’s because of low self esteem brought on by being called Nondescript Hen.  Such fragile egos (or should that be eggos?).

Nick and Dave:  still together but their friends are getting fractious.  Vince is turning intellectual somersaults to try to prove that he’s right now, whereas before he didn’t know as much so he was wrong then but now he knows more, he must be right now.  Dave meanwhile, is trying to look grown up when playing with the bigger boys.  Even Ken and Michael are falling out about how many of us should be in prison.  Which is where we came in.  Jam and Gaols.  It’s a good mix.

See you at the Gaol on the 31st of July.

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Detours, dykes and rabbits – the National 2010

Back from the National Rally.  A ‘motorcycle navigational scatter rally’ for masochists.  I explained a little about it in my last blog. The idea is to cover exactly 500 miles around England overnight.  My Rally went a little differently.  Good bits were riding along the fen roads near Wisbech with the canals higher than the roads.  Calling in at my daughter’s home for a family barbecue.  And riding over the Horseshoe Pass at daybreak dodging rabbits who dive across the road on suicide missions.

Somewhere around 2pm I’m nearing Milton Keynes, 285 miles into the rally. There’s some roadworks and a detour at the entrance to the M1.  So I take the detour only to find it’s not any old detour but a 10 mile detour south down the M1 through contraflow at 50 mph then turn round and come back the same way for another 10 miles.  This takes about half an hour and somehow, takes the edge off the whole thing.  I’m 150 miles from home and getting cold.  To finish the rally would mean another 200 miles to the final control then 100 miles or more home.  England seems to consist of dual carriageways, 50mph limits, speed cameras and traffic.

I call into the services, Newport Pagnall, I think.  It’s awful.  Loud music everywhere, including in the dirty, broken toilets.  Coffee is luke warm and weak.  I’m going home.  And I won’t be doing it next year!  I promise.  Got home at 4.30 am, just as the sun was coming up.  North Wales never looked more beautiful.

So what about Dave and Nick?  It’s beginning to unravel.  Mark my words.  The Right hate the Lib Dems and the Lib Dems will only be able to bear being in the same room as the Tories for so long.  I’ll give them six months.  Tops.

All of which means this is a great time to have a break, soak up some Welsh sunshine (not an oxymoron) and chill out.  We have some vacancies in July and August.  Have a look at our website on http://www.plas-efenechtyd-cottage.co.uk and decide for yourself.

Next time:  what is the ‘Bro Rhuthun card’?  Who are Ebb and Flo?  What happened to the ‘cakes, bikes and North Wales’ guide?

Tiger at the Horseshoe Pass - beware rampant rabbits

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3 Daves and a Midget

The New Toy

Right then.  I’ve been away but I’m back now.  Many, many things of which to speak.  Since I last wrote we’ve had a vicious and beautiful winter, Dave and Nick have got married and I’ve bought a new toy.

Winter was quite something.  Minus 12 degrees, snow that wouldn’t go away.  We were trapped in the house for a week.  It was hell.  Actually, it wasn’t that bad, a bit dull but there’s always re-runs of Top Gear and QI on Dave (my own personal TV channel) and the internet.

The damned internet.  It makes you do things that later you come to regret.  Like bidding on eBay for a car you don’t need, don’t want and can’t afford.  How is this possible?  Well, idly leafing through eBay’s classic car pages you come across a Midget 1500, for sale reasonably locally with no bids against it.  It looks gorgeous so, thinking you might get it for silly money you put in a bid and 5 seconds later it’s yours.  Not such silly money, then, if no one else wanted to outbid you.  On the way back from the vendor’s house you realise that the speedo is not working properly.  Surely it should do more than 48 mph flat out?  Two hours to cover 25 miles seems a bit slow.

So let’s have a look at the mechanicals.  The bodywork is just about flawless but why are the plugs ancient and of different types to each other?  Why are the air filters about 20 years old?  Why are the carbs loose and the plug leads broken and frayed?  Another £200 worth of ignition and carb parts, umpteen hours under the bonnet and hey presto!  It goes almost as well as it looks.

But only almost.  The brakes are now binding.  They get hot in a few miles and tend to spoil the fun.  Bugger.

This weekend is the National Rally.  It happens every year.  A whole load of masochists set off on motorcycles of all ages, sizes and types and try to ride all night.  Why?  To win a small, cheap, plastic medal of course!  Why else?  If you manage 500 miles between 2pm on Saturday and 10 am on Sunday you get a Gold medal.  You have to visit manned checkpoints dotted around the country to prove you’ve done it but that’s all there is to it really.  So why do it?  Each entrant has his or her own reasons of course.  For me it’s about undertaking something difficult, a challenge  and a chance to get away from worldly worries for 24 hours.  I always do the National alone because a) I have no mates and b) I’m in charge.  I decide the speed, the rest points, the route and whether or not we finish.  Last year after about 250 miles I got bored and went home early.  Got to bed about 3 am. No medal but it was fun nonetheless.

So by lunchtime on Sunday I’ll have covered nearly 700 miles, (including getting to the start and back from the finish).  I’ll have seen England by night and by early morning.  I’ll have spent 24 hours inside my own head with nothing to think about except the road ahead.  Bliss

See you soon when we’ll think about the state of the economy, see if Dave and Nick’s honeymoon is over and suggest why you should stay with us here in Plas Efenechtyd Cottage.

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Eating out in Ruthin

In between all the riding or driving round North Wales, testing and tasting cakes and soups and hot chocolate, you’ll need somewhere to stay (that’ll be with us, then) and somewhere to eat at night.

For such a small town Ruthin has so many fine restaurants and pubs serving great food. Here’s our top 5 places for great grub, in and around Ruthin in no particular order.

1.  A favourite of ours is the Manorhaus, in Well Street in the heart of Ruthin.  Not cheap but good value.  The only restaurant in the whole county (that I know of) to be recommended by Alistair Sawday.  There are only 2 places in Denbighshire recommended by Alistair Sawday:  the Manorhaus and us, Plas Efenechtyd Cottage B&B!  High praise indeed.

2.  Restaurant On the Hill at the top of Upper Clwyd Street just off the Square. Expensive by local standards but highly commended by regular diners.

3.  Wynnstay Arms in Well Street.  Very good value, good food, often open when others are not.

4.  The olde Cross Keys in Llanfwrog on the B5105 road from Ruthin to our B&B.  We use it as our local.  The owners, Terry and Jess, are very welcoming and serve really good food at great prices.  They’ll also go out of their way to produce food for vegans or people with food allergies etc.  If you want to experience a real Welsh pub, hear Welsh spoken and enjoy good company, this is the place.

5.  The Leyland Arms in Llanelidan.  A few miles out of Ruthin, off the road to Corwen down a narrow lane.  The pub is part of the Naylor-Leyland estate.  Fabulous setting, lovely pub with great food and good beer.  Very welcoming, too.

Leyland Arms, Llanelidan

If you’ve read any of my blog so far you’ll know that food, motorcycles and Wales are amongst my obsessions.  In future blogs I hope to persuade you that you can combine all 3 by booking a break here in Efenechtyd.

More soon.

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Back to Ruthin – but not directly

So you’ve followed the route so far and you’re somewhere near Ffestiniog.  You could go north up the A470 to Betws y Coed and mingle with the coach loads of tourists or you could head further west towards another tourist hotspot, Porthmadog.  Don’t hang around Porthmadog,

instead head north to Beddgelert.  There’s another lovely little tea shop there, near the bridge but I can’t remember its name.  Beddgelert is small and very pretty with a great mythology surrounding it.  Go and have a look for yourself.

From Beddgelert head north east along the A498 to the junction of the A4086.  This is the beginning of the Llanberis Pass.

Now, this used to be a highlight of any trip to North Wales but it’s become a little bit too famous.  I rode this road many years ago in midsummer on a Norton 650SS and overtook 13 caravans on the way up.  These days it would be just about impossible as there are so many vehicles coming the other way.  Go there in spring or late autumn and you might get a good run at it.  Go there in winter and you may freeze to death!

You could carry on past the left turn to Llanberis Pass and go as far as Capel Curig (cafe selling good bacon butties) and turn onto the A5 going north.  This takes you to Llyn Ogwen and the Nant Ffrancon Pass.  You’ll go past Tryfan and the lake and probably want to stop, turn round, and do it again. It has been frequently used as a filming location for British film-makers, including doubling for the Khyber Pass in the Carry On film Carry On up the Khyber, and doubling for the Himalayas in the Doctor Who serial The Abominable Snowmen. (A little bit of colour there courtesy of Wikipedia)

Time to head back east on the A5 all the way to Cerrigydrudion and left onto the B5105.  This will take you back to Ruthin and Efenechtyd where you started from.  If you’ve decided to stay at our B&B you’ll be ready for a cuppa and a chat.  Next morning you’ll probably want to have a go at the next route which takes in the highest road in Wales.

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Wet and wild – I need my wooly

A wet weekend in wonderful Wales. Damp, dark, dismal and decidedly drab. Time to think of warmer days and fewer alliterations. Time to discuss one of the 3 major themes of my life (after wife, daughters and family, of course). It is time, the Walrus said, to speak of many things, of soups and cakes, of hills and lakes and noisy oily things. The 3 themes? Food, Wales and motorcycles. It is time to talk bikes. Not pedaly types but ones with engines.
One of the great joys of living in North Wales is that we are surrounded by some of the best roads on earth. Not necessarily the best surfaces but if you know where to look there are some real gems. Take the B5105, for example. I live about a quarter of a mile from it, it’s the road from Ruthin to Cerrigydrudion, is about 15 miles long and has it’s own website, run by the Welsh Space Agency. I kid you not. Go to Youtube and type in B5105 and have a look at some of the videos made to celebrate this road. When I learn how to do it I may post one or two of them on the blog.
A really great trip would be to start from Annie’s coffee shop on Upper Clwyd Street in Ruthin. Annie makes the best cakes in the Vale of Clwyd and the hot chocolate is pretty good, too. From Ruthin travel West on the B5105 through Clocaenog Forest to Cerrigydrudion. Then turn right onto the A5 and take your time. Although this is a fast and open road and sometimes not covered with crawling caravans it is wise to go carefully and watch out for camera vans. The Police are fond of catching speeding bikers here, and to be frank, most of them deserve to be caught if they’re much over the limit.
The issue of speeding and motorcycling in general in North Wales is a hot topic and you may have seen Motorcycle News’  campaign “Reclaim North Wales” in the press and on TV. Thousands of bikers descended on North Wales, gathered at the Horseshoe Pass and a few other biker haunts and ‘showed the Police what we’re made of”. Naturally I went along to have a look and noticed several things. Firstly, Harley riders never travel alone, they are always in groups of 20 to 30 and they ride slowly. Very slowly. Part of the ‘Harley thang’ I’m told. Secondly, most bikers stick to the main roads. Go ‘off piste’ and the roads are empty. Thirdly, the average rider is terrified of sheep. And quite rightly.
Digression over. Travel west along the A5 and soon after Pentrefoelas, turn left onto the B4407 signposted Ysbyty Ifan. The first few miles are nothing special, narrow lanes between hedges with very little traffic but no views to speak of. Then the road opens out onto the moors and becomes a sinuous ribbon of biking heaven. Not fast, definitely not kneedown country but beautifully smooth and with no traffic. The scenery is stunning, the road rolls across the moors for mile after deserted mile and you find yourself riding slowly, taking in the sheer emptiness of the place.

At the end of this road lies Pont yr Afon Gam with another greta place to stop for cakes and coffee.  Doesn’t look much from the road but inside is clean and warm and the cakes are to die for. Only open at weekends in the summer., though.

Turn right onto the B4391 and head towards Ffestiniog.  Stop at the small car park about half a mile from the cafe and marvel at the views.  Or try to shelter from the rain.  I did this road earlier this year whilst on the Welsh Rally.  I chose this route just so I could ride this road again.  It poured down.  Not all day but for a goodly part of it.  I was riding along the B4407 and feeling a little miserable.   I don’t like riding in the rain, it takes away a lot of the pleasure and adds to the danger for no positive reason.   You can’t go fast, you can’t really relax and you sure as hell can’t see the views.  So there I was thinking “Why am I doing this.  I could just turn round and go home and be warm and save some money into the bargain.”  Then I overtook a cyclist.  Head down into a gale, soaked and straining at the pedals.  Suddenly, life seemed so much better.

Back to the route.  From Ffestiniog there are so many routes to choose I think I’ll leave it for another day.

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Ruthin, the Jewel in the Vale

In the centre of town, St Peter's Square is surrounded by medieval buildings like this.

Time to tell you a bit about where we live and what we do.  We are 2 miles from Ruthin in glorious North Wales.  Ruthin (pronounced Rithin) is a rather lovely little market town famous for many things including being the home town of actor Rhys Ifans (Four Weddings and a Funeral amongst others) and the only Welsh Formula 1 driver, Tom Pryce.  It’s also where my Great Uncle Tom used to live, maybe more about him in the future.

Ruthin is in the Vale of Clwyd, a beautiful part of Wales often overlooked by people heading over to Snowdonia and more famous places.  Which suits us in some ways.  It’s a quiet place to live, very laid back yet also very modern and forward looking.  It’s a place where Welsh is widely spoken, where strangers are welcomed and people have time for each other.  All of which sounds like a travel brochure dreamed up by someone with their head stuck in 1950’s Britain!  But it’s true – let me try and convince you over the next few blogs.

What’s so great about Ruthin?  We have some great restaurants (Manorhaus is Alistair Sawday recommended), fabulous biking roads (have a look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw9rOHDg5Ac on Youtube for an example) and great pubs (The Old Cross Keys being the best and it also happens to be our local!).  And there is a lovely B&B to stay in while you do all your riding, eating and drinking.  We’re at http://www.plas-efenechtyd-cottage.co.uk if you want to have a look.

So, what do you think?  Want to know more about Ruthin and biking and our B&B?  Keep reading.

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Good morning and welcome! Bore da! Croeso!

Welcome to my first venture into the world of blogging.  I’m hoping this will become a place for me (and you) to expound and expand upon the finer in things in life. Namely motorcycles, Wales and food.  Not in any particular order but hopefully combined in some way.

I live in North Wales, God’s own biking country and run a B&B here, more of which later.  I have an eclectic mixture of bikes including a modern Triumph and a classic Sunbeam.  Details will appear later along with pictures (maybe).  I’ve also got myself a Suzuki DRZ400 trail bike for fun in the mud.

If you want to have a look at our B&B you can go to our website   http://www.plas-efenechtyd-cottage.co.uk   where you will see that we’re having “a little bit of trouble” as Frank Spencer would have said.  No worries, it should be sorted soon and we will be back to full service.  Meanwhile, please read my blog and enjoy!

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