Panda's Day Out

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RIP
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Panda's Day Out

Post by RIP »

Having slid to a stand on the ice near the top of Foel Fadian on Friday afternoon, I made the mistake of taking my gloves off to take a photo. It was only a couple of minutes, but they then stayed frozen all the way down to the Star which made for an interesting descent. Bigdummysteve was already in residence next to the fire and cups of tea were soon provided and relaxation commenced. It was only after we’d lobbed a few more logs on the fire that Gareth mentioned you have to be careful when you do that because it often sets all the fire alarms off and the whole Powys fire brigade arrive to see what’s happening. I always intend to crash out at 10pm but it never seems to happen – I’ll blame Nige this time :grin: . Good to see you again chap. Things got a bit surreal when Sammy arrived and told us all about the “yurt city” he’d found nearby – wall-to-wall luxury but nobody around at all so he could explore the whole place. At least we'll know where to bivi next time. I started to lose track a bit after he found the saxophone in a ditch or something. Again, good to meet you Sammy. A nice natter with MarkW as well, then.. oh.. it’s 1am!

Enjoyed Dee’s toast next morning, while waiting for SteveMorg, Pickers and Nick. Steve texted to say his work Do had been somewhat over-convivial so he was Out, then Pickers and Nick stopped for a twelve-course Little Chef brekkie or something, so we didn’t get going until 11am. There was never any chance of getting to The Cafe first, and I’d thought it would be fun to go for the consolation prize and be last – already well on track for that then :smile:. MarkW was going to tag along, but took a better offer instead, so we were down to four already.

Half way up the road we bumped into Steve Notinabox and his lad Dillon, and convinced them that the Carno windfarm route would be easy and totally straightforward so they misguidedly joined us – obviously presumably not having heard of our reputation beforehand! Things were fairly vertical up to the farm, and superbly remote around the tops, with a number of temporary location displacements, meaning arrival in Llanidloes was a rather late 3pm. A quick morale-boosting brew in the cafe and we progressed on into the murk.

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Ignoring the dispiriting road route to Tylwch, we headed south round the river to find that the planned cheeky “footpath” had miraculously turned into a farm track, and Bigdummysteve found yet another bike to add to his collection:

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As expected, we were last into the cafe along with Matt, finally leaving at 6.20pm with Panda literally the last customer out of the door as Belinda was shutting up shop. MarkW joined us after he found that the mob he was with were far too slow :wink:.

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No such thing as "too much cake"...

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Up into the mist and drizzle over the hill to Rhayader, by which point we’d all cranked ourselves up for the nice log fire, beers and food in the Triangle Inn. Only to find that Scott, Mike & Co had “stolen” our table :smile:. Sigh. I remembered that the Elan Valley Hotel outside town purveyed nice food – and indeed the good news was the menu was excellent, the bad news being it was shut. Back we go to town again, diverting via the old railway trail. In the usual BBB fashion, something good came out of the adversity as we spied an excellent bivi spot for later meaning no need for the nearby wood that we’d originally earmarked. It was amazing how un-keen the good burgers of Rhayader were to relieve us of our cash – first of four places: “well.. maybe.. but the staff are a bit, er...”, third one: “ohhhhh alright then, I suppose so...”. We finally ended up in the pizza joint where they were pleased to see us. After some reflection, we decided that our previous lack of success may not have been entirely unconnected with Reg recce-ing each establishment with a panda on his head, wearing two pairs of glasses, and reeking of farmyards (although isn't the latter a surefire aphrodisiac in these parts, never mind a good ice-breaker in restaurants?).

We returned to our bivi spot and crashed out about 10.30pm:

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By the morning the townsfolk had presumably got used to us, because one place with a roaring fire let us in for a second breakfast. As it turned out this was handy, because Dillon had a puncture which we fixed by the fire using a couple of teaspoons as tyre levers. A spare tube was obtained from Mr Powell’s place down the street, with plenty of extra impulse-buying going on as well. The “back road” to Llangurig was a pleasant start to the day, with some superb scenery until, just after being overtaken by Mr Barter and Chickenlegs, it was my turn to have a puncture. Maybe I’ll change my mind about this new-fangled tubeless business.

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Whilst I was battling with my flat (thanks for the big pump BDS), Scott turned up and it was decided that a brew was a satisfactory addition to the proceedings. All went well until Steve’s gas stove suddenly burst into flames in his hand, but curiously blowing hard on it just seemed to compound the problem :lol:. After we all rudely rejected Steve’s proposed game of pass-the-parcel (“parcel bomb”?!), and moved rapidly in the direction of “away”, he dumped it in the road and we all awaited the inevitable explosion. Strangely it never happened and we all lived to tell the tale.

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After all the excitement, the usual route up into Hafren was a welcome breath of beautifully remote scenery – one never gets tired of it.

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Final arrival at Llanbrynmair was about 5pm – again, pretty much the last contestants, sigh! MarkW and myself had diverted down the Twymyn bridleway which was a spectacular finish to a fantastic weekend. As usual, brilliant company made the whole thing a great larf and a good team-spirit. Respect to Steve for bringing Dillon along to join in the fun - lovely to meet you guys - and thank you to Dillon himself for not showing us old codgers up too much with his admirable prowess!!

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Huge thanks again to Stu and Dee - "without whom this would not have happened" :-bd

‘Reg’
Last edited by RIP on Tue Jan 16, 2018 10:17 pm, edited 5 times in total.
"My God, Ponsonby, I'm two-thirds of the way to the grave and what have I done?" - RIP

The sign outside the asylum is the wrong way round.....

"At least you got some stories" - James Acaster
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Bearbonesnorm
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Re: Panda's Day Out

Post by Bearbonesnorm »

:-bd
May the bridges you burn light your way
Dr Nick
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Re: Panda's Day Out

Post by Dr Nick »

nicely put Reg! Much fun indeed! :cool:
Not so much a gravel grinder.... more a gravel (mud and tarmac) groveller...
notinabox
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Re: Panda's Day Out

Post by notinabox »

Fantastic Reg! Great write up!
So glad we bumped into you guys. Dillon had so much fun. A proper adventure. My best bones to date. Definitely Dillon's favourite :-bd

Just need Steve Longs autograph for Dillon's victory cabinet :lol: :lol:
The noise goes quiet when I'm on my bike :)
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MarkW
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Re: Panda's Day Out

Post by MarkW »

Good times. Hope to see you all again at the WRT
firestarter
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Re: Panda's Day Out

Post by firestarter »

Is that a map holder on your Jones bars if so what is it ta
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RIP
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Re: Panda's Day Out

Post by RIP »

I think that was a "home brewed" map thingy on Pickers' bars? Is that right Rich?
"My God, Ponsonby, I'm two-thirds of the way to the grave and what have I done?" - RIP

The sign outside the asylum is the wrong way round.....

"At least you got some stories" - James Acaster
Dr Nick
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Joined: Fri Dec 12, 2014 8:14 pm
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Re: Panda's Day Out

Post by Dr Nick »

RIP wrote:I think that was a "home brewed" map thingy on Pickers' bars? Is that right Rich?
I don't think home-brewed does it justice Reg, I believe it's a specially selected lightweight chopping board, carefully shaped and drilled to remove excess weight :-bd

I was wondering if Picker's was taking orders....
Not so much a gravel grinder.... more a gravel (mud and tarmac) groveller...
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Bearbonesnorm
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Re: Panda's Day Out

Post by Bearbonesnorm »

Someone asked me "why the panda?" I replied thus:

The Panda is very interesting. In 213AD the Roman legions brought a panda with them believing it would somehow help their (so far unsuccessful) invasion of Wales. I assume it was some sort of mascot / charm. Anyway, it did nothing to help the Roman empire because early in the campaign, Llewelyn the Great stole the panda at the battle of Dinas. So taken by the big black and white lump were the natives, that it became the unofficial symbol of the royal dynasty of Powys and the (then) Celtic tribes struggle against Roman occupation with some warriors adorning their hemets with figures of panda ... which is why Reg ties a panda to his helmet anytime he's riding in Powys.

May the bridges you burn light your way
Dr Nick
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Re: Panda's Day Out

Post by Dr Nick »

Reg, be honest! - Did you mention that when you walked into any of the three pubs that were 'too busy' to take us....
Not so much a gravel grinder.... more a gravel (mud and tarmac) groveller...
Pickers
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Re: Panda's Day Out

Post by Pickers »

The Panda is very interesting. In 213AD the Roman legions brought a panda with them believing it would somehow help their (so far unsuccessful) invasion of Wales. I assume it was some sort of mascot / charm. Anyway, it did nothing to help the Roman empire because early in the campaign, Llewelyn the Great stole the panda at the battle of Dinas. So taken by the big black and white lump were the natives, that it became the unofficial symbol of the royal dynasty of Powys and the (then) Celtic tribes struggle against Roman occupation with some warriors adorning their hemets with figures of panda ... which is why Reg ties a panda to his helmet anytime he's riding in Powys.
Does that make us the actual official PFJ then? Also led by a bloke called Reg as I recall... :grin:

I'll take a couple of snaps of the mapboard - I honestly didn't think anyone here would be interested

Edit - I've put a quick description on the MYOG section for this if any else is interested
Some of my pics https://www.flickr.com/photos/107347896@N06/sets/

We’re gonna need snacks

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RIP
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Re: Panda's Day Out

Post by RIP »

I really enjoyed that bit of folklore, brilliant! Or rather, that historical fact. It certainly explains the mysterious 'cawr du a gwyn' described in the recently-found extra 'missing' prose story from the Mabinogion which has been baffling researchers up until now.

(Ps yes Nick you're right, if we'd known about it earlier it would have been an immediate access-all-areas pass to all of Rhaeadr Gwy's hostelries!)
"My God, Ponsonby, I'm two-thirds of the way to the grave and what have I done?" - RIP

The sign outside the asylum is the wrong way round.....

"At least you got some stories" - James Acaster
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RIP
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Re: Panda's Day Out

Post by RIP »

Well this one stirred a few very happy memories...

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"My God, Ponsonby, I'm two-thirds of the way to the grave and what have I done?" - RIP

The sign outside the asylum is the wrong way round.....

"At least you got some stories" - James Acaster
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sean_iow
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Re: Panda's Day Out

Post by sean_iow »

Ooh, that looks nice. With the demise of Morrisons' stout section I need to find a new source for my drinking pleasure.

Sadly, I don't think there are any proper off-licences left on the Island :sad: I remember as a young nipper (under 11 as before we moved house) I used to wait outside the offie when mum went in to get her Guinness. These day's she just writes it on her shopping list and I deliver it :smile:
Adventure without risk is Disneyland - Bikemonger
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