RPN Tour

[ledburner]

V Ruby is very interested in the 'leopard chicken' and would like to know where to obtain such a beast.

IMG_20210930_160645 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr
I couldn't place it, but had this inkling feeling-
it wasn't Bet Lynch

[TheBrownDog]

Great write up and pix, thanks for that everyone. Reg, I'm starting to think you should give us a video at some point. Maybe hook up with Allen who seems to have a flair for these things. Or get one of those bodycams. That'd do it. Every ride we've ever done together has been peppered by moments of pure hilarity driven by your remarkable sense of humour, limitless optimism and civility. It deserves a wider audience.

[RIP]

Cheers Tim. I think if we made any videos it wouldn't take a jiffy before they all featured on one of those Harry Hill embarrassing moments type of telly show. Still, that'd be a lot of £250's between us wouldn't it .

You'd really enhance the proceedings with your journalist's skills, a lot of the fun is gained by taking an excessively nosy interest in everything and everybody.

It's interesting how one's character seems to get modified or possibly driven to its extremes when bikepacking. Mine does anyroad. I've not analysed it deeply yet - only just occured to me really - but it's worth a probe. I surprised myself for example by going straight up to David Nobbs's door and accosting the resident minding his own business therein. But put me at a party and I'm shy and ill at ease.

Anyway, so yes there's something about BP that strips away any sense of propriety and reservedness, and one's social fearlessness seems to get cranked to the max somehow. Added to the very heightened senses caused by continuously thinking on one's feet on a semi/completely unplanned trip, and the excitement and enormously privileged feeling of extreme luck of being at this exact place at this exact time with these exact people, it's a potent mix. Actually had a nice chat with Kev on Fan-y-big about similar stuff. We agreed on our fandom of Viv Stanshall amongst other loons and I mentioned that sometimes, as Viv said about himself, it's like we have no sensations-filter - most people automatically filter out loads of their sensations but I sometimes find I embrace everything that comes in especially when bikepacking. Of course that can be both curse and blessing . I dunno. Give us your take on it mate.

[RIP]

Interestingly nobody's claimed the prize for spotting all the RPNs yet

[fatbikephil]

Excellent folks, great trip and tale as usual. I counted 15 rude names but I think I lost count at one point....
Almost makes riding in Wales in torrential rain seem like fun

[ledburner]

Interestingly nobody's claimed the prize for spotting all the RPNs yet

Are there more? Don't corrupt me!
You must have have....
a) a filthiest mind
or
b) a filthier vocabulary..
than most!

[edit] c) the pro fanny-ty filter is blocking them..

[RIP]

You must have have....
a) a filthiest mind
or
b) a filthier vocabulary..
than most!

Not as such, I just take great delight in words in all their forms; their textures and timbres as Mr Fry would have it . Or, alternatively, "bollocks!" as Mr Mellie would have it

Whilst some may appear contrived (surely not!) and others rely on how they are spoken, I reckon all of the following were on the list. Queen V amused us with quite a few more which she may perhaps add. Bracketed ones were on the original list but were swerved for various reasons.

Cock Croft Lane
Perv(in) Wood
Mousenatch
(Bush Bank)
David Nobbs's house
Titley
Titley Mill
Titley Junction
Bullocks Mill
'Kington
Lord Hereford's Knob
(Booby Dingle)
Three Cocks
Boughrood Brest
Boxbush
(Cockit Hill)
Penisapentre #1
Penishawain
(Fenni Fach)
(Penisapentre #2)
Fan-y-big
Pant
(Bogey Road)
Fochriw
(Cwm)
(Farteg)
Tumble
Y Fenni

[TheBrownDog]

Give us your take on it mate.

T'is an interesting question.

I'm pretty much the same in my living room as I am out camping: a big cuddly gregarious bear is how I see myself, though I can get proper scary is someone endangers me or my mates.

Growing up in Oz, anything is fair game. As well as horribly racist and misogynistic, it is very egalitarian, no one stands on ceremony and anything not expressly forbidden is permitted.

I remember once running out of water on a ride with some mates around Sydney's north shore forests, and we rode up a very long tidy driveway to a proper pile of a place to get a drink. We knocked on the door but no one answered so we just helped ourselves to the hose on the side of the garage. Just as we were about to head off, who should round the corner but Kerry Packer*. He didn't bat an eye, just said g'day, asked us to make sure we turned the tap off and wandered away.

That's my approach. It's not taking the piss. It's just not being a dick. It's just being hooman and trusting in the hoomanity of the people you engage with. Had Kerry put a sign on his driveway asking people to bugger off, we'd have buggered off.

So if being out on a bike gives people more confidence to engage their inner hooman, I bloody love it.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerry_Packer

[whitestone]

When we lived in North Wales a friend would have trouble getting items delivered (this was pre-internet) especially with English producers/delivery offices. Her address was...

Coch Hir
Penisarwaun

I think you may be able to see the problem

[Bearbonesnorm]

Anyway, so yes there's something about BP that strips away any sense of propriety and reservedness, and one's social fearlessness seems to get cranked to the max somehow. Added to the very heightened senses caused by continuously thinking on one's feet on a semi/completely unplanned trip, and the excitement and enormously privileged feeling of extreme luck of being at this exact place at this exact time with these exact people, it's a potent mix

I wonder whether there's a few elements at play here Reg?

1/ Bikepacking can be very liberating and tends to remove some social filters.

2/ We realise that although free spirits, the kindness of strangers can enhance our experience so maybe we unwittingly search it out (helped by point 1)

3/ As a two wheeled tramp we are quite often laid bare to the world with little to hide behind, something which can be quite disarming, which in turn can actually makes us quite approachable.

[RIP]

When we lived in North Wales a friend would have trouble getting items delivered (this was pre-internet) especially with English producers/delivery offices. Her address was...

Coch Hir
Penisarwaun

I think you may be able to see the problem

I'm sure you won't be in the least bit surprised to hear that I once booked a family holiday in Penisarwaun! Had a great time. Although I ended up sleeping on the sofa for a week because there was only a double bed and our daughter came with us and she refused the sofa.

[RIP]

More accurately it is Penisa'r Waun isn't it. Does that translate as something like Lower End On The Moorland? Bit of a mouthful in itself .

[RIP]

Anyway, so yes there's something about BP that strips away any sense of propriety and reservedness, and one's social fearlessness seems to get cranked to the max somehow. Added to the very heightened senses caused by continuously thinking on one's feet on a semi/completely unplanned trip, and the excitement and enormously privileged feeling of extreme luck of being at this exact place at this exact time with these exact people, it's a potent mix

I wonder whether there's a few elements at play here Reg?

1/ Bikepacking can be very liberating and tends to remove some social filters.

2/ We realise that although free spirits, the kindness of strangers can enhance our experience so maybe we unwittingly search it out (helped by point 1)

3/ As a two wheeled tramp we are quite often laid bare to the world with little to hide behind, something which can be quite disarming, which in turn can actually makes us quite approachable.

Very good points, I like those. Worth a thread of its own really. Related to point 2 is the knowledge that one isn't quite sure where one's next meal/drink/kip/etc is coming from tends to encourage an urge to make connections whenever and wherever possible.

[RIP]

It's also fascinating to see the different way that people interact with us depending on whether we're flying solo or in a group. I don't mean from the point of view of our own preferences for solo/group riding, but from that of how those people approach us or allow themselves to be approached.

As a generalisation you might expect a group to be treated with more circumspection, and the members of a group to perhaps be less open to interaction with others.

That wasn't the case with Kev & Peter & myself this week though. We had some hilarious/educational/rewarding encounters and interactions. Whether solo or group, as we've said Here many times, Normals do find us intriguing and can't help but ask what on earth we're up to; and despite, or probably because of our usual "no idea" type of responses, the ice is usually broken very quickly.

[whitestone]

More accurately it is Penisa'r Waun isn't it. Does that translate as something like Lower End On The Moorland? Bit of mouthful in itself .

Like many Welsh names it's a portmanteau:

Pen = end/head
isa(f) = lower
ar = of the
waun = moor