Elvie's Year in Photos 2011: Day 221 Motorbike Ride

At last! We've been for a ride on our bikes -motorbikes not pushbikes. They've been in the garage, unused for a whole year! We used to do 8 or 9,000 miles a year on the bikes but since our trip to Spain in May 2010 we've only used them a couple of times. There are a few reasons for this. Since doing such lovely long trips such as the one to Eastern Europe in 2008 & Albania & the Balkans in 2009 (see Mogs Travels for blog reports) we've had less desire to ride around in circles in Wales. More importantly we're avoiding long bike tips to far distant foreign soil as the parents are more frail and if we were needed it would be difficult getting home quickly. This was why we bought the touring caravan and to be honest, with the problems Mother in Law has had this year, it has proved to be the right decision. Of course the push bikes were a logical accompaniment to the caravan and we've spent time riding them rather than the motorbikes.

It was great to get back on the BMW though. It felt exceedingly heavy & I felt really rusty to start but soon got back into the swing of things. We went with our friends P&V on an 170mile round trip taking in Usk, Abergavenny, Skenfrith, Hay on Wye, Kington,Crossgates,... At Builth Wells we managed to lose P&V and made our way back from there on our own. We'd stopped for lunch at the wonderful Part y Seal, a country house near Grosmont, run by a Chinese gentleman by the name of Fred Ong. It serves beautiful home cooked and largely home grown vegetarian food. I even had chamomile tea made with fresh chamomile flowers! On a nice day like today you can eat outdoors, overlooking the fields and garden to the sound of .....silence! It is so rare these days to find anywhere as peaceful. Here's some photos of the day.