The road to heaven - The EunantAfter a fun night at Pentrefoelas - good local craik - Kenny & Steve...now known as Sir Steve following on from his prediction that Chelsea would win the Premiership Title...head for Clogaenog forest. Its been a few years since Kenny competed in between the conifers here and not a lot had changed, or so it seemed. Rounding a corner in the north section of the forest a great deal of work was going on with large acres of woodland being devastated by the saw. "You can see for miles and miles and the landscape is alien to that of just a few years ago, when tall trees blocked the horizon - you can now see North Wales and Prestatyn" remarked Kenny. The road surface in places was undulating to say the least where trees have been dragged out, but by November this section will be graded - we hope! The rest of the forest was ideal, very quick in places but tight in others - good rallying roads!
Across the A4501 and Llyn Alwyn Forest. Again never used on the Lombard Rally but last time used on the RAC in the early 1990's I am ably informed - I guess someone will tell me different! Although only a short four miler here it is a good surfaced forest with fast flowing 90 degree turns and a few twisty bits to catch you out!
So on to Llandudno and the venue for this years lunch halt on top of the Great Orme. The Summit Complex theme cafe and view point, once owned by Randolph 'Randy' Turpin the famous boxer who beat the then world Middleweight champion Sugar Ray Robinson on 10 July 1951, is where lunch will be served. 'Randy' beat Robinson after a 15 round decision by the judges. After lunch the competitors will descend the limestone mountain to start the Great Orme Selectif heading West to East - the hard way! Unlike the previous day where sheep lined the mountains, here it is home to a long-established herd of several hundred feral Kashmir goats (a present from Queen Victoria). Steve curiously eyes up these wonderful beasts - for lunch maybe!
Some say he eats Marmite toasties for breakfast...and this makes him drive at great speeds achieving 35mph...that is if Kenny let's him - But we call him, Sir Steve!
The route runs back southward from Llandudno and on to a second sortie through the Clogaenog's, this time in a reverse direction. Further on lies Penllyn forest at the foot of the Eunant mountain. The scenery here is as good as anywhere in the UK with the public highway disappearing in to the Gods and beyond before a gradual decent back down the mountain and on to Lake Vyrnwy and Dyfnant forest. Dyfnant last used in 2007 caught out numerous crews where a craftily sighted control meant that competitors had entered the final control zone from a wrong direction. You will have to keep your wits about you as Kenny loves to throw in the occasional bit of extra navigation to keep you on your toes - this is definitely NOT a stroll in the park event, but its blinking excellent fun!
So tired are our recce crew that they now have to break and find a bed for the night and some supper. Not a great deal on offer in this area but a light in the bottom of the valley seems if it could be a place of respite. This turns out to be a telephone box in the middle of nowhere and a rear find nowadays! In the phone box is a business card stuck to the information board - no, not what you're thinking, but an advert for a local Hotel in Dinas Mawddwy. Owned by a rally minded person, the Dolbroadmaeth Hotel is well worth a visit and on Saturday nights a live music gig is often arranged.
So it's off to bed now for our valiant Recce-ists...oh yes, I forgot to tell you about the Donkey!
You see, when Kenny entered the Hotel, there was a small party going on with a guy sitting quietly by himself in the corner of the bar. Each time a party goer went to the bar, he or she ordered a round of drinks and always finished off by saying "...and one for the Donkey at the corner of the bar please!" This went on all night as each party goer bought a round. So Kenny decided to chat to this lonely guy at the corner of the bar feeling a little sorry for the chap. "Good evening" Kenny introduced, "Tell me, why do they keep calling you Donkey?"
The chap looked up with droopy eyes and said " Eeyore Eeyore Eeyore, they always call me that!"
On that note...gud bye!
The Chief Blogger!
PS: On spell checking Pentrefoelas, the computer returned the word 'Contraflow'! Say's it all really.
