A lovely, if windy, day. The launch took place at Blackpill. Nick Guy(Wheelrights Chairman) introduced councillor Nick Davies, Byron Davies AM (Shadow Minister of Transport) and 'Badger' of the Wave who all said a few words before launching the Festival. This launch was colourful as 'Brunel' (aka David Judd Wheelrights President) was there together with a number dressed 1920'style for the Tweed Family Ride. The first pic. shows them.
We caught the tail end of hurricane Bertha. After heavy rain to wake us up it turned into a lovely day with excellent visibility and spendid seascapes.The two photos below were taken on Ride 7, the "Grand Gower Circuit".
An early shower, then fine. All three rides went as planned: Ride 7 up Swansea Valley to Pontardawe for a talk at the Riverside Centre about the local pottery history; Ride 8 to Kidwelly; and Ride 9 for a Folk Evening at the Loughor Boat Club. Five on Ride 8 had punctures - victims of hedge cutting near Kidwelly - and the leader found he had a slow puncture when he got home. The Folk evening ride had to take a longer (and hillier) route due to the normal route (NCR 4) being flooded by the highest high tide of the year.
(Unfortunately no pic.s!)
There were some fierce showers but on the ride/walk (Ride 10) we only caught the edge of a few of them. The pictures below show the group by the Three Cliffs Arch and crossing the stepping stones on our way back to our bikes. Before this walk we had lunch in the Three Cliffs café where, showing their support for the Festival, our drinks were complementary. (We had left our bikes at the café.)
Fine and sunny - at least on the Gower Peninsular. Both the North Gower ride (Ride 12) and that to Henrhyd Falls (Ride 13) were well attended with 21 and 28 respectively taking part. A highlight of the former was the visit to the Bridges Pottery in Cheriton and of the latter the Falls.
There were some heavy thundery showers which we didn't entirely avoid. The Penclacwydd ride ended with a visit to Ddol Farm where, once again, we have to thank Colin and Hilary for tea and cake and for showing us their bees and grape vines.
A lovely day. The first picture features the Mumbles and Clyne ride (17), The second the Swiss Valley ride (18).
Fine again for the final three rides of the Festival.