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Michael Burke

The Dragon Raid 2004 (Chuck It Down Raid)

Time for the Dragon Raid 2004 and three hardy Wylie & Holland couples joined the merry throng at Ruthin castle for the first Triumph get together of the season. The weather made a wonderful opener with bright sunshine and a warm afternoon on the Friday. But then we don't do anything on the Friday do we? Of course not; we wait until the next day when it absolutely torrents for nearly all of the day. Who cares though when you have an excellent hotel and good company .......

The Saturday was split into 2 runs; Vinny's for the hardier and more committed, and Betty's for the gentler and more relaxed. Both routes crossed over at Trawsfyndd for lunch and what a blessing in disguise that was. Richard led off on the Vinny's run with a reminder to people not to follow him as he was going to make an unscheduled detour. It didn't take long to encounter roadworks and fellow riders pulling up alongside asking if he knew the route as they didn't have the map........... Turning round there were 7-8 bikes all in tow so Richard ending up leading them all the way around to Trawsfyndd. Of course no sooner had he decided to do this and it started to pour down. The power station provided warm, dry accommodation with good hot food. A room was also made available to dry out kit! So it was 10/10 to the visitor centre at Trawsfyndd.

Hardy souls had the chance to do the second half of the run and it was agreed by all that followed the route that Lake Vyrnwy and over the mountains was absolutely spectacular. The photo taken by Dave Pegg just shows what fantastic scenery and isolation was available. Some Vinny members took the Betty option for the second half of the run and most people did actually it make to Betws-Y-Coed but my was it wet!!!

Back at the hotel we all dried off and prepared for the evening entertainment which was to be a medieval banquet and it really did turn out to be truly spectacular. We were initially  entertained by some delightful singing serving wenches and two court announcers, one of whom looked remarkably like Baldric. There were four course of food which was served in the traditional manner which basically meant that you used your fingers to eat it. If you've never tried eating soup without a spoon then please come next year. The food was of a high quality and was warmly appreciated and the rainy Welsh weather was soon forgotten.

We had traditional Welsh music with some delightful harp playing during the meal and a remarkable Ian Paisley lookalike on the harpsichord (I think that's what you call it). Our Lord for the evening was our very own Simon Carter who was caught nearly picking his nose on camera.

After dinner a number of awards were presented by Simon including a special birthday award to our Hilary whose birthday was on the Sunday. As you can see in the photo absolutely everyone was giving total and complete attention to Simon's pronouncements.

Dave and Helen enjoyed the night and our new friend Norman made sure that not too much food was left over. It should be noted that if you look at the photo of Kym she was the only one who didn't need a bib. This must be down to one of two reasons. 1. She is so used to wearing a bib that she didn't need to wear it or 2. She just wanted to show off her trendy T-shirt (answers on a postcard please). There was further musical entertainment after the meal and the conclusion from all of those present was that this was a truly memorable evening.

All that was left was for Richard to lead most people over the mountains on the Sunday morning, around Lake Vyrnwy and onto Welshpool and guess what????? It poured down with rain again. Not surprisingly most people decided to call it a day at Welshpool and headed back to warm and dry environments (is that called England?). Despite the wet weather it really was a tremendous week-end and was deemed so successful that the hotel has already been booked for next year. The ride formats offering two alternative rides was also warmly appreciated and will be repeated.

If any fellow RATS would like to add any comments for our Dragon Raid page please send them to Richard.