There was a very loose plan to join forces at the Elan visitor centre around 12.30. I had no idea whether I'd make it but at 12.15 one of the best bits of singletrack I've ridden for quite some time spat me out on the road a couple of miles from the centre. SBF arrived just as I'd polished off my sausage roll and true to form Wotsits arrived just before 2.00 ... which was handy because I'd picked up a few thorns on the way down and he had a track pump in his van
A few miles before the bothy Taylor caught us up and the four of us rolled down the track to the bothy to be greeted by AW and offspring. There were two couples in residence but we quickly put their minds at ease by being really friendly and spreading muddy, wet gear all over the place.
A very pleasant evening followed involving cheese, wine, smash and someone elses 10 year old single malt. Quite how Wotsits and SBF managed to explain away the vanishing whiskey next morning, I'm not sure, as Taylor and myself had a slightly earlier start, him needing to get back to the visitor centre and home and me having a date with some more unfamiliar tracks.
We rode the first 12 miles together before going our seperate ways ... here he is seemingly morphing from Taylor to Wallace.
I spent the remainder of the day, riding, pushing and generally having a great time. I made it home around dusk having found some new tracks that although appearing like full-on death-marches on the map, turned out very rideable ... this one looked like it was going to end in disaster but resulted in a fantastic descent involving a very big drop into the valley below should you get it wrong.
Cracking weekend ... but I really should swap my saddle
