WALES IS A FINE PLACE to be at autumn-time with its spectacular scenery, mountains, valleys and changing colours of the leaves on the trees – providing it’s not raining that is! The Principality can be very wet at times and the last few 997 events, wherever they’ve been held, have been pretty damp too, so we weren’t holding out too many hopes the weather would be kind for our Register’s weekend Autumn Tour between 16 and 18th of October. But, in the weeks running up to this event, we’d seen some pretty good conditions, predominantly dry – an Indian summer in fact, so fingers crossed!
The base for our mid-Wales expedition was the well known Metropole Hotel in Llandrindod Wells, a venue we last used back in 2006 (your current Register Secretary was still in short trousers at the time). The hotel is very familiar with motoring organisations and our stay there went extremely smoothly as we were well looked after, provided with dedicated vehicle parking, freshly refurbished rooms and good quality cuisine. In fact, they couldn’t do enough for us and as the owner, Justin Baird-Murray is himself a keen motoring fan, it certainly seems to have helped.
997’s parked together is always an impressive sight. (Photo Alan Stoneham)
Our convoy consisted of thirteen 997’s comprising 4 turbos, 2 GT3’s, a GTS Cab, 3 C2S’s, a C4S Cab and 2 C2’s plus the ubiquitous MP4-12C. Following the forum announcement, the event had become quickly oversubscribed and it was a pity not everyone managed to get a run as it became necessary to limit numbers early on in view of the logistics. We were delighted that several new members were dipping their toes in the touring water and turned out for the first time to join us. Because of this, it was decided to hold a short briefing prior to dinner on Friday evening to distribute our 2-way radios, hand out roadbooks for the weekend and clear up any last minute queries there might be. One member managed to pick up a puncture on the way to the start and didn’t make it at all
So it was we set off at 10am prompt from the Metropole car park on Saturday morning to make our way out on the first 180 mile leg of our tour. The weather proved to be not quite as bright as we’d hoped for, but it was a reasonably pleasant day and thankfully, was dry as we made our way out of the town on a northerly heading to Rhayader via a fairly quiet A470. Turning west in the town centre by the clock, we continued out into the Elan Valley and the real meat of our tour. This road runs around the 5 reservoirs of this giant Victorian water storage facility serving Birmingham and surrounding areas and is situated in the rugged Cambrian Mountains. The lanes through the valley are narrow, twisty and challenging, but the scenery is absolutely stunning and we just had to stop along the way for a photoshoot.
Photoshoot stop in the Elan Valley (Photo Clive White)
Continuing westward, suddenly the scenery changed into open moorland with the undulating road stretching out before us (take care of those mobile chicanes – they’re called sheep hereabouts!) Then on, into a short forestry section before we dropped down to Devil’s Bridge Falls for a breather and coffee.
From here, we pressed on west, using the A44 towards Aberystwyth, but before entering the town, we turned back south through Southgate to pick up the B4340, a classic 25 mile stretch to our luncheon halt at Tregaron. The final section from Pontrhydfendigaid is truly magnificent, a fast, flowing road with long sweeping bends - in fact, ideal territory for our 911’s.
The Talbot Hotel in Tregaron provided an excellent snack lunch. So refreshed and well watered, we were off again continuing south on the B4340, bypassing Lampeter before heading east, firstly on the A482, then taking a tricky fork left onto the unclassified road through Porthyryhd and over a series of narrow bridges to Llandovery, where we were to pick up the A4069 for an exciting run south over the Black Mountain Pass, one of Top Gear’s favourite roads, down to Brynamman. There were more mobile chicanes on this stretch, but this time in the form of wild ponies!
Plenty of decent roads to drive in Wales ( Photo Alan Stoneham)
Turning east, there was a rather uninspiring piece of road through some little villages and roadside development with a lot of mini roundabouts and several 20, 30 and 40 mph speed restrictions before things brightened up again turning north, over the Brecon Beacons once again to Sennybridge, then on through the Usk Valley to Brecon. About now, one crew succumbed to mechanical gremlins with gear linkage problems and rather than risk it, they wisely decided to call it a day, but still managing to make it back to our hotel for the evening’s festivities. We’ve suffered punctures and flat batteries before, but I cannot previously remember a mechanical breakdown on our tours over the last few years, so it’s testament indeed to the usual reliability of our motor cars.
Alan volunteered to stay with the stricken C2 to await recovery, whilst the rest of us threaded our way through to Brecon, to find the tricky turning up past the cathedral and out onto the B4520, another classic Welsh road. As luck would have it, we all managed to stay together (more or less) as we wound our way up to Builth Wells and the final run back run up the A483 to our base for refuelling and a well earned cup of tea.
We then had a splendidly convivial evening with pre-dinner drinks and a fine Gala dinner followed by one of Alan’s famous after-dinner quizzes, this time it centred on knowledge of Wales and the Welsh. Perhaps rather unsurprisingly, it was won by a Welsh couple, Alon and May Williams from Anglesey who were with us for the first time. It was a glittering prize too, consisting of a day out at the Porsche Driving Experience Centre in Silverstone, generously donated by Exeter Porsche Centre.
Quiz Winners - Alon and May Williams
Their prize a day at Silverstone Driving Experience prize generously donated by Exeter Porsche Centre (Photo Alan Stoneham)
Sunday started as a grey mizzle day, although as the morning wore on it did brighten up. The second leg was to be a leisurely 100 miles or so, starting out on the same road as the day before, but quickly heading across the Wye Valley and south-west on the B4358, picking up the B4519 going due south through Castle Madoc and down through Brecon once again. Continuing south on the A470, we reached the outskirts of Merthyr Tydfel before turning back north again through Vaynor; stopping for a break at Pontsticill, where we managed to take the owners of the petite Red Cow Inn completely by surprise, when 25 of us walked in for coffee. But it was all taken in good heart and they were no doubt grateful for the sudden improvement in Sunday morning trade!
25 arriving for morning coffee surprised the Red Cow Inn but they coped well. Photo Clive Wratten
Refreshed from our coffee break, we continued on the road beside the Pontsticill Reservoir, up to Talybont on the river Usk and on through Aber Valley to join up with B4558. Heading south again, we were to pick up the A4077 at Crickenhowell, where incidentally there is one of the very few Shell filling stations in the area. The last section traversed the B4598 and B4293 down into Chepstow, where a motor bike festival was being held and the place was heaving! The MSA route liaison system is supposed to provide warning to its member clubs of conflicting events, but nothing had been heard in this instance. Anyway, we did manage to find parking places in the town and only a short distance for our pre-arranged luncheon venue, the Chepstow Castle Inn. Richard Hammond, late of Top Gear was to follow us into the car park in his 991 GT3. He had seen our convoy on the road and pulled in to find out what was going on. Clearly, he was not eligible to join us as he had the wrong Porsche model, so we sent him on his way!
For the next hour or so, there was plenty of opportunity to chat about the weekend’s activities and the experiences of friends new and old over a very pleasant lunch and it seemed just about everybody had enjoyed their weekend and were looking forward to their next outing. After this, there was then nothing else for it but to say our goodbyes and depart homeward to all 4 points of the compass.
Our thanks go to all those who supported us and made it such a special and successful event.
Group on the Steps of the Metropole Hotel (Photo - Clive White)
The Runners and Riders were:-
Peter Finch – C2S, Mike/Helen Hill – Turbo, Phil/Dee Hunt – GTS Cab, Rich/Nikki Porter – Turbo, Andy/Jill Rodgett – GT3, Kris/Nikki Sharratt – C2, Aubrey/Beverley Sheppard – C2, John/Pam Stevens – C2S, Alan/Marion Stoneham - Turbo, Nick/Anne West – GT3, Clive White – Turbo ‘S’, Alon/May Williams – C2S, Gary/Jo Willn – McLaren MP4-12C, Clive Wratten – C4S Cab
You can see more photographs of the event in the Gallery.
View here
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