Biking Road | St Davids Day | Wales | Motorcycle

Happy St Davids Day! Another great road to a another Welsh hidden gem.

Hello and welcome to the Great British Biking Adventures Coast Series. In this series we are travelling around the coast on our motorcycle, a Honda VFR1200X Crosstourer.

A lot of our viewers are bike enthusiasts but this series will appeal to a wider audience. Why? Because there’s so much more to the Coast series than motorcycles. There’s the challenges, the journey, geography, history and people. You get to travel the entire coast of England and Wales with us, see how we did it, share our ups and downs, experience English culture, the history and hear about the people that made Britain ‘Great’!

What’s also good about the coast series is it doesn’t matter when you start watching, it’s like one of those open top bus tours – you can get on at any point and just keep going until you arrive back where you started.

Who are we? We’re a husband & wife living in an unremarkable coastal town in England. We’ve been married 35 years and were brought together by motorcycles. One day, Esther’s Honda Melody broke down and she brought it to Jarrod’s motorcycle shop – the rest (as they say) is history.

One cold February day, we started riding along the seafront and just kept going. We wanted to record the experience to have something to watch in the future – the YouTube channel was an afterthought. Take a look at those first few episodes to see just how novice we were, cobbling together what little phone footage we had to try to make a story. To make up for our amateur recording and shyness we added information in the editing. This set the tone and style of our videos, we hope you like it. We like to think we’ve improved and hopefully you’ll agree, take a look, compare our earlier videos with the later ones and let us know in the comments.

There’s also the filming and production journey. When we started we knew nothing about filming, video and audio production, editing, YouTube and the like. We’ve learnt loads and spent loads in time and money along the way but it’s been almost as enjoyable as the journey itself. You’ll hopefully appreciate how far we’ve come.

But what’s with all those bible verses we hear you say. We know some of you don’t appreciate this aspect, one or two have told us in the comments! That’s fine – it really is. All are equally welcome here, believers and unbelievers. It would be a pity if you enjoyed everything else but just stopped watching because of the Christian references but we completely accept you’re free to do as you please.

Our faith has prompted us to include a bible verse in our videos and sometimes a Christian perspective on the things we talk about. The channel is not about Christianity but our faith cannot be separated from it. We hope and pray that it will make you think, inquire and even bring you into a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

In the last episode we returned to North Wales we stayed the night at canavan and took a walking tour of this fascinating historic Fortress town you join us the following morning as we’re getting ready to resume our Coast Adventure stick around for more of that great Road you

Just saw and the interesting Village at the bottom of it Lovely isn’t it absolutely stunning goodbye canavan yeah until next time till next time very nice got the early morning sun again at that So the plan for today is to get to barmouth we won’t get there in this

Episode most of our days are split into at least two episodes sometimes more depending on how much there is to see but we don’t know what this little Peninsula is called we will find out and put it on the screen but below angles see there’s a little Peninsula like a a finger and

It’s quite big if you look at it it’s um pretty much looks like it could be as much mileage to get around as Angley was and Angley took us the best car the whole day yeah it did didn’t it but we are hoping to get beyond that to B this

Evening and this down here as you able to see side yeah look from the yes a wonderful Coast Road and we’re basically this is the other side so this is where we were last night very nice it’s a lovely Town isn’t it it’s layered everything everything’s within

Very easy walking distance and yet you every corner you turn there’s something else to discover and because he’s got the layers he got the castle we didn’t even do the castle but we’ done it in the past but just wandering around the town is um is wonderful good morning van

Lifers thank you a yes I do believe that seaweed right there is called spelis no honestly I learned it on a biology field trip and that is definitely it 99% sure it’s amazing how that’s stuck in your brain no comment A A are you watching this episode on the day it was put up on YouTube the 1st of March if so then you may know it’s St David’s Day St David is the patron saint of Wales we had hope to coincide this day with when we visit the tiny

Cathedral city of St Davids but you’ll have to wait a few more weeks for that today people especially the Welsh will be celebrating the Feast of St David who died on this day in 589 ad the feast has been regularly celebrated since the canonization of David in the 12th century traditional

Activities include wearing daffodils and leaks and by eating traditional Welsh food more about St David in a few weeks time if and when we get to pem Brookshire but for now a very happy St David’s Day to all our Welsh friends to ready if you’re new to the channel

Thanks for watching and getting over 5 minutes into this episode you may be wondering what it’s all about well last year we T the English and Welsh Coastline and thought it might be a good idea to to film our travels we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into

What started as a half-hearted attempt using our old mobile phones to capture the journey gradually turned into what you’re watching now take a look at the first few episodes and hopefully you’ll see some improvement we’ve completed the tour in stages and including all the return trips this is day 30 and we’ve done

4,850 m to put that in context we could have gone to Moscow and back and still had nearly 1,000 miles to spare not convinced Google the coastline Paradox or watch episode 40 where we explain why the miles add up and why we had to skip Scotland as for the filming by the time

You get to the end of this video we would have uploaded 18 hours of the coast Adventure series we’re complete camera novices and so work to the principle of taking as much footage as we can and hopefully there’ll be something good to work within the edit we have no idea how many

Hours of footage we have but I guess it’s got to be at least 100 hours that’s a lot of riding and filming but it’s the typ of the iceberg compared with the time spent in what they call post- production the editing has been a labor of love but we’re now looking forward to

The time when we’re not working towards the Friday deadline we’re not sure what our plans are after this Coast series is complete should we continue what should we do next let us know your thoughts in the comments so Bristo search and rescue hm coastar few official looking places here

There with the obligatory official looking fence well was our ambulance look at that I can speak wsh I can read it I know ARF is slow not that we take any notice of it it’s quite an Airfield isn’t it yeah there’s the runway just coming up in line with it very short yeah

Oh look at that yes what a standing view seea look at it it’s amazing is it the mountains the sea the road the sky sky it might not be sunny but I hope anyone watching this can appreciate the atmosphere that’s here mhm I sneezed inside my helmet and so now I

Don’t know whether I’ve got rain on the front of the helmet or sneeze isn’t that disgusting yes I didn’t have a chance to raise the visor and I gave you my tissue to wipe the wet seat oh I got my hany you can have my hany if you want true love

They’re right on the coast aren’t they delightful oh Lovely there the Seaside not Sandy or anything think I don’t think no it’s a shingly seaweedy PEB wow look at That it’s gorgeous isn’t It Taking himself for a little Wonder are you okay say don’t get me don’t worry M Oh lots of Welsh Flags yeah lots of welcome signs in Welsh I believe because it’s the Welsh is Welsh’s the Welsh national week of ice dead fods competitions in dancing and singing and different performances and and what do we got here up and over yeah up and over to the

Coast the other side let’s hope it’s worth it that is phenomenal I didn’t know this little Peninsula was like this what an amazing place isn’t it yeah for sure it’s a hidden another Hidden Gem in Wales like golly Wales is absolutely covered in Hidden gems isn’t it look at this

Heather and G absolutely beautiful wow so this is the place that Phil and V recommended if I remember rightly Phil and V you’ll have to tell us if um if we’re correct but when we met on the great or you said you shouldn’t miss this place yeah

And you we wrote down the name of it and here we are here we are and thank you very much because it’s stunning wow wow water coming down off that Cliff we’re going to plunge into the sea you’re going to be right coming back up yeah it’ll be okay

Tiny little cottage down there with little w paddocks we got we got a bit of a switch back but they made ever ever so easy look at that fantastic and we’ll be able to take it wide coming up as well fantastic really good look at the waterfall yes wow gosh

Well I’ve never I’ve never been here before are you sure we’re going to be right coming back up yeah going just change sides I think it’s another road it said that we should take but I think they’ve blocked it off up there seriously yeah it’s a track

Honestly it’s there but it’s a track way I mean it’s not an easy little road even in a car is it after getting first gear yeah look at the screen no doubt about it this was one of the unexpected gems of the whole trip what a place we love challenging

Roads that cut through dramatic Landscapes the UK doesn’t have many compared to most other countries so it’s a real treat when we discover one the road is steep but has been upgraded to make the drive as easy as possible unless you’re a very nervous driver then you should have no problem

However it’s only been like this since 2008 in fact the line on the satnav followed the old road that’s barely visible now the old road was Notorious for being too steep for Motor Vehicles hor drawn sledges were used instead it became a challenge for cars and motorcycles to try to climb it The

Descent may have been terrifying but with the help of gravity it was possible there are stories of cars making it to the bottom only to be abandoned when they couldn’t manage the Steep and loose climb to get back up again eventually in 1934 A Car achiev

Defeat look’s like the path to the beach are we walking are we yeah I I think we’re going to make an effort here yeah and I I feel like I I deserve a coffee all right the Steep terrain means that the village of Port nant has historically been very isolated despite being

Surrounded by a wider populated community according to ancient mythology in the fifth century it provided a refuge for vortigan who it is said was married to seira the daughter of Magnus Maximus the Roman Emperor we mentioned in the last episode in the 1770s Thomas pennant wrote about a can located here that some

Belied to be vortigan grave the area is known as n Gan or vortigan Gorge so why does this place exist apart from a few fishermen there was no real settlement here until the 1850s when the first Quarry opened the Industrial Revolution created demand for granite sets the chunky squared stones that were

Used to build cobbled streets the Quarry was very successful and in 1878 the Terrace houses you can see were built for the workers and grew into the village of Port nant by the 18 1990s there were three quaries and 200 ton ships were regularly loaded and transported to the industrial

Cities before returning with all kinds of products which weren’t available locally for The Quarrymen in the early 20th century demand for cobal Street dramatically reduced just as the second world war broke out in 1939 NT Quarry closed in 1948 the school closed and in 1959 the last family left n leaving The Village

Empty the village became a ghost town but largely preserved due to the difficulty of access however in the late 1960s and70s it was occupied by the new Atlantis commune of hippies they caused a lot of damage by burning flaws and doors as firewood and covered the woles with graffiti for anyone with special

Memories of what it used to be when it was a close-knit quarrying community this was a very sad sight when the commune members left the nant the buildings were left in Ruins In 1970 Dr Carl clu left his specialized job at Christie Hospital Manchester to run a single-handed doctor

Surgery at clamaron he and his wife Dorothy were determined to raise their children as Welsh speakers but what he discovered was a community facing an uncertain future and he felt that something had to be done he helped save the local school from closure but if the area was to survive longterm then

Further action was needed to create new opportunities since the first Welsh language act came into force in 1967 there was a growing demand for Welsh speaking staff at many public organizations his vision was to save both the Welsh language and provide employment with the idea of a residential Center offering Welsh

Language courses this would be a huge undertaking the buildings at n were inaccessible and in Ruins and it wouldn’t be easy to convince the owners to let them go for less than market value but he managed to Garner support for his idea in particular from Mrs Knox

The wife of the ex-manager of the Quarry between 1972 and 1978 Dr Clues and his team worked tirelessly to raise awareness and funds in July 1978 they managed to buy n Gan for the sum of £25,000 but the work had only just begun over the next few years they worked hard

And in 1982 the first Welsh lessons were held to the sound of a diesel generator since then the center has slowly but surely gone from strength to strength to become what you see today as well as the Welsh language Center there’s a great Cafe and the cottages and other buildings can be

Booked via their website there’s a visitor center in the old chapel it opened in 2003 with a concert by the Welsh rock band super fury animals two members of which are Dr clu’s Sons I stford it’s like a it’s a Welsh Festival isn’t it it’s Festival of Arts

And there’s like competitions and stuff like that yeah they do different things uh you know the the bar and they do the banss uh the choirs the different thing children different ages they do different songs and you know it’s all s into the week yeah and the end of the

Week it’s to finish next Saturday but is that several I State FS it’s varies all over Wales like next year I think it’s down South Wales it travels every year every year it moves around but it’s only ever in one place and and this year it

Just but you can travel from anywhere in Wales to take part in correct amazing yeah yeah yeah we’ll end this episode with the ride back up the hill it’s actually known as screw Hill and back in the day was occasionally used as a motorsport Hill Climb you’ve probably heard YouTubers

Saying how Hills are a lot steeper than they look on camera well it’s true that said this hill wasn’t as daunting as it looked and certainly not as daunting as some of the hills that are yet to come we’ve had a few close shades with tricky slopes and off-road tracks but so

Far I’ve managed to stay upright unfortunately that’s not to last join us next week to find out why so what a wonderful place thank you f v for the recommendation yes definitely amazing what a road yeah absolutely who needs the Pyrenees exactly wow just got be a little bit careful around this one Now oh could have taken the inside line on that not too bad up