Decent weather coupled with time on my hands saw me head out last week on the BMW RnineT.

The relaxation of some of the Covid 19 restrictions meant it was OK for me to head into North Wales, somewhere that had very much been ‘off limits’ in the last few months and the national lockdown.

I stopped en route for coffee at the ‘snack wagon’ just off the road at Broxton roundabout – a place I have been stopping at for many years.

It’s still a decent coffee and although I didn’t bother with anything to eat there last week, the roadside food is always decent and good value, but in truth it feels a shadow of the stopping place it used to be, which I think is a real shame.

Having said that, it was good to see some of the tables have been been replaced, although others are still falling apart – perhaps there are plans to replace them as well?

Unfortunatley though, the overall impressionn is that the place seems to have a pretty run down feel to it, a sort of air of neglect and with just a nod to better days gone by.

The last few times I have stopped for coffee there have rarely been more than one or two other bikers there (if any) which seems something of a far cry from a few years back when it was frequently lively and busy, it seems to be more of a truck stop now than anything else.

In fact, I seem to recall a few years back, that it was once featured in one of the magazines (Fast Bikes or Supebike) as an excellent and recomended roadside bikers stop –  I’d love those days to return.

After my coffee I headed on for the small town of Llangollen in Denbighshire (North Wales) which is located on the River Dee at the edge of the Berwyn range and the Dee Valley.

Llangollen and the surrounding roads were unusually quite – I continued though Llangollen and onto the Horseshoe Pass which is always a decent road to ride.

Quite often when I’m up that way I’ll travel across the Pass before making a left turn at the end and making a loop down towards Corwen before heading home, a journey that makes for a decent 160 mile or so round trip.

On this occasion I stopped at the top and sat for a while enjoying the  clear day, the sunshine and the splendid views before turning and heading for home.

My turning point was the Ponderossa Cafe, which was still closed (post virus) last week.

The cafe and car park are normally a mecca for bikers and it seemed odd for there to be just a haf dozen or so bikers pulled in at the ‘taped off’ entrances – I really do hope it’s soon back to normal and that as business they are able to recover well from the impacts of the Covid 19 virus.

Some pictures from the ride in the galery below.