The Wiltshirepolice Off Road Motorcycle Society (WORMS) decided to have a midweek trip to Wales to take in some of the Welsh countryside and get the bikes dirty. I'd never been off roading, I had bought the bike from my brother-in-law at Christmas. He had mentioned to me during dinner that He was selling his old bike (a 2500 mile KTM 200 EXC in prisine condition apart from the chain) and I said I'd have it! Did I mention I'd had a few glasses of wine when I said it?

Some of the lads had been to Llanerchinda Farm before. It is completely set up for off roading in any of its forms. Motorbikes, Quads and 4x4's are all catered for with wash down area, garage and lock up facilities. The accommodation is superb in a wonderful setting and the food is excellent. It can be heartily recommended. The charge for a midweek break, 3 nights with breakfast and evening meal was £145. Not bad, and stock up with breakfast and you won't need lunch the boys told me and this proved to be spot on.

The first day the old hands said a good idea would be to give the bikes a shake down by riding locally in the woods, good practice for me too. I'd only done around 5 miles off road before this trip (and ended up on my arse on that occasion) and was completely unprepared, as the saying goes I had all the gear but no idea. This proved a sensible thing to do as on a small climb up a bank I had very little speed on and not enough revs and I stalled going uphill. The bike rolled backwards and as the chain was so slack it locked up on itself and snapped. I was towed out by Des and we ended up in a scene out of Deliverance when 2 locals fixed it for me well enough to get me back to the farm. Those boys only needed a porch and banjo and the scene would've been complete. Hearts of gold though and I owe them a big debt of thanks. I got the bike fixed at the KTM dealer in Llandovery some 30 minutes away.

We spent the next 2 days riding through the countryside doing things that I thought I would never be able to do, in fact things that I had always dreamed of doing but had never been able to. The boys were fantastic guiding me every inch of the way and putting up with me being very much slower than they were. The most challenging bit and the highlight of the trip was the Strata Florida. A 20ish mile off road section with 11 river crossings some of which had the wheels entirely submerged. That bike was fantastic and never missed a beat, started every time and was easy to pick up when I fell off which I managed half a dozen times.

The scenery and trails here have to be some of the best anywhere in the world and we often commented to each other that it was almost hard to believe that this was Wales and only a couple of hours from home. We had steep rocky climbs, mud tracks, fire roads to blast along absolutely stunning riding. What was also very noticeable and very welcome was the positive attitudes we had from everyone, no-one turned their noses up at us or gave us a cross word and there were even a couple of little cafes that were set up on the routes that welcomed mucky soggy bikers.

On the very last bit of the last day the boys took us to a deep river crossing. They said that it looked a little deeper than last year and so said they'd take the bridge. Des however was having none of it, he said he'd only regret it if he didn't give it a go so in he went. Unfortunately he didn't make it, take a look at "Des gets damp" on youtube to see the results, I'm still smiling about it now 3 weeks later.

Suffice it to say I've got the bug and this will not be my last trip. The next big one is the Stella in July on my R1100GS, taking my 16 year old son. Can't wait. This may not be RTW but my riding has improved and I've got a new interest in biking that I thought I'd never have, give it a go.