The Welsh Weekender – 26/27 April 2025

Why change a winning formula? Well, we were delighted the Sports and Classics team and the excellent ‘route masters’ had NOT changed their usual excellent format for a much-enjoyed weekend. Any new format would have risked spoiling the fun and would have been unlikely to improve it.

There were 34 entrants in the usual wide variety of cars, with pre-war honours upheld by the MacMasters’ lovely and much-travelled 1938 Frazer Nash BMW 328. Also, of the proper “Classics” were the 1956 Morgan Plus 4 of David and Bron Spraggett and the 1962 E-types of Michael & Elizabeth Oustroumoff. Pat and I are now too old to do long distances in our 1934 MG, so we came in our 2004 MG TF – is that a ‘classic’ or just a ‘Sports’ or perhaps both?

We all met up at Shelsley around 9am for a really excellent bacon bap and tea. We signed on and were given a beautifully presented route book, which ultimately proved to be 100% accurate – we expected nothing less! The weather was good, so our little MG was “topless” for the entire adventure. Flagged off at one-minute intervals from 10am, we had gone less than half a mile when the MAC Classic rally plate flew off the bonnet and over our heads, so it was then attached inside the car! In less than 5 miles we were on a road that I did not know but soon joined the familiar Great Witley to Clows Top road and followed the lovely road to just west of Bridgnorth. Happy memories were aroused as we passed the Clee Hills Trial sections known as “Meadowley” and “Jenny Wind” that the club had used between 1994 and 2023. We followed the A458 to Cressage where we turned off onto B4380 and the adventure really began.

The route took us around the east of Shrewsbury and used a short section of the B4380 which used to be the A5! We motored through Wem and Welshampton, joining the A495 towards Oswestry and Ellesmere and soon we were in Wales. The route book included a reference to The Two Doves café at Overton where we stopped and were joined by David & Bron Spraggett. After a satisfying and enjoyable lunch, we did several main road miles, but they were never busy, and on to Ruabon, south of Wrexham, and then to Llangollen and up the glorious Horseshoe Pass with some delightful views, but a bit too much traffic.

Soon after crossing the river Alyn, we turned off the main road and through Llanarmon-yn-Lal (don’t ask me to pronounce it) and Llanbedr something or other and up the B5429 through many pleasant villages and hamlets and lots of 20 mph zones! From Trefnant, it was a short hop to the Hotel Faenol Fawr, south of Rhyl, where we enjoyed excellent company and a good dinner.

The following morning dawned sunny and after a good breakfast, we were flagged off soon after ten. We were in for some really very beautiful roads and spectacular scenery. After a couple of miles on the A548, we continued south on the A544 to Llanfair, an interesting eight-mile run climbing up into the hills to join the A543 for a short distance. Then a joyous drive through the forest with glimpses of a couple of reservoirs on the B4501 to Carrigydrudion and the A5. Just half a mile later we rejoined the B4501 and back up into the mountains – a great road, with wonderful views unknown to us, and so to Bala.

More good B-road driving brought us to Penybontfawr in the Tanat Valley. Here we turned onto a very different B-road. The 4396 is twisty and narrow, very narrow with passing places, so progress was slow, but the countryside glorious, a road well worth driving more than once. After the unpronounceable Llanfighangel-yng-Ngwynfa, (how many official forms have enough space for that address?!), we drove the B4382 through Dolanog and about four miles later found ourselves driving beside the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway, which we had ridden on during one of last year’s Sports & Classic runs.

From there it was a short hop through Castle Caereinion and Montgomery to the finish at the Kerry Vale Vineyard, a mile or so west of Church Stoke, in time for a good lunch in bright sunshine – it had been a wonderful 84 miles that day and a wonderful total of 200 miles for the entire adventure. So, our huge thanks to the team, for a brilliant weekend, they had even organised the weather – we just can’t wait for the next one!

Jonathan Toulmin