We left Bratton Fleming in north Devon at 2.30pm and met up on the Tiverton link road with Kevin Harris and Spencer Bound, so now it looks like the 'Dingles on Tour'. Arrived at Bristol in an hour and a half and stopped for emergency supplies just over the bridge.

So onto Builth Wells, Rhayder and finally our destination of Llandidloes. We found the new venue for the caravans okay, which was just over the river from the original start at the rugby club. Then got the caravans parked 
up and the beer out at about 7 o'clock, - although ominously only about 20 feet from the river Severn!

Dunno who, but it's a great action photo!

Had a great evening chatting and drinking then finally got to bed about 1am, it was about 6am when the rain started, or that's when I came round anyway, - with only a slight hangover. Glad we got the awning up the previous night as this rain was in for the day and as more people arrived on site, it became more like Glastonbury by the minute. But the organisers had a tractor pulling team of people in and seemed to have things well under control.

The rain was relentless and we finally walked the MX track at about 1pm. All our boys seemed happy with it, but never having done motocross it was not really their thing. It was obviously going to be very difficult to get a good test time, especially as the rain was still as hard as ever pouring down on the track, which was nicely covered with grass at the moment - but after a couple of hundred bikes passing through and any more rain, it would prove to be as slippery as a helter skelter.

Cornwall star - young Jamie Pagett, flying high to win the Expert class.

Back to camp and the boys got their bikes finally prepped and scrutineered, then signed on.

Right, now we had to find the enduro test - by which time the rain seemed to get even harder. So we all climbed in the vans and set off for Hafren forest.

Wow what a beautiful place I thought, as we drove past a huge lake and admired the mountains disappearing into the rain clouds. It took us about 40 minutes to find the enduro test and the fire tracks are now starting to turn into rivers, so we 'looked at the start sign from the van' and turned around for camp, - looking forward to dinner and more beer. Obviously not to much for the boys though, can't have them coming all this way and having a hangover on the start line , oh well all the more for us girls!! 

Simon Thomas and his daughter Sophie (who is also a hot 
new and very young talent on the UK enduro scene)

We put on the dinner and the boys sat down to do there check times, only looking up occasionally to ask if some one else has finished theirs yet - and what time does he make it!

Right, check times are all done and double checked, so now to fill bumbags with energy bars, jelly babies and tools and they're all set to race.

Saturday morning: Get and and sort out petrol for 7 bikes, Simon Thomas, Wayne Mundell, Kevin Harris, Spencer Bound, Mark Tucker and Matthew Taylor. 

Some of our all girl pit crew attending to Ian Mundell's every need!

Ian, Dilly and Dan Mundell would be running check 1 as we don't have a clue where it is, so we get ready to go to check 2. But the first bikes go at about 9am and our boys won't be through check 2 till half past eleven, so we reckon on having enough time to go and watch all the bikes go through the 1st MX test. It was a really snail like course, weaving backwards and forwards across a relatively level field and the steep slippery parts by the river were taken out - as the river had risen about 3 foot since yesterday, - but the weather was good and no more rain was expected for today.

The top riders all looked so quick blasting from this corner to the next and back again - with what looks like no effort at all. But as the race numbers got bigger - meaning less experienced riders - and the grass started to wear off the track, it began to look like riding a bike up and around a palette - in a flat field, was the most difficult thing on earth!

Well eventually the last bike's went through and we thought we better hit the road a get to the check, - else well be sacked before we start!

Carl Mcilroy in action.

So we head out to the forest and get there to find that all the other pit crews are already there and setup. No matter, we drive along and park up, so that we are the first van riders will see when they get to the check. Only I think we might have 'the wrong van', because other riders kept stopping and saying, "we were told to look for a blue VW". H'mm, there might have been one or 2 others in the wood that day!

(Lesson Learned here... If you're going to have a van that looks like all the others - especially when the riders are approaching at speed, you need to have some form of easy identification, like a bright or silly coloured flag sticking up in the air - yes another thing to remember for next time!)

So anyway we got all set up, chairs, windbreak, petrol and jerrycan's, but oh no, there's no tea. Better put that on the list for tomorrow, - we cant work without tea!

Matt Taylor a relatively newcomer to the enduro scene, giving it some. 

Simon Thomas was our first rider in, followed by Wayne, Kevin, Spencer, Mark and Matthew - who was the last bike through of the day - so that meant six hours and we could head back. Simon and Wayne did 3 laps, the others only had to do 2 as they were clubmen. Interestingly - as apparently seems to happen at these big events - we also gained another bike, no 162. A nice bloke and we would have pitted for him the next day if he'd asked. - We love this job.

We're not the shopping type of girls I suppose, we like blokes, bikes and outdoors. Hate dresses, make up and manicures. We probably need all three, but then the option is - no pit crewing and no enduros for our boys, so they cant be to choosey can they!

Tom Sagar - second only to the Hafren overall winner and international 
star Juha Salminen - stares at the camerawoman!

Now its half 4 and our last man is all done, fuelled up and fed, so it's back in the van and back to camp for a nice hot shower and out for a meal - WRONG! 

...Local village carnival, every pub is heaving and we tried and tried different pubs to get food, right up until 10.00pm, then decided it was off to the chippy instead! 

Finally back to caravan and bed, all knackered and looking forward to 
tomorrow.

Sunday morning: Weather forecast is real bad, but it seems okay at the moment, so we load up to do exactly the same as yesterday, - but loaded with kettle and teabags this time so were all happy ;o)

We leave the boys getting changed and say we'll see them next on the track. The MX track is much more slippery today as most of grass is gone, so far more of the riders were coming off on corners, much more entertaining for us 
though - having weird sense of humor.

Debbies other half - Mark Tucker on the MX special test.

Okay last bike through the test, so back off to the check in the woods. All riders do just the 2 laps today though, so the conversation might stay above the belt. As yesterday after 6 hours things were getting a little silly!

As the first bikes started arriving at the check, it was obvious that the course was a lot more rutted and muddy now, by looking at the state they were in and by the second lap several parts had been taken out so there was less time for us between bikes to get stuff sorted for each rider. But when the middle 3 came in one after the other and they had plenty of time spare, - up to 20 mins to get to the check. Us girls being girls, decided to give the bikes a bit of a clean. Yes with bottles of water and a few old rags, we sent all 7 bikes out looking, - well er' cleaner than all the others. - Much to the amusement of several other crews who I am sure thought we were mad..

Well once again and finally, after 4 hours all our bikes were sent on. The riders now had to go back and do another MX test to finish the day and the event. By this time it was raining again and apparently so slippery was this part of the track, that most riders were having a job just to stay upright! 
Sadly we knew we wouldn't be able to get back in time to see this, so packed up and made our way back to camp.

Spencer Bound had a great but tough weekends riding at the Hafren.

All our riders had finished the 2 days all in one piece, only a few bits of KTM left somewhere in the Hafren forest and now we had to pack up and head home, - well if we could get out! 

We eventually did and made our way back to Devon and got home about 10.00pm. A great weekend and looking forward to the next one - the Tywi - in a fortnight.!! 

...and how did the boys do...

Well, you'll just have to see for yourself and check the results HERE