D’oh, I think sums the decision not to ride our brand new bike down to South Wales for what was going to be an unbelievable rain-free weekend.

After reading the BBC forecast, which predicted rain, hail and thunderstorms, we decided to drive down with Arlene and Mathilda in the car and follow John on his bike. We watched for signs of rain all the way and instead saw the sun come out and stay out.

When we arrived, we were tempted by the owners of the Cwmwennol Country House with the offer of the pick of the rooms. She said "this is on a first come first served basis and you can have either the Chalet or room 6". Now Mat Dog can’t make the stairs the way she used to be able to, so John & Arl, reluctantly chose the cramped conditions of the chalet. How they managed to survive with a jacuzzi, huge living space, large television, oh and their own gymnasium! Now, when we were told room 6 had a four poster bed and a few other luxuries, I naturally said "no, it’s not right, just because I’m one of the first to arrive, I shouldn’t have an unfair advantage over everybody else!" Little did I know that before the sentence had finished, Jen was upstairs and had unpacked our suitcase!! Did we feel guilty – you’ve guessed it.

Looking out of our window/balcony was the most wonderful view of the sea and woodland – brilliant, what a start to the weekend.

We made our way into Saundersfoot later in the afternoon and parked in a car park which would have charged us £1.10 per hour for a motorcycle, if we had in fact ridden one down here. £1.10 per hour!! We had a look around, ate some ice cream and heard a familiar rumble of exhaust pipes, Barry's, Pete's and Bob's to be exact. Looking up the hill we could see three yellow jackets. Now they started off with yellow jackets at the front and rear, so we did wonder what had happened to the ones in the middle. We raced to our car to see if we could beat them back, but the rest of the gang had started to ride through town. Curtains twitched and Doors opened, even the local plod raced out of his door to see what was going on and saw The Thames Valley Vultures in all their formation glory. I guess they don’t have too many motor bikes in Saundersfoot. Although we were behind them, because of a misunderstanding (the sign says go left, they go right) we beat them back. They came hurtling down the steep drive to the car park, Barry did a perfect u-turn and the rest is history. Congratulations to Jacqui for managing her first long ride after passing her test.

After unpacking, we spent a brilliant night trying to solve puzzles left by the owner. Some seemed to enjoy the handcuffs a little too much. The buffet was eaten and the beer drunk .The local brew was called something like Vicar of Dibley and went down very well. Badgers visited on cue and provided us with some interesting viewing. The whole evening was spent relaxing, talking, laughing and some getting as relaxed as a newt.

After a brilliant full "English" breakfast some strolled down to the beach, skimmed some stones and strolled a tad more slowly back up the hill to the country house. After taking half an hour to regain our breath/use inhalers/complain about our fitness and try to remember how many pints last night could have caused all this, we drove into Tenby, the rest heading for Pembroke. Now I’m sure we didn’t see all of Tenby, but "quaint" springs to mind. The millennium has obviously caught up with them because they were still selling year 2000 baseball hats (not even on special offer either). They do have a sensible car park policy though – 20p for an hour – that’s more like it.

We then made our way to Pembroke to catch up with the rest of the gang and miraculously met at a garage. Lunch at The Ferryman, overlooking Pembroke Castle and back we came.

Saturday evening was one of the best. Roast beef/potatoes, beer, bread and butter pudding – brilliant. Julie started to take photographs of the back of the men’s heads (and they call me weird!) Arls knocked over flowers and Pete was forced to drink water (you had to be there). Right, now the real reason we came down here for. Six teams of four, or was it four teams of six with some left over – not sure, but battle was going to commence – yes, it was quiz night! Our quiz inquisitor for the night was Tony, who came up with some of the most devious questions I’ve heard. Now to say that one team didn’t really take it seriously, is a misunderstatement – you know who you are – but their answers were usually better than the proper ones. Ed and Sue showed us what the word competitive meant and Mick couldn’t hear the questions or music. He didn’t get much sympathy either. Jacques tried unconvincingly to earwig our answers and Irene was a dark horse. Ken and Becky, Mick, Margery and friends battled along and Team Tish did their best to lose. They certainly weren’t underachievers. The Umbongos (or the Lumbagos as Tony called them) had a very tight contest with Sue, Ed, Irene, Barry, Richard and Jacqui (forgot their team name) and modesty forbids me to mention who came out the winners.

Meanwhile, brock the badger managed to see off the local foxy. Barry captured this on film and it’s pretty amazing. You don’t want to be mixing it with a badger.

More booze, more laughter and some strange floor work from Bob and Julie began to bring to an end to a fantastically funny evening.

After our "English" breakfast the next morning, we knew we had to start to get ready and make our way home. I genuinely didn’t want to go. The weather was brilliant, the company even better and the location just perfect.

So what have we learnt from this weekend:

Don’t fight with badgers (the four legged variety)

Pete doesn’t like water

Jan – go and get another glass for Pete

Jacques needs to share that satnav with the rest of us (what an amazing piece of kit)

I want a hypercharger like Carmen's.

Jen can get into mischief at the drop of a crash helmet.

Sue has 3,000,000 t-shirts and a studded leather thong.

Ed is probably very happy about the last item.

Pete/John were right – it wasn’t going to rain.

Arls didn’t fall off her bike or drop the car.

Mick seems to have fallen on his feet (how does he do it?)

Julie has a back of the head fetish.

Bob’s jokes don’t change.

Jacqui got there, and kept smiling all weekend.

Richard: if anybody wants a ride on his bike, I’ve got copies of his keys, so has everyone else, I think.

Irene must have her newspaper!

Barry – sorry mate – you took so much stick all weekend, you deserve a medal.

Ken – you made the right decision – coming on your bike.

Becky – can we tempt you?

John and Sandra – good quiz team mates.

Mathilda stole the weekend.

A big up for the man who organized the whole weekend – step up to the microphone – JOOOOOOOOOHN STEEEEEEEEEEEEVENS - well done – a splendid time was had by all.

Tel n’ Jen