Aprilia makes it easy
APRILIA TUAREG 660 3953 MILES With a long weekend in Wales booked, it was time to load up the Tuareg
I thought I’d take the Tuareg on a different kind of adventure this time. One that didn’t involve ragging down off-road tracks… ish, and meant I had to load up the bike to capacity for the first time for a spot of camping.
Before I get into the nitty gritty, I will say I’m not the best camper and the idea of packing to spend a night or two in a tent fills me with dread. But I had recently added Aprilia luggage to the Tuareg, panniers and a topbox to be precise, and was pleasantly surprised when I didn’t have any issues loading up. Sure, the latch mechanism was a bit stiff to begin with, as you’d expect from anything brand-new, but the pannier lids lift well away from the boxes so you can pack with ease, and there was loads of room inside, too. Although I did fob the tent off on my partner, so that was one less bulky thing to carry.
The first day was spent racing down the M6 as fast as traffic would allow and crossing the border into mid-Wales. As I’ve mentioned before, the Tuareg laps up motorway miles easily and cruise control helped keep my camping apprehension to a minimum, especially as the sun was shining and the traffic thinned as soon as we made it past Birmingham.
The Welsh roads became more winding as we went deeper into the country, and our campsite was hidden amongst the valleys and up a narrow, steep tarmac path. The Tuareg scampered up them with ease and the jostle really put a smile on my face, even if I did miss the turning.
In preparation for the trip, I also fitted a set of Dunlop
Trailmax Meridian tyres. I’ve been impressed with the OE rubber (Pirelli Scorpion Rally STR) but was keen to try out a set of road tyres to see how much of a difference it makes to the Tuareg’s handling. And in short, the difference was vast. The smooth Welsh roads didn’t disappoint and the Tuareg scooted around them easily, even when fully loaded.
The next day we decided to take the scenic B-roads around the area including Devil’s Bridge (where we got a smashing breakfast), Ar Elan Bridge, and a lot of roads which were breathtakingly beautiful. If I had to pick out an issue, I suppose the only tiny inconvenience I had to contend with was slippy dew-wet grass by my tent…
‘The Welsh roads didn’t disappoint’