Jay Morton takes on a Welsh adventure

Ducati UK Ambassador and former SAS Operator Jay Morton was recently set a challenge by Ducati and the Sweet Lamb DRE Adventure Academy, having to find his way back to Aberdyfi after being dropped off in mid-Wales with a DesertX Rally and GPX route…

The weather was raining with very wet conditions. As I set off on the GPX route the lads from Sweet Lamb had set me a pretty tasty route, with off-road sections and one really steep hill with loads of loose, wet rock. You just had to send it up the hill and hold on to the bike! I’d previously done a couple of days training at the Sweet Lamb DRE Academy Centre and the lads had trained me well so a big thanks to the guys. 

The first time up I stacked it, and the second time I made it all the way to the top only to have the camera man in the middle of the track which I was furious with as I’m the kind of person who just wanted to be able to do it and I’d have stayed at that hill all day to get to the top if I could. So, I had a third attempt and thought I’d ride it out all the way to the top but once again stacked it. 

But the biggest learning curve was how to recover a bike of the DesertX’s size, on a steep hill, where all the ground is loose and covered with massive channels where water’s run down. I was kind of thrust into the deep end. Having the ability to be able to turn the bike round, and then jump on to go back down the hill. And even riding the bike down this hill was pretty cheeky. It was a question of using the gears to slow the bike down,

We carried on and ended up in some winding forest sections which super nice on the bike with a mixture of steep and winding trails. And then the weather cleared, and Wales gave us some sunshine. It was nice just cutting through mid-Wales.
 

I love doing river crossings, and the DesertX Rally was great in those conditions. And for me, someone who does not have a vast amount of experience in trial, enduro or adventure bikes, the bike was brilliant to explore Wales with.

I enjoy the difficult stuff, but I also enjoy the flowing sections where you can get a bit of a rhythm and start to feel the bike a little bit. For me, that’s when I’m having fun on the bike. In comparison with the stock DesertX, the Rally’s KYB forks just make for a really comfy and easy ride. There were one or two real thin, loose rocky sections and the bike just cruised up them.

From there we were onto the glorious Welsh roads in the dry. The one thing about the DesertX, and this goes for both the stock model and the Rally version, it handles just so well on the road. Dues to its, size, balance and power, it just handles beautifully in the corners, it’s almost like you’re riding a sports tourer. You can definitely have some fun on it on the road. 

After stopping for a cup of tea, I carried onto my destinations at Aberdyfi, and thanks again to the Sweet Lamb guys for picking out some really single nice roads in the countryside. Just glorious, an epic journey exploring Wales, and exploring it on the DesertX Rally was great, what a wicked adventure.