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Dan BowenDan Bowen
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  • TravelerSouth Wales Tour 2023
    Day 9

    Kennet and Avon Canal

    August 26, 2023 in England ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    From central Bristol, I joined the Bristol and Bath railway path, meeting my outbound route at the old Mangotsfield station, with its distinct triangular island platform.

    Shortly there after another thunderstorm rolled in. I'm not usually prone to feeling cold, other than when I'm tired - and with over 100Km behind me today and not much in the way of food-stops, I was definitely that. I found myself hiding beneath old stone bridges to don my rain jacket, and subsequently to grab a snack and a few moments respite from the sharp cold of the heavy rain droplets.

    I had been debating whether to continue on route 4 or take a more direct route back to Chippenham from Bath. The lightning on the horizon settled the question: I wasn't going to take a route that passes through a hilltop golf course during a lightning storm. After Bath route 4 joins the Kennet and Avon Canal - the old tow path, is extremely rough.

    The vibrations induced by the sharp rocks made me hyper concious of my rattling gear, as the canal is lined with canal barges where people live. The surface also made for much slower riding, and before very long, my wrists were complaining at the tension. The scenerey, evening light and wood-smoke from the stoves aboard peoples' barges, were all very pleasant, but the general tensions and discomforts of trying to handle the heavy bike on the rough track were mountain.

    I took the canal as far as Melksham, where I joined regional route 403 - which takes backroads to Chippenham and journey's end. By the time I left the canal, I had put 140Km and 9 hours of travel behind me today. It was a releif to be away from the terrible washboard surface, but the last 15 Km were an exercise in fighting fatigue, ignoring my fairly empty belly and worrying about whether my light batteries would last.

    I arrived home around 22:00, tired and wet; both the bike and I were covered in grime from the canal path. Naturally, the only thing to do was to order a pizza and take a shower to cap off the trip and around 450Km of riding.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth Wales Tour 2023
    Day 9

    Bristol harbour

    August 26, 2023 in England ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    I followed the rest of the route 41: the Pill Path section. It follows the river Avon along wide, meandering lower reaches and on through the Avon gorge. A few sections were sufficiently muddy that I felt my rear wheel sliding out in the turns - enough to keep me on my toes!

    A few cyclists passed in the opposite direction; this me very conscious of my wide panniers on this narrow strip of dirt hemmed in by hedges and the side of the gorge. One rider seems distressed and had apparently been spat on by a large group riding motor scooters along the cycleway. I encountered that group just before I passed under Brunel’s iconic Clifton suspension bridge, but fortunately received no spittle of my own.

    Route 41 merges with route 33 which took me along the harbour side in Bristol passing the SS Great Britain on the opposite side. The bars and restaurants looked very tempting, but with bad more thunderstorms forecast and a long route ahead I felt I needed to press on to route 4.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth Wales Tour 2023
    Day 9

    Avonmouth

    August 26, 2023 in England ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    From Newport, route 4 follows a meandering route along some dirt tracks and then a series of backroads across the flat plain along the Severn (Hafren) estuary. The weather was mostly pleaseant, but I got caught in a short, but very cold, heavy thunderstorm around Caldicot.

    As quickly as it the bad wether came it had gone again - and the bright sunshine as I crossed the Severn bridge (pont Hafren) was in stark contrast the the grey beginnings of storm Betty on the outbound trip. I decided to stick to Sustrans routes at least as far as Bristol, having no desire to reaquaint myself with the noise and fumes of the ring road. From the England end of Severn bridge I continued with route 4 as it headed back West along the opposite side of the estuary, past the newer Prince of Wales bridge (pont Tywysog Cymru) - sadly not open to cycles.

    After passing the bridge, I joined route 41; it provides an alternate route into central Bristol - approaching via the river Avon to avoid many of the urbanised areas. It continues West to Avon mouth, where I got a great view from the Avonmouth bridge (although its not a great place to stand around, since it also carries the M5 motorway).    Read more

  • TravelerSouth Wales Tour 2023
    Day 9

    Newport

    August 26, 2023 in Wales ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    I took the last stretch of route 47, which descends through 14 Locks to the bottom of the Usk valley. The route splits from the canal just before its end, joining the river at Newport (Casnewydd) castle. 47 follows the river bank until its end (or official speaking, its start) at a junction with national route 4 just north of the Newport transporter bridge.

    The transporter bridge is another example of the area’s long industrial history. The Usk’s unusually large tidal range and shallow banks make it unsuitable to be worked by a ferry, but a conventional bridge would have interfered with tall ships which used to dock upstream. The transporter bridge’s span is very tall to allow ships, and suspends a ‘gondola’ that traverses back and forth like a ferry (avoiding long or steep pathways up to the span itself).

    From here I would be joining route 4 for the stretch to Severn Beach, on the opposite side of the Severn (Hafren) estuary. Some clips from my day’s ride https://youtu.be/a6hG-JR69s0?si=gW_22OfpI5lEtFnh

    Just as I was leaving town I got into conversation with a group of ladies out for a ride; they were stopped to fix a tyre so I stopped to see if they needed anything. We chatted about touring vs day rides, how the bike isn’t as heavy as it looks - I just prefer the handling of the bike with a trailer - and so on.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth Wales Tour 2023
    Day 7

    Brecon and Monmouthshire canal

    August 24, 2023 in Wales ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    After the Sirhowy rejoins the Ebbw I stayed with route 47; passes through Risca and crosses the railway to join the Brecon and Monmouthshire canal. The old tow path provides a flat route, offering views across the valley broken up by the odd copse of trees.Read more

  • TravelerSouth Wales Tour 2023
    Day 7

    Sirhowy valley country park

    August 24, 2023 in Wales ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    I returned along route 47, accidentally taking it westbound for a stretch, rather than directly back towards Ystrad Mynach. The weather was gorgeous and made for a good afternoon’s ride.

    I posted some clips of my ride to YouTube https://youtu.be/Zv2hyPbrEe0?si=mzHqYvg1qSx7HKqlRead more

  • TravelerSouth Wales Tour 2023
    Day 6

    Barry Sidings cafe and visitor centre

    August 23, 2023 in Wales ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    The ride down the Rhondda was pretty straight forward, using mostly riverside and old railway paths. A few sections are a little muddy, or gravelly, but nothing particularly technical.

    Heading down into the heart of the vallyes, slag heaps (spoil tips from the region's numerous coal mines) dominated many of the hill tops. This was a strange, thought provoking contrast to the windfarm. The south Wales coal field, with its high quality anthracite, powered much of the industrial revolution, not to mention the great battle fleets of Royal Navy. There doesn't seem to be an easily obtainable figure for just how much; my estimate (based on a proportion of UK wide output) is that about 3 billion tonnes were extracted since the mid 1800s (which would account for around 8 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions when burned).

    In many ways, Wales has already been through a seismic change in moving away from unsustainable practices, similar to that now facing the rest of globe. The end of mineral extraction and most heavy industry in the region has left significant economic and social challenges; it has at least left behind some beautiful industrial archeology and some wonderful infrastructure for sustainable tourism. like the old mineral railways, turned paths.

    Clearly there is a long way to go on the evironmental, economic and wider social challenges from decarbonisation, and industrial/imperial hisotory. The jucstapositons of nature, sustainable transport and industrial history on this trip leave me feeling hopeful that positive change is possible.

    Soon the Rhondda Fach met the Rhondda Fawr, to form main run of the river. About half way from the confluence to where the Rhondda meets the Taff, we stopped for our final break at Bary sidings cafe.

    When I walked in for coffe, they were playing the Beach Boys' 'Good Vibrations' , and had a bicycle artistically installed as part of their signage. A lovely spot to stop on a cycling trip.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth Wales Tour 2023
    Day 6

    Lunch stop in Rhondda vale

    August 23, 2023 in Wales ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    Rather than re-trace our steps all the way back to Pontypridd, we would be taking the more southerly regional route 881 which tracks the Rhondda river from this point until its confluence with the Taff.

    We stopped for Lunch by the river, the looking up at the imposing, steep valley side. Three circling birds of prey kept us company. It was mostly peacful except for a group on noisy 'scrambler' motorbikes passing by.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth Wales Tour 2023
    Day 6

    Glyncorwg to Rhondda vale

    August 23, 2023 in Wales ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    It was time to retrace our route of two days before across the Pen-y-Cymoedd wind farm.

    We took the steep regional route 887 up the valley until it intercepts the main track through the windfarm some some 240 meters above our starting point in Glyncorwg. The track is huge, having been used to deliver the massive turbines to the site; we took it north east until it intercepts with national route 47. This was also the pinacle of our day's ride, just shy of 540 meters above sea level (320 above the day's start point).

    On our ride we had encountered a pair of windfarm maintainance vehicles, a couple of mountain bikers and one runner with a dog - not a lot of humans for a 16Km stretch. This gave the ride a flavour of wilderness, despite the constructed tracks winding through the hills and forests or the file of turbines along the horizon.

    After some brief undulation, route 47 brought us down to the Lluest-wen resevoir, at the top of the valley of the Rhondda fach. A little below the resevior, route 47 meets another regional route: number 881. We stopped here to heat up our lunch; we left it to steep in hot water, within a Thermos bag for us to eat further on down the valley.    Read more

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