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South Wales Tour 2023South Wales Tour 2023
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A 9-day adventure by Dan Read more
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  • TravelerSouth Wales Tour 2023
    Day 1

    Bristol and Bath Railway Path

    August 18, 2023 in England ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    It’s time for another bicycle tour. Although I thought I had prepared my kit quite thoroughly, as ever ‘last minute’ adjustments become last hours adjustments. It was nearly two in the afternoon before I managed to leave (not counting an earlier false start where, in my haste, I had set off with my brake reservoir left open).

    From the edge of the town I took the backroads to the town of Corsham, then on to Bath via the large hill at Kingsdown. From there I darted through the city crossing the iconic Pulteney bridge and Bath cathedral, the expected bad weather having brought out only modest crowds of tourists.

    I picked up the first of my national cycle network routes for the trip: route four. Route four is a way marked route of backroads and cycle paths running from London in the East to the port of Fishguard in south west Wales. I would be using various short stretches of it this trip. This section follows the Kennet and Avon canal briefly before joining a railway path which follows the former Mangotsfield and Bath branch of the midland railway.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth Wales Tour 2023
    Day 1

    Severn Bridge

    August 18, 2023 in England ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    From the old Mangotsfield station, I took the path along its northern platform, once served by trains on the old Bristol and Gloucester railway. Although it technically remains a ‘traffic free’ path, it soon begins to follow the route of the Bristol ring road - and the natural, peaceful sounds of the countryside were replaced by a constant din of vehicles. I was soon regretting my choice of route, the air seemed so thick with pollution you could chew it, and I found myself becoming irritated that not a singe vehicle using the road had more than one person in it.

    Traffic noise and pollution were constant companions all the way to the Severn bridge. Once the path ends in the Patchway area of Bristol, I took assorted back roads and A-Roads, some of which were very busy,    Read more

  • TravelerSouth Wales Tour 2023
    Day 1

    Storm Betty

    August 18, 2023 in Wales ⋅ 🌧 19 °C

    The weather forecast was severe enough that the storm system that was due to hit had been granted a name. The rain began to fall just as I was approaching the Severn bridge, accompanied by falling temperatures and a stiff wind.

    My route through South Wales took me roughly north-west past Dean farm trust’s sanctuary, through the town of Usk and up to Pontypool. From there I turned due West along the old railway that would once have crossed the Crumlin viaduct. The light finally went on this leg, I was thoroughly wet, tired and hungry - the ride became a balancing act between husbanding my energy to complete the miles ahead and putting in enough effort to stay warm.

    Arriving at a point overlooking Crumlin, it became clear how thick the weather was: the bottom and far side of the valley were obscured by the rain and mist. The heavy weather meant it was far too wet to use the OS map on my phone - the capacitative touch system couldn’t tell the difference between my fingers and the water droplets. This became a particular problem when it came time to find my way down the side of the Ebbw valley.

    Whilst I had been conscious that the Crumlin viaduct, which the path (back when it was a railway) would have met had been the tallest in the UK my mind hasn’t made the connection with needing to get down to the valley floor. I ended up picking my way down a footpath with steep stairs - meaning I had to disassemble my bike and managed to get grease on my nice new waterproof jacket :-(

    At this point a problem developed with one of my lights, so I picked my way along the quiet roads on the western side of the Ebbw and then joined the old Crumlin branch of the Monmouthshire and Brecon canal at Cwm Carn to make the remainder of journey to my Parents’ house further down the valley.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth Wales Tour 2023
    Day 2

    Hengoed viaduct

    August 19, 2023 in Wales ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Route 47 traverses the Sirhowy country park, before joining the old Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway. Its a beautiful ride with great surfaces that climb gently up the valleys. It has some great industrial archeology, including the grade II listed Hengoed viaduct which carries the path over the viliage of Maesycwmmer.

    Just to the east of Ystrad Mynach the path begins to follow along the still active Rhymni line.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth Wales Tour 2023
    Day 2

    Trelewis suspension bridge

    August 19, 2023 in Wales ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    National cycle route 47 crosses the Bargoed-Taff river by a beautiful minature suspension bridge, shortly before it merges with national route 8 (the Lon Las Cymru) for a brief run to the south.

    National route 47 provides an alternative to sections of the London to Fishguard national cycle route 4, always deviating to the North. 47 first spits from 4 at Newport, merging back in at Neath (Castell Nedd) and again at Carmarthen before they finally meet at Fishguard harbour.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth Wales Tour 2023
    Day 3

    St Gwynno forest, sheepdog trials

    August 20, 2023 in Wales ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Today’s ride is national cycle route 47 to Glyncorwg, and I have a riding partner for this stretch! The first section after it branches off from the Taff trail (route 8) is a fast, well paved path along the Nant Clydach river, as it climbs gently toward its source. Soon enough this transitions to steep backroads and forest trails.

    As we climbed the rough track through St Gwynno forest we saw that sheepdog trials were taking place. Naturally I was curious as to what the charges were, whether the jury would be stacked with colies or represent a broader cross section of dogs; is the prosecutor a sheep? Whatever the case, it seemed likely the defence's evidence would be barking, so some ruff justice would be dealt out.

    At the top of the hill was the first stile requiring that we take all our bags off the bikes to get past. Sadly the first of many on this route. Since we had to stop to negotiate the stile we stopped for a snack and a sit in the sun.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth Wales Tour 2023
    Day 3

    Cefn Gwyngul lunch stop

    August 20, 2023 in Wales ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    After a further climb it was time to break out the camp chair for a lunch of fruits and grains, with a nice balsamic dressing.

    At this point we were roughly on the ridge line that divides the catchment of the Rhondda Fach from that of Nant Cydach, which we had been following earlier.Read more

  • TravelerSouth Wales Tour 2023
    Day 3

    Strange daisies: Pen-y-Cymoedd wind farm

    August 20, 2023 in Wales ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Pen-y-Cymoedd wind farm is a vast, 228 Megawatt generation project; Its 76 turbines are strung out along the peaks at the headwaters of the Rhondda Fawr, Ogwr Fawr, Afan, Crrowg and Pelenna. They make a striking, and quite beautiful sight along the horizon for many miles: the farm is about 11Km east to west and 5Km north to south.

    The route passes close to some of the turbines, their bold, swift shadows caused me to instinctively duck as they rushed through my peripheral vision. Their sound of the disrupted airflow adds a distinct, rhythmic note that harmonises with natural sounds of wind rushing over the hillside.

    Many gravel tracks criss-cross through the forests and hillsides, and these would take us to Glyncorrwg, where we would join our friends Jem and Bobby, who were arriving by car, for a few nights of camping and mountain biking.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth Wales Tour 2023
    Day 4

    Blue scar mountain bike trail

    August 21, 2023 in Wales ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    The four of us hired cross-country mountain bikes to take on some of Afan Forest's legendary trails. We were all either new, or hadn't done any proper mountain biking for a long time, so we decided to take on the blue grade trail: Blue Scar.

    Having previously only ridden Whites Level, which begins at the Glyncorrwg Mountain Bike Centre, I hadn't realised that blue scar actually starts about 8Km further down the valley. Fortunately the major trails are connected by a path along the disused South Wales Mineral Raiway to Cymer, then the former Rhondda and Swansea Bay line. The path gives relatively easy access, but an 8Km warm up was perhaps not ideal for this group.

    Combined with lingreing brunch, and some fettling with the hire bikes, we didn't hit the trailhead until about one o'clock. The trail starts near the South Wales mining museum and slaloms up the mountain in a series of hairpins (switchbacks) and meandering forestry tracks. Near the top there are some great views, but it was a hard climb for the non/lapsed cyclists in the group.

    On one steep loose section, the others dismounted to walk up. I took the opportunity to borrowe the fanciest mountian bike whilst its rider didn't need it. I dashed about 500m along and 40m up the climb, and then descended again on the beautiful full suspension model with a remote drop seatpost. The proper 'single track' sections are a strict one-way system, so I could only try it on the relativly mundane forestry track - but it was still quite fun.

    Once we had all reached the top of the climb for Bluescar, and I was back on my own hire bike, I split off from the group to climb to the top of the more technical (red grade) Penhydd trail. The proprietor of Glyncorrwg mountain bike centre had tipped us off that there is a cut through that allows you to rejoin blue scar after Penhydd's 'big dipper' section.

    At the top of Penhydd, having just overtaken a chap on a cyclocross/gravel bike in my haste I forgot to drop my seat post - making control 'interesting' on the first section named 'widowmaker'. Fortunately it didn't live up to its name (or maybe it did since I'm technically unmarried?) and proved a straight, but rough run. I remembered to configure the bike properly for the 'big dipper'.

    My jaunt on Penhydd took just shy of 15 minutes, and I got some nice helmet cam footage of Penhydd https://youtu.be/eW75-TgJa7g . After breifly heading off on the wrong trail, I managed to rejoin the group on Bluescar having only been away for about 20 minutes.

    It was around this point that I realised that someone in the group had only recenttly learned to ride a bike (at all - not just the mountain kind). The fact that they had looked so proficient that this hadn't bene apparent until now is amazing, but by the time I rejoined a significant fall had happned. Although its only 'blue' the decent of Blue Scar can be challenging in places, so it took a little over an hour for the group to complete the decent (of which I was with them for about 50 minutes).

    The complete lap of Blue Scar had taken almost exactly three hours, and it had taken 45 minutes to reach the trail head. As a result, the deadline for returning the hire bikes was looming and we had 8Km to return up the valley and with a pretty exhausted group. With our late start, this meant we only managed the single lap, but at least we made it back (just in the nick of time for five o'clock closing).

    We capped the day off with a camp fire and s’mores, relaxing in our camp chairs and warm ponchos. We also had some serious science to do - a three way taste test between Dandies, Freedom 'mallows and Marks and Spencer Plant Kitchen Marshmallows. Paired with home made graham-crackers, they make a great camp treat - Plant Kitchen won the popular vote, although I remain loyal to Dandies.

    A little later in the evening the weather turned: some quite heavy rain came in and my old tent (bought second hand to begin with) started to show its age. The seam seals had all perished letting in considerable, but thankfully not catastrophic, amounts of water.    Read more

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