Wednesday 19th
There are a couple of one in seven slopes from Ystradfellte up to the main Hirwaun to Brecon Road. From here there is a beautiful ride across the hills and down to the main Merthyr to Brecon section of the A470 under Pen y Fan. For the millions of pounds and euros poured into Wales over recent you really would imagine that one of these great poets or bards could come up with something slightly more evocative than the Cardiff to Glan Conwy Trunk Road, something more memorable and closer to the register of the heads of the valleys road. Just beyond the lake I picked up the Taff trail for half a mile or so to the Storey Arms at the top of the pass and tried to follow the Taff trail down to Brecon.
This was a really bad idea and shows the limits of Google maps which displays it as the preferred cycle route. It isn't a cycle route. It is a hard stone track of stones and boulders and a substantial incline for about three bone-shuddering miles of standing on the pedals to cushion the bumps while holding on to the brakes to keep the bike in check and searching for patches of grass for a bit of light relief from the pounding of the stone. It is rather similar in construction to the Old Coach Road up from Newbridge on the west side of the Wye. I was fortunate. I went down in dry weather after a sequence of dry days. I think it would have been difficult to stay on a road bike in wet or even damp weather. I would not attempt it again without a mountain bike and I would not fancy riding up it at all, though most hills look steeper on the way down than they do on the way up. They just hurt more that way. The alternative descent of the pass on the very busy main road didn't look attractive either.
Lower down, the track turned to road and was passable for some distance before it got close to Brecon and indicated no further progress for bikes or horses and failed to signpost an alternative. Its not the case that I would normally forgo the opportunity to ignore a sign like that, but I must be getting cautious. Perhaps in view of my experiences earlier I envisaged the track being impassible so I skirted round by road for some miles to find a route into Brecon. Just as the previous day, what should have been a sixteen mile journey had become closer to twenty. After that I climbed back up to the roundabout outside the school at the top of the town and the beginning of Route 8.
For the first time in two days cycling I met two cyclists coming the other way. They were evidently touring with large panniers and multi-handlebars, but what can this mean, cyclists actually cycling on a sustrans cycle route, whatever next? Then it was back up the one in seven to Llanfilo, it really is a beast. By the time I had zipped along the Talgarth by-pass again I was beginning to feel a bit flat so I nipped into the cafe at Hay for another unsponsored flapjack and a pot of tea before heading back to Hereford for 4.30 to make a round six hours for the sixty miles or so and the news that parliament had given Theresa May her massive majority so that she can hold the election that only she wants because she knows she is going to win it and which means she can force through Brexit and invoke prerogative powers to do so without discussion of the terms of her deals, which is exactly why the opposition should have refused to vote for the election.
There are a couple of one in seven slopes from Ystradfellte up to the main Hirwaun to Brecon Road. From here there is a beautiful ride across the hills and down to the main Merthyr to Brecon section of the A470 under Pen y Fan. For the millions of pounds and euros poured into Wales over recent you really would imagine that one of these great poets or bards could come up with something slightly more evocative than the Cardiff to Glan Conwy Trunk Road, something more memorable and closer to the register of the heads of the valleys road. Just beyond the lake I picked up the Taff trail for half a mile or so to the Storey Arms at the top of the pass and tried to follow the Taff trail down to Brecon.
This was a really bad idea and shows the limits of Google maps which displays it as the preferred cycle route. It isn't a cycle route. It is a hard stone track of stones and boulders and a substantial incline for about three bone-shuddering miles of standing on the pedals to cushion the bumps while holding on to the brakes to keep the bike in check and searching for patches of grass for a bit of light relief from the pounding of the stone. It is rather similar in construction to the Old Coach Road up from Newbridge on the west side of the Wye. I was fortunate. I went down in dry weather after a sequence of dry days. I think it would have been difficult to stay on a road bike in wet or even damp weather. I would not attempt it again without a mountain bike and I would not fancy riding up it at all, though most hills look steeper on the way down than they do on the way up. They just hurt more that way. The alternative descent of the pass on the very busy main road didn't look attractive either.
Lower down, the track turned to road and was passable for some distance before it got close to Brecon and indicated no further progress for bikes or horses and failed to signpost an alternative. Its not the case that I would normally forgo the opportunity to ignore a sign like that, but I must be getting cautious. Perhaps in view of my experiences earlier I envisaged the track being impassible so I skirted round by road for some miles to find a route into Brecon. Just as the previous day, what should have been a sixteen mile journey had become closer to twenty. After that I climbed back up to the roundabout outside the school at the top of the town and the beginning of Route 8.
For the first time in two days cycling I met two cyclists coming the other way. They were evidently touring with large panniers and multi-handlebars, but what can this mean, cyclists actually cycling on a sustrans cycle route, whatever next? Then it was back up the one in seven to Llanfilo, it really is a beast. By the time I had zipped along the Talgarth by-pass again I was beginning to feel a bit flat so I nipped into the cafe at Hay for another unsponsored flapjack and a pot of tea before heading back to Hereford for 4.30 to make a round six hours for the sixty miles or so and the news that parliament had given Theresa May her massive majority so that she can hold the election that only she wants because she knows she is going to win it and which means she can force through Brexit and invoke prerogative powers to do so without discussion of the terms of her deals, which is exactly why the opposition should have refused to vote for the election.
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