2017 Winter Event - Entries Open.

[Ian]

When I was a teenager, I used to do a sponsored cycle ride where you had to visit as many churches and chapels as possible within about 8 hours.

The record was held by a friend of mine, which topped 80, if I recall. I think I managed about 55 one year - the skill was in crafting a really efficient route. That, and not getting engaged in conversation with the local WI ladies, and eating your body weight in Victoria Sponge cake. More tea, vicar?

[voodoo_simon]

^^^
That sounds like a great idea for a ride!

[notinabox]

On another note, are churches in Wales still left open like they used to be in down here in Devon? Or do they get locked up to stop undesirables nabbing the valuables?

Bit of both Gabe, the more remote ones are usually open - not Chapel's though, they tend to be locked.

Ok......... expands the options

[Ian]

^^^
That sounds like a great idea for a ride!

It even has a website nowadays (http://www.rideandstrideuk.org/what-is/)
They didn't have such fangled stuff when I was a boy. We used to plan it out on old OS maps and measure distance with a little map measuring wheel.

[godivatrailrider]

If it's a bit like a trailquest it's be really entertaining.

Only a bit like one, although you can make it like one if you want.

The trailquest reference is merely the idea of having multiple points you navigate between rather than the coordinates having various values, strict time limits and leaderboards etc.
Some folks are more suited to a leisurely approach rather than having a 200km route to follow.
I would be just as happy to have taken part and covered 40 welsh miles as the folks that do 150.
This sort of event is more my thang than say Bearbones 200. :)

[Bearbonesnorm]

Some folks are more suited to a leisurely approach rather than having a 200km route to follow.
I would be just as happy to have taken part and covered 40 welsh miles as the folks that do 150.
This sort of event is more my thang than say Bearbones 200. :)

I think it's the same for many people and the thought of an imposed 200km isn't a pleasant one. Making it 'multiple choice' opens things up to many more people, which is never a bad thing

[whitestone]

We used to do some of the Trailquests in the South Lakes and Yorkshire Dales areas - as easy or as hard as you wanted to make them and a nice way to investigate an area over three or four hours. I see the Winter event and the Welsh Ride Thing as being similar to a multi-day Trailquest or Polaris but without the competitive or timed elements and a chance to explore an area of Wales I don't know particularly well. The BB200 is closer in spirit to an ITT or reliability ride.

Both have their place but if one doesn't "float your boat" then fine. I like both, I'm happy pottering about but I also like to test myself now and again.

[Blackhound]

Expecting this chapel to be on the list which passed on WRT a couple of years ago:

P5041326 by blackhound59, on Flickr

[RIP]

Ohhh, go on then, maybe I'll discover a late-in-life piety on the way round. I can picture the pre-departure gathering around Stu: "he's NOT the messiah, he's a.......". Anyway, it's a good opportunity to add to my bag of graveyard kips, the benefit of those being if it all becomes a bit too much you can just be rolled sideways by your team-mates into a convenient hole...

"Reg"

[RIP]

"We used to plan it out on old OS maps and measure distance with a little map measuring wheel". - Ah. Er, I have a bit of a confession to make at this point...

[voodoo_simon]

"We used to plan it out on old OS maps and measure distance with a little map measuring wheel". - Ah. Er, I have a bit of a confession to make at this point...

Me too! Still don't use a navigating GPS unit... (on the buy list for Finland...)

[psling]

Puts me in mind of an old Welsh joke: when a tourist travelling through Wales asks an elderly lady standing outside a chapel why are there always two chapels in Welsh villages she replies "Oh, that'll be the one I don't go to, me".

I used to do the sponsored ride around the churches and chapels of the Forest of Dean and lower Wye Valley a few years ago with a couple of old riding buddies now no longer with us; happy memories, thanks for bringing it back to mind Ian

[Ian]

I used to do the sponsored ride around the churches and chapels of the Forest of Dean and lower Wye Valley a few years ago with a couple of old riding buddies now no longer with us; happy memories, thanks for bringing it back to mind Ian

My pleasure.
I wish now I'd kept a better record of where we rode. Mostly south of Hereford and into the Golden Valley - it was as less than 5 miles between churches in places. Mind you, you could do about 20 within the Hereford city boundary if you were canny enough.
It used to get increasingly difficult as the day wore on, because if the church was manned you had to get your sheet validated. Once you'd got over about 30, all the old ladies would coo "how many...?!" and then keep you talking...

[JackT]

Nice theme. Church porches (do chapels have porches?) make for handy spots for getting a bit of shut eye on an overnight ride. And cleaner than the bus shelters favoured by audaxers. Usually a couple of long wooden benches on each side, failing that a well-swept flagstone floor.

[cyclingtiger]

Church porches are more favoured by audaxers than bus stops. Bus stops just tend to be a bit more frequent than churches.

I had a fantastic time on the TNR so I'm in for this one along with Mrs Tiger. Looking forward to the glorious weather, high mountain passes and the ready supply of fine coffee and delicious continental cuisine.

[Blackhound]

Kipped in a church porch that is early on in both the Sandstone Trail and the Berwick - Derby Pennine cycle route. Nice and quiet and being closed unlikely to be disturbed.

[ianfitz]

Unusually the no 1 child's birthday falls closest to the weekend before so I'm in for the first time.

[RIP]

Probably tempting fate to even consider anything about the Winter Event before one’s survived the Winter Bivi, but hey, the anticipation’s the thing...

If it’s “eglwysi neu gapeli” then I was wondering what might be the scale of the challenge? Spent a pleasant evening trying to tot them all up....

For example if Stuart goes for a rough oval shape bounded by Derwenlas, Corris, Llanymawddwy, Vyrnwy, Llanfair Caereinion, Caersws, Van, Nantymoch, and Derwenlas, I think there could be 105 gridrefs for chapels and churches. Of those, 9 are churches and 17 are “now converted” buildings; leaving 79 extant chapels. It would seem that if you’re yn fynychwr capel then you might have your work cut out . Yn fynychwr eglwys... easy peasy.

Aside from our superhuman colleagues who could probably cover those 105 before tea time without raising a sweat, mortals will probably be setting their sights a bit lower and maybe hoping that Stuart restricts us to “less than 20km away from Llanbrynmair”? I reckon that brings it down to 64 – with 6 churches and 13 “now converted” ones, so 45 chapels . That area would still include Mach, Corris, Dinas Mawddwy, Caersws, and Staylittle, and an amusing outlier (there always has to be one it seems!) over towards Llanfair C.

Of course rank amateurs like me will enjoy reading Stu’s gridrefs list, then nip in a straight line to the nearest chapel with a pub next to it and hunker (not Hunka) down for the duration. Hopefully there’ll be a nice graveyard to bivi in as well. With pint in hand I’ll be wondering how long it would take to visit all 6426 Welsh chapels......

Whatever we get, it’s a cracking theme I reckon

“Reg”

[Pickers]

Reg - you got too much time on your hands!

[RIP]

Yeah I never was very good at time-management . However I love maps so I'll feebly protest that it's no worse than time spent, say, in an art gallery - maps are little works of art in themselves. And I spotted a few places I didn't know about that would bear a future visit. Meanwhile I could hear a football match on down the road, and watch punters outside walking to the town's nightclub, so wasting time is not just my prerogative it would seem

[whitestone]

Cath and I are in! Looking forward to some snow or crispy conditions rather than the sleet of last year - this might be a bit on the optimistic side.

[RIP]

"Crispy" - Tyrrell's 'Naked' ones (150g) for me please.

[RIP]

T'other "Winter Event OS Maps" thread seems an opportunity to rejuvenate this one. Only 6 days to go until the traumatic details are revealed in all fashionable colour supplements; with lots of room still for guesswork, speculation, conjecture, cogitation, and suspicion.

"136 and 135". Well that slices my hypothetical "oval shape" nicely in half latitudinally, reducing the potential religious establishments by half to only 53, or 3 every hour of a 2x8hr outing. Hmm.

The excitement is palpable (whatever that means).

R

[Dr Nick]

Just went to enter and entries are closed. Bah humbug!

Is there a reserve list?

[Bearbonesnorm]

Just went to enter and entries are closed. Bah humbug!

Aside from sending everyone a personal invitation, I probably couldn't have done anymore to make people aware of the entry closing date.

Is there a reserve list?

Nope, sorry.