A Jaunt to Taunton

[Ian]

I set off at 7:30 on Saturday morning bound for Taunton. Out a long the canal to Talybont, I continued up through the forest to skirt around the top edge of Dyffryn Crawnon. A tricky little bridleway eventually came to easy tracks past Trefil Quarry - exiting the Brecon Beacons via the back door, the following sign serving its warning only after I'd negotiated the precipitous bit.



I took a mix of road and moorland tracks over past Blaenavon and beyond, taking in a quick loop around the Blorenge before dropping down to join the canal again upstream from Usk.



After Usk I followed lanes down to Wentwood. A quick skip through the woods and a few more miles of lanes, I was in Chepstow. Since Usk, my rear hub had been making horrible grinding noises under power that I had become to know as the sound of a disintegrated bearing getting mashed up inside the rachet mechanism. Not good. I nursed the bike over the Severn Bridge and along more sustrans route until I got to Severn Beach. Taylor came to my rescue, as we were aiming to ride out to the Mendips together later that day.





After a bite to eat and a change of wheel for me, we set out to the Mendips. Taylor had planned a nice route taking in local bridleways that, save for the odd clump of nettles or stray bramble, were great to ride. By 6:30, we landed at the pub for a pint and some food. 139km for me so far that day.



A few km's on from the pub, we got to our bivvy spot above Cheddar Reservoir, with the hill of Neyland rising out of the Somerset Levels in the distance. Minimal kit packed for this trip saw me with my lightweight PHD bag and Wasatch bivvy bag for the night, which worked out fine.

The morning dawned a bit cloudy and with a stiff breeze. After a coffee and some porridge, we dropped down some nice singletrack into Cheddar. Taylor headed back to Bristol and I embarked on the last leg of my journey.



The Somerset Levels are really very flat. Quite enjoyable, but very much flat. My route took in a few bridleways, and combined with quiet sustrans-marked lanes and canal paths it made for a pleasant journey.



I arrived just outside Taunton at about 10:30. In total 209km ridden on a mix of proper off road, quiet lanes and canal paths. Only 1800m of ascent, most of that the previous day, but nonetheless, a really enjoyable ride.

The reason for the journey was to collect this.



I guess I could have got the train or something, but that would have been a lot less fun

[mountainbaker]

Nice ride, and nice new ride too. Looks like a good route to Wales for me, as I'm not far south of Taunton, will take a closer look. How much was road/off-road?

[Ian]

I guess around a third was off road, maybe a bit more. Most of the way to Usk was off road of some sort. After Usk it became more fragmented. Wraxall to the Mendips seemed to have a good bit of off road with short tarmac linking sections. The longer road sections were between Cheddar and Bridgwater, then I could get on the canal path to Taunton.

[slarge]

Love a ride with a purpose! Good trip, and camper vans are great fun - how's it done out inside?

[Zonc]

Cracking journey. No doubt, both ways!

[Ian]

Van has a double rock and roll bed, cupboards, lights and so on inside. No sink, but that's ok for now.

I must admit, the journey was all the more enjoyable for the fact that I was riding with a specific purpose, rather than purely for pleasure.

[slarge]

Ian
try to get it registered as a motorhome (although I think the regs are changing/have changed) or you will be limited to van speed limits (60 on dual carriageways). You might need a cooker for this to be possible though!

[Taylor]

50mph on single carriage way as well.

[mountainbaker]

Like anyone in a T5 obeys the speed limit.

[Zippy]

If you have BBSs on a T5, you need to slam it a bit more Maybe a touch more camber to those wheels too

Enjoyed the write up Ian, looks very relaxing