A little Welsh deathmarch
Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2015 9:37 pm
Everything started out so well. A lovely ride out of Rhayader with CustardFeet, turning left before Elan Valley and through the lanes and a grassy/rocky downhill towards Llanwrthwl. A decent climb had us heading south between Drum Ddu and Y Gamriw, firstly on pavement, then gravel, and finally into some squelchy rubbish with a touch of bog trotting as the rain started coming down. 2 hours in and we had wet socks. Yup...we're definetly in Wales! :)
From here, the lovely decents and joining road climbs start to become one, punctuated with the occasional creek crossing, field ride and fence crossing. We stopped going south and started west a mile or so north of Beulah with a climb up towards the north edge of Irfon forest. CF scored his first and only puncture of the ride here, but it was a slow leak, so we carried on into the forest and onto some nice wide chunks of gravel.
At Abergwesyn, things started to get mighty interesting. Our first "this'll be right" detour had us bushwhacking up a quarter mile 45 degree slope through some bracken, over a fence and up onto more forest road. In the daylight this'd be ok. On dusk, it was proving a little more interesting in the fading light. Out came the illumination and onwards we rode into Coed Nant-yr-hwch.
A few miles north of Pen y Cnwc, I'm told we have to do a touch of bushwhacking. Nothing too strenuous and there's a trail here somewhere, our second "this'll be right" moment. B0ll0cks! It was new growth pine, 4 foot deep irrigation ditches to hoik over and zero trail. A hundred or so feet of this took half an hour, to be confronted with some bog, a fence and a death march through cut down old forest with knee deep bog holes, broken trees, stumps, water courses...you name it, we trapsed through/over it. I mentioned to CF that I was glad it was dark, because there's no way I'd want to see that in daylight and then push across it. After a quarter mile of this and another 20 minutes down, we were on the home straight.
Onto the forest road again, zigzagging north to Moel Prysgau, coming in from down the valley, joining the footpath and across the bridge. Upon reaching the bothy, we rejoiced - no lights on...the castle is ours! Getting inside was even better...coal, wood, kindling, a set fire and beer!! Out of the wet gear, into dry kit, a beer cracked open and the fire cranked up...food consumed and the brought in drinks flowed as did the chatter until the early hours.
A late start and a sore head found me in the morning. Food consumed, kit packed, damp shoes on, tidy the bothy, leave a present of some Jaegermeister and reset the fire. It was easy pickings now, skirting the swimming pools of Strata Florida for the forest roads, dropping down into Pontrhydfendigaid for an icecream but being a touch disappointed the pub wasn't open as I'd have gobbled down a pizza and pint quite easily.
A short hop up the pavement and right at Ffair-Rhos and the climbing was on again, up past the Teifi pools and onto the track toward Claerwen. I always forget how long it takes to knock out the section around the top of Claerwen, and after many, many slate-filled potholes, we were dropping down from the top of the dam to the road, which we followed around out of the Elan Valley, back onto the bike track and onto completing the loop and back to Rhayader.
Not the longest ride out there, but one full of climbing (5645' on the first day and 2000-ish on the 2nd before my GPS ate the batteries) and some adventure. A big thanks to CustardFeet for sharing his route, time and lots of laughs.
Greetz
S.
From here, the lovely decents and joining road climbs start to become one, punctuated with the occasional creek crossing, field ride and fence crossing. We stopped going south and started west a mile or so north of Beulah with a climb up towards the north edge of Irfon forest. CF scored his first and only puncture of the ride here, but it was a slow leak, so we carried on into the forest and onto some nice wide chunks of gravel.
At Abergwesyn, things started to get mighty interesting. Our first "this'll be right" detour had us bushwhacking up a quarter mile 45 degree slope through some bracken, over a fence and up onto more forest road. In the daylight this'd be ok. On dusk, it was proving a little more interesting in the fading light. Out came the illumination and onwards we rode into Coed Nant-yr-hwch.
A few miles north of Pen y Cnwc, I'm told we have to do a touch of bushwhacking. Nothing too strenuous and there's a trail here somewhere, our second "this'll be right" moment. B0ll0cks! It was new growth pine, 4 foot deep irrigation ditches to hoik over and zero trail. A hundred or so feet of this took half an hour, to be confronted with some bog, a fence and a death march through cut down old forest with knee deep bog holes, broken trees, stumps, water courses...you name it, we trapsed through/over it. I mentioned to CF that I was glad it was dark, because there's no way I'd want to see that in daylight and then push across it. After a quarter mile of this and another 20 minutes down, we were on the home straight.
Onto the forest road again, zigzagging north to Moel Prysgau, coming in from down the valley, joining the footpath and across the bridge. Upon reaching the bothy, we rejoiced - no lights on...the castle is ours! Getting inside was even better...coal, wood, kindling, a set fire and beer!! Out of the wet gear, into dry kit, a beer cracked open and the fire cranked up...food consumed and the brought in drinks flowed as did the chatter until the early hours.
- Sunny morning @ Moel Prysgau
- moel_prysgau.jpg (170.08 KiB) Viewed 2732 times
A short hop up the pavement and right at Ffair-Rhos and the climbing was on again, up past the Teifi pools and onto the track toward Claerwen. I always forget how long it takes to knock out the section around the top of Claerwen, and after many, many slate-filled potholes, we were dropping down from the top of the dam to the road, which we followed around out of the Elan Valley, back onto the bike track and onto completing the loop and back to Rhayader.
Not the longest ride out there, but one full of climbing (5645' on the first day and 2000-ish on the 2nd before my GPS ate the batteries) and some adventure. A big thanks to CustardFeet for sharing his route, time and lots of laughs.
Greetz
S.