Trip 06 - Wales

Ride to the Brecons

We passed through a small village called 'Shwt' that just about summed up this area of south Wales.  Mike had led us through the industrial heart land around Port Talbot before heading north up into the Beacon Beacons National Park and the great roads that pass through it.  The route choosen meandered up and down taking in the wide open sceney of the National Park before turning back towards Newport.

Day 4 Route

                A    Newport 

                B    Capel Hendre

                C    Port Talbot

                D    Maesteg

                E    Treorchy

                F    Brecon Reservoir

                G    Defynnog

                H    Cwm Twrch Uchaf

                I     Llangadog

                J     Carmarthen

                K    Cenarth

                L    Newport

                Distance 227 miles (365 km)

Ride along the Coast

The day was spent exploring the country lanes with high hedges that can be found along the coastline. After leaving the beach near to Newport Golf Club we headed towards the head land at St. Dogmaels to look out over the scenic bay towards Cardigan where we decided to have a lunch break. The ride continued and we came across the bay at Aberporth with its destinctive Dolphin sculpture. Our next destination was the beach front cafe at Llangranog for a coffee whilst we sat outside in the sun. I sat there taking in the view whilst the others went for a short walk along the beach to explore the caves that surround the bay. From Llangranog it was a short ride to New Quay where Paul had sampled a Pasty from the shop on the sea front which he recommended we should try. After parking the bikes we wandered along searching for the shop which wasn't far from the main harbour.  I purchased one of the large meat pasties and walked over to the harbour front to eat it.  I really enjoyed it whilst watching the small boats entering the harbour. We all walked to the end of the harbour walk to see if we could spot any dolphins that can be seen in this area. 

Day 5 Route

                A    Glandwr Cottage 

                B    Newport Beach

                C    St. Dogmaels

                D    Cardigan

                E    Ferwig

                F    Aberporth

                G   Llangranog

                H   New Quay

                I    Aberaeron

                J    Newport

                Distance  78 miles (125 km)

The final leg of our day was to head for Aberaeron to visit the sweet shop that sells all those sugary favourites from your childhood.  Unfortunatley for Mike, I didn't know where it was in the town and by the time we had walked to the shop it had closed for the day.  So with a disappointed look on his face we walked back to where we had left the bikes to start our journey back to Newport.

Ride to Elan Valley

Day 6 Route

                A    Newport 

                B    Lampeter

                C    Tregaron

                D    Elan Valley Visitors Centre

                E    Craig Goch Reservoir

                F    Builth Wells

                G    Cynghordy

                H    Llyn Brianne Reservoir

                I     Bethania

                J     Aberaeron

                K    Newport

                Distance 210 miles (338 km)

The wind and rain was battering the bike as we followed Mike over the hills leading to the Elan Valley.  Since leaving the cafe at Tregaron the rain had been falling constantly and the roads had become quite tretcherous in places.  I can see why this area was choosen to build the reservoirs that line the valley with the amount of water that was falling and being collected.  After a welcome stop at the Visitors Centre cafe the weather conditions had relented enabling us to enjoy the roads around the three reservoirs of Carreg-Ddu, Pengarreg and Craig Goch before looping back ovewr the windy hills back towards the Elan Valley village.

Here is a video of a previous ride through the Elan Valley

After heading south towards Builth Wells we turned west in the direction of Cynghordy on the dry meandering roads before turning north on the narrow twisting lanes to the impressive sight of Llyn Brianne Reservoir for the second time this week.  Also for the second time we passed through Tregaron with Jim now leading after Mike was having problems seeing his sat nav through his misted up visor.  Our figure of eight route was almost complete has we past through Aberaeron and made our way down the coast road back to Newport.  When we arrived back Jim informed us that his front brake had stopped working with his brake fliud reservoir being completely empty, telling us his solution to the problem was to ride a bit faster and not use his brakes!