Monday, October 15, 2007

Young again in Wales

Spent the weekend in Wales on NRC tourette. Went back to a youth hostel for the first time in 30 years to find they had changed a lot since was last there. Excellent 3 course evening meal was on offer with choice of local beers (I tried all 4 on offer, as one has to sample the local culture when travelling)

This was my fourth cycling foray into Wales and my luck with the weather continued. We stayed dry the whole time and even saw a bit of sun. First days riding resulted in slight cock up as the two of us ahead blithley sailed by a sign "to the golf course" not realising it was also the road we were meant to be following. Much fruitless searching the Welsh countryside for missing members followed without success. So we made our way back alone and, by the simple expedient of taking every left turn we came to + asking the natives arrived back at the YHA.

Sunday we managed to stick together. I revisited some of the route I followed in the Tour of the Black Mountains, including my 3rd climb of 2007 up Gospel Pass. It was shrouded in mist and not sure if it was this fact or me simply getting fitter but it seemed a lot easier. This despite me eschewing my little gear for the entire trip so doing all in 39*23.

The descent to Hay allowed us to visit an excellent cafe where I indulged in both apple crumble and custard plus some super Welsh cheese. Our route back to the YHA involved several meandering and the inevitable (given Dave was leading) a section on a road with grass growing down the middle.

All in all the weekend involved some 170km of riding with 2000m of ascents. So not bad if not quite the Pyrenees

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