August 2015
Four day tour in Wales based on the "Radnor Ring"
Following Tuesday Cycling's successful short tours for four years from 2011 to 2014, Sheila declared that she was resigning from the role of tour organiser and leader.
Four years of good weather on cycling tours = time to quit?
But somehow she seemed to be persuaded to do "just one more".
A route based on the Radnor Ring in Wales was suggested.
Isn't Wales a bit hilly?
The LTC tour criteria would have to be modified - see below:
1 Not make the daily distances too long (Keep this one)
Not make the terrain covered too challenging - Revise to:
2 Challenging terrain, some walking permitted
Visit interesting places - Revise to:
3 Travel through great scenery
Ensure the TCs requirement for frequent cafe or picnic stops - Revise to:
4 Cafe or picnic stops if possible in remote terrain
Many hours later after studying Sustrans maps, online maps, Google 'streetview', hotel and B&B accommodation reviews, Sheila had devised a plan for a circular route from Wigmore via overnight stops in Llandrindod Wells and Llanidloes and taking in the Elan Valley, followed by a one-day circuit to and from Ludlow.
Accommodation was booked, Coffee and lunch stops were booked (including special negotiations to open just for us at some venues), picnic purchasing opportunities were located, evening meals were booked and comprehensive maps and route sheets were prepared for everyone. All we needed now was fine weather and strong legs - total climbing 4,000m with 1,700m of climbing on the hilliest (first) day.
Four years of good weather on cycling tours = time to quit?
But somehow she seemed to be persuaded to do "just one more".
A route based on the Radnor Ring in Wales was suggested.
Isn't Wales a bit hilly?
The LTC tour criteria would have to be modified - see below:
1 Not make the daily distances too long (Keep this one)
Not make the terrain covered too challenging - Revise to:
2 Challenging terrain, some walking permitted
Visit interesting places - Revise to:
3 Travel through great scenery
Ensure the TCs requirement for frequent cafe or picnic stops - Revise to:
4 Cafe or picnic stops if possible in remote terrain
Many hours later after studying Sustrans maps, online maps, Google 'streetview', hotel and B&B accommodation reviews, Sheila had devised a plan for a circular route from Wigmore via overnight stops in Llandrindod Wells and Llanidloes and taking in the Elan Valley, followed by a one-day circuit to and from Ludlow.
Accommodation was booked, Coffee and lunch stops were booked (including special negotiations to open just for us at some venues), picnic purchasing opportunities were located, evening meals were booked and comprehensive maps and route sheets were prepared for everyone. All we needed now was fine weather and strong legs - total climbing 4,000m with 1,700m of climbing on the hilliest (first) day.
Notes from the tour Blog and Photos
Assembling in Wigmore at the Castle Inn and
Day 1: Wigmore to Llandrindod Wells
ASSEMBLY
The Team (apart from Jonathan and Rosemary who will be joining tomorrow) assembled in Wigmore for tea and cake, although a couple of beers were also consumed.
Briefing and maps distribution by Sheila, followed by handing out of 2015 tour postcard packs.
An enjoyable dinner, but rather a lot of conversation about hills. Were we a bit unsure about what was to come?
DAY 1 – How to turn a difficult cycle ride over a reasonable distance into a longer and more challenging day out on bicycles.
Whatever else we all agreed that it had been a very scenic ride. We started out in woodland, progressed to farmland and ended up on the open bracken clad upland with plenty of hill sheep to confirm where we were.
The compulsory line up and photographs were taken outside the hotel. We set off. No gentle warm up. Half a mile along the main road then turn right and it was straight into climbing. First hill was quite manageable, then the fact that we were going across the grain of the country was revealed by the unrelenting drops and climbs getting longer and steeper with each. John and Sheila on the tandem tried all combinations: both cycling, John cycling and Sheila walking and on the really steep bits both walking. Somewhere before Presteigne we paused to admire the long views. The fact that the long views were in all directions was the clue to the fact that we had managed to choose a route that climbed to the highest point in the countryside here.
Down to Presteigne was not really down it was down and up with the downs just a bit longer than the ups in order for us to lose all of our gained height. Lorna’s sandwich shop had been pre-arranged by Sheila to produce the sandwiches for our picnic lunch. We lined up and ordered our choices, leaving them to be made and then brought on by Mike and Hilary in the support car for our lunch. Possibly not a good decision – see, “what no lunch” later.
Comparatively easy cycling along the B road to Kington, where we halted for our morning coffee stop. The planned Museum cafe turned out not to be functioning, but Sheila had a back up plan in the form of the Chocolate Box cafe. Our first technical problem was here. John had been complaining that his shoe did not feel right on the pedal. Walking through a passage to the cafe he discovered that the SPD cleat was loose and one bolt was missing. Together with Mary and Sheila the passage was scoured for said missing bolt but was not found. Only make do solution was to torque the remaining bolt up hard and remember not to try un-clipping this shoe to dismount because most likely this would just rotate the cleat leading to an inevitable falling off situation. Back in the cafe all was well with coffees and tea cakes being consumed and costing about half as much as any current New Forest cafe offering.
Inevitably it was an up hill start out of Kington from the cafe. It was still hilly but we were all going well until we paused before a long long drop into a valley that looked kind of “not right”. We were lost. Somewhere we had missed a turn and had travelled too far south now heading towards Hay on Wye – a nice town but nowhere near our route. We were at a junction, there was a house, Sheila consulted a local native. We were given directions to get back to our road to Gladestry. We found our way back to get on route. But it was quite a long way and was a very very steep and hilly roller coaster ride.
Back on route Gladestry was still a long time coming and rather disconcertingly seemed to disappear off the road signs. Nonetheless we arrived there eventually and decided we needed to re-think our lunch plans because we were well behind schedule. We ‘phoned Mike and re-arranged a lunch stop to be in Glascwm.
Pressing on the views were great and the route was going up the scenic scale. Unfortunately it was also still going up the steep and hilly scale. Getting hungrier with hollow legs we decided we should stop once we saw a possible picnic place and ‘phone Mike to come back and meet us. Slightly ahead of the others John and Sheila spotted St David’s church. A bench and a porch with seats to sit on – this was lunch. Then, even better we saw the sign that said the church had a make your own tea and coffee facility with payment in the box on an honesty system. Brilliant.
But there was a technical problem. Hilly wildest Wales equals no phone signal. Mary boldly offered to cycle on the three miles to Glascwm to meet Mike. The rest of us headed for the church and put the kettle on. An extremely welcome cup of tea. Mike did not come and did not come, so having eaten a couple of chewy bars we decided to press on to meet him. Once we realised how challengingly difficult the road was with 15% Stay in Low Gear signs, we realised why Mary had not come back. We met Mike coming towards us and he then turned around and overtook us to go back to Mary. We caught him up stuck behind a lorry unloading in the narrow lane, so we collected our sandwiches, squeezed past the lorry and continued.
All back together and a late picnic lunch at Glascwm. There was even a bench on a piece of grass.
A bit of up and down to reach Hundred House, then left and we were on the last lap to Llandrindod Wells. Great views, great scenery, unrelentingly hilly.
Only 10km to go, the hills were getting steeper or were we getting more tired? Only 5km to go, but no easy finish. Just too challenging a sequence of hills, so several of us made it as far as we could then walked the final part, free wheeled down and repeated, free wheeled down and repeated, free wheeled down into the outskirts of Llandrindod Wells, cycled on and reached the town centre roundabout. Only 1.2km to the hotel and it was still not 5pm.
Checked in, stowed the bikes in the garage and then just had to summon enough energy to climb the stairs.
Showers and revival, then it was a 1.2km walk back into town for an excellent dinner, and 1.2km walk back – probably did our legs good to unwind them again.
PS Failed to buy a cleat bolt for John at the only bike shop in town.
PPS Did we mention that it was a bit hilly? Pete’s Strava recorded 1,700m of climbing
PPPS Wildlife spotting included quite a few Red Kites, millions of sheep, and a death defying rabbit that zig zagged back and forth across the road inches in from of the tandem’s front wheel.
The Team (apart from Jonathan and Rosemary who will be joining tomorrow) assembled in Wigmore for tea and cake, although a couple of beers were also consumed.
Briefing and maps distribution by Sheila, followed by handing out of 2015 tour postcard packs.
An enjoyable dinner, but rather a lot of conversation about hills. Were we a bit unsure about what was to come?
DAY 1 – How to turn a difficult cycle ride over a reasonable distance into a longer and more challenging day out on bicycles.
Whatever else we all agreed that it had been a very scenic ride. We started out in woodland, progressed to farmland and ended up on the open bracken clad upland with plenty of hill sheep to confirm where we were.
The compulsory line up and photographs were taken outside the hotel. We set off. No gentle warm up. Half a mile along the main road then turn right and it was straight into climbing. First hill was quite manageable, then the fact that we were going across the grain of the country was revealed by the unrelenting drops and climbs getting longer and steeper with each. John and Sheila on the tandem tried all combinations: both cycling, John cycling and Sheila walking and on the really steep bits both walking. Somewhere before Presteigne we paused to admire the long views. The fact that the long views were in all directions was the clue to the fact that we had managed to choose a route that climbed to the highest point in the countryside here.
Down to Presteigne was not really down it was down and up with the downs just a bit longer than the ups in order for us to lose all of our gained height. Lorna’s sandwich shop had been pre-arranged by Sheila to produce the sandwiches for our picnic lunch. We lined up and ordered our choices, leaving them to be made and then brought on by Mike and Hilary in the support car for our lunch. Possibly not a good decision – see, “what no lunch” later.
Comparatively easy cycling along the B road to Kington, where we halted for our morning coffee stop. The planned Museum cafe turned out not to be functioning, but Sheila had a back up plan in the form of the Chocolate Box cafe. Our first technical problem was here. John had been complaining that his shoe did not feel right on the pedal. Walking through a passage to the cafe he discovered that the SPD cleat was loose and one bolt was missing. Together with Mary and Sheila the passage was scoured for said missing bolt but was not found. Only make do solution was to torque the remaining bolt up hard and remember not to try un-clipping this shoe to dismount because most likely this would just rotate the cleat leading to an inevitable falling off situation. Back in the cafe all was well with coffees and tea cakes being consumed and costing about half as much as any current New Forest cafe offering.
Inevitably it was an up hill start out of Kington from the cafe. It was still hilly but we were all going well until we paused before a long long drop into a valley that looked kind of “not right”. We were lost. Somewhere we had missed a turn and had travelled too far south now heading towards Hay on Wye – a nice town but nowhere near our route. We were at a junction, there was a house, Sheila consulted a local native. We were given directions to get back to our road to Gladestry. We found our way back to get on route. But it was quite a long way and was a very very steep and hilly roller coaster ride.
Back on route Gladestry was still a long time coming and rather disconcertingly seemed to disappear off the road signs. Nonetheless we arrived there eventually and decided we needed to re-think our lunch plans because we were well behind schedule. We ‘phoned Mike and re-arranged a lunch stop to be in Glascwm.
Pressing on the views were great and the route was going up the scenic scale. Unfortunately it was also still going up the steep and hilly scale. Getting hungrier with hollow legs we decided we should stop once we saw a possible picnic place and ‘phone Mike to come back and meet us. Slightly ahead of the others John and Sheila spotted St David’s church. A bench and a porch with seats to sit on – this was lunch. Then, even better we saw the sign that said the church had a make your own tea and coffee facility with payment in the box on an honesty system. Brilliant.
But there was a technical problem. Hilly wildest Wales equals no phone signal. Mary boldly offered to cycle on the three miles to Glascwm to meet Mike. The rest of us headed for the church and put the kettle on. An extremely welcome cup of tea. Mike did not come and did not come, so having eaten a couple of chewy bars we decided to press on to meet him. Once we realised how challengingly difficult the road was with 15% Stay in Low Gear signs, we realised why Mary had not come back. We met Mike coming towards us and he then turned around and overtook us to go back to Mary. We caught him up stuck behind a lorry unloading in the narrow lane, so we collected our sandwiches, squeezed past the lorry and continued.
All back together and a late picnic lunch at Glascwm. There was even a bench on a piece of grass.
A bit of up and down to reach Hundred House, then left and we were on the last lap to Llandrindod Wells. Great views, great scenery, unrelentingly hilly.
Only 10km to go, the hills were getting steeper or were we getting more tired? Only 5km to go, but no easy finish. Just too challenging a sequence of hills, so several of us made it as far as we could then walked the final part, free wheeled down and repeated, free wheeled down and repeated, free wheeled down into the outskirts of Llandrindod Wells, cycled on and reached the town centre roundabout. Only 1.2km to the hotel and it was still not 5pm.
Checked in, stowed the bikes in the garage and then just had to summon enough energy to climb the stairs.
Showers and revival, then it was a 1.2km walk back into town for an excellent dinner, and 1.2km walk back – probably did our legs good to unwind them again.
PS Failed to buy a cleat bolt for John at the only bike shop in town.
PPS Did we mention that it was a bit hilly? Pete’s Strava recorded 1,700m of climbing
PPPS Wildlife spotting included quite a few Red Kites, millions of sheep, and a death defying rabbit that zig zagged back and forth across the road inches in from of the tandem’s front wheel.
Click on any photo to enlarge and scroll through
Day 2: Llandrindod Wells to Llanidloes
|
Today’s cycle ride was billed in the pre-trip advertising as the scenic highlight of the tour. It most certainly lived up to its description. A definite contender for inclusion in the Book of Best British one-day cycle rides. Quite a lot of climbing, but after yesterday it was well spread out and much more benign. In fact the morning run to coffee was almost free of impossible gradients. In fact we still managed 1,340m of ascent.
Pre-departure photo line up in front of the hotel to include Jonathan and Rosemary and also because the hotel wanted a photo of a group of keen people on an activity holiday to include on their website. Back through the centre of Llandrindod Wells and then steadily down hill. Not the leg breaking start of yesterday. A short stretch up hill had us feeling it was hard work more because we had not got our legs working yet than the real steepness of the road. Then it was off on to minor roads. Mindful of yesterday’s episode of getting lost, Sheila was cautious and stopped for a check with Jonathan’s GPS just to re-assure us. We were on route OK. A bit of main road, but not too busy. On a straight stretch we could see the road kick up fiercely, double white lines etc. but just as we were all thinking “here we go again”, Sheila stuck out her left arm and we turned off onto a quiet minor road with no aspirations to ramp up suddenly. Through Nantglas to another main road for a short distance before turning to Llanwrthwl, which put us on the Sustrans Welsh National Cycle Route. We first met and crossed the River Wye on our way to the Elan Visitor Centre for our morning coffee stop. We rolled in on the dot of 11.00am. Refreshed, it was onwards and upwards to explore the delightful scenery of the Elan Valley with its succession of reservoir lakes. There were opportunities to stop and take photos or admire the view at each one. Finally it was time to leave the Elan Valley and climb over the valley ridge. Climbing steadily onto upland moors with a wild and slightly desolate character we finally crested the ridge for a downhill run into Rhayader for our lunch stop at Ty Morgan’s cafe. After lunch John managed to buy a new SPD cleat in the local bike shop and finally fix his cleat properly back onto his shoe. A slight up hill retrace from Rhayader led us to our next climb up and over a ridge to drop into the valley of the River Wye. We followed the River upstream twisting up and down on a tiny lane with more grass in the centre than tarmac at the edges. Sometimes near the river and sometimes clambering steeply up the side of the valley. As we progressed the lane became a bit wider and finally was a small road. Apart from stopping to look generally at the river scenery there were frequent ornithological pauses to watch Red Kites and buzzards. Finally over the River Wye into Llangurig. Left, right across the main road and immediately steeply up. This was our last up and over the mountain climb of the day. Climbing in steps with, inevitably, some downs and repeated ups. As usual Don cycled up them all, as did Mary, but in her case with increasingly frequent stop and recover pauses. The rest of us did a bit of walking just once or twice. The final steep climb of the day. Round a sharp left hand bend and up. The tandem banked around the corner rattled down into bottom gear and started up. John and Sheila were a spent force. It seemed harder than ever. The legs gave out and the tandem stopped. After getting off John realised the problem and had to admit to Sheila that he had just realised that the rear drag brake was still full on from the drop down into the dip. Sheila took it well! At last it was the final down hill run all the way to Llanidloes to roll into town about 5.00pm. We arrived at Lloyd’s hotel and were greeted by Tom (of Tom and Roy). Showered, changed and a short stroll around the centre of the town brought us back together in the lounge at Lloyds. Aperitifs and canapés followed by dinner party. Not enough blog space to do justice to the hospitality, the cuisine and the good food enjoyed by all. This was a top class dining experience living up to the Lloyds memory from when John and Sheila had stayed there about 16 years previously. The sad thing is that they retire next week. PS. “Pete’s OK”. Why? – ask one of the team who chatted to Tom in Lloyds lounge before aperitifs. |
Comments on today from the tour members
What I most enjoyed today: The ride along the Wye valley was probably the most perfect cycling imaginable. Beautiful scenery undulating countryside,sunny and a perfectly quiet lane – across the river where all the car drivers on the main road were doing battle with their egos. – Jonathan Easy day after yesterday. Only 47 miles! One of the best sightings on top of all the beautiful Welsh countryside were numerous close ups of Red Kites in flight. As we neared our journey’s end, we came across the steepest hill of the day which was conquered in three bite size chunks. Overall, a wow day. – Malcolm It was lovely to pedal round the Elan Valley again and the run up the Wye valley was very pretty. Great to be back at Lloyds Hotel – just a week before Tom and Roy retire. – Sheila Fabulous day with lovely views all ride. Can’t believe it wasn’t much less height than yesterday as only a couple of big dips and climbs. Rest of the day it was rumbling over what seemed to be much smaller inclines but thinking about it they were often over a much longer section of road. – Mary Breakfast was much better today. The Elan valley centre was very well organised and visited by loads of cars and coaches. No emergency food convoys needed today. – Mike It was a wonderful day on a bike, spectacular scenery and wildlife. As usual Sheila’s careful planning ensured breaks at the right time, bike getting used to being on the small ring and 32 cog, road surfaces even worse than the New Forest, all tired but happy. – Pete I enjoyed today – the cycling was excellent as the hills up were not as bad as yesterday. Phew! The scenery was amazing: some of the views looked like paintings! Watching so many Red Kites flying and dancing in the sky was spectacular! Coffee stop was very good! Jacket potatoes at lunch was yummy! A brilliant day! - Ev A fantastic cycle today. Worried about the legs after yesterday ( never used my granny cog so much) but no problem given the superb scenery all day, Red Kites flying just above our heads and a more ‘rolling’ landscape. You must visit the Elan Valley, wonderful scenery. Eaten far too much but can’t say no to a full Welsh breakfast or the Apple Pie at the coffee stop. – Don Everything – John Well the high point of our day, not forgetting that we are the non-cyclists or hangers on as some people refer to us wives, was when we went upstairs to enjoy a lovely cuppa tea! We enjoyed the ride around this beautiful countryside in the car and wondered at the sheep wandering in our path. So a lovely ride today. Rosemary and Hilary. PS. from the editor – this was written before dinner, otherwise everyone would have forgotten about cycling, stunningly good as it was, and just said Lloyds, Tom and Roy and the dinner party. |
Click on any photo to enlarge and scroll through
Day 3: Llanidloes to Wigmore
Breakfast and goodbyes to Tom and Roy at Lloyds, then it was back on the road again.
Looked like being another day of good weather.
No easy start today. A couple of turns through the town and it was uphill with a vengeance. Part way up the climb Jonathan remembered that he had left his supply of drugs for the day behind. Apparently these are claimed to be essential medication and are UCI approved. The rest of us waited half way up the climb while he returned to the hotel to collect them. In fact we were all quite happy to pause and recover from the shock of a fierce climb with no warm up.
Jonathan returned and we all joined in the continued climb, which turned out not just to be the second half, because around a corner there was more to come. Finally we were once more on top of the world in Wales.
Rolling farmland countryside, but quite obviously too steep to do much farming except hill sheep. An inevitable succession of plummets into dips and steep climbs out followed. John was feeling a bit legless and the tandem stalled three quarters of the way up some of these climbs and was then pushed to the top. Malcolm was still climbing to all the summits, but he, and sometimes Ev, adopted Mary’s approach to hills – “I never walk up them, but sometimes I stop quite often to recover, then do a bit more and if necessary have another stop and re-start”. Don continued to spin his lowest gear to the tops in a slightly annoyingly effortless fashion. Pete was on good climbing form too, but not too proud to walk on a couple of occasions.
We were up above the fenced farmland in open country, with some super long views. A few were of steeply banked hills seen across a valley. We enjoyed the vista, but hoped that we would cling to the contour line and not dive down to ascend again on the other side. Sometimes we were lucky and sometime we weren’t. The map was a good clue with tightly packed contours, arrows marked on the roads and place names like: Pant-poeth hill and Pegwn Bach. Plenty of wind turbines on some skylines, mostly on our eye level not above us.
No real need to find excuses for stops, but one was called by Mary as being an ideal botanical photo backdrop. There was quite a lot of Rose Bay Willowherb growing on rough ground beside the lanes and this was a particularly fine bank of them, glowing red in the sunshine.
Down hill, a bit of steady cycling before Bwlch y Sarnau threw its packed contour lines at us for a challenging spell. About here we rejoined the official Radnor Ring route, which in the manner of Sustrans routes immediately took us on a white knuckle drop to a river crossing and straight back up the opposite valley side.
Then right at the T-junction onto a main road. Wide, not much traffic, steadily downhill, time to rediscover higher gear ratios and cruise along to the Lion Hotel at Llanbister for coffee. Sheila had arranged for them to open specially for us. Coffee, Welsh cakes or fruit cake.
Refreshed and eager we set off and almost at once stopped. Mary’s bike did not sound well. It had fallen over while parked at the hotel. John and Jonathan inspected the damage and discovered the rear mech touching the rear wheel spokes. Most definitely not good. A bent derailleur hanger was diagnosed. We asked Mary if she would like her bike put down or given drastic treatment. It being much loved she chose the latter. Jonathan judiciously applied pressure on the mech to re-align it. Cold setting aluminium is always a slightly nervy process. The rear wheel now went round, but the millimetre clearance of spokes was not safe. A bit more pressure to ease it out further. Sighting along the two dérailleur jockey wheels, chain and sprockets looked good. Indexing worked. Time to be grateful and leave well alone.
Back to the inevitable immediate post coffee stop steep climb.
Open moorland with ups and downs. Lots of sheep on the road, skilfully herded to one side by Malcolm acting as our outrider 20m ahead of the group.
Arrived beside a railway going in our direction. Not exactly flat cycling but the extremes of topographic variation now calmed down. Don dropped back at one point so we waited to gather up the group and for him to re-appear. It turned out that he had been delayed by a mercy mission. Spotting a sheep with its head stuck in a wire fence (missed by the rest of us) he had stopped to prise the fence mesh apart and release said animal. We hoped it had been grateful.
Swapped railway lines to the Heart of Wales Railway. An enjoyable easy, mostly gently downhill run near to the railway, under a short viaduct and the a very satisfactory downhill freewheel all the way to Knighton. A short kick up in the town saw us at the central clock tower. Parked bikes and headed for the Tower Gallery cafe for lunch. Sheila had, again, pre-booked us. Excellent wholesome lunch of soup, sandwiches and similar. Quantity made it an eating challenge, but we managed, apart from half of a giant cheese sandwich that defeated Sheila.
After lunch, we broke the basic laws of the Cycle Touring Rulebook, which clearly states: “Departure after coffee and lunch stops shall always be uphill”. It was downhill, then downhill some more. We followed the River Teme down its valley, freewheeling or once in a while turning the cranks. The miles were ticking by with unfamiliar speed. At Bucknell we left the railway and had to take a small lane to stay with the River Teme. Sheila skilfully spotted the turning, looking like a narrow drive to a house rather than a public road. We turned left and the lane turned up. But this was nothing, just a little ramp and we were off cruising down again. We had to stop a few times for oncoming vehicles in the road touching the hedges on either side. Given the very few vehicles we had seen, four was rather a lot – we had got rather used to having the roads to ourselves. We gathered squeezed on the roadside each time to allow the vehicles to come by.
Finally at Buckton we crossed the river and had to turn away. Still quite easy cycling took us to the B4530, wider and with a continued falling gradient. Finally it was just two miles of easy gradient main road to return to Wigmore. This was tandeming country. John and Sheila remembered how to change onto the the little used large chain ring, bent down to reduce wind resistance and wound the speed up to 40kph.
All safely back at the Castle Inn in Wigmore by 4.00pm. Time for afternoon tea (or beers) in the garden.
Looked like being another day of good weather.
No easy start today. A couple of turns through the town and it was uphill with a vengeance. Part way up the climb Jonathan remembered that he had left his supply of drugs for the day behind. Apparently these are claimed to be essential medication and are UCI approved. The rest of us waited half way up the climb while he returned to the hotel to collect them. In fact we were all quite happy to pause and recover from the shock of a fierce climb with no warm up.
Jonathan returned and we all joined in the continued climb, which turned out not just to be the second half, because around a corner there was more to come. Finally we were once more on top of the world in Wales.
Rolling farmland countryside, but quite obviously too steep to do much farming except hill sheep. An inevitable succession of plummets into dips and steep climbs out followed. John was feeling a bit legless and the tandem stalled three quarters of the way up some of these climbs and was then pushed to the top. Malcolm was still climbing to all the summits, but he, and sometimes Ev, adopted Mary’s approach to hills – “I never walk up them, but sometimes I stop quite often to recover, then do a bit more and if necessary have another stop and re-start”. Don continued to spin his lowest gear to the tops in a slightly annoyingly effortless fashion. Pete was on good climbing form too, but not too proud to walk on a couple of occasions.
We were up above the fenced farmland in open country, with some super long views. A few were of steeply banked hills seen across a valley. We enjoyed the vista, but hoped that we would cling to the contour line and not dive down to ascend again on the other side. Sometimes we were lucky and sometime we weren’t. The map was a good clue with tightly packed contours, arrows marked on the roads and place names like: Pant-poeth hill and Pegwn Bach. Plenty of wind turbines on some skylines, mostly on our eye level not above us.
No real need to find excuses for stops, but one was called by Mary as being an ideal botanical photo backdrop. There was quite a lot of Rose Bay Willowherb growing on rough ground beside the lanes and this was a particularly fine bank of them, glowing red in the sunshine.
Down hill, a bit of steady cycling before Bwlch y Sarnau threw its packed contour lines at us for a challenging spell. About here we rejoined the official Radnor Ring route, which in the manner of Sustrans routes immediately took us on a white knuckle drop to a river crossing and straight back up the opposite valley side.
Then right at the T-junction onto a main road. Wide, not much traffic, steadily downhill, time to rediscover higher gear ratios and cruise along to the Lion Hotel at Llanbister for coffee. Sheila had arranged for them to open specially for us. Coffee, Welsh cakes or fruit cake.
Refreshed and eager we set off and almost at once stopped. Mary’s bike did not sound well. It had fallen over while parked at the hotel. John and Jonathan inspected the damage and discovered the rear mech touching the rear wheel spokes. Most definitely not good. A bent derailleur hanger was diagnosed. We asked Mary if she would like her bike put down or given drastic treatment. It being much loved she chose the latter. Jonathan judiciously applied pressure on the mech to re-align it. Cold setting aluminium is always a slightly nervy process. The rear wheel now went round, but the millimetre clearance of spokes was not safe. A bit more pressure to ease it out further. Sighting along the two dérailleur jockey wheels, chain and sprockets looked good. Indexing worked. Time to be grateful and leave well alone.
Back to the inevitable immediate post coffee stop steep climb.
Open moorland with ups and downs. Lots of sheep on the road, skilfully herded to one side by Malcolm acting as our outrider 20m ahead of the group.
Arrived beside a railway going in our direction. Not exactly flat cycling but the extremes of topographic variation now calmed down. Don dropped back at one point so we waited to gather up the group and for him to re-appear. It turned out that he had been delayed by a mercy mission. Spotting a sheep with its head stuck in a wire fence (missed by the rest of us) he had stopped to prise the fence mesh apart and release said animal. We hoped it had been grateful.
Swapped railway lines to the Heart of Wales Railway. An enjoyable easy, mostly gently downhill run near to the railway, under a short viaduct and the a very satisfactory downhill freewheel all the way to Knighton. A short kick up in the town saw us at the central clock tower. Parked bikes and headed for the Tower Gallery cafe for lunch. Sheila had, again, pre-booked us. Excellent wholesome lunch of soup, sandwiches and similar. Quantity made it an eating challenge, but we managed, apart from half of a giant cheese sandwich that defeated Sheila.
After lunch, we broke the basic laws of the Cycle Touring Rulebook, which clearly states: “Departure after coffee and lunch stops shall always be uphill”. It was downhill, then downhill some more. We followed the River Teme down its valley, freewheeling or once in a while turning the cranks. The miles were ticking by with unfamiliar speed. At Bucknell we left the railway and had to take a small lane to stay with the River Teme. Sheila skilfully spotted the turning, looking like a narrow drive to a house rather than a public road. We turned left and the lane turned up. But this was nothing, just a little ramp and we were off cruising down again. We had to stop a few times for oncoming vehicles in the road touching the hedges on either side. Given the very few vehicles we had seen, four was rather a lot – we had got rather used to having the roads to ourselves. We gathered squeezed on the roadside each time to allow the vehicles to come by.
Finally at Buckton we crossed the river and had to turn away. Still quite easy cycling took us to the B4530, wider and with a continued falling gradient. Finally it was just two miles of easy gradient main road to return to Wigmore. This was tandeming country. John and Sheila remembered how to change onto the the little used large chain ring, bent down to reduce wind resistance and wound the speed up to 40kph.
All safely back at the Castle Inn in Wigmore by 4.00pm. Time for afternoon tea (or beers) in the garden.
Click on any photo to enlarge and scroll through
Day 4: Wigmore to Ludlow Circuit
Friday morning roll call at breakfast. We were expecting to say goodbye to Malcolm and Hilary today because they had to get home in time to change and pack for their next holiday!
Don’s sore knee had not improved overnight, so with regret he was listed as a non-starter for today’s stage. The consequential effect of this was Ev, who was the camper-van navigator, also had to be recorded as having abandoned.
(The Sky team did not lose so many members after three days of the TdF this year)
But the good news was that we gained Rosemary, joining Jonathan on their Bike Friday tandem – most appropriate name for today.
So, we were two tandems and two solo bikes with six people lining up for the departure photo.
Set off down the main road and created a tailback of cars, but in a short distance we turned left onto a minor road for Leinthall Earls. We met a couple of large quarry lorries coming towards us, but we were able comfortably to pull aside into the plentiful passing places. John and Sheila were slightly ahead and soon found themselves in the quarry. They did not need the man who came out of the office to see why a tandem was masquerading as an aggregate lorry, to realise they had missed the fact that the lane turned right at the point where they continued forward on the larger road.
All together again we continued, and guess what?
Here was the first seriously steep hill of the day. Several miles of steep up and down, bottom gear hill climbing, descending and repeat climbing took place. On a couple of occasions the two tandem teams resorted to a 24 inch gear before reaching the summit.
A steep downhill brought us to a junction where we paused to contemplate just where we were. Jonathan’s mobile phone map app confirmed we were at the Goggin and we were OK on the route for Comberton. More ups and downs, but manageable, then some contouring around the hillside with splendid views out across the vale. Even better, the road took a downhill tendency into the vale at Woofferton.
It was positively flat cycling from here and we bowled along in high spirits, looking forward to this style of cycling taking us all the way to Tenbury wells for coffee……….However, the little lanes decided that they would rather wander up and down the sides of the valley, quite steeply in places.
We arrived above Tenbury Wells and free wheeled down into the town centre. Stopped and phoned Mike to see which cafe he might be in.
“I can see you from here”, he replied. Good cafe choice on the riverside with seating and bike parking overlooking the river. Time for coffees and toasted tea cakes. Plenty of time today for a leisurely mid-morning break watching the ducks, house martins and small fish in the river.
Departure was across the bridge, which had an old plaque at its centre showing that it was the Worcestershire – Shropshire border. The bridge spanned the River Teme, which we had followed yesterday from Knighton towards Wigmore, now with a much larger downstream flow of water.
We soon turned right off the main road. The signpost said Clee Hill. This could be a climb? OK, no panic, we turned left almost immediately. Bad news it soon turned into another seriously steep tough climb, more than meeting the uphill after coffee breaks cycle touring rule. This turned out to be the only major hill in the area – could there have been a way around? Probably only by the main road. Jonathan and Rosemary had a bit of a gear shifting problem on the way up, so the rest of us had time in hand to wait at the top of the hill. Mary clambered onto the top rail of a farm gate with the land falling away and making a splendid backdrop. We took her photo, admired her pose, and suggested that she could strip off and be the LTC calendar girl for 2016. She appeared reluctant so we said that she could keep her cycle helmet on.
After a bit of teetering we were relieved to see her back on the ground safely. No one wanted any accidents. How could you return from a cycling holiday with a broken collar bone and have to say it was caused by falling off the top rail of a farm gate while posing for the photographer.
Downhill again, quite long and fast. We arrived at a road junction with the Greete place name sign before Jonathan and Rosemary and paused for them to reach us. As they appeared we said, “carry on past us”, to receive from a slightly stressed Jonathan the response, “Got to stop” , ” Serious mechanical”
Inspection of the tandem revealed a broken front wheel rim. It had failed at the joint. Much relief that it had not been a catastrophic failure on the fast downhill (with rear wheel braking only), but it was quite clear this bike was not safe to ride further.
Time to summon the Mike Lodge cycle touring rescue service. Only snag was no phone reception. We decided that Mary needed more Strava points, so we sent her off to cycle to the top of the hill in search of better phone reception. Success, Mary returned to say that Mike was in Ludlow. He was putting “Greete” into his sat-nav and would be along as soon as possible. We stood around variously or sprawled on the grass.
Mike arrived, the tandem was taken apart and stowed away in Mike’s car along with Jonathan and Rosemary. John, Sheila and Pete cycle slowly up the hill to the top of Greete and once she had seen Mike off Mary cycled up to join us.
Then we were four cyclists and three bicycles. Never in the history of Tuesday Cycling tours had so many been mislaid before the tour end.
The run on to Ludlow was not flat, but the sharp downs and ups were spaced so that we could mostly hurtle out of the dips and power our way to the next summit before running out of gears. Sheila re-planned our route to be slightly shorter and we arrived in Ludlow at the Park and Ride roundabout where the others were waiting for the bus into town. From here it was uphill to Ludlow centre, but not right from the very bottom of town.
Pub lunch in the Rose and Crown followed by time to wander around the town centre and market. Some shops were visited but no major purchases were made.
Time to set off on the very last stage. All the way down Broad Street, through the arch in the former city walls to reach and cross the river bridge. Immediately right and climbing. There had been some steeper previous climbs, especially on our first tour day, but this was to turn into by far the longest of the tour. We were climbing diagonally up the face of the escarpment. The views to our right were stunning and we paused at a viewpoint lay-by to look down on Ludlow and it’s castle. In the town itself it is hard to see how large the castle actually is, but from here it towered magnificently above the town.
John and Sheila now remembered coming up this hill on a Tandem Club rally ride. Knowing its length we settled into a manageable low gear and patiently, if slowly, wound our way upwards and some more upwards. All things come to an end and finally there was no more uphill and no false flat. We were at the top. The following descent, swooping fast (but not requiring unrelieved braking) around sweeping bends and some tighter corners was a super return for all of our stored potential energy with the most exhilarating long drop of the tour.
And the really good news, it was flat or only slight rises for an effortless fast run on towards Wigmore. A brief pause to issue final sweeties, then the last push. About one mile from home we were cycling towards this massive wall of mountainous high land stretching right across our field of vision. If we had seen this on Tuesday and had been told that our tour start involved climbing over this barrier to reach Presteigne, would we have started out?
50 metres from the hotel, Mike and passengers overtook us.
We arrived.
A “Tour Survivors” photo was taken
We settled in the garden for tea, or beer according to individual preference.
An excellent evening meal in the Lion Restaurant at Leintwardine finishing with splendid summer pudding or lemon tart and lots of talk. Perhaps, unlike other LTC tours, this one had really been a gourmet dining tour interspersed with some cycling.
Don’s sore knee had not improved overnight, so with regret he was listed as a non-starter for today’s stage. The consequential effect of this was Ev, who was the camper-van navigator, also had to be recorded as having abandoned.
(The Sky team did not lose so many members after three days of the TdF this year)
But the good news was that we gained Rosemary, joining Jonathan on their Bike Friday tandem – most appropriate name for today.
So, we were two tandems and two solo bikes with six people lining up for the departure photo.
Set off down the main road and created a tailback of cars, but in a short distance we turned left onto a minor road for Leinthall Earls. We met a couple of large quarry lorries coming towards us, but we were able comfortably to pull aside into the plentiful passing places. John and Sheila were slightly ahead and soon found themselves in the quarry. They did not need the man who came out of the office to see why a tandem was masquerading as an aggregate lorry, to realise they had missed the fact that the lane turned right at the point where they continued forward on the larger road.
All together again we continued, and guess what?
Here was the first seriously steep hill of the day. Several miles of steep up and down, bottom gear hill climbing, descending and repeat climbing took place. On a couple of occasions the two tandem teams resorted to a 24 inch gear before reaching the summit.
A steep downhill brought us to a junction where we paused to contemplate just where we were. Jonathan’s mobile phone map app confirmed we were at the Goggin and we were OK on the route for Comberton. More ups and downs, but manageable, then some contouring around the hillside with splendid views out across the vale. Even better, the road took a downhill tendency into the vale at Woofferton.
It was positively flat cycling from here and we bowled along in high spirits, looking forward to this style of cycling taking us all the way to Tenbury wells for coffee……….However, the little lanes decided that they would rather wander up and down the sides of the valley, quite steeply in places.
We arrived above Tenbury Wells and free wheeled down into the town centre. Stopped and phoned Mike to see which cafe he might be in.
“I can see you from here”, he replied. Good cafe choice on the riverside with seating and bike parking overlooking the river. Time for coffees and toasted tea cakes. Plenty of time today for a leisurely mid-morning break watching the ducks, house martins and small fish in the river.
Departure was across the bridge, which had an old plaque at its centre showing that it was the Worcestershire – Shropshire border. The bridge spanned the River Teme, which we had followed yesterday from Knighton towards Wigmore, now with a much larger downstream flow of water.
We soon turned right off the main road. The signpost said Clee Hill. This could be a climb? OK, no panic, we turned left almost immediately. Bad news it soon turned into another seriously steep tough climb, more than meeting the uphill after coffee breaks cycle touring rule. This turned out to be the only major hill in the area – could there have been a way around? Probably only by the main road. Jonathan and Rosemary had a bit of a gear shifting problem on the way up, so the rest of us had time in hand to wait at the top of the hill. Mary clambered onto the top rail of a farm gate with the land falling away and making a splendid backdrop. We took her photo, admired her pose, and suggested that she could strip off and be the LTC calendar girl for 2016. She appeared reluctant so we said that she could keep her cycle helmet on.
After a bit of teetering we were relieved to see her back on the ground safely. No one wanted any accidents. How could you return from a cycling holiday with a broken collar bone and have to say it was caused by falling off the top rail of a farm gate while posing for the photographer.
Downhill again, quite long and fast. We arrived at a road junction with the Greete place name sign before Jonathan and Rosemary and paused for them to reach us. As they appeared we said, “carry on past us”, to receive from a slightly stressed Jonathan the response, “Got to stop” , ” Serious mechanical”
Inspection of the tandem revealed a broken front wheel rim. It had failed at the joint. Much relief that it had not been a catastrophic failure on the fast downhill (with rear wheel braking only), but it was quite clear this bike was not safe to ride further.
Time to summon the Mike Lodge cycle touring rescue service. Only snag was no phone reception. We decided that Mary needed more Strava points, so we sent her off to cycle to the top of the hill in search of better phone reception. Success, Mary returned to say that Mike was in Ludlow. He was putting “Greete” into his sat-nav and would be along as soon as possible. We stood around variously or sprawled on the grass.
Mike arrived, the tandem was taken apart and stowed away in Mike’s car along with Jonathan and Rosemary. John, Sheila and Pete cycle slowly up the hill to the top of Greete and once she had seen Mike off Mary cycled up to join us.
Then we were four cyclists and three bicycles. Never in the history of Tuesday Cycling tours had so many been mislaid before the tour end.
The run on to Ludlow was not flat, but the sharp downs and ups were spaced so that we could mostly hurtle out of the dips and power our way to the next summit before running out of gears. Sheila re-planned our route to be slightly shorter and we arrived in Ludlow at the Park and Ride roundabout where the others were waiting for the bus into town. From here it was uphill to Ludlow centre, but not right from the very bottom of town.
Pub lunch in the Rose and Crown followed by time to wander around the town centre and market. Some shops were visited but no major purchases were made.
Time to set off on the very last stage. All the way down Broad Street, through the arch in the former city walls to reach and cross the river bridge. Immediately right and climbing. There had been some steeper previous climbs, especially on our first tour day, but this was to turn into by far the longest of the tour. We were climbing diagonally up the face of the escarpment. The views to our right were stunning and we paused at a viewpoint lay-by to look down on Ludlow and it’s castle. In the town itself it is hard to see how large the castle actually is, but from here it towered magnificently above the town.
John and Sheila now remembered coming up this hill on a Tandem Club rally ride. Knowing its length we settled into a manageable low gear and patiently, if slowly, wound our way upwards and some more upwards. All things come to an end and finally there was no more uphill and no false flat. We were at the top. The following descent, swooping fast (but not requiring unrelieved braking) around sweeping bends and some tighter corners was a super return for all of our stored potential energy with the most exhilarating long drop of the tour.
And the really good news, it was flat or only slight rises for an effortless fast run on towards Wigmore. A brief pause to issue final sweeties, then the last push. About one mile from home we were cycling towards this massive wall of mountainous high land stretching right across our field of vision. If we had seen this on Tuesday and had been told that our tour start involved climbing over this barrier to reach Presteigne, would we have started out?
50 metres from the hotel, Mike and passengers overtook us.
We arrived.
A “Tour Survivors” photo was taken
We settled in the garden for tea, or beer according to individual preference.
An excellent evening meal in the Lion Restaurant at Leintwardine finishing with splendid summer pudding or lemon tart and lots of talk. Perhaps, unlike other LTC tours, this one had really been a gourmet dining tour interspersed with some cycling.
Click on any photo to enlarge and scroll through
