25 years ago today I set
off with a good friend; Mark, on the tenth and last day of our attempt to
circumnavigate by bicycle Wales’ largest county; Powys. To add interest to the venture we planned on
visiting the highest point of each of the eight 2,000ft hill ranges within the
county, which are all situated around its periphery, bikes included. We were backed up by Hazel and Barry; without
whom our little adventure would not have taken place. Prior to setting off and during our trip we
raised money for the British Heart Foundation and the Ystradgynlais Mountain
Rescue team.
The following is an
account of this ten day expedition with each day’s journey appearing on the
Mapping Mountains blog 25 years after it had taken place.
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| The county of Powys with the eight 2,000ft hill ranges positioned around its periphery |
Day 10
04.08.90 – Llanfair Waterdine – Kerry Ridgeway – Long
Mountain
Throughout the last nine
days of our journey we had endeavoured to keep as close to the border of Powys
as feasibly possibly, and today, our last day of the journey was no
different. Therefore our planned route
back to the top of the Long Mountain where we had started our adventure was set
out to follow the eastern boundary of Powys, this is also the border between
Wales and England. Throughout its length
this border takes a number of interesting diversions, it is also a border that
seemingly is not confirmed by any written document from the time when it was
agreed, this I find amazing.
As the tent was packed
up for the last time and loaded into the back of Barry and Hazel’s camper van
Mark and I prepared the bikes for the start of our last day’s cycling. We filled our water bottles; I sorted out
what maps were required for the day and folded them up so they were on show in
the map holder at the front of my bike.
We loaded up with various snacks for the journey and made arrangements
where our first meeting place was planned to be, and then it was away,
following the B 4355 out of Llanfair Waterdine as it follows the River Teme
which is at or beside the designated land border between Wales and England
hereabouts.
As the River Teme meets
the Rhuddwr Brook the land border swings right and follows the course of the
brook northward, thankfully a minor lane also did likewise and we left the easy
gradient of the B 4355 and continued on our way using sections of minor roads
and B roads until we arrived at the Kerry Ridgeway.
The Kerry Ridgeway is an
ancient route mainly used in the past by drovers as they shepherded their livestock
from Wales into England, it now consists of country roads, tracks and
bridleways, these are an ideal mix for a mountain bike and would give us a bit
of off-road pleasure on our last day of cycling.
Although the sizzling
temperatures from yesterday had cooled it was still warm and by now our bodies
were accustomed to the rigours and mileage of each day, and having the sun and
blue skies take us through to the finish was a pleasure instead of a sizzling
grind, which some of the past few days journey had been.
As we swung onto the
Ridgeway it felt great to be off-road once again, our route on this ancient
trackway almost followed it in its entirety as we headed onto the forest track
named as the Long Plantation on Ordnance Survey maps. This took us north-eastward toward the Square
Plantation which was then a patch of Common Land, this patch of land is now
designated as open access.
As we approached the
Square Plantation we cycled straight into a new age festival, which we thought
great fun, there were vans, cars and buses parked and a multitude of people
wandering around the site. Music played
and we stopped and chatted with a number of people, those we chatted to
explained the status of the land and invited us to stay for however long we
wanted, as a veteran of numerous Glastonbury Festivals I was tempted, as indeed
was Mark, but we had a schedule to try and keep to and although the thought of
taking in a festival on our journey was appealing we had to press on. It is the one regret of the whole ten day
journey that I did not take any photographs when we were at the festival as it
was a surreal experience, which most festivals can become depending on how
immersed one explores their inner depths.
We had arrived unannounced into a fully-fledged and legal gathering of new
age travellers and probably looked rather alien in our Lycra shorts, helmets
and sitting on mountain bikes. It was
great fun when it lasted but we thanked them for their hospitality and waved
our goodbye’s and continued down toward the small community of Snead, where we
quickly crossed the busy A 489 and continued up another minor lane toward The
Marsh, which is another small community of houses.
We were nearing
journey’s end but now had to encircle Corndon, which is a 500m hill that is
wholly in Wales, but its affiliation to the mother country is dependent upon
the border between Wales and England swinging out from its north - south route
to purposely take it in, this is another one of those unexplained oddities of
this land border, but as our route attempted to follow the Powys border as
closely as feasibly possible we wanted to cycle around Corndon, and this we did
and once done we were on the final part of the journey heading toward the base
of the southern end of the Long Mountain.
However, we still had a few miles to ride and had arranged to meet Barry
and Hazel at a cross roads next to Brompton Hall.
As we arrived Hazel was
preparing food and drink which was a welcome addition to all the previous nine
days journey, throughout this trip the back-up had been excellent, this was provided
by my Mum; Hazel and her husband; Barry, without their help this trip would not
have taken place as they provided the glue to stick everything together, it was
me and Mark who did the cycling part of the journey with Barry joining us for a
few miles each day, but it was Hazel and Barry who kept us on the road, fed us
and encouraged us.
After our lunch stop we
continued into Montgomery and headed north out of the old county town of
Montgomeryshire on the long straight of the B 4388, the hedgerows had recently been
cropped and there were hawthorn needles scattered over the road, I got off and
delicately pushed and carried by bike over them but Mark suffered a puncture,
remarkably this was only the second puncture of the whole trip, with the first
one suffered by Barry many a day ago around the roads of the south Powys hills.
As we cycled into Forden
we swung up onto the narrow lane that makes its way steeply up the southern
part of the Long Mountain, Barry had joined us for the last part of the
journey, which was fitting. This road
proved the same as its counterpart on the first evening’s cycle ride out of
Welshpool as it was so steep we had to get off and push the bikes to the top.
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| Nearing journey's end as Mark and Barry push their bikes up the Long Mountain |
Once near the cross
roads at the top of the road we jumped back on the bikes and cycled the last
mile toward where we had started from ten days previously, it was a beautiful
summer’s afternoon with high wisps of cloud in a blue sky. Our finish point was where the lands of
England butt up against those of Wales with the hills of Powys across the
landscape to our west with the hills further south now out of view.
Hazel was waiting for us
as we arrived and gave us a cheer, we had done it!
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| At the finish line on the Wales - England border on the Long Mountain |
It had taken us ten days
to cycle, carry and occasionally fall off our bikes around the 360 odd miles of
Powys’ border, only nine days when you take into account that we started in the
evening of day 1 and finished in the afternoon of day 10. We had taken in the highest point of each of
the eight 2,000ft hill ranges that are within the county and included the bikes
when we had done so. It had been a
fantastic experience, one that I shall never forget as it still ranks as one of
the best things I have ever done. Mark
had been a great companion during the journey and Hazel and Barry had provided
the necessary and all important back-up.
Before leaving our
finish point I set my camera up with its self-timer ready to take a photograph
of the four of us, five if you include Trudy, Mum and Barry’s dog, who had accompanied
us and enjoyed herself during the last ten days journey.
Only one thing remained
and that was to cycle back home!
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| Heading home |
Tomorrow: A Well
Earned Rest!
During the trip I kept a
travel journal which I have relied on during the writing of each day’s
article that has appeared on the Mapping Mountains blog over the last ten
days. Mark and I also kept a record of
our mileage and I later worked out the ascent per day, on and off the
roads. This travel journal with its
detailed statistics of the route we took will be posted on this site tomorrow.
Potscript:
Mark and I are still
good friends 25 years on from our little adventure around the Welsh hills. Mark is the boss of his own successful
business and now lives in Shrewsbury and is married to Sharon; they have two
children; Evie and Poppy. Due to a
motorcycle accident Mark no longer hill walks or mountain bikes.
Barry and Hazel are no
longer with us, Barry died in 1996 and Hazel passed away in 2012, they are both
dearly missed.
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