Four of us – Adrian, Pete, Bob and I – set off from Gloucester for a bimble around the Elan Valley.
First stop was Dom’s Bike Stop for a spot of breakfast. I can recommend the Indian Breakfast which has just the right amount of spices in it but as it’s vegetarian, you might prefer to supplement it with a couple of Dom’s lovely venison sausages. Whilst that was going down, Pete realised his rear tyre was ‘slightly’ more worn than he’d thought it was, and this led to much Googling and several phone calls to find the nearest place that could fit a tyre immediately. The answer was Chris Mullins all the way back in Gloucester, so as the three of us set off for Rhayader, Pete headed back to Gloucester, promising to catch up with us in Abergavenny.
The next part of the day consisted of the trip out to Rhayader and a pootle around the Craig Goch, Penygarreg, Garreg-ddu and Caban-coch reservoirs, followed by a lovely fast, smooth ride on the perfect tarmac of the A470 Rhayader to Talgarth road. Exiting Talgarth we spotted fellow 4CBer Zac Slater taking a rest break from his own 300-mile day out and then on to the Oasis Café, Abergavenny, to meet up with Pete and his new tyres.
The route from Abergavenny to Monmouth was via the B4233, a road I’d never seen before but which I shall definitely use again – quick-ish in places with some nice bends but still requiring a great deal of caution – and then back to Gloucester via a short stretch of the A40.
Thanks, guys, for the company, and thanks to the Met Office for providing a warm, dry day!
Distance: 187 miles.