Vale of Glamorgan

Somewhere near the dreaded stepping stones, I had entered the Vale of Glamorgan. First impressions are good. Rolling green countryside and pretty villages.

The camp site turned out to be well appointed, with a cafe, WiFi and showers. I had a very good evening meal in the pub up the road, gotvfully rehydrated, and met a local who very quickly became my new best friend. "That's awesome!".  "You can stay at my place if you like", "Want a joint?" I politely declined and went back to a good night's sleep. The forecast thunderstorms never happened, there were only a few spots of rain and just a bit of wind, but that could have been the lasagne. In the morning, the campsite cafe was serving a full English breakfast, so, out of politeness, I had one.  Delicious.

Today has been a much tougher day than I expected, but not because of the hills. So much has happened, it's difficult to remember.  

I thought it would be an easier day, so I decided I could aim to ride a bit further. Options were Cardiff, 40 miles, or Chepstow, 75. Chepstow it was. The die was cast.

Just a house ...

Rolling Glamorgan roads. First town: Llantwit Major. Nice. Llan... refers to a saint, so, Saint Twit, Major? That was me today, or rather my route planner (also me).

From my notes: "cycle track along cliff 5km, first 1/2 km not marked cycle track" . Had I learned from yesterday? Unfortunately my sheer joie de vivre, or maybe joie de vélo, got the better of me, and I headed down a narrow, nettle- bordered path through woods.  I was committed.  A sign said South Wales Coastal Path, and led onto the stony beach.  Huge stones.  

Coast path

Better coast path

Walkies time.  Luckily for me, after about half a mile, the path went into a field, and was just about rideable.  This led to West Aberthaw power station  where I gratefully escaped onto the road. 

Just after Rhoose (Cardiff) Airport, another note: "200m cycle track, unsurfaced, avoidable by road".  How bad could it be?  Well it was just rideable, but very steeply downhill, so some walking was required  again.  I had to recover with an 11s stop at Porthkerry Country Park, near a giant railway viaduct.  It rained, but I didnt  care.

And then, time for something completely different: Barry Island.  It has a lot in common with Blackpool, on a smaller scale.  It's not an island,  just as Blackpool is not a pool.  It's loud, brash, full of fun and amusements.  Unlike Blackpool, it has a wicked one-way system  and it's very hilly.  I did about five laps exploring all the coastal extremities,  which took forever:;   much like this blog post.  

Batty Island

Barry Island beach

Barry Island from one of its many hills

After the non Island, Barry Docks: massive, empty, redundant from what I could see.   Some nice redevelopment under way along the waterfront. 

Barry docks

Cardiff was just round the corner, but first, there was Penarth, a micro Brighton, complete with pier, and very attractive  except for its hilly one way system, based on Barry Island.

Penarth, from the pier

Cardiff is another story, one I can hardly bear to recall.

Here Be Dragons

massive Bay film studios, leaving Swansea

Sandfields

Sandfields, Whales

The next bit wasn't so pleasant. A strong headwind didn't help. I mostly followed NCN 4, which squeezes in beside the newborn M4, other A roads, railways, river bridges, and industrial works. Often on pavement cycleways beside a big road, it was perfectly safe but a bit dull. It started to rain in Port Talbot, which didn't help. Only when I got near Bridgend parish, did it feel like being in the countryside again.

Port Talbot port

Port Talbot steelworks (blast furnaces)

After a very long time, I found a cafe for tea, overlooking Nest Bay, just before Porthcawl, just as it started to rain again. Sat for a while watching the surfers, and contemplating where to stay tonight. Thunderstorms are forecast, so maybe another night indoors.

Porthcawl is a biggish seaside town with a proper esplanade, seaside hotels and so on.  A bit posh, maybe?  But as you leave, there's a Canvey Island style amusement beach, at arms' length from the town.  Porthcawl probably pretends it isn't there.  Another arms length, and there's a big caravan park.

Porthcawl

East Bay, Porthcawl

It was here that my planned route began to come unstuck.  My notes say "cycle track across beach 8km, avoidable by road inland".  I was uncertain about this, but it was a bona-fide cycle route, complete with green dots on the map.

  

The map was misleading.   It was across deep sand, impossible to ride in a normal bike.  So it had to be the "road inland", which was two A roads, including maybe 6 miles on the busy A48, a dual carriageway for about half the distance.  A dreadful option for anyone cycling the coast.   After a tense ride, I was back on country lanes.  

And relax ...?

Another cycle track: a bridge across a river, and a concrete track across fields, leading to another river.

Arrgh!

View from the other side

No bridge.  Stepping stones.  Wide.  Very wide.  RideWithGPS had not mentioned this.   The water was at least a foot deep, maybe 2 feet in places.  I quickly decided against riding across.   Walking across stepping stones was dodgy in cyclung sandals with cleats, I discovered on my recce.  So I removed the panniers, put my water shoes on, and carried the bike across, then the panniers.  Scary.

Ogmore Castle

Directly across the "ford" was Ogmore Castle: "Monument closed."  I was too stressed to visit anyway.

I still had nowhere to stay, so I consulted Google.  There was an attractive place in Bridgend, a Wetherspoon hotel, but I didnt want to go inland.   The only other reasonable option was a camp site in Monknash, the Heritage Coast Campsite.  It sounded a bit hair-shirt, but turned out to have a lovely pub just up the road, the Plough and Harrow.  I pitched my tent and skedaddled to the pub, just before the kitchen closed at 7pm.  Lovely local pub, great food and beer.  There was a minor sensation when Tom Jones came up on the playlist.  And it rained while I was eating.  Another win.

to Swansea and beyond!

It was great to be back in a youth hostel; a bit of company and all the facilities.  It wasn't  very full, perhaps because of the season and the weather (the season very definitely  stops at the end of August, it seems), or possibly because you can still only hire a whole room to yourself.   Still I had a great chat with a pair of cyclists from Bristol who've toured all over Britain and quite a bit of Europe.  He recommended I try Switzerland next, but I'm not so sure.  I have never heard anything good about its coastline.

On the road by 8.30, straight into a series of killer hills..   I'm now travelling east along the south coast of the Gower.  It has a sort of scarp cliff running along it, and the maim road runs along quite high up, but the coast is, as usual, at the bottom   They don't  mess about round here, if the road needs to go up a hill, it just goes straight up.  In 5 miles I had done 200 metres of climbing. 

Oxwich beach

Grand entrance to a ?House near Oxwich

I also found myself directed along some very impractical routes, flooded bridleways and roads where they seemed to have forgotten the tarmac layer.  But also some sunshine, great views, a few skeletons of castles, and beautiful beaches.   Ten miles, 300m of climbing and I stopped for the worst ever latte, and the best ever pain au raisin, at Kittle village bakery.  They were thrown into confusion when I produced a Scottish £10 note, but all was well.

Dodgy

Vrty dodgy

Ford

Beautiful Caswell bay and then up-market Langland Bay, complete with Manor house, looking a bit like St Pancras Station Hotel. Each beach came with a free gift of more hills, but then ... no more hills to Swansea!  They're all beautiful beaches, with a little cafe, maybe a shop selling beach things - typical small tourist beach, and somehow very welcoming.  Nearly 500 metres of ascent in 15 miles, but well worth it.  

Caswell bay

Caswell bay

Caswell bay

Caswell bay

Caswell bay

Caswell bay

I

Langland Manor entrance 

t was definitely the right decision to stop at Gowerton in May and come back with fresh legs for the Gower.

Mumbles point

Three lifeboat stations?

Just round the corner was the Mumbles headland, and a nine mile crescent of flat, beachside cycle path into sunny Swansea, with a following wind.  Dotted with cafes and a few walkers.  Lovely.  Lunch by the marina in Swansea, and onwards towards the industrial chimneys of Port Talbot, without really seeing most of Swansea.  Sorry, Swansea.

Approaching Swansea

Swansea

Swansea marina

Lunchtime companion

Will he notice?

the Gower

Setting out is always a guilty pleasure.  All the things I should be doing at home.  Emailing, or possibly  spamming, friends and family to tell them of new adventures on the blog;  something they may be too polite to "unsubscribe" from.  Leaving Liz at home alone,  bereft and lonely.  Or more likely, like a fish without a bicycle: partying, loading the dishwasher in full random abandon without my sensible guidance, doing just what she likes.

It was a day of hills and rain, with some lovely views in between. The train journey to Gowerton went well. I could have ridden from Swansea but I had a deadline to check in at a youth hostel, so I didn't have time.

View towards Llanelli and Carmarthen 

Arriving at Gowerton at 2.35, I set off round the Gower peninsula, heading west at first, with a stiff southerly breeze.   Nice views back across Llanelli bay to where I was In May, riding tound from Camarthen.  The roads tend to be like forked lightning, with many dead ends to explore, invariably down a hill.

One of the early hills

Weobley Castle

A cafe I'd identified was closed on Monday, but luckily there was a lovely community shop and cafe nearby in Cheriton.  I arrived just as it bucketed down with rain.  Feeling smug, I set off after the downpour, only to be caught by  another torrent of rain.   More hills.

Time was tight.  Should I take the detour to Rhossili?  I had to really, as Worms Head is that way, denoting the westernmost point of the Gower.  It was a good decision.  Lovely views of Rhossili Bay and Worms Head, a tidal island you can walk or swim to depending on the tide.

Rhossili Bay 

Worms head

My planned route to Port Eynon involved a bridleway, which was under water, so a short diversion was needed, but I arrived in time to check in, dump my bags and cycle back to the pub for tea.

View from the hostel

The hostel is lovely.  It's an old lifeboat station, so right on the beach, and a bit out of the village. Self catering only, with about 8 rooms.  The views are wonderful. 

Not Another One!

As Brenda from Bristol might say:   Not another one!   Yes!  Another Coastal Adventure trip in the same year, starting where I gave in to train temptations last time, at Gowerton, just the other side of the Gower peninsula.  Starting tomorrow, Monday 5 Sept, neatly avoiding both the school holidays AND the nice weather.

The delights of this trip might include the Gower, Swansea, Port Talbot, Cardiff, Newport, and even possibly across the Severn Bridge.  Who knows, I might even bump into Brenda from Bristol herself?

Some people have queried whether a coastal ride is even allowed to cross bridges or ferries.   Some people have said that you should go round the entire tidal coastline including estuaries, but that would make the ride much longer.    I have consulted the commissaire, whose decision is final, and he says that this is allowed in the rules.  So there.

Last time it was damp, cold and windy, I camped every night, and possibly didn't eat very well.   This time, it's going to be damp and windy, but warmer.  I'm taking less stuff, so it's bound to be great.

Stay tuned to this blog for further updates.