After seeing how busy Devon was, I was craving some open space and the mountains, so drove upto Rhayader on Thursday night.
Gareth agreed to come out for the weekend, so I was tasked with planning the routes, I started with a day for myself whilst I waiting for Gareth to arrive Friday evening. My chosen route went north of Rhayader this time, with lots of lanes I hadn't visited before and even found a stretch alongside Offa's Dyke, which turned out to be a lovely part and I got to chat to a group who were all following the trail up through the English/Welsh border. A really happy bunch of people which is always nice...
Unfortunately for trail riders lots of this path has been closed off to motor vehicles, (something that is not uncommon in our current society!), so to find a bit that is both open to us and also pretty was well worth the journey!
Some of the trails I found were little used, some completely overgrown, I managed to always find a way through, albeit sometimes a little scratchy and frustrating, but it was good fun never the less and I think it is important to use some of these trails otherwise we will lose them.
The day was really relaxing with no drama's, I never saw a soul away from the Offa's Dyke area and it felt like I had the whole place to myself!
I got back to the van, my rear tyre was just about bald, so it was a good job Gareth was bringing his tyre changer and I had a nice new shiny one in the van! I camped again that night in a lovely place, with the wind blowing the van around and the odd squall coming through to make the night interesting. Drinking some nice red wine, reading a book and all tucked up warm, a great way to spend an evening!
Gareth & I met at the cafe at Crossgates, caught up on gossip over a big breakfast and then set off for a ride heading north east this time. Another day of mixed trails, some long and flowing, others short and a bit overgrown.
We seemed to spend a lot of the day helping various horse riding groups, (who were on a planned multi day ride), however their navigation wasn't the best so we had to set them back onto their tracks again each time we found, this is where a GPS does come into it's own.
We also found a lane that is having lots of repairs to it at the moment, at one end their is clear signage but at the end we started from there was none, no wonder the workmen didn't look too happy when we turned up! Lots of new fencing going in, some graded trail and lots of new drainage. This is something that needs to be done on many trails of the UK, maybe one day the government will wake up and change it's rather dogmatic policy and develop an 'inclusive' method of trail management instead of the current exclusive version they have. We can dream I suppose!
The day finished up at a pub in Rhayader, plans were made for the final day which included the long lane at Sennybridge, there was a no live firing day, so that was the plan for the next day with a couple of big river crossings to clean the bikes before heading home.
The day started with a lesson on using a Rabaconda tyre changer, ten minutes later I had a shiny new tyre, oooh want one!!
Just after lunch in Llanwrtyd Wells, my front sprocket bolt came out and disappeared, luckily we were still near town, so I went into a garage and found a spare washer and Gareth had a spare bolt, so we fitted this, but it had gone again by the end of the day! A visit to KTM needed...
Bike wash time came as the final lane of the day, the rain had soaked us most of the morning, but the afternoon had dried up nicely, the moorland throughout the day was sometimes a bit tricky and a bit boggy, Sennybridge was a little freaky, with all the bits of target stuff lying around and the potential threat of unexploded ordnance lying around, (we never saw any but you just never know!), so it was good to chill out and have a giggle in a plain old bit of river crossing, even if it was partially blocked by a tree and with some deep water!
Here ended the trip, time to go home, go back to boring and normal life and dream about the next big bike adventure!
Gareth agreed to come out for the weekend, so I was tasked with planning the routes, I started with a day for myself whilst I waiting for Gareth to arrive Friday evening. My chosen route went north of Rhayader this time, with lots of lanes I hadn't visited before and even found a stretch alongside Offa's Dyke, which turned out to be a lovely part and I got to chat to a group who were all following the trail up through the English/Welsh border. A really happy bunch of people which is always nice...
Unfortunately for trail riders lots of this path has been closed off to motor vehicles, (something that is not uncommon in our current society!), so to find a bit that is both open to us and also pretty was well worth the journey!
Some of the trails I found were little used, some completely overgrown, I managed to always find a way through, albeit sometimes a little scratchy and frustrating, but it was good fun never the less and I think it is important to use some of these trails otherwise we will lose them.
The day was really relaxing with no drama's, I never saw a soul away from the Offa's Dyke area and it felt like I had the whole place to myself!
I got back to the van, my rear tyre was just about bald, so it was a good job Gareth was bringing his tyre changer and I had a nice new shiny one in the van! I camped again that night in a lovely place, with the wind blowing the van around and the odd squall coming through to make the night interesting. Drinking some nice red wine, reading a book and all tucked up warm, a great way to spend an evening!
Gareth & I met at the cafe at Crossgates, caught up on gossip over a big breakfast and then set off for a ride heading north east this time. Another day of mixed trails, some long and flowing, others short and a bit overgrown.
We seemed to spend a lot of the day helping various horse riding groups, (who were on a planned multi day ride), however their navigation wasn't the best so we had to set them back onto their tracks again each time we found, this is where a GPS does come into it's own.
We also found a lane that is having lots of repairs to it at the moment, at one end their is clear signage but at the end we started from there was none, no wonder the workmen didn't look too happy when we turned up! Lots of new fencing going in, some graded trail and lots of new drainage. This is something that needs to be done on many trails of the UK, maybe one day the government will wake up and change it's rather dogmatic policy and develop an 'inclusive' method of trail management instead of the current exclusive version they have. We can dream I suppose!
The day finished up at a pub in Rhayader, plans were made for the final day which included the long lane at Sennybridge, there was a no live firing day, so that was the plan for the next day with a couple of big river crossings to clean the bikes before heading home.
The day started with a lesson on using a Rabaconda tyre changer, ten minutes later I had a shiny new tyre, oooh want one!!
Just after lunch in Llanwrtyd Wells, my front sprocket bolt came out and disappeared, luckily we were still near town, so I went into a garage and found a spare washer and Gareth had a spare bolt, so we fitted this, but it had gone again by the end of the day! A visit to KTM needed...
Bike wash time came as the final lane of the day, the rain had soaked us most of the morning, but the afternoon had dried up nicely, the moorland throughout the day was sometimes a bit tricky and a bit boggy, Sennybridge was a little freaky, with all the bits of target stuff lying around and the potential threat of unexploded ordnance lying around, (we never saw any but you just never know!), so it was good to chill out and have a giggle in a plain old bit of river crossing, even if it was partially blocked by a tree and with some deep water!
Here ended the trip, time to go home, go back to boring and normal life and dream about the next big bike adventure!
