Back to the badlands, well Llanwrtyd Wells.

Last weekend I went back to Llanwrtyd Wells with Susan and quite a few of her friends. About half the group were meeting up to do some kayaking and the other half to do some mountain biking. I was obviously going to have a go at the latter.

Unfortunately we were running very late and Susan didn't get to my place till 10.30pm on Friday so we weren't to arrive in Llanwrtyd Wells till 1.30am. We were going to stay at a hostel in the town and a couple of Susan's friends kindly stayed up to let us in.

Here's Dinny and Susan at the start point of our first days riding. You can see Susan's car fully loaded with bikes and kayaks! The weather was quite good if very cold at around 1 degrees C!

Just by the start of the ride was a giant overflow chute for a reservoir. It was absolutely massive and the kayakers were talking about going down it in their kayaks. Something totally illegal but possibly quite fun too. Now I wonder if I could do it on a snowboard, with some snow obviously as I'm not totally mad.

After a few decent climbs and descents with the usual great welsh scenery we had a very tough ascent up some slate trails. It was quite difficult to make it to the top and we all had to stop and walk at one point or another. However once we got to the top there was a fabulous view over some of the surrounding valleys.

Susan took this (and some of the other photos here) of me starting to come down from the top. You can just make out Alison in the background. I think I must have my usual insane grin on my face as I was probably having a good time.

After a good descent we followed a path around the edge of the valley. All around us were some stunning views such as this.

Here's (from left to right) Will, Catherine and Dinny catching a breath and admiring the scenery. You can make out the narrow track that we were cycling along. At times it was quite muddy and consequently very slippery.

At the same point as before, Susan is taking a photo of Alison as she catches up with us. The river around the valley that we followed is along the left. We really were in the Welsh valleys and couldn't hear or see a road, only the sound of me falling off my bike...

While riding over a particularly bumpy part of the trail I came across a technical bit that Catherine and Alison had stopped at. I tried to ride up it and almost made it but then ran out of power (and weight on my pedal) and fell left onto my bike. As I put my right leg down it sank totally into the mud right up to my knee!

At the time I didn't notice that I had caught my right calf muscle on the big cog of my bike and caused quite a small deep cut. It wasn't until we stopped upon coming to a gate that Alison noticed all the blood running down my leg. It didn't hurt because my legs were so cold and also because I was having so much fun. I patched up my leg and tried to stop the bleeding and then we carried on.

There was one final long climb back to the cars. Fortunately it was on the road but it was very long and I enjoyed every exhausting minute of it. :-)

Once I got back to the hostel I got a chance to check out the damage to my leg properly. This photo taken with my camera phone actually makes the damage look quite spectacular. Actually most of the red is just blood and the only damage is the two dark patches on the right hand side. It wasn't as bad as I thought but it does look good and did bleed quite a bit. :-)

Later in the evening fortunately I could replace the lost iron in my blood with plenty of pints of Guinness in the pub next door to the hostel. Before we went there, actually it was in the middle of a couple of pints in the pub, back to the hostel for a fantastic stew made by Susan and then back to the pub for a few more beers. A fantastic evening of beer, great home made food and more beer followed by some very drunken pool skills!

On Sunday Will, Catherine, Dinny, Alison and I went out to do a red and blue bike run that was very close to the main beer stop at the Real Ale Wobble. The others all went to do some kayaking. Will did have the most to drink the previous night and wasn't quite feeling in top form. He had to throw up about half way up the first ascent up the red run. It was a very, very long climb to get to the top, but once we got there it was even more of a challenge to come down!

This was probably the most technical part of the descent on the red run. We had to zig zag down a long path to the base of this hill. It didn't help that the ground was mostly frozen so the tractor trails made horrible ruts to ride through. I fell off my bike several times (only bruises and smiles) and also had to walk some of the descent, but it was still fun all the same, if a little frustrating at times. By the way, we didn't cause the deforestation in the picture!

Once we completed the red run Catherine, Alison and I went and rode a blue run while Will and Dinny took a long tea break. This was slightly less of an ascent and the descent was much less technical with a track which was much less bumpy going through the forests.

After we finished riding we met up with the others in Mertha Tydfil to browse some very cheap book stores and have some lunch. Unfortunately for the others, they couldn't do any kayaking as the river levels were much to low and they would end up pushing their kayaks along the river rather than paddling along.

Still it didn't detract from a fantastic weekend of cycling and meeting some new friends. I had a great time and would love to get out again with the same group for more cycling, and possibly some paddling as well... maybe...

I'd like to thank Becky for my early new Christmas present, some full cycling gloves for the winter. I'm sure they helped stop me getting more grazes and cuts on my fingertips!

The best technical descent ever, near Bolton too!

Last Saturday My mate Dave and I went to ride the Rivington Pike Loop, which is just west of Bolton. Dave got the route we took from the Internet from a guy that claimed it was the best technical descent ever. Well a claim like that was enough to convince us to have a go at it.

Here we are at the base near the start of the off road section of the route. The ride would take us around 20 miles over mostly exposed terrain. Note the odd units on the sign.
From here you can see the two peaks that we were to eventually climb up.

This muddy bridle path is typical of most of the off road terrain that we encountered. There were quite a few horse riders around as well as a few cyclists and ramblers. I'm sure we also encountered just about every type of animal poo you could find on the hills as well. You name it we either saw it, rode though it or stepped in it!

This shows a TV mast along with mobile phone masts near to the top of one of the hills we climbed. Before we started off from the cars Dave realised he had forgotten to pack his waterproof/wind breaker, which wasn't so bad as fortunately it was quite sunny today. However as he was getting dressed he realised he had also forgotten to pack his cycling shorts! He accidentally packed his swimming trunks instead!! He went out with his trunks and a couple of T-shirts, while I had my two thermal layers and a windbreaker and my well padded cycling shorts. I suppose I was being a wimp and he was going hardcore cycling with swimming trunks.

This is the view down a winding road, which was great fun to go down really quickly, and even more fun (for me) to cycle back up on the return route.

Here's Dave at the top of the first hill. We had lunch here sheltering behind the rocks against the very windy conditions. As soon as we moved away from the rocks you could feel the icy wind trying to blow you over. Having lunch here was great for the views, but not so great as we started to cool down and the only way from here was down the exposed hill.

When we saw the other hill from here I thought wouldn't it be funny if we were meant to be at the other one instead of here. As it turns out we did take a wrong turn from the unclear directions and were actually up the wrong hill! Never mind I'm sure we needed the extra exercise, and it was fun to make it up this hill as well.

About half way down the first hill, here's Dave about to 'drop' off on the descent. Dave was consistently much faster on the downhill sections. He summed it up as he was mostly waiting for me at the bottom of hills while I was mostly waiting for him at the top of hills.

Dave at the top of the second hill where there was a small single castle turret. We had to cycle on a steady slope around the hill, as the direct route up the hill was much to steep and up some stone steps. I think he's also managed to produce a dog from his swimming trunks. Needless to say that it was bloody windy up here too. We did have some spectacular views over Bolton and the surrounding countryside.

A very strange gatehouse that we saw about half way down the second descent. Unfortunately it was all boarded up. From here we came across the main part of the technical descent. It mostly consisted of the remains of a narrow rocky creek riverbed without the water, i.e. full of small and large rocks to ride over and test our suspensions. It was fun and quite satisfying to ride down but also quite hard on the arms. Not quite the best technical descent ever, but good fun all the same.

At the top of a small wooded area we came across a small flowing river and still pool of water. Very picturesque and calming, and sheltered from the wind as well.

As usual we were both caked in mud at the end but very happy too. The course felt like much more up hill cycling than down hill, which suited me fine, probably due to the longer steep ascents. Another fine day cycling, and even better was that I only fell off once, and I was going uphill at the time so it wasn't at speed. Nothing as bad as the last time I was out with Dave and did a face plant!

On the Sunday we went to see the new indoor ski slope near the Trafford Centre. It was quite impressive and I can't wait to have a go on my snowboard the next time I'm here.

Geocaching with my neices.

I went to Farnham to see my Sister Helen and her family last weekend.

I guess both Aimee and Elise had recently had a new dance mat game because it was definitely flavour of the month.

Here's Aimee on the mat and the next picture is of Elise. They did eventually rope me into playing with the mat as well, fortunately for me they didn't think to take a photo of me as well. Aimee being the younger of my two nieces can't quite jump on all the pads on the dance mat so Elise has to help her out sometimes with two of the pads.

On Saturday evening we went to watch Elise sing with her school group on a stage set up in the Farnham town centre. It was on the evening that the Christmas lights were due to be turned on so there were plenty of people out Christmas shopping as well.

She looked very smartly dressed in her school uniform on the outdoor stage singing a few songs. Afterwards she said that she could see us in the crowds as well.

We also went to visit some of Aran's relatives who lived near by. When I was sitting there I started to think about the previous weekends mountain biking, and I thought that I couldn't be in any more of an opposite situation sat here. :-)

On Sunday morning we went out geocaching with a GPS device. I'm sure most of you have heard of geocaching as it's a craze which anyone with an internet connection and gps device can take part in. You look up a set of set waypoints online with an accompanying set of instructions as to where to go and what to look for. The instructions eventually lead to a hidden box which you can exchange gifts and fill out log.

The route that we took was only a very small one with a few puzzles that the kids could solve. Here's Aimee posing for the camera while Helen, Aran and Elise try to work out where to go next.

Once we finally found the hidden cache in a forest the kids had a big surprise as among other things it contained an electronic Sudoku game!

In exchange for the Sudoku game and a 3D ball bearing puzzle we dropped off a couple of travel bugs. A good exchange in my eyes!

Once we got back home Helen made a marvellous roast dinner for us all in the afternoon. The rest of the day was spent playing with the kids and helping out Elise with her English homework. Mind you I don't think that I was that much help as Helen pointed out some obvious mistakes that I hadn't noticed. :-)

Thank god for computers that's what I say.