I can confirm I made it out of the pub. Despite this place's tendency for threads to drift (or indeed veer wildly) off-topic, there are Standards To Be Upheld, and if it had just been a trip t'pub, I'd have kept it in the "What are you drinking?" thread. Also, my antisocial streak means I'...

A badger, a fox, and lots of sheep this evening.

I've made it out! And it's not the last or even penultimate day of the month! And the pub is warm!

Carefully scheduled to align with full moons and other celestial phenomena?

Oh, snap.

jameso wrote: ↑Fri Nov 17, 2023 9:00 am Hoping Restrap have a bar bag offer coming up - quite keen to try the bar pack

Code SECRETBARBAG just landed in my inbox. 40% off until the 21st.

New Restrap offer, 40% off seatpacks for the next 3 days using code SECRETSADDLE

Restrap are offering 50% off their stem bags for the next 3 days using code SECRETSTEM
It's "exclusively for [their] newsletter audience", but may work even if you're not subscribed?
Looks like it'll expire at the end of the 15th.

Not 100% sure which bits of Türkiye they've travelled, but if you're on Instagram, try @tmdub and @a__dyson

Do the male parts of the bolts thread directly into the chainring?

The photo is the visitor's log at Nant Rhys, but yes I do take a little notebook. I find it nice to take a break and jot down notes, thoughts, wildlife sightings etc.

Thanks all, glad you like it.

Sounds like a great trip at the ideal pace.

It ended up about 80km/50 miles a day, with only the first day involving much riding in the dark.

They were from Brum IIRC. More hippy than luvvy.

I took the steep and direct line up onto the Long Mynd. The stiff tailwind had me in two minds: grateful for its assistance as it pushed me up the steep slope, but also wary of the black clouds that were pursuing me on its currents. Along the top was gorgeous. The gliding club didn't seem to be flyi...

https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/369/482/097/666/229/original/20309ee5f57ad8ca.jpeg Day 4. A gentle blanket of cloud lay over the valleys, so no spectacular sunrise, but a pale glow stole gently across the landscape as I climbed up to the Kerry Ridgeway. It was as beautiful...

Another oh-fuck hill or two, and some primo grav guided me into Clun, where I arrived to nightfall and welcoming lights shining from the windows of the White Horse Inn. Clun Brewery's Citadel ale is a cracker, but unfortunately its presence at the inn was not matched by the chef. I grabbed some past...

The Elan Valley visitor centre made for a welcome second breakfast. Unable to choose between bacon and sausage, I simply opted for both. Warm and refuelled, I then had an easy roll along an old railway track to Rhayader. The road to Abbeycwmhir was closed for works. I proceeded in hope, but was turn...

Day 3. I woke as the dawn light gently stole in through the window. Porridge, packing and pics were sorted, and I was on my way just after 9am. The track to Elan village was by turns smooth and rough, up and down, headwind and tailwind. After the previous day's climbs, my legs were leaden and recalc...

It was hard work over the moors' deeply rutted, braided trails, trying to manage climbing, steering and avoiding pedal strike. But the terrain turned to gravel, and then tarmac again, and swoooooops! It had been a tough day; not huge distances, but plenty of climbing. I was excited and relieved when...

Descending into Pont-rhyd-y-groes I disturbed a buzzard and a crow sharing some entrails. The rain seemed to be easing off, and I started to feel a bit more hopeful of seeing the Cambrian Golden Eagle. The Cwtch café is now long closed (another victim of COVID?), but just opposite was the Tea Hut, o...

That feeling when you look across a valley at a steep and winding road and think, "I'm going up that," and then you're proven right. Sigh. https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/368/765/987/379/301/original/3ba6c44a77ecb309.jpg I struggled upwards through the forest to N...

Day 2, and the first 1.5km included a ford, almost a murmuration and an oh-fuck hill. Llandinam served up a nice old bridge, and a monument to David Davies, noted builder of railways and founder of Barry Docks. Also on the menu was a non-existent bridleway, so I headed for the road rather than slith...

A slinky trail through the woods, yes, this was what I was in search of. No traffic noise, just rustling leaves, creaking boughs, and a lively stream chattering its way down the clough. As I climbed out of the trees and onto the patchwork flanks of the hill, more Kites rode the thermals. It was a lo...

One from a couple of years back that I wrote up but never got round to posting, a 4-day tour from The Wrekin to the Elan Valley and back. This wasn’t what I’d planned, but it was what I needed. I’d signed up to do the Bearbones 200 again, but as summer waned, I could sense that my battered mind didn...