RPN Tour

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RIP
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RPN Tour

Post by RIP »

Time to lower the tone of the place again we think. Far too civilised recently.

Another visit to the Brecon area has been on my list for a long time, but it never seemed to make its way UP the list. With Reg having a mental age of about nine, the 2264’ high protuberance of “Lord Hereford’s Knob” has always held a special place in my thoughts and I’ve walked up it a couple of times. Even sat upon Lord Hereford’s Knob. Rather an uncomfortable experience (*).

(*) because it was raining.

More visits over the years, and it didn’t take long for Three Cocks to rear its head; closely followed by an attempt to mount Fan-y-Big, just across the way from Pen y Fan, but that failed due to adverse conditions. I vowed to return.

A while ago we had a discussion (yet again) on Here about Lord Hereford’s Knob, and I expressed my wish to bikepack to the “big three” in one go – LHK, TC, and FYB. Verena picked up on this and made the mistake of humouring, and indeed encouraging, me.  We thought there must be other Rude Place Names in the area, and so it proved. Cockit Hill was nearby and 24 applicable spots soon totalled up. Quite a tall order for 3 days but a good challenge.

To reach them all would require a “planned route”, although neither of those two words works well for me usually. I know someone has recently been in the news with an RPN Tour but ours are Welsh and therefore FAR ruder :-bd .

At this point we managed to browbeat the esteemed Mr K Raggedstone and Mr P Sling into joining us, to help maintain some semblance of sanity with the proceedings, and the jape was “on”.

Because of the locations it has to be a “one way trip to rudery” from Leominster, to Hay, Brecon, Merthyr, and Abergavenny. So here I am on the train from Leighton Buzzard to Leominster via Crewe (slightly bizarrely it’s much quicker to go north to Crewe then south to Leominster than just west to Leominster ).  Because of cheap train fares I need to overnight in Leominster. Amazingly almost straight out of the station it seems there is a COCK Croft Lane, leading to a suitably fnaar-bivvy in PERVin Wood.....

So, we’ll see you out the other side, if we can stifle our childish sniggers and guffaws long enough….. see if you can guess the 24 RPNs.....
Last edited by RIP on Mon Sep 27, 2021 8:16 pm, edited 4 times in total.
"My God, Ponsonby, I'm two-thirds of the way to the grave and what have I done?" - RIP

The sign outside the asylum is the wrong way round.....

"At least you got some stories" - James Acaster
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RIP
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Re: RPN Tour

Post by RIP »

Oh and of course the weather's been perfect since my last BaM-with-deluge-with-Bob so guess what this week's is forecast.....

Image
Last edited by RIP on Mon Sep 27, 2021 8:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"My God, Ponsonby, I'm two-thirds of the way to the grave and what have I done?" - RIP

The sign outside the asylum is the wrong way round.....

"At least you got some stories" - James Acaster
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Bearbonesnorm
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Re: RPN Tour

Post by Bearbonesnorm »

Very much looking forward to the outcome :-bd
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RIP
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Re: RPN Tour

Post by RIP »

Just to get into the proper spirit of the enterprise I'm not wearing any knickers.
"My God, Ponsonby, I'm two-thirds of the way to the grave and what have I done?" - RIP

The sign outside the asylum is the wrong way round.....

"At least you got some stories" - James Acaster
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psling
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Re: RPN Tour

Post by psling »

Well, it's a Reggie Ride and all I can add for now is that it's Day 1, Morning 1 and I'm already soaked to the skin.... :cool:
We go out into the hills to lose ourselves, not to get lost. You are only lost if you need to be somewhere else and if you really need to be somewhere else then you're probably in the wrong place to begin with.
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Re: RPN Tour

Post by MuddyPete »

RIP wrote: Mon Sep 27, 2021 6:30 pm Oh and of course the weather's been perfect since my last BaM-with-deluge-with-Bob so guess what this week's is forecast....
Moist? :roll:

Have you considered the classic "Penistone to Cockermouth Danglemug Divide", BTW? Will probably be on BP.com sooner or later :wink: .
May you always have tail wind.
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Re: RPN Tour

Post by TheBrownDog »

Bring it on mate. Love your trip reports. Muchas fotos por favor?

As luck would have it, there's a bloke from Oxfordshire doing a tour of the UK's rude place names. From Shitterton to Twatt, from Butthole Lane to Dull (paired with Boring, Oregon) he's gonna be giggling uncontrollably for months. He's nearly 1800 miles in. His justgiving page is https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/paul-taylor233

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RIP
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Re: RPN Tour

Post by RIP »

Just checking in.

Aaaaaaaaaaarg.

That's all we have to say about the matter at the moment.
"My God, Ponsonby, I'm two-thirds of the way to the grave and what have I done?" - RIP

The sign outside the asylum is the wrong way round.....

"At least you got some stories" - James Acaster
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psling
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Re: RPN Tour

Post by psling »

Yeah, but we are sat in another cafe sheltering from the rain again....
We go out into the hills to lose ourselves, not to get lost. You are only lost if you need to be somewhere else and if you really need to be somewhere else then you're probably in the wrong place to begin with.
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Boab
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Re: RPN Tour

Post by Boab »

Any chance you lot could stop cycling today? Then the rest of us going out from tomorrow have a chance of some nice weather... 😂
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Re: RPN Tour

Post by Verena »

RIP wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 10:04 am Just checking in.

Aaaaaaaaaaarg.

That's all we have to say about the matter at the moment.
It's brightening up a bit now and the wind has dropped - guess that means you've now finished and are sitting on a train :lol: ??
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Re: RPN Tour

Post by Verena »

Guess I'd better say something about this too... :???:

I was meant to be on this trip as well of course, if only for the local knowledge of pubs, cafes and potential bivvy spots...

Alas, my life has been plunged into canine chaos this week, as if on cue :roll:

Long story short, after the passing of our old girl a few weeks back, we've been looking for a new rescue dog, with very little success it seemed... Stu, we got THIS close to me doing a you, and getting me a deerhound lurcher pup for my upcoming 50th, which perchance I came to hear about as a result of my search for some courgettes, but that's another story... We were all set to go see said puppy on Saturday, when we got the phone call we'd all but given up on, about a rescue dog, so off we went to see her instead, liked her, and they asked us to come pick her up on Tuesday, which was the start of the RPN tour. Bugger I thought, but no choice there really - sorry Reg and co, but there is no way you can compete with this

ImageIMG_20210930_160645 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

Never mind I thought, I can pick her up Tuesday and join the trip either Tuesday evening or Wednesday. Ok, maybe I should spend the first night at home seeing how she settles in. O boy, in hindsight, I must have conveniently forgotten what it's like to settle a new dog...
Trust me, it did feel a lot like a bivvy on the first night - I ended up cold and not getting any sleep, on my lounge floor on a yoga mat, with two unused dog beds, one dog on the sofa, and the other with two thirds of the duvet, sleeping on my legs....

Ok I thought in the morning (my trip getting shorter with every sentence :grin:), there's no way I can justify buggering off for two days and a night, I'll have to be home at night - I'll just join them for a day ride at least (takes packed bags back off bike).
Then dog starts coughing (they had warned me to watch out for kennel cough), then daughter gets up, upset, and announces she is having an allergic reaction to new dog (having researched the internet in the early hours and found that Yes it is possible, as greyhounds have a different protein in their dander than other dogs). Ok, I say, just let me go out for the morning, then I'll come back, spring clean the house and see how you feel then (housework having been sadly neglected during high bikepacking season, and we'd just switched on the central heating for the first time which tends to throw up a load of extra dust...)

Anyway, after all that, at last I was away on my bike to meet Reg, Kev and Pete for breakfast at the Honey cafe in Bronllys, felt great to be out, even in the rain.
Got there, closed. As was this place round the corner, which gives you a little flavour of the nature of the tour - if you're ever in the area, it's easy to find, right next door to Cock Cottage (sorry no photo, someone was right outside unloading their car)

ImageIMG_20210929_094322 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

Bit of rerouting due to some punctures, and we met instead at the Griffin Inn at Llyswen, which announced to my delight that they were not only open, but also serving cooked breakfasts, yay!, until you read the small print "no food on Wednesdays" :cry: . Never mind, we enjoyed some coffees and sparkling conversation under the corrugated plastic roofing with an endless stream of lorries rattling past :roll: , then I rode along with the Three Cockateers for just a wee bit, then went back home for cleaning and human as well as dog parenting duties.

As luck would have it, met them again later on in the afternoon while out with the mutts, as they started "enjoying" the climb past my house and up towards The Gap, in blazing sunshine I might add.

Real shame I couldn't make this trip, had been really looking forward to it, and despite the weather sounds like a good laugh - but we all know what it's like, life and all that, got to be flexible and prepared to change plans when needed....

Looking forward to hearing the full report :-bd

PS Oh, forgot, "allergy" turned out to be the start of a cold, the house appreciated some TLC, last night I managed to sleep in my bed, and new dog Hermione does indeed have kennel cough poor thing, was quite off colour this morning, and is now on antibiotics.....
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Re: RPN Tour

Post by RIP »

It was brill to see you Verena if only fleetingly. Reckon it'd have been a whole lot less stressful just buying the courgettes instead? You could have got some rescued ones from the skip behind Spar :smile: . Nice to see Hermione though of course.
"My God, Ponsonby, I'm two-thirds of the way to the grave and what have I done?" - RIP

The sign outside the asylum is the wrong way round.....

"At least you got some stories" - James Acaster
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Re: RPN Tour

Post by ledburner »

RIP wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 7:11 pm It was brill to see you Verena if only fleetingly. Reckon it'd have been a whole lot less stressful just buying the courgettes instead? You could have got some rescued ones from the skip behind Spar :smile: . Nice to see Hermione though of course.
Hi, I glad, verena/veruna, That your life's back on and even keel. Also reg, Pete & kev allwere sated and dried out.

may I suggest adding scunthorpe to the Penistone to Cockermouth mug dangle divide?

* May be a upgrade to the random profannyty filter required? :o
i can't commence on the Cumbrian town but the other towne have enought E'jits living up to its name sake. :???:
I hope you think you know, what I might of exactly meant.
Warning - may contain value odded typos & ither mythspellings..
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Re: RPN Tour

Post by Verena »

ledburner wrote: Fri Oct 01, 2021 10:43 am
RIP wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 7:11 pm It was brill to see you Verena if only fleetingly. Reckon it'd have been a whole lot less stressful just buying the courgettes instead? You could have got some rescued ones from the skip behind Spar :smile: . Nice to see Hermione though of course.
Hi, I glad, verena/veruna, That your life's back on and even keel. Also reg, Pete & kev allwere sated and dried out.

may I suggest adding scunthorpe to the Penistone to Cockermouth mug dangle divide?

* May be a upgrade to the random profannyty filter required? :o
i can't commence on the Cumbrian town but the other towne have enought E'jits living up to its name sake. :???:
If Tetley put the "t" in tea, then who put the "...." in Scunthorpe?
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ledburner
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Re: RPN Tour

Post by ledburner »

Verena wrote: Fri Oct 01, 2021 10:53 am
ledburner wrote: Fri Oct 01, 2021 10:43 am
RIP wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 7:11 pm It was brill to see you Verena if only fleetingly. Reckon it'd have been a whole lot less stressful just buying the courgettes instead? You could have got some rescued ones from the skip behind Spar :smile: . Nice to see Hermione though of course.
Hi, I glad, verena/veruna, That your life's back on and even keel. Also reg, Pete & kev allwere sated and dried out.

may I suggest adding scunthorpe to the Penistone to Cockermouth mug dangle divide?

* May be a upgrade to the random profannyty filter required? :o
i can't commence on the Cumbrian town but the other towne have enought E'jits living up to its name sake. :???:
If Tetley put the "t" in tea, then who put the "...." in Scunthorpe?
To paraphase Humfrey lyttleton...
following the Norman invasion, name place were changed by the Invaders, such as Dropping the leading 'S''
Snottingham became Nottingham, but it was vehmently opposed by the citizens in Scunthorpe"
I hope you think you know, what I might of exactly meant.
Warning - may contain value odded typos & ither mythspellings..
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Re: RPN Tour

Post by TheBrownDog »

For some reason I thought that, in the right light, at the right angle, Verena's new pooch kinda looked like Reg. Same soulful eyes, I think.

So I did this. I'll get my coat ...

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Verena
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Re: RPN Tour

Post by Verena »

:lol:
TheBrownDog wrote: Fri Oct 01, 2021 12:10 pm For some reason I thought that, in the right light, at the right angle, Verena's new pooch kinda looked like Reg. Same soulful eyes, I think.

So I did this. I'll get my coat ...

Image
:lol:

That probably sums it all up nicely
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Re: RPN Tour

Post by psling »

As Reg & Kev were alighting their train in Abergavenny late yesterday afternoon I pootled on up the lanes in the wet back to my van at Llanthony, finally getting my head down for a cracking night's sleep to wake up this morning to... more rain. Soon passed though, the sun's come out and kit is drying nicely :-bd
All in all, Reg put together an excellent and varied ride taking in places you wouldn't usually consider but are glad you did.
Looking forward to seeing some of the photos on here, will add some more thoughts later :cool:
We go out into the hills to lose ourselves, not to get lost. You are only lost if you need to be somewhere else and if you really need to be somewhere else then you're probably in the wrong place to begin with.
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Re: RPN Tour

Post by RIP »

The thing with booking tickets to do a train-based BaM (ie most of mine) is that you then have to carry it through no matter what the weather. In the past this has resulted in some highly entertaining adventures.

The accompanying photos below are rather washed out but that might have something to do with the usual deluge and 40-50mph winds, and whilst both the ride and the company were incredibly inspiring I'm afraid that's not reflected very well in my write-up this time which doesn't feel very inspired. Ah well, I'm still drying out.

I arrived in Leominster at 21.30 and after some chips at the Square Takeaway rode off down Cock Croft Lane to check out a potential bivvy spot in Pervin Wood. This didn’t live up to my high expectations so I backtracked to the industrial estate to see if there were any nice skips or other shelter type things. Just next to it was a massive graveyard so in we go in the pitch dark to see what’s what. The chapel had no alcoves and was locked so onwards into the gloom I tottered, my way lit by some of the variety of flashing lights and things that seem to adorn lots of graves these days. Ah, a tool store…. and a toilet… oh, locked…. but hang on there’s a “disabled” loo with the door ajar… yes! accommodation sorted. It even had an ensuite…

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After a second breakfast at Roy’s Café (£4 or something for a full breakfast – bargain) we set off for our first port of call which took us through a number of classic “black-and-white” Herefordshire villages and up a dead-end track to a non-descript field shown as Mousenatch on the OS map.

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On the way Kev spotted a house named after one of our co-riders – or was it the other way round?

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Kev had also pointed out before we set off that the author of The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin, David Nobbs, had actually lived in Bearwood just around the corner! This was a pilgrimage I couldn’t pass up, and we duly arrived at The Old Post Office where I rather brazenly strode right up to the front door and knocked on it and asked about David Nobbs. The current resident was confused to say the least, claiming he’d never had anyone do that since he’d lived there, but he was very good about allowing us to take lots of photos!

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By this time the deluge was well and truly upon us and we splashed on through more cute villages until we arrived at the next rather nice village.

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In quick succession we then passed Titley Mill, and also the old railway line at Titley Junction which sounds very much like a location for an Ealing comedy probably starring Will Hay and Moore Marriott. Bullocks Mill had long since fallen into rubble leaving just its placename, and by this time the rain was so heavy we diverted into Kington for a coffee and a bit of cake.

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Time was marching on and we still had to rendezvous with Peter at Hay on Wye so we changed to a fairly straight road route from Kington instead of the bridleways we’d seen on the map. More tea and crepes (there’s posh), with lots of talking crepe between ourselves, then round to the bike shop for a fettle and some inner tubes etc. I spotted this calling card in the covered market, which seemed to fit our theme rather well.

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By some miracle at this point the rain had subsided somewhat, just in time for the haul up to the Gospel Pass, which we managed to ride all the way albeit with a couple of stops to check our pacemakers and look at the view. The final stretch up to Lord Hereford’s Knob is a path so we duly pushed those last few hundred feet like the good boys we are. The bikepacking gods were at last looking kindly on us and rewarded our efforts with some amazing vistas, from the Brecon Beacons on one side right round to Hay Bluff on the other with Hay right down in the bottom of the valley there.

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On touching the trig point, I found my thrill
To the east, Brokeback Mountain, to the west, Benny Hill
I’ll give you the grid ref, you might like to go
SO224350
Could this be heaven, could that be the Severn
Twmpa, Twmpa, you’re gonna need a jumper
It gets a bit chilly on top of Lord Hereford’s Knob
Tonight he’ll be sitting on top of Lord Hereford’s Knob
All of our songs sound the same

Things suddenly did indeed turn surprisingly chilly so it was a long blast back down to the River Wye to try and find food and a bivvy spot, passing a couple of fords on the way. Unfortunately we didn’t spot many on the trip so had to make the most of the “double” shown here…

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It was dark by the time we’d descended to Talgarth and absolutely no spots presented themselves, even to our probing gaze. We knocked on the door of the Tower Hotel, which was opened by some character out of The Munsters or The Addams Family. Luckily there were no rooms available. Next stop was the Castle Hotel. I nipped in, and in my best wheedling style tried to blag some spots on the lawn. They weren’t at all keen, but we enjoyed a bit of banter and eventually they said we could, or on the verandah, for £20 between us. Daylight robbery! Still, it’s all we had. We’re starting to set up and they go into a huddle, soon popping up to offer the bar floor for £20 each including all-you-can-eat breakfast. It was shocking how quickly we acquiesced…. Peter even found a mattress that he commandeered, although next morning he pronounced it “too soft”. I guess that’s what happens when Three Bears get to sleep somewhere – one spot is “too soft”, I guess Kev’s was “too hard”, so I presume mine must have been “just right”. The bar lady certainly had golden locks.

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Next morning we’d arranged to meet Verena but as she’s explained things didn’t quite go to plan, added to which both Peter and myself suffered our first attack of Hedge Flailing Thorn Puncture Disease and had to stop and patch ourselves up. Still, we managed to cruise through Three Cocks and Boughrood Brest before bumping into Verena near Bronllys for a very nice chat and a coffee.

A large amount of wibbling ensued about which route to take to Brecon via Boxbush, and Kev had to put his foot down again to keep us under control. Happily the way took us through Bronllys and past its Cock Hotel, popping in at the garage’s Spar for some supplies. Curiously every garage we saw only had a couple of cars filling up. I’m almost tempted to take a tanker over there, bring some back here, and flog it at a large mark-up outside my house.

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On down the A470 then a little detour to the hamlet of Penisapentre, after which I foolishly overrode Peter’s offer to see a bivvy spot of his, and Kevin's sensible exhortations to avoid any more thorny tracks, in favour of a track onwards towards Brecon. It seemed a shame to pass up any tracks because a lot of the trip was on road, and this one took us over a raging ford which Kev and Peter are gingerly trying to cross here…

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The track turned out to more or less be a canal, and a canal full of yet more thorns with the inevitable result. Still, we finally made it through to Brecon via Penishawain and called in at some posh deli for lunch and a brew. We’d hoped to stock up with a few bike spares at the Brecon bike shop but Wednesdays are obviously a bad day for just about everything in this bit of Wales because that was shut too. On the upside, as we passed through we met Verena and her daughter showing Hermione round her new home…

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The pull up to The Gap was incredibly rocky, far worse than I remember it, but we tottered to the top with a water stop to break the tedium. Peter decided to take the air for a while, while Kev and myself continued on up to the peak of Fan-y-Big (in the left background in the photo below). This is almost a 1-in-1 slope and needed pushing the whole way, using our special 20-paces-at-a-time-then-rest technique which worked really well. The views from the top were sensational of course, and we posed for the obligatory shot on The Diving Board with Kev bathed in the evening’s last rays…

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As the sun slowly set over Pen-Y-Fan we rolled down some excellent little Kev-recommended tracks past the reservoirs to Pontsticill where there was the choice of a couple of decent boozers – we chose the emptiest one. Good choice as it turned out, with fantastic food, own-brewed beer, entertaining landlord, etc. We’d been hoping to bivvy out again but mein host announced that it was going to bucket down again overnight. Once again we stepped into our blagging-a-nightspot routine which this time was instantly well received with the offer of his marquee outside. Probably the biggest shelter I’ve ever been under and a lifesaver as it turned out because it did indeed tip it down overnight. Peter took the sensible(?) precaution of sleeping on a table, but Kev had to move his spot as a tidal wave rapidly approached him in the early hours. All above board as a BaM claim since there was no charge.

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We had a nice lie-in until 07.30 – the downpour outside certainly wasn’t encouraging us out – but after a spot of porridge we had to make a move. A short road journey took us to the Mountain Railway workshops and café, which were sadly closed until 10am so we took a deep breath and headed into Merthyr, or Pant and Dowlais to be exact. Kev’s radar was operating far better than ours during this trip most of the time and he spotted a little café right in the middle of Dowlais and in we ducked. Poor old Dowlais has been down on its luck for years, with only the opencast coal site keeping things going these days, but the café owners were cheerfulness personified and rustled up some breakfast items including a rather curious object for Peter apparently called a “full breakfast omelette” which was indeed a, er, full breakfast wrapped up in an omelette. The owners were very chatty so we had a grand old time. I’ve also learned a new language so that was very educational – MerthyrSpeak. Basically it’s exactly the same as English (the ladies spoke no Welsh) but each and every sentence always ends with the word “ennet”, whether it’s a statement or a question or whatever, for example “terrible weather today ennet”. We soon picked it up and were rapidly fluent with everyone in the place.

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The rest of the day was a bit of a rainswept blur to be honest, accompanied by 40-50mph winds from all sorts of directions. The geographic term “The Valleys” for this area of Wales is a bit of a clue as to the type of terrain you have to cross to go east and west :wink: . The ridge over to Pontlottyn was particularly bleak with its pylons and scrapyards and squelchy bogs, and we were pretty drenched as we dropped down through Fochriw, then up again over the next ridge to Tredegar.

Image(copyright Kev)

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Up and down, up and down we travelled, like some demented rollercoaster ride until finally arriving in Brynmawr where we patronised another friendly café. Rather curiously the lady owner locked the door behind us as we went in, whether that was to stop any more people coming in or to prevent us getting out wasn’t very clear! Whatever it was, you can’t go wrong with a slice of cake for 30p.

We’d hoped that the Ironworks industrial museum would be open at Blaenavon but it was yet another door metaphorically slammed in our faces, so a final push was made over the Blorenge past the masts in a howling gale and down into Abergavenny. A visit to yet another bike shop, plus a quick brew, then we bade our fond farewells to Peter for his 15 mile ride back to the Forest Of Dean through the rain, whilst Kev and myself headed for the station. After he’d battled with the ticket machine we managed to catch an earlier train home without any bother.

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I’m still a huge fan of sandals and waterproof socks after this outing, and my sub-200g Marmot Essence waterproof top, although I can confirm that it’s a bad idea to absent-mindedly forget to take your down jacket off from under your waterproof before setting off in the morning (as a result of which I was a right grump on arrival in Tredegar until I yanked it off and got a grip, so apologies to Kev and Peter)....

It only remains to thank Kev, Peter and Verena for going along with this lunatic scheme and also adding immeasurably to the experience - you couldn't ask for more companionable co-riders, absolutely top drawer. Although you could probably count the number of willing people on the fingers of, er, three fingers anyway. It's now two days later and I'm still struggling hard to get back down to unreality after such a sensory-overload of a trip. As I've said before, one day I'll not quite manage it and just get stuck and forever marooned in Bikepackerland. Peter's already half way there with his vanlife I reckon!

So, sadly rain stopped play with a couple of them, but did you spot all the RPNs? And in fact a couple of other “names” as well….
Last edited by RIP on Sat Oct 02, 2021 9:21 am, edited 2 times in total.
"My God, Ponsonby, I'm two-thirds of the way to the grave and what have I done?" - RIP

The sign outside the asylum is the wrong way round.....

"At least you got some stories" - James Acaster
Raggedstone
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Re: RPN Tour

Post by Raggedstone »

Despite my concerns I got to the railway station rendezvous in Leominster early so decided to head to the local cemetery to see if I could raise any kind of life three pedal strokes in and I was confronted by a figure dressed in black armed only with a bicycle and a smile so off we went to Roy's cafe for a top up of food and tea . My role in this adventure was to go where I was told so off we went to see a wonderful rusty gate .
ImageIMG_20210928_083343625_HDR by Kevin Hawker, on Flickr
We then joined the pilgrimage route to Broxwood it became apparent that it was a little known route amongst pilgrim's as the householder testified ! homage paid and back on track to a Titley or two
ImageIMG_20210928_103946187 by Kevin Hawker, on Flickr
ImageIMG_20210928_105357144_HDR by Kevin Hawker, on Flickr
The level of humidity seemed to be rising by the minute so we picked a café in Kington to grace with our presence while we cooled down and flooded their floor which they took in good spirit and which turned out to be repeated wherever we had the temerity to present ourselves dripping at their front doors . Peter sent a message saying he was doing the same thing in Hay on Wye so we headed there on a more direct route than originally planned to meet up ready for the climb to gospel pass and our ascent of LHK in unfamiliar conditions .
3men on a knob
ImageIMG_20210928_180122121 by Kevin Hawker, on Flickr
Reg's line of communication to the rain gods was quickly restored and onto Talgarth for a tour of the town, two minutes later we were back at the pub where the tour began which was to become our home for the night after some quality negotiations by Reg and some unexpected upgrades . The perfect pub bikes at the bar
ImageIMG_20210928_215236816 by Kevin Hawker, on Flickr
Pete i thought you said you were bringing the axe
ImageIMG_20210928_215322198_BURST001 by Kevin Hawker, on Flickr
Another successful sleepless night on my part and up for breakfast which was taken in moderation as we were due to meet her holiness Verena shortly after for a second breakfast a quick blast down the main road through another RPN target which only I noticed .
ImageIMG_20210929_085845179_HDR by Kevin Hawker, on Flickr
The other two seemed to be in an ungodly hurry to reach the track of a thousand thorns and the next destination
ImageIMG_20210929_093547710 by Kevin Hawker, on Flickr
Verena sent us a message that the café we were to meet at was closed and she would meet us in Llyswen for coffee after a lot of huffing and puffing to blow the tubes up we were united over coffee it was here we discovered you could have anything you wanted in Wales unless it was a Wednesday . Miraculously as soon as we joined V the sun came out and we started steaming . On to another place on the list
ImageIMG_20210929_110932326 by Kevin Hawker, on Flickr
A rose amongst thorns
Verena now had to leave us but before she went she gave us some very sensible directions for a pleasant ride to Brecon which we totally ignored as the track going downhill away from Brecon seemed to draw us in against our will ! There is nothing like a sunken lane after a days torrential rain with freshly cut hedges to raise the spirits after more huffing and puffing we had a relaxing ride into Brecon on the A470 to have the Wednesday rule reinforced at the town's only tube retailer . Just out of town we met Verena her daughter and the dogs new and old , she agreed to use her powers and local knowledge to deliver us to the gap on a totally flat route I think we must have taken a wrong turning but in her defence the sun was still shining :grin:
The push up Fan y Big was anything other than flat but we prevailed .
ImageIMG_20210929_172203544_HDR by Kevin Hawker, on Flickr
The endless sunshine had pushed Reg close to the edge
ImageIMG_20210929_174114476 by Kevin Hawker, on Flickr
A bit of persuasion and pointing out the big black cloud approaching from the west reassured him so off to Pontsticill we went ,more negotiations food and beer and we were sorted for a night under canvas with built in water features and a street light lit high street for our ablutions
ImageIMG_20210930_081738722_BURST001 by Kevin Hawker, on Flickr
Thursday reared its head determined to outdo the efforts of Tuesday in the wetness department a definate 10/10 was scored and a bit of a breeze was thrown in for good measure we were clearly beyond Verena's sphere of influence now .Another target was on the horizon thankfully it was built to withstand the local conditions
ImageIMG_20210930_112903654_HDR by Kevin Hawker, on Flickr
Two of us had a train to catch so only one more valley and a world heritage site lay between us and the station plenty of time so we had a bit of a detour around the Blorenge to visit a site of significance to Peter ( what we were told on the hill stays on the hill ) trust me it's for the best .
Only thing left is the numbers I think we averaged at least 100 smiles to the mile it would have been more but at some times on Thursday smiling would have been positively reckless .
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psling
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Re: RPN Tour

Post by psling »

Great photos, I must learn how to take them! And store them. And post them. Rather than leave it to others :wink:
It was a wet ride but mostly our clothing stood up to the challenge. Luckily it wasn't bitter cold but it was cool enough to feel the chill at times if you stopped too long. We all had decent waterproof jackets, Kevin wearing the BB favourite Outlook Reign, me an older ( no longer available) Montane event smock mostly with the hood up under my helmet. I was also wearing Ground Effect waterproof 3/4 shorts. Despite the deluges I stayed comfortably dry. Feet got wet with rain running into my Shimano M90 boots but good old Woolly Boolly merino socks kept them warm. Under the waterproofs I had on a long-sleeved DeMarchi baselayer and a ss BB jersey up top and Morvelo 3/4 bibshorts down below. On the drier day I swapped out the smock for a lighter weight Morvelo jacket.
I was riding my Kona Ultd bike on 29 X 2.35 tyres which worked well on the predominantly tarmac ride and coped with The Gap track and the various bridleways.
Kevin was running tubeless, Reg and me tubes. Kevin had no punctures, Reg and me had a lot! On the Thursday morning I pulled 7 thorns out of one tube that had gone down overnight :shock: Tubeless seems the way to go in hedge-cutting season :roll:
We go out into the hills to lose ourselves, not to get lost. You are only lost if you need to be somewhere else and if you really need to be somewhere else then you're probably in the wrong place to begin with.
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Verena
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Re: RPN Tour

Post by Verena »

Foch, that was a moist one!!
Top effort, Wales at its finest, and it looks like this weekend will be much the same weather wise :roll:
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Bearbonesnorm
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Re: RPN Tour

Post by Bearbonesnorm »

You never mentioned Kenny Rogers was attending. Is that Dolly with him? Islands in the stream?
Image

Very good work all involved. It really is trips like this that make you appreciate (a)summer and (b)staying in. V Ruby is very interested in the 'leopard chicken' and would like to know where to obtain such a beast.
May the bridges you burn light your way
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RIP
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Re: RPN Tour

Post by RIP »

I laughed out loud at some of your quotes and caption comments Kev, excellent write-up! Maybe the humour of the situation is more accessible now that we're home and, er, dry :smile: .
"My God, Ponsonby, I'm two-thirds of the way to the grave and what have I done?" - RIP

The sign outside the asylum is the wrong way round.....

"At least you got some stories" - James Acaster
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