BB200 2020

[Bearlegged]

I started steady, soon became slower, and stayed that way for the next 30-odd hours.

[Euge]

I was thinking of having a second go with a very different plan now I know a bit more. But given the attitude of the Welsh Government to visitors it seems a bad plan to go into Wales at all and causing upset.

Should we all be responsible and call attempts off until things settle?

[Cheeky Monkey]

If you're visiting within the rules and with an eye to not taking silly chances and increasing the burden on a stretched NHS then it seems OK to continue, if you want. But then I'm not God and no-one put me in charge

There was a long thread about this issue earlier in lock-down. It went back and forth quite a bit

[redefined_cycles]

I was thinking of having a second go with a very different plan now I know a bit more. But given the attitude of the Welsh Government to visitors it seems a bad plan to go into Wales at all and causing upset.

Should we all be responsible and call attempts off until things settle?

I'd say so Euge... Just to be safer!

[whitestone]

Finished a couple of hours ago in 22:45 or thereabouts.

Started at Fforest Inn. No rain but chilly.

Cath bivvied at the first off-road after Crickhowell so at about the 105km mark.

[gairym]

Finished a couple of hours ago in 22:45 or thereabouts.

Started at Fforest Inn. No rain but chilly.

Cath bivvied at the first off-road after Crickhowell so at about the 105km mark.

Chapeau!

[whitestone]

Some stats:

Number of grumpy farmers- 0
Number of happy/chatty farmers - 2
Number of very well spoken and helpful women - 1
Number of falls - 1
Sense of humour failures - 0
Dodgy Achilles that held up (just) - 1

I got a shot of the padlocked gate, might send it to Powys Highways.

From top of the the climb to get to where Alex lost his mech to the end I saw just two people, a couple of walkers on the top near the NP centre. I think I passed @juliojulio near the top of the big climb above Hay (apologies to her for not chatting more but I was gasping for air to keep moving) not sure if she’d dropped something but when I looked back she was heading back down. I saw a couple of roadies but she was the only BB200 rider that I saw.

I took 12 1/2 hrs to the top of The Gap which was at 125km. The next 75km took ten hours

[redefined_cycles]

Some stats:

Number of grumpy farmers- 0
Number of happy/chatty farmers - 2
Number of very well spoken and helpful women - 1
Number of falls - 1
Sense of humour failures - 0
Dodgy Achilles that held up (just) - 1

I got a shot of the padlocked gate, might send it to Powys Highways.

From top of the the climb to get to where Alex lost his mech to the end I saw just two people, a couple of walkers on the top near the NP centre. I think I passed @juliojulio near the top of the big climb above Hay (apologies to her for not chatting more but I was gasping for air to keep moving) not sure if she’d dropped something but when I looked back she was heading back down. I saw a couple of roadies but she was the only BB200 rider that I saw.

I took 12 1/2 hrs to the top of The Gap which was at 125km. The next 75km took ten hours

Well done Bob.. and Cath and Julia

[larsmars]

@Richard - sorry to hear you cut it short, looking forward to the stories
@Landslide @Bob & Cath @Juliet assuming all finished now? - Well done!

[burty]

Well done Bob ,cath
I think me and paramart are going to wait for torrential rain and gail force winds to make us feel more at home

[whitestone]

@Lars & @burty

Cath ain’t back yet. She’s probably somewhere between The Gap and the NP centre. Could be a close run thing for her to finish in time.

[Cheeky Monkey]

Go Cath!
Go Cath!
Go Cath!
Pedal!
Pedal!
Pedal!
Pedal!
Pedal!
Pedal!
Pedal!

[In Reverse]

Well done Bob.

[whitestone]

Sadly Cath bailed after the second moorland section and before the one with all the new wire fences.

Now in the Red Lion as both too tired to drive home tonight.

Cath had a run in with both the house with the padlocked gate an the farmer. The folks in the house are English (would never have guessed) and have only lived there for two years.

The diversion didn’t load on her Garmin so she did the original route. One of the farm dogs bit her and the farmer had a right go.

I’ll have a word with Powys Highways next week.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Bad luck on all accounts Cath ... but also well done.

To be honest, I'm not surprised that the occupants of the house are English. It's a fairly common trend in these parts when it comes to RoW.

[Cheeky Monkey]

Sadly Cath bailed after the second moorland section and before the one with all the new wire fences.

Now in the Red Lion as both too tired to drive home tonight.

Cath had a run in with both the house with the padlocked gate an the farmer. The folks in the house are English (would never have guessed) and have only lived there for two years.

The diversion didn’t load on her Garmin so she did the original route. One of the farm dogs bit her and the farmer had a right go.

I’ll have a word with Powys Highways next week.

Ah boo, that sounds a bit crap

[RIP]

The folks in the house are English (would never have guessed) and have only lived there for two years.

Cliche. Can't stand them. "Eeoowww, we don't have bicycles or cows or cockerels in Dulwich"

farm dogs bit her

Ouch, very nasty, big sympathies . Pepper spray on the 'you must carry' list next year?

[In Reverse]

Where was the house with the padlocked gate?

[Bearbonesnorm]

I’ll have a word with Powys Highways next week.

Let me know how you get on Bob. I've a couple of decent Powys RoW contacts if need be.

[Raggedstone]

Andy I found the locked gate at a house called Middle FFynonou I went through Sunday morning after shutuplegs had had a chat with the owner the night before ! There wasn't anyone around when I went through you would have gone through Saturday morning not that far from where you started and before the shouty farmers place .

[In Reverse]

Cheers. Don't remember a gate tbf but that's not saying much.

[Bearlegged]

Is the house with the locked gate at about 56km into the route? There was a house with signs asking people to follow an alternative route that avoided their garden. It struck me as no big deal, a good track with practically no added distance. Their dog came out to shout at me, but the owners seemed nice enough.

[redefined_cycles]

Sadly Cath bailed after the second moorland section and before the one with all the new wire fences.

Now in the Red Lion as both too tired to drive home tonight.

Cath had a run in with both the house with the padlocked gate an the farmer. The folks in the house are English (would never have guessed) and have only lived there for two years.

The diversion didn’t load on her Garmin so she did the original route. One of the farm dogs bit her and the farmer had a right go.

I’ll have a word with Powys Highways next week.

Deleted... Probably me just overreacting (with the whole tatanus jab thing). Hope Caths ok and well done both for the attempt/completion...

[whitestone]

Is the house with the locked gate at about 56km into the route? There was a house with signs asking people to follow an alternative route that avoided their garden. It struck me as no big deal, a good track with practically no added distance. Their dog came out to shout at me, but the owners seemed nice enough.

No, it was about 3km from the end of the original GPX route. That house a bit before Crickhowell was fine. It does cost quite a bit of money to get a footpath or bridle way moved.

Reg, the instances where I’ve come across this in Wales it’s invariably English who aren’t originally from rural areas so have the “This is mine” attitude. At the other end of the spectrum was the very well spoken lady who wasn’t the slightest bit bothered about me going the wrong way and was very helpful in suggesting ways of avoiding the worst of the next bit of track.

[RIP]

very well spoken lady who wasn’t the slightest bit bothered about me going the wrong way and was very helpful

Reminds me about the type of dowager-duchess who is so posh that she's gone way way past the terribly coarse stage of butlers, jewellery, candelbras etc, and proves how posh she is by spending all her time - despite having all the aforementioned vaguely in the background somewhere - in the shrubbery or greenhouse in threadbare tweeds and some old galoshes...