Gospel Pass Friday 27 September

[Banjo]

Jelly Babies in back pocket . Thats me ready.

 

[theclaud]

Is there a pond for ducking those suspected of witchcraft en route?

Oddly enough we happen not to be going too near to any ponds...

 

[Doseone]

Have a great ride everybody.

 

[User482]

No!

 

[Wobblers]

No!

Well?

 

[dellzeqq]

a great day out. 101 miles, and most of them tough. Young TeeCee led us a merry dance up and down more hills than a person would sensibly shake a stick at. I worked out that I changed gears something like 6500 times. That's a lot of gear changes. Along the way we saw great wonders of nature, hills (see above), valleys, purling rivers, mountains, clouds, sheep, more sheep and, then again, even more sheep. We, all six of us, made it, although I have to report that my legs are shaking a little.

 

[Banjo]

I had a triple 11/28(and needed it). Dell turned up with a racing double and a cassette about the size of a wine cork.

My first thought was he will regret that later but he powered up every hill in style.

Great route by TC all rideable tarmac quite a lot on quiet roads. Spectacular scenery and good watering holes. Sheep and horses slowed down our descent into Haye just a little which suited me as I'm a wuss at descending anyway.

Pleasure to meet and ride with Stuaff and Dellzeq the others I new allready.

 

[StuAff]

That was lovely, that was, wasn't it? Did walk up part of the Gospel Pass, where this lucky artfully composed shot was taken (lost all momentum on a steep bit and there wasn't anywhere suitable to kick off again for a little while), and there was some ridiculous bit of gradient later on where I thought, 'no chance'. Grindy climbs, fine. Stupid gradients, not. Didn't actually go lower than 34x23 (on the climbs in question, I'd have ended up falling over having failed to drop gears quickly enough). I was carrying gear from overnight but I don't think that would have made much difference.

On account of train fares to Wales from Pompey being ridiculously pricey on a Friday morning, opted to save some dosh, travel down on the Thursday afternoon- even with B&B and evening meal bought, a lot cheaper than the train. The thought of riding all the way again had very briefly crossed my mind. But no, I thought I'd actually use the train this time. So I crammed into the FGW cattle truck, which ran late as usual. Gets to Bristol about five minutes behind schedule. Then, nothing. And nothing else is moving. After about ten minutes, the message comes through, train cancelled, everything suspended due to a track problem. And those words that strike every rail-using cyclist where it hurts, replacement coach service. Now, do I hope and pray as that as I had a cycle reservation which I am no longer able to use, that the staff and coach driver will allow me to put the bike in the coach (no, not risking the hold thank you), and endure god-knows-how-long to get to Newport? Or do I not even bother asking, MTFU and ride to Newport? Need you ask? I had the route from July's little jaunt on the Garmin, but I didn't bother loading that up- takes an age and I knew most of the way anyway. Headed north, Bristol's sprawl taking a little time to clear before the signs for place names I remembered- Aust and Olveston- started appearing. Stopped at the excellent little village shop in Olveston for supplies before making my way to the Bridge. Might have briefly stuck to the 15 mph limit in places. Mostly not though. After a brief bit of to-ing and fro-ing on the other side (signs for Newport there indicating the M48, not the A48, hence back and forth before I realised I'd gone the right way first time...), up the A48 all the way to Newport. Helpfully getting soaked by a downpour mid ride. Newport itself was a bit of a nightmare- with the benefit of hindsight I would have just needed to have gone a different way at one roundabout. After further adventures, checked my phone to find the B&B had rung to ask what time I'd be there. Rang back, John the owner pointed me in the right direction and eventually made it to Labuan House at about seven. So only about three hours later than planned. I was thinking of going for a ride anyway, just didn't think it would be before getting to Newport....

Early start- ready for breakfast on the dot of seven, having slept reasonably well once I got the extremely loud alarm clock out of earshot. Labuan House gets an emphatic recommendation by the way- owners John and Pat were very helpful (bike secured in the shed) and the praise on TripAdvisor was well-earnt. Comfortable room with all the usual mod cons. Most excellent full Welsh later (excellent Alfons Mucha poster on the wall, btw) on my way to the station in plenty of time for the planned 8 am start, there to find Graham (Banjo) and Rob. The Paddington contingent were delayed. Good old FGW, eh? But the six of us were ready to go a whole two minutes late. We sped up to Abergavenny in two hours, there for second breakfast. Claud made a good call on the cafe- huge breakfast and huge mug of tea for a fiver. Tidy!

Warmed up, the serious bit started. Out of Aber, the road basically went up, up, and up a bit more. Then up a bit more after that. Now, the previous time I visited the Gospel Pass (back in 2009 with assorted guys and gals off the BR commuting section), the uppy bit went OK, honestly can't remember if I walked any of it, the downy bit went somewhat pear-shaped. In a bouncing-off-a-cattle-grid and then into a bank (helmet proving useful here) and borking rear wheel kind of way. Thankfully, no such mishaps this time. Did tentitively cross the cattle grid on the way up (not, I'm sure, the one I pranged on) on foot (after grinding to a halt as previously mentioned), but otherwise no issues. And the view was worth it. Most emphatically. Main problem with the descent was watching out for the sheep, so not a time for silly speeds. On to Hay for lunch (again, an excellent choice made by Claud), then our sort-of-flattish sector in England, before back into Wales for more lumpiness. And that ******* gradient that made me walk again. Loop back to Aber, where Graham ummed-and-aahed about his dodgy freehub before, the consensus was, that it had, er, freed up a bit, and he decided to continue rather than get the train. Tea and excellent pastries at the station cafe (top quality banter from our host) before we looped back via Usk and a slightly different route to Newport, which we reached just before seven. Booking the 7.44 service was the right choice then Time enough for a drink and a panini at the Wetherspoons before bidding farewell and getting to the station. And, you'll never guess, the train was late in...Nearly fifteen minutes. By the time that it got to Southampton, twenty minutes late. I think FGW are cheating somewhat on their timetable, as all but five minutes of that delay had gone by the time it reached Fratton. Home just after eleven. 102.96 miles Newport-Newport, plus 43.82 Bristol-Newport the day before. Resting today before a little jaunt in Bucks tomorrow.

Thanks one and all!

 

[StuAff]

More from Mr Mucha..

 

[User482]

I won't bore everyone with another route description. Suffice it to say we had a great route, great company and great weather. Many, many thanks are due to the estimable theclaud for arranging everything (especially the weather).

 

[robjh]

At the end of summer, theClaud led five disciples to the Gospel Pass, where, turning their backs on Lord Hereford’s Knob, they followed her into the Golden Valley. The cycle complete, the travellers shared their wisdom at a place called Wetherspoon, until First Great Western scattered them to east, west and south once more.

Thanks Claudine for a great ride, it was a lovely day and as always a pleasure to ride with other CCers.

I'll put an album on here shortly, but just to give a taste of things to come, this was the high point of our ride, in a very literal sense :

 

[robjh]

Album here

 

[User10571]

Album here

I see from that first photograph that Leggy bought the hat that he last wore when he made a phone call from the balcony of The Waterfront Club in Whitstable.
Good pics, thobut.

 

[Linford]

Wot..no @User ?

 

[Banjo]

Does anyone have a link to the route on bike route toaster or something similar?