Rhayader

I like Rhayader a lot.
.
Every year, a few of us make the effort to visit and ride off-piste, over proper countryside with real maps and weather that varies from minute to minute. We go to Clives and he sorts out a guide for us (so we don't have to think) and his lovely wife, Francine, feeds us (so we don't have to starve). We stay with Paul at the excellent Horseshoes, who cooks the finest poached eggs in Powys. I love it.
.
It all went a bit tits-up this year though and the team disintegrated a month before the visit. Brian and Mick pulled out and Adrian and Andrew had to go to the US on business. Me and John left ... So, at the last minute, I managed to get brother Dick (and his new Yeti) out for the weekend and managed to persuade Molly that she should be riding with us now that the testosterone-fuelled, terribly competitive weekend had been replaced by just 'a ride with your mates'.
.

John, Molly, Dick, Alex and me at the lunch stop, day one.
.
Clive needs five or six riders to make the cost of a local guide worthwhile, so it was down to me to show everyone around. Molly had ridden here before, but it was the first visit for John and Dick and I knew they would not have ridden terrain like this before, so It wasn't hard to sort out an itinerary that would give them a feel for the area and show Molly some bits she hasn't seen.
.
After a fabulous dinner with Clive and Francine on Friday night, two beers, a good night's sleep and Paul's poached eggs, we pulled out of the yard at the Cwmdauddwr Arms and set off up the old railway line which is now part of the National Cycleway, Route 8. The plan was to have a steady spin down the roads towards Llanwrthwl to warm up and then pick up the Wye Valley Walk (Bridleway) and grind our way to the top of Bwlch Coch. This is a good climb on a decent track but I could have sworn the others walked a bit, because I was waiting a while at the top ! We set off again and it's hard work (maybe that hill took a bit out of me) but when John points out my slow puncture, I realise why. Why do you always get a puncture when the tyre is covered in cow $h1t !!!
.
A nice spin in the sunshine, followed by a well-earned descent through Talwrn Wood, brought us back to the road and face-to-face with Puke Hill. Turn and gurn time again but at least it's not that long and is all on tarmac - it is, however, quite steep ! From the top it's across the moor again, in the mist, through a few small rivers, up a few more hills ...
.

.

... and down to the dam on the southern arm of Caban Coch resevoir. A gentle spin on tarmac round the resevoir and we meet Clive, Alex and the little-blue-van-full-of-food.
.
After lunch, Molly calls it a day and we load her bike into the van. She disappears down the road to get cleaned up and enjoy some retail therapy, Rhayader-style, while John, Dick and I cross the dam, jump back on NCR 8 and follow the shore of Garreg-ddu, heading north. This is a nice, easy stretch and perfect for an after-lunch-warmup, but by this stage it was raining and the cloud had drifted in. We follow Route 8 to the top dam on Craig Goch, visit the public facilities, and set off for the next long'ish climb up Bonk Hill.
.
Bonk starts off benign enough. A manageable middle-ring spin up an old pack horse trail that is always firm even in wet weather. It urges you to go just a little faster, but it's probably safer to rein-in and save a bit for the sting. All good climbs have a sting.
.
Really good climbs have the sting at the top when you think you've had enough. Funnily enough, after the pack-horse trail, you then have to give up hard-earned contours to drop down and cross the river and then climb up again on wet, spongy grass for a while. Then it dries up, but steepens and, just as you think the worst is over, you turn right and have just another 200 yards up wet grass with small muddy steps. All these little obstacles offer up the risk of a 'dab' and would nulify all the effort made to clean the climb to this point. I love a challenge.

.
Somewhere half way up that slope is Dick, having a rest ! It is steeper than it looks.

.

It's across a the top, through the bog without too much incident, down past the Roman Camp, through another stream and up to meet the road again. I thought I heard a slight moan when I pointed UP the road, but it was the last climb of the day and, before long we are at the top of the 'Golf Links' and ready to enjoy a 3 mile (mainly) downhill blast back to the outskirts of Rhayader. Dick catches his pedal in a rut about half way down, at speed, and loses contact with the bike. He picks himself up, John dusts him off and there's no permanent damage. Result. 

.

Back at base, we clean and lube the bikes, Neil fettles the ASR 5 and the gears change like magic again ready for the morning, the shower feels good, time for a coffee and some rock cake.

.

Oh No - another fabulous meal with Clive and Francine. Wine, sleep, poached eggs ... but England lose to France in RWC .. and Wales win ! We decide not to talk too loud when we go out for a beer :-(

.

There were a few more aches at the start of day two, but we set off in the rain and against the wind up the 'mountain' road. To be honest you could do without this straight from the off, but it gets the major height gain out of the way for the whole morning. It was with great relief that we left the road, crossed the river at the ford and then clawed our way up the short, but spiteful, climb to the plateau of 'Cefn Rhydoldog'. Visibility was down to fifty yards, the rain continued and the wind got up, so we didn't hang about for too many pictures, but the ride across here is lush in good weather. It's a shame Dick and John didn't see it !

.

It's a great descent too - with fast single-track, some tricky rock steps, a nice bog crossing that has been the scene of some great comedy moments over the years, a long flooded section that fills the hubs and bottom brackets with stinking water and, finally, Strettons rock; where Jon (in an attempt to make up ground on someone riding better than he was that day) fell off at great speed, mangled his ankle and had to go home alone. Every time you ride this section, you get another memory to take home. I like it very much.

.

Back on roads and tracks for a while and then a most unnecessary push up an overgrown, rutted by-way that is never maintained, presumably to stop us riding up it, and then it's the final section through the Oak wood.

.

.

If anything, this section is far too short. It has some lovely stretches of wooded path, single track, a nice fast smooth descent with some wiggles and the chance of taking a little air near the bottom before you rattle across the roots and try to stop before hitting the gate.

.

It's a short section after the wood to the road and back for coffee. A great morning, and the end of great weekend riding.

.

.

Did we enjoy it ? The look on Dick's face says it all.