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Post by Rubbertramp on Aug 17, 2013 19:10:30 GMT
Been inactive long enough now sat drinking beer at some boring old music festival so have decided to follow the border between England and Wales, south to north, just so as I can brag to you lot that I've cycled all around Wales! Starting underneath the Severn Bridge I folowed the Offa's Dyke path on foot for the first day. That hurt so got the bike out and went up most of the Wye Valley Walk to beyond Monmouth on the second. To Kentchurch yesterday following the lanes and overgrown footpaths as close to the border as possible. Am now holed up waiting for the wind and rain to die down tomorrow for the long walk along the ridge which forms the border up to Hay Bluff. Under the Old Severn Bridge Over the River Monmow to England Skenfrith Castle
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Post by kangooroo on Aug 17, 2013 20:22:02 GMT
My part of the world!
There's good wilding on Hay Bluff and at Llanthony, depending on where you end up, or Hay-on-Wye car park - or anywhere really. It's very easy in this part of the world.
I'll enjoy following your trip. Enjoy!
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Post by Rubbertramp on Aug 17, 2013 20:37:58 GMT
Thanks Karen...I was wondering about Hay. Went there for the book festival a number of years ago....has it been and gone this year? If you're out and about in the next few days give me a shout .....I'll make you a bacon butty!
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Post by kangooroo on Aug 17, 2013 20:52:43 GMT
You've missed the Literature Festival - it's May-June so you're a little late!
It would be good to meet up but this week we've hired the digger, dumper and roller to get started on the track on our land then make a start on the shelter. There's a huge amount of work to do so I think I'm going to be largely tied up for the next two weeks but the work is new to us so we don't really know how it will pan out.
If you head southwards again, near Ross-on-Wye or the Lower Wye Valley (Monmouth-Chepstow) then please let me know. I'll be near Redbrook/Bigsweir/Tintern some afternoons.
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Post by Firefox on Aug 18, 2013 22:32:15 GMT
Nice pics Mark! Hope you have a good journey
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Post by Etienne Le Croq on Aug 19, 2013 6:01:48 GMT
Yes good luck chap! Nice pictures.
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Post by Rubbertramp on Aug 21, 2013 20:12:47 GMT
Well, I did the ridge in two parts after screaming down a six mile stretch of the A465 to Pandy and back early on Sunday morning to beat the traffic. As I was driving the van on to me parking space I noticed a sapling lying across the road by a layby, which wasn't there when I cycled past earlier, so ever the helpful citizen I parks the van up just beyond and get out to go and shift the bugger. Now it was a bit breezy in the night but not enough to bring a tree down and in the layby there were camped some ladies and gentlemen with white caravans and Transit vans.....Charlie, was that you I spotted with your chainsaw? Anyway with the help of another motorist who'd stopped, we shifted it but not before staining me back when a branch snapped and we landed on our arses! One of the young lads from the camp did come down to help after the job was done and I asked him if he thought it was a bit dangerous letting a tree fall in the road. "How much do you want for your van" he replied. That made I laugh! "Five grand" I said. Then he laughed too! Decided to take me stick for the steep climb up from a farm near Clodock so I cycled up there and left the bike chained to a fence then a walk up to the summit because I don't know what the terrain will be like. Smacked me head when a gate swung open, blood everywhere! Good start, sore back and a gert big gash on the forehead! Anyway I get to the top, about 2000 feet, and there's this guy with a mountain bike bombing along like it was a tarmac road....bollocks! So walk on for another three miles then got lost in the head high bracken on the way down....not a good day! Next day, park up under Hay Bluff then cycle down to Llantony....downhill all the way....Wheeeee! Then push the bike up to the top....yes, I know, it's hell out there! But what a treat! From up here you can see beyond the Severn estuary into Somerset and as far as the Wrekin in Shropshire....probably further. The path is easily ridden, even along the boggy parts as they had airlifted big limestone slabs up there by helicopter a few years ago. Completed the day watching a couple of gliders whizz past at head height then staggering and sliding down on me bum from Hay Bluff. A great find yesterday at Whitney-on-Wye at the toll bridge. Great spot and lovely people who live and collect the money at the bridge. They charge for tent camping and canoe launching but wouldn't take my money for stopping the night there so I handed over a donation for their charity work. Toilets, water and a cold shower available, also a cafe/shop and lots of history. www.whitneybridge.co.uk/camp-canoe.htmGot to Presteigne today with a knackered gear selector. There is a classical arts festival on....might go people watching tomorrow!
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Post by n brown on Aug 21, 2013 20:57:27 GMT
nice writeup mark,you're certainly getting to see the detail as well as the big picture !makes oi feel quite sedentary !
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Post by billieblue on Aug 21, 2013 21:10:07 GMT
Blimey Mark you do see life close up don't you? Good on you for not sitting around. Are you hoping to settle down for the winter? Hope we meet up somewhere in the near future. And TAKE CARE!
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Post by Rubbertramp on Aug 21, 2013 21:13:54 GMT
Ah but I know you've got excitement in yer life....dodging across that dual carriageway to pop to the shops!
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Post by Etienne Le Croq on Aug 21, 2013 21:16:24 GMT
Excellent pictures and great commentry ! Keep it coming .
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Post by Firefox on Aug 21, 2013 21:34:49 GMT
Great stories and very entertaining. Much better than those travel blogs in MMM magazine
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Post by kangooroo on Aug 21, 2013 22:00:09 GMT
Keep blogging your travels. They're especially interesting to me because I know exactly where you're referring to and even some of the people you mention. I'm pleased you're enjoying my part of the world
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Post by WindDancer on Aug 22, 2013 5:22:55 GMT
Highly entertaining Mark, thank you ......... now about the gash on the head.......... is this an annual thing you do?
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Post by seanrua on Aug 26, 2013 10:30:41 GMT
Yes, I'd like to second all the positive comments about Mark's trip and pictures. fair play to him! I just wish he would stop sliding about on his bum so much, and i do hope he cleared up after all that bloodshed at the gate.
I agree: 'tis great country. All the best with the rest of the journey!
sean rua.
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Post by Rubbertramp on Aug 30, 2013 22:05:01 GMT
Gear selector fixed by Charlie at the bike shop in Presteigne first thing....top man, he got me a second hand part and only charged a tenner including fitting! Up to Knighton following the border on the cycle route 25....in Wales on the left and England on the right then on to Beguildy to complete the day. Stopped the night in the cattle market car park in Knighton and got a cold hard stare from a guy coming home from work. I think it was because I was picking his Blackberries off the Brambles overflowing from his back garden! Up then to Kerry Ridge after which the border does a gert big loop down into Churchstoke. Tried to have a natter with some people there but got no response at all.....not even a grunt! So I checked meself for bloodstains, rubbed me chin and yes I had had a shave the day before and when the chap behind the counter in Harry Tuffins (a locally famous independent supermarket and garden centre) was equally unfriendly when I bought some milk and bread I just had to ask if something tragic had happened around there recently. "Er, no" said the man and that made two of us with baffled looks on our ugly mugs! Perhaps they just don't get many strangers round they there parts! On the Offa's Dyke path near Montgomery next day eight young rams in a scrum down all jostling and butting each other for the same patch of grass while surrounded by twenty acres of empty meadow...reminded me of me rugby days...."Spin it wide....get the ball out to the wing! Where's your bleedin Scum-Half? Only just resisted the temptation to join in! A beautiful ride on the levee (locally the Argae) from the confluence of the Severn and the river Vyrnwy up to Llanymynech and a trip down memory lane in Oswestry before I have to hit this one on the head for this year as I've promised to go and drink beer at one of them boring old music festivals in Gloucestershire this weekend. The borderline is so wiggly that I won't have time to get it finished this year so will resume next summer.
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Post by seanrua on Aug 30, 2013 22:23:03 GMT
Well done, Mark, and good luck in the pub and,as important, next summer when you complete the journey to the north coast!
Btw, didn't you ever hear about the "Proud Salopians"? A man from Bishops Castle told me that even the working-class are unsociable. He was talking about his own people!
I don't find them too bad at Ludlow or Oswestry, but historians say that most "border folk" are a bit wary of any stranger. Imo, 'tis hard to know which side of the border you're on; the people seem exactly the same on either side.
In passing, did you feel that the bits of Offa's Dyke that you experienced were much more impressive than Stonehenge?
sean rua.
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Post by Rubbertramp on Aug 30, 2013 22:44:26 GMT
Ah...so that's it. Yup I can understand that as there are no tourists around there (Salop) at all. Monmouthshire and Herefordshire were all pretty friendly though.
Haha...Offa's Dyke, the most impressive thing about it were the ancient Beech trees growing out of it....and in the few places it hasn't been ploughed up, very hard to tell it is a dyke at all.
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Post by seanrua on Aug 31, 2013 8:09:05 GMT
Cheers, Mark!
Enjoy your Festivals; don't get any punctures and drink only as much as you want!
Btw, I've shelved my plans to charge admission ( £8 sounds about the going rate) to Offa's Dyke ( or, as one bloke wrote: "Offers Dyke") until the Syrian crisis is replaced by another one. Of course, this could be at any time and in any place - from Fort William to Brighton - so prices, just like with Oil, will undoubtedly have to rise in future.
sean rua.
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Post by Rubbertramp on Sept 18, 2014 19:18:08 GMT
Have resumed this trip this week, 13 months after I started it last year. Driving up to Llanymynech from Aldershot via a night on the A49 near Hereford. The border is some wriggly around here...all over the place, going North, South, East and West! It tracks nearly 360 degrees around Llanymynech Hill and the golf course where I heard a sliced shot clatter in the trees and it fell out a few feet away.....I made a noise like an injured squirrel but they didn't see me. Got as far as Rhydycroeso village hall, then back the quick way through Morda and Llynclys a 25 mile round trip, stopping the night at the Old Racecourse above Oswestry. Early start next day, stiff as a board and not fit enough for this yet! After an amble up and down a couple of lanes, followed the Offa's Dyke path about 5 miles up to just west of Chirk where the Welsh defeated Edward the 2nd's Army on the Dyke despite overwhelming odds. The dyke here seanrua is far more impressive than it was further South. The smooth slope on the defensive side and the steep slope and deep ditch facing the Welsh all very well defined, and all topped with some enormous ancient Beech trees. Maybe 3-4 hundred tears old? Very hard to imagine them not being there. Called in for a beer in my old teenage haunt The Old Vaults in Oswestry where the Offa's Dyke Ale has gone up in price over the last year..... robmac.....it's Now £1.95 a pint! A 3 mile climb then back up to the Racecourse...a bit fitter now....will still be stiff in the morning though!
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Post by seanrua on Sept 22, 2014 12:14:11 GMT
Well done, RT!
When you get to the part of the ditch that, according to our man on the wc, was destroyed and blocked by travellers, will you let us know your honest findings?
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Post by Rubbertramp on Sept 22, 2014 20:45:40 GMT
After a rowdy Saturday night in Chirk's market car park outside the British Legion (tis getting cold out at night now!....that's all I'm saying) a pedal up the hill past the fire station and Pont-y blew takes me down to a footpath leading to the River Dee where the border runs. A couple walking thier dogs tell me where I can find a crossing so after two miles following the riverbank I'm across this 18th century footbridge and stumble across a youngster grooming her horse. She shows me the way to get back onto the footpath on that side of the river. I hoiks me bike over the gate and set off through a field of heifers with a bull running with em but not 200 yards in, 30 tons of cattle decide as one that I ain't going to get where I'm going and block my way....no matter which way I turn or how much waving and swearing I can chuck at them. The bull, meanwhile is skulking at the back of the herd no doubt recognising a brave Cornishman who likes a bit of beef skirt in his pasty! Eventually have to go back to the girl groom who kindly points me up the road through the estate and back to the public road. Followed the road each side of the border mostly from then on to Dobson's Bridge and up the Llangollen canal to find a parking spot for tomorrow then back the quick way to Chirk. A cracking ride up the canal towpath next day for a few miles....loads of Damsons and Sloes around here. Then mostly by road up to Farndon, Into the last county now, Cheshire. Stopped at the pub in Sarn Bridge for a pint. Sunday lunchtime and the place is deserted....and having thought about it everywhere seems deserted around here on a glorious sunny day. There are no people out of doors....what's all that about then? Have they heard I was coming? Where was that exactly @sean ? Was so long since I read that thread and am now on the select list of banned members so don't go there anymore.
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Post by Pollik on Sept 23, 2014 8:15:02 GMT
I notice you waited until I left the area It's a lovely area...have fun
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Post by seanrua on Sept 24, 2014 6:55:52 GMT
Keep going, RT, and don't be rustling any of those nice cattle to fill your pasties.
re the reported damage to Offa's ditch: the guy sending in the article had a Wrexham address and said damage was nearby, I believe. You'll surely see it on your travels, if 'tis as bad as they made out. From what I can gather the land was private property.
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Post by seanrua on Sept 24, 2014 16:04:40 GMT
ps
how's the freshly plastered van bearing up?
I'm toying with the idea of building a shanty totally from insulation board/kingspan/PIR thrmal laminate and transporting it on a trailer.
Ongoing research with the technical boffins has NOT led to any guarantees of their product. Meanwhile, the blurb might say " strong, load-bearing, impervious to the elements" etc.
I'll just have to go ahead and risk it. Most professionals seem to be scared of their own shadow. 'Tis the ge of litigation, I suppose.
Good luck with your griddler!
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Post by Rubbertramp on Sept 27, 2014 19:16:53 GMT
Offa's Dyke goes to the West of Wrexham Sean. I'm following the border as it is now which runs East of there. The Gyproc and plastered ceiling's holding up grand thanks. Nearly three thousand miles and just a superficial crack on a bit of the ceiling line. Following the Dee along the bank and after getting lost on the wrong river bend among the riverside chalets at Atmere Farm I cut across the fields to a pumping station where there's a bridge, then by track and road up to Dodleston....cut it short today, going back to the van to enjoy the sun. Last day and me legs get stung and scratched by nettles and brambles on an overgrown bridleway at a place called The Lache Eyes. End up going across fields again to get to the road. All built up and industry here now so very quickly get up to the finishing line near the army camp and industrial estate at Shotwick via some A roads and the Dee Cycleway. Bit of an anti-climax this last leg. Still, can say I've circumnavigated Wales and treated meself to fish and chips and a good night's kip by Flint Castle. Forgot me camera on this bit so here's one of a train!
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Post by n brown on Sept 27, 2014 19:35:22 GMT
well done Mark ! now give it a rest and stop embarassing all us fat bastards !
please tell me your legs ache a bit !
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Post by seanrua on Sept 27, 2014 21:35:25 GMT
Yes, Well done, Mark!
You must be fit as a fiddle. Glad the plasterwork is holding up too.
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Post by Firefox on Sept 27, 2014 23:39:20 GMT
Thanks for the update mark, and well done with the van ceiling!
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Post by Etienne Le Croq on Sept 28, 2014 6:57:27 GMT
Well done Chap!
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