Brecon Beacons

In his book "100 Greatest Cycling Climbs", Simon Warren describes the road over Llangynidr Mountain as a "monster climb". He's right! My cycle computer recorded that it was more or less a constant climb for around 3.5 miles and reached its summit at 1631 feet (the bottom of the climb was at 383 feet). In the book I've mentioned it is rated at 7 out of 10. By comparison, the road over the Trough of Bowland from Dunsop Bridge is rated at 4 out of 10 and the Nick O'Pendle from Sabden is 6 out of 10.

On the same ride we did another of the top 100 climbs. This was along the road from Govilon to Blaenavon. This also had a 7 out of 10 rating. We actually found it a little harder than the first climb. It rose from a height of 220 feet up to 1505 feet in a distance, again, of approximately 3.5 miles.

Partrishow Church is an 11th Century church situated on the way up a very narrow and extremely steep road. It has an intricately carved 16th century rood screen and mediaeval wall paintings.

According to tradition, a holy man by the name of Issui had a cell nearby from where he instructed the people in the Christian faith and became well-liked. He was, however, murdered (Merthyr means "martyr") by an ungrateful traveller who had received Issui's hospitality.

His cell soon became a place of pilgrimage and, in the early 11th century, a wealthy continental pilgrim was cured of leprosy by water drawn from a nearby well. As a sign of his gratitude, the pilgrim left a hatful of gold to build an early Church on the hill above the well and this Church was dedicated in the name of St. Issui.

Monmouth is built around the confluence of the Rivers Monnow and Wye and lies within two miles of the border with England. The bridge over the River Monnow is the only surviving medieval bridge in Britain with the gate tower standing on the bridge.

The town was the birthplace of King Henry V (the victor of the Battle of Agincourt in 1415) in 1387 and has strong links with the Rolls family (... one half of the famous partnership Rolls-Royce) who owned a mansion just outside the town. The death of Charles Rolls in an aeroplane accident in 1910 (and who thus became the first British person to die in such an accident) is commemorated with a statue in Agincourt Square.

A museum dedicated to Lord Nelson is also to be found in the town. The victor of the Battle of Trafalgar, acutely aware of the value of the area's woodland to the British navy, had visited the town in 1802.

The Big Pit at Blaenavon is a coal mine that, since its closure in 1980, has been turned into a mining museum. The highlight of the visit is a trip down the 300 feet shaft to explore the working conditions underground. Unfortunately, due to the danger of explosion caused by stray electrical sparks, no photography underground is allowed.

On one of our days we rode past Talybont Reservoir. On the way we noticed signs for waterfalls. We took the opportunity to go back to have a look on our return by car from visiting the Big Pit mining museum. Unfortunately the lighting was not conducive to the taking of good photographs at it was quite dark and started raining just as we arrived. I really needed to use my tripod to get decent shots, but had taken the decision not to take it with me because of the on-coming rain. Anyway, the waterfalls were well worth seeing and here are a couple of shots of them.

Our accommodation for this holiday was a cottage by the name of "Penlan Bach", situated in Llangynidr which lies between Abergavenny and Brecon.

Bob and Pat James were our hosts and made us both feel very welcome. They also suggested some good bike rides to us.

We would heartily recommend the cottage to you and if you want more information then visit the website at www.penlan-bach.co.uk/