THE THREE CASTLES
Skenfrith ~ Grosmont ~ Whitecastle
Again Easter is our traditional time for riding out to the three castles of northern Gwent. I met Nick on the Easter Monday near Newbridge on Usk. We cycled off on our usual route toward Raglan, which included the village of Llandenny. The weather that morning was surprisingly warm and sunny. We stopped to buy supplies from our favorite shop in Raglan; here we ate a bit of brunch in the warm sun. Raglan was quite busy for a small country village so we were glad to ride out and along the quiet Cuckoo lane which climbs gently into the heart of the deepest countryside of northern Gwent. Before long we were in a cycling heaven, meandering through the narrow lanes that took us past the Rolls golf course of Monmouth. We then climbed a rather steep lane from Hendre to Newcastle village, here it started raining, but after a few miles we arrived in Skenfrith and the rain stopped. We stopped here for a while to view the castle; there were a few tourists here. But we left them behind to ride up the climb that took us up the Monnow valley before reaching Grosmont. Our second castle of the day was to be our lunch stop, we devoured our delicious freshly made rolls from the shop in Raglan. This castle is set in very quiet countryside and we were taken aback by the loud singing of the birds. The ride to Cross Ash from Grosmont takes in a long steep climb alongside a mountain; from here we had excellent views of the black mountains. We were now riding along a maze of narrow country roads that eventually led us to the remote and secluded Whitecastle. However this was not one of our winter or late evening visits, there were a lot of people here this afternoon and this did take away a bit of the atmosphere. However once we were back on the road all was peaceful again. We cycled to Llantilio Croessenny and then down the long meandering lane to Llanarth. The ride home from here was taken without any fuss through Croes Llanfair, Goytre and then on the main A4042 road to Croesyceiliog to arrive in the early evening....60 miles.
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