LLANOVER ROAD
9/02/03
We
met in Croesyceiliog at 2.15pm on a Sunday afternoon. There was a biting cold
north wind. Nick had been battling against it all the way from Newport. We
cycled off down the hill to the cycle track, which goes along the course of
the old railway line through Panteg, Pontymoile and Pontypool. There were
a lot of people walking dogs on the track and they seemed to be annoyed that
we were using ‘their’ path! However after stopping to look at
the beauty of the Lasgarn woods, we strayed off the track and dropped down
the steep Shop lane that comes out near the old brewery in Cwmafon. From here
we took the forest track through the community wood to Blaenafon and the Llanover
road. All was quiet here as we arrived near the top, the woods had been cleared
a bit and we had good views of the valley in the cold sunny afternoon. After
cycling over the bare mountain, we started to descend the Llanover road, this
has been recently been resurfaced, but we still had to hang on to our brakes
as it is very steep. Down the bottom of the hill we arrived at a bridge over
the Monmouthshire & Brecon canal. Dark was approaching so we decided to
cycle along the towpath. This was a bit of a mistake, as the recent wet weather
had turned it, into something like a bad section from the Paris-Roubaix! After
a few miles of spinning and slipping on the mud, we got of the path and cycled
a mile or so to the Star Inn near Mamilhad. From here the towpath was quite
good. and it was not long before we were in New Inn and home around 19:00....27
miles.
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