BRYNGWYN CHURCH
12/01/03
It
was a Sunday morning 1130 when I met Nick at the ‘Blackout junction’
near Newbridge on Usk. The weather was still cold and sunny as it had been
all that week, the forecast was for it to get milder with of course, rain!
But fortunately that had not happened yet. There were many cyclists about
that day, I had passed a few on my way up to meet Nick and as we were cycling
toward the village of Llantrisant a whole peleton of cyclists rode past us!
We took the old Usk flood route, a nice quiet narrow lane that ends up on
the old Chepstow road, sections of this were sheets of ice and with a biting
wind, it was very cold indeed, as we rode along the pleasant country road
to Llandenny. It was then only a couple of miles to Raglan, where we stopped
for a cup of steaming hot coffee from my flask. We then went on the back road
that eventually ends up in the village of Llantilio Croessenny. We did not
go this far but turned at a crossroads that leads to the small village of
Bryngwyn. Here we had a look in the church, it was open with the heating on,
as they were going to have a service in an hour or so. The church had had
a wedding in it the previous day and was adorned inside with many flowers
and candles on each aisle. After a chat with the organist we set off toward
Llanarth and then to Croes Llanfair. The weather, as promised, had now got
a lot milder and it looked like rain. We cycled on the back lanes through
Nantyderry and then to Goytre. Near here we looked at the flooded field along
side the Monmouthshire & Brecon canal where we used to go ice-skating
as boys. I had not been there since then and had forgotten about it, but Nick
remembered, it still had flooded a bit, but by now the weather was warmer
and there was no ice! We cycled along the canal towpath, although a bit rough
in places it made good riding in the heavy drizzle that had now started. We
were unperturbed by the wet, in fact it gave me a chance to try out my Christmas
present which was a Freestyle Goretex jacket, which looked good and behaved
well, leaving me nice and dry! We made short work of the few miles to New
Inn where we got off the canal and cycled through the village to take the
old abandoned road to Croesyceiliog, to arrive at 16:30….40 miles.
Click on
the photos below to see full size !
