ROUGH STUFF WENTWOOD
28/11/04
I
cycled nine miles to the entrance of the Celtic Manor hotel on the outskirts
of Newport city. It was 10:00 on a Sunday morning. The sun was trying to shine
as we cycled past the golf courses that surround this large hotel. After a
couple of miles we turned up the narrow lane to Coed Caerau and then took
a narrow rough track in to the forest of Wentwood. The going was rough, I
was on my recently revamped winter bike, and its close clearances meant the
brakes were clogging up, the mud and deep ruts made good cycling. The dirt
track turned into a stony forest track, here we saw an amazing sight, a herd
of deer were in the middle of the track, as they spotted us they ran off into
the wood. This was the first time we had observed deer in Gwent and to see
them only a few miles from the city was very surprising. As we ascended higher
and higher we had excellent views of the Black mountains. We arrived on the
main road that leads into Wentwood, we turned down the steep lane to Usk,
and from here we took our traditional route home via Prescoed, Coed-y-Paen
and the Treherbert road....30 miles.
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