A CUCKOO RIDE
- The Olmo's maiden run.
25/04/04
I cycled the six miles to meet Nick in the city of Newport at 09:30. Nick had just finished his Saturday night shift at Maindee Fire Station. After weeks of freezing cold mornings and rain and gales the weather had turned into what could almost be described as a pre-summer. The temperatures had soared to 23 degrees and the sun was blazing as we made our way out of the city and along the flat lanes of the land known locally as the Moor, which is along side the Severn Estuary. After several miles of boring flat riding we made our way through Magor and along the lane to St. Brides Netherwent. It felt quite strange to cycle in the warm sun while the trees were not yet in leaf. We parked our bikes and viewed the church here, a tree was in full blossom and this quiet place made a spectacular announcement of the summer yet to come. We carried on and started the climb toward Wentwood. This was a pleasant part of the ride as we cycled past the Wentwood reservoir. We climbed higher and higher into the trees, where we heard our first Cuckoo of the year heralding the summer that was nearly here. Nick was riding his newly put together Olmo, which he has renovated to its original style using mostly contemporary parts. This bike looked spectacular in the sunshine as we descended the hill toward Usk; here we took on refreshment from our favorite shop in Usk. From here we cycles our 'traditional' route home through Prescoed, Coed-y-Paen and the Treherbert road....38 miles.
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