Day 3 The big one !

Day 3 - Barry Island to Talacre.

The southernmost bit of Wales to the most northern bit.

The day arrived and thank you for the sun and wind gods were smiling down on me, unlike the last one which was Blackpool to Spurn which was in a word WET !

Charlene on another train...  getting so bored with it now she is. Takes it all in her stride,  it'll be boats and planes next  !!

Not a bad view along the way, Wales...  stunning.

It was very busy in Cardiff as some cricket match was on...

A few more pics from my arrival in Cardiff and the mini Gavin & Stacey tour.

Gavin's house in Dinas Powys  (you didn't really think it was in Essex did you !     because I did !!)

Barry town square

The street where the filming all took place, Trinity Street, Barry.   Nice little 20% gradient to train me for the hills to come tomorrow !!

Stacey's house...

Doris's house...

Uncle Bryn's house...

Barry Island...

Beautiful morning in Barry at the best little B&B in Wales, New Farm, Barry.

http://newfarmbarry.co.uk/

Up at 4 a.m.   I must have been up well early to beat the farmer, his wife and any of their animals because it was deathly quiet.  It was stunning on the farm. Very relaxing and a bit weird getting up for breakfast on my own in a lovely Welsh cottage....

Thank you so much for the donation too from the lovely lady owner of the farm & B&B xx

I locked myself out of my room,  see the open window upstairs,  well a certain lycra clad numpty had to climb a ladder to get in to unlock the door !!!!!!

I was hoping the landlady wouldn't find out about me sneaking Charlene into the room with me...

And relax.......  note the cycling gear doubles up as pyjamas !!!!

Table for one.....

The morning has arrived so I have to get myself to the starting point which is 3 miles away down the hill into Barry...

A few things I had to get sorted in this DIY adventure was, the route, directions, spare inners for punctures, an ID tag incase I got into a bit of bother or attacked by angry motorists (I am not joking) spare contact lenses, disposable toothbrush, massive tub of chamois cream, food and drink and most important of all what happens if my battery dies on my Garmin !!!  All things were sorted and packed neatly into little pouches and pockets including a great gadget which tops up any dying battery.

The Garmin was just to prove I actually did this as it records where I am and speed, average mph, etc etc..  wonderful thing.  But the best thing to find your way is a good old fashioned compass, the sun and the list of the route I wrote on the top frame of my bike  !!

As I was going from south to north Wales all I had to do is look at the sun and if it was east in the morning and west in the afternoon I was going up not down and the Garmin has a little compass on it so as long as it was saying N all was OK..  saying that though I did make a mistake but the sun & garmin showed me the way.

The southern most bit of Wales,  Friars Point, Barry island......

THE START OF THE ROAD.....

I really did not need this about 6 miles outside of Barry....   !!!!!!

To say Wales is drop dead gorgeous is the understatement of the century....

Don't drink and drive...quite right   !!

The road was not exactly a disused country trail like I was hoping for.  The A470 is basically a motorway,  I reckon A is Welsh for M !!  So I followed the M470 from Treforest all the way to Builth Wells.  A total of 55 miles.

But it has a few fantastic attractions,  first it has a hard shoulder (some of the time) which doubles up as a great bike lane. Apart from when it is filled with glass, stone, dead animals and you have to duck under overhanging trees and bushes.

On that subject, I would like to tell you about all the wonderful animals I spotted along the way. Most of them had been run over (not by me by the way). I am ofcourse talking about roadkill.  I was obviously very bored whilst cycling many hours so I found myself playing road kill lotto.  I racked up dozens of points.  I got 10 points for a fox of which there were 3. Badgers were more common, around 5. 8 points each. Birds were hard so I threw them all into one category. I wasn't really in the mood to make up a sub-category of types so Birds scored 5 points each times 12 = 60 points. Rats were the largest group and I lost count so lets call it 20 times 3 points, also 60 points.  I had to make a group called "unknown"(2 points each),  which could have been marguerita pizzas for all I know. I counted 20 unidentified flat objects. So final tally was 240 points.  Weirdly, no hedgehogs ???

I can't half waffle when I get going can't I....  where was I, Oh yes.....The M470 (Welsh motorway)  runs through the Brecon Beacons National Park which is stunning...

Builth Wells...

So far so good....  I loved the climb up to the height of the Brecon Beacons and loved even more one of the best downhill descends I have ever done down to Brecon town.  I might have actually shouted out "Woohoo" at some point.  hehe

BUT... getting to Builth Wells and stopping for a coffee at a Little Chef was nice but the next 26 miles was basically uphill and I had my nervous anxious moment.  There is always a part of any long days ride when you kind of ask yourself why the hell you are putting yourself through it and do not know if you can make it. A load of negative thoughts start to creep into your head and the best and only way to get around it is to think about your loved ones, imagine yourself at the finish and keep on peddling.

Life is a series of ascents and descents and you cannot have one without the other. The way you deal with the pain makes the pleasure that much better.  Mmmmm..  that was kind of cool,  I will remember that one.

Spot the black sheep of the family....


Goodbye A470, hello A483 for the next 76 miles !!!!

Just as I got to the 100 mile mark the road topped out at Cwmyrhiwdre Wood and ahead of me was the rest of Wales,  the south was now behind me and what lay before me was the whole of North Wales. A sight that I will remember for the rest of my life. Absolutely unexpected and totally jawdroppingly beautiful.

Ascent repaid tenfold !!!

The road started off downhill and the shape of the huge U bend in the road reminded me of the horseshoe pass in Llangollen and then the road keeps going downhill for about 8 miles into Newtown.  I now have a new favourite descent of my life.

From Newtown my anxiety was totally gone as I knew the area from here onwards really well,  I was heading back to home turf and the feeling was fantastic.

The wind was blowing from the south and the road was flat and I had a burst of energy so I took off and went for it. Soon I was in Welshpool and could taste the finish line so carried on with my new found speed.

Next stop Oswestry.....  which reminds me I have a confession to make.  My Wales in a day has a slice of Shropshire running through it.  Some idiot landowner of olden days decided to take a bite out of Wales and I had to cross the border into England to get between Llanymynech & Chirk !!  Sorry.

The previous 2 long rides taught me to expect a feeling of nausea and dizziness and it came on the ride into a place called Pant near Oswestry,  very apt name......  I knew it was not the food and drink as I had learned to not eat too much and not drink too little.  This is down to heat. So I took away any unnecessary layers to help me cool down and I slowed the pace, drank loads of water and kept on peddling.

My lovely parents in law were going to meet me at the finish line to pick me up and take me home. Thank you so much once more.  just in case I didn't say it enough when I met you as I cannot remember much. XXXX

So I texted them ahead to say I was about 30 miles to go and meet approx 6 pm.

The hardest thing ever was stopping myself from turning right at the Whittington roundabout as my home and family were just 7 miles from this point !!!!!!!!!!  you will never know how close I came to taking that right turn. Maybe the thought of the mother in law in a layby outside the Smugglers Inn in Talacre for hours and hours was enough motivation to get a move on...  haha

So on through Wrexham and onto Mold.  By now I had eaten 6 Medley bars which had melted to mush in my pockets, a banana & a couple of other biscuit bars.  My body was suddenly shouting out for some real food or it would not go any further so I pulled into Spar just outside Mold for 2 bottles of water and a massive pork pie which worked a treat. My stomach passed on the good news to my legs which reluctantly gave into their shortlived little protest.

So Mold - Sychdyn - Northop - Flint Mountain down to Flint  Whhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee !!!!!!!!!!

That descent was nice and just what I needed.

NOW..... I was in Flint and I just turn left onto the Prestatyn road and I am just 10 miles from Talacre. My whole body ached, the wind was sort of to the side to maybe a full headwind. But by 170 miles every turn of the pedals felt like a struggle. It is quite amazing though how the brain tells your body to get on with it as you are just about to finish the biggest ride of your life and you can rest when you are old and decrepit. Which for me will be from saturday onwards...

I had ridden this road already so I knew where I was and head down I kept peddling...

5 miles to go and my Garmin tracker started to blink as if it was going to die. I knew exactly how the thing felt. haha   Poor thing had been on for 14 hours by now so fair dos Garmin you make em good.   Luckily in my pouch was the marvellous charger pack I had brought with me. So I reached in for it and got a bit of a shock.  One of my CO2 cartridges had exploded and cold white CO2 powder was covering everything.  I heard a few strange noises along the way and never thought it could have been that but so glad I never needed it.

Garmin charging...3% ++++

Richard nearly empty  2% -

I had googled mapped this roundabout and remember emailing my mum & dad in law the picture of the roundabout where you take the second exit towards Talacre (half a mile)

When I reached it, I was lets just say a tad emotional and when I took this second left I went eyeballs out as fast as I could to the end and nearly got a top ten time on the strava section.

182 miles, day 3 done. Please share and donate if you can..

Thanks for reading my ramblings and if you managed to stay awake massive respects.

Earlier I mentioned that we sometimes get an anxious moment to consider why we do such things and I have 2 very good reasons...

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/RichardOwen

Here is the link to the virgin charity collection site.  Please remember the money you give goes straight to the 2 charities Hope House Childrens Hospices & Help For Heroes.

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/RichardOwen

Thank you XXX