Why not ride to Machynlleth. 1st night Builth Wells, 2nd Devils Bridge through to Mach and back on the train. I could spec out a route which would be virtually all off road. Or you could follow Glyndwrs way from Knighton via Mach to Welshpool, again back on the train, plenty of options there.

But it’s not March yet.

Right I need a sh1t job to feel the fridge

Oh the irony, you even type with a French accent.

Correct but Bryn Y Beddau (hill of the graves) is believed to be the burial place of the Welsh dead whereas the English and Flemish were left for the crows, don’t forget to have a minute at the memorial stone to the shepherd who was killed up there in a blizzard at the end of March(IIRC) 1901, its at 781921.

I was being ironic with the built up area comment. Although 150 years ago there were thousands of people employed in this area mining lead and silver, they were transported up from surrounding villages by tramways and on foot so it hasn’t always been as far from civilisation as today. If you are bivvying around Hyddgen moor, keep an eye out for the ghosts of Owain Glyndwrs men, the battle of 1401 caused the rivers to run red with blood. MWAHAHAHA

Don’t know about that one, not been there for a while, the one about 1km SW has the added benefit of a copse of trees for shelter, or it did last time I was there. It’s uninhabited as far as I know and just above a stream. The track from the NE is very boggy in normal conditions but may be frozen atm, there is/was a new footbridge just downstream from the building you were thinking of.(theres a photo on google earth)
Have fun

It’s not an official bothy but the roof is intact, are you referring to the one by the road or the one by Nant Y Barac? There is also the shedding hut at Hyddgen if you want a roof or similar at Hafodwnog, in fact why are you going to such a built up area :D

Might be a problem getting the key there from Sheffield. It could be a very posh igloo by now, it’s quite a way from your chosen location which I’m assuming is Angler’s Retreat. There’s a house there though or a bothy at the head of Nant Y Moch.
Don’t worry about the link Ian, found it.

IanB Could you post a link to the site that creates that graph, I have a caravan in Devils Bridge and would be interested in monitoring the weather.

snow

re time, it was due to start at 9.30 but it is advised to get there at least 1/2 an hour before to avoid a lengthy queue. The factory shop prices are 50% of retail less a bit if it is a second or sample. The normal factory shop hours are 12.30-3.30 Wed and Thurs only.

Reminds me of that David Beckham joke with the thermos flask into which he put a coffee and a choc ice as they keep hot things hot and cold things cold.

Try Alpkit, I have 2 and found them well made, they had them on offer recently too. Here[/url]

Another Mercury track of note (where is he now?)

shimano, scarpa or quechua

Sounds like a Japanese/Peruvian firm of dodgy solicitors

Thanks for that Khani, I’d seen this on the Fox Tech area.Without seeming ungrateful, the bit about replacing the Float Fluid and Suspension Fluid was what I was trying to avoid i.e can the spacer be installed without removing the air piston from the lowers? Seemingly it can’t.

Any offers??

Lets hope you dont sleep walk.

Re the freehub pawls, pity the shop didn’t put them in tollah’s bike, only getting drive when pedalling backwards would have been really unique, turn the saddle round and hey presto, a front wheel drive bike. :D

Just to clarify the slight sidetrack, Trailquests are not construed as races as they do not rank the competitors in terms of speed, there is a fixed time allowed and competitors are ranked in order of the value of the checkpoints visited in that time. Re the FC, it’s a bit rough charging you for just going through their(our) land, I organised TQ’s in Mid Wales for 8 years and was never charged other than for use of visior centres. The issue might be if they decide to get arsey, how can you control how the riders get to the checkpoints on bridleways, if there is a muddy overgrown BW or a slightly longer forest road then riders will choose the latter, unless you put them out of bounds then you need to police this. The Sustrans issue is complex, irrespective of whether there is a ROW, I would always consult the landowner if crossing their land, who knows, a farmer may choose that day to dip sheep along side the trail and dozens of riders using usually deserted trails may cause issues. Welcome to the world of event organisation.

I know it clashes with the Welsh Ride Thing and I also know which one I’ll be doing,WRT all the way, why cant there be more Bank Holiday weekends in the Summer?

Was there about 3 weeks ago, the Garraf is a good riding area, quite open with some rocky going. Further inland the area around La Llacuna has a waymarked trail network. Try wikiloc for routes posted by the locals, there are dozens to chose from. If your enquiry is not bike related, Sitges is nice but built up an I’m reliably informed is the gay centre of Cataluna. Barcelona is a city just up the coast. :-)

stood next to Rafa Benitez checking in at Manchester airport the week after Liverpool had won the European Cup, I had no idea who he was.
My ex father in law was Ozzy Osbourne’s GP when he lived near Eccleshall.
BEAT THAT

One of the best and never got in the top 40.

Sorry MRanger, yes it is as per the pics, very vivid blue. Just a thought though, the RAB warehouse sale is on the 4th of December at their Somercotes HQ, you may get a proper bargain if you are prepared to get there early.

Going on our local running club trip to Whitby, 40 of us in the youth hostel, farttastic. Leading a 35 mile bike ride around Fylingdales and Harwood forest on Saturday and Dalby on Sunday, hope the wind subsides.

MRanger, I’ve got the blue gilet and it’s definitely BLUUUE as Billy Connolly would say.

£35 for the shorts and £40 for the 3/4’s in Cycle Promotions Barnsley 01226 294991 only size 34″ afaik

Thats ideal, thanks very much for the info, 20 euros per night including electricity is not bad.

You can’t get a proper ferret that side of the Pennines, they call them Albino Polecats or some such poncey crap.

BWD, the Snow Road at 20mph is much more exciting than the tarmac down to Dunford at 30mph, Scalextric a go go. :D

If I can add my thoughts, instead of losing all your height on the road to Dunford and then getting clagged up on the TPT towards Hazlehead, believe me it’s not nice, you could turn onto the A628 at the Dunford turning at Fiddlers Green and ride alongside the road on a wide grass verge to the top of the hill and then pick up what is known as the Snow road down parallel to the A628, crossing at the Dog and Partridge and into the Langsett woods just past the pub. This is quite a nice section and brings you out by the cobbled descent and bridge taking you up onto Cut Gate. Done this loads of times and it is generally fine. Also at the point that BWD has marked where you get off the trail, there is a tiny section of footpath taking you onto Thurlestone Moor which the local farmer is very antagonistic about bikes and horses using, it was a cock up when the bridleway was re-routed and he has put a number of signs up and has confronted several local riders when he has caught them.

I’m about 2 miles from Langsett and the last 2 days have been atrocious, the bit along Mickledon Edge must be a river by now and the minute it levels off towards Cut Gate it will be very boggy, saying that the “improvements” could just save the day as there is far more rockery than in previous years. Just dont try going down to North America to make a loop as you will definitely drown!

The Rally isn’t far away at all, Crychan and Halfway on the Saturday are just down the road towards Llandovery, should be busy.

Combining all the elements of this thread Coffee Break Spanish is a 80 episode course which is freely downloadable from Radiolingua[/url] each episode lasts about 15 minutes and it builds into quite a good level. Also available via i tunes. Mucho recomendar. You just have to learn to decipher the Scottish accent first.
They even do a bit of Catalan

That works now

My wife always sniggers when we drive through Pant, it’s not far from Knockin where there’s a shop.

Toby, have you rung Tegid Humphreys at the Holey Trail in Mach, he has a bunkhouse although it may be full with it being half term.

Takr plenty of ball point pens for the local kids who will appear from nowhere as soon as you stop. They will also nick anything you put down for a second.

I had to open my big mouth to Dafydd Davis about how good the riding was around Nant Yr Arian, next minute(3 years later) there’s the Syfydrin & Summit trails and a full carpark every weekend, I don’t even get a free carpark pass. Some lads I know from Machynlleth ring me up and ask if I could show them some good(legal) riding, cue Mach 1,2 and 3. I should be on commission. :cry:

Great intro and great video, strange juxtaposition though another girl another planet/ quattro