Mcshroom's Wet Welsh Wander

[Kim]

The trick with Wales seems to be to decide to go at the last minute, when you know you've got a few days of incessant footwind dryness ahead of you.

[Torslanda]

Regards Anglesey itself, since the building of the A55 dual carriageway the old A5 has become a quieter and little travelled road. The villages along its length; Llanfair PG, Caergeiliog, Gwalchmai and so on have become little more than dormitory areas. Most used to have filling stations, post offices, cafes, which have all ceased trading. Even the general stores have almost faded from view since The Axis of Evil Tesco and Asda opened in Holyhead and Llangefni respectively. Never was there a better illustration of a community reliant on the car.

Even the pubs are turning seasonal . . .

[mcshroom]

Grumble: I've just seen the forecast for the rest of this week. High pressure, dry and light winds in Wales all week. I'm still off on leave. Why didn't I do the tour this week rather than last week?

[Ruthie]

You could go back again ... ?

[mcshroom]

As I knew I wasn't touring this week, I've arranged to run other activities in the evenings, and I moved this Friday's leave forward a couple weeks to get my new car, meaning I have to be back in work on Friday, so it won't work. I may be able to sneak a couple decent day rides in though

[Wowbagger]

If you want to avoid Cardiff's urban sprawl and the Valleys, which, despite them being my spiritual home, have always given me the impression of being absolutely crap for cycling, you can start in Chepstow. You really know you are in Wales with that though,as the hills get you straight away.

IIRC this was the road I took, in the company of Cudzo, as I headed for Usk.

https://goo.gl/maps/jAEDe

If it wasn't that one, it was one very like it. Getting out of Abergavenny a little further on is no better. 

[caerau]

Absolutely crap for cycling? Wow, how did it get me in then? 

[Kim]

If you want to avoid Cardiff's urban sprawl and the Valleys, which, despite them being my spiritual home, have always given me the impression of being absolutely crap for cycling, you can start in Chepstow. You really know you are in Wales with that though,as the hills get you straight away.

Yes, due to the lack of step-free access to the Cardiff-bound platform. 

This (along with the BridgePr0n) is why I started in Newport.  It's a bit of an earworm hazard, but quicker to escape from than Cardiff, and you get a little bit of a warm-up before the gratuitous hills.  As with Chepstow, it probably makes more sense if you're heading for the Gospel Pass.

[tiermat]

Good write up, Marcus.  It is a good job you weren't going through Brecon on Friday as it had thick fog and 2" of snow.  Guess how I know?