What was your last audax of the season?
Mine was a very hilly 200 km DIY from Malvern, via the best bits of Herefordshire and into Wales finally ended up at Bucknell where the other half was racing. It required a 3 am alarm and 3:30 start time to make sure I got there in time, but was worth every lost hour of sleep. It was indeed my finest DIY route to date, I just wish I had done it earlier in the summer so I could have seen the gorgeous lanes around Woolhope and Garway as only the slight silhouettes of the hills was visible in the light pollution of Herefordshire. The mornings have drawn in quick!
After Grosmont and Hay began the stunning trip over the top to Painscastle and Hundred House, just wonderful to be up top. This was the only place I stopped to grab photos. It was grey with a little drizzle in the morning making the descents somewhat treacherous at times, but still so warm and the jacket never came out of the saddlebag. Moody skies make being over 400 meters even better. Always feel at home on the Welsh hills.
Eventually I passed through Llandrindod and, not needing supplies, didn’t stop but headed on resolutely to Llanidloes. I had to pick up the A44 for a short-but-loud-and-frantic stretch before dropping back into tranquil roads. Llanidloes is my favourite Mid Wales town. I sat eating crisps on the window ledge of the newsagents watching the weekly market and listening to music feeling pretty tired, but knowing it wasn’t far to Bucknell.
Not far, but hilly, with relentless undulations to Llanbister and again a steep lurch up to the Llanbister moorland. Then I thought it ‘It’s mostly downhill now’…..
…I had neglected to realise I had sent myself along the most wonderful lane in Powys - Rookery Lane. Good job I love it so much I forgot I was tired and the climb back up to 400 meters was enveloped in the ever-increasingly-autumn scenery with golden bracken lining the roadside and heavy crops of berries in the hedgerows.
It was a great end to the audax season. I plan to turn the route into a circular 300 km next summer, to bring me back home again and loose the ‘Golden Valley’ section to Hay, which I just can’t stand. Horrid draggy false flat, dull road and very fast cars. There must be a better way, maybe via Urishay. I will also tweak the route to head up over Coed Esgair-Rhiw to add more climbing and minimise the dangerous A44 and then head home to Malvern along the lanes of North Worcestershire.
This is the route I did yesterday for those interested
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/3531836
