FNRttC Friday Night Ride to the Coast - Cardiff to Swansea 20th May 2011

[StuAff]

And on the subject of mudguards, mine are staying on....!

 

[mcshroom]

Mine probably are too

 

[Little yellow Brompton]

Hello lyb, by the way! Are you doing the ride on a lyb?

No the LYB is sick and bad and under the Doctor and has been for a month! Don't get me started on the subject of usually reliable bikes shops and Bromton's customer service. I'll be using the brand new ( at least it was a month and 500 miles ago) Ridgeback Voyage . As seen here modeled by a park bench

 

[Little yellow Brompton]

lyb is being alarmist. It's more of a little warm-up after the slightly sedate exit from the city. Think of it as transitional. A small push over and into the Vale, bringing swooping, undulating rewards in its wake. There's even a mysterious ruin! And I don't mean Rich P...

It's not in the Bwlch or Rhigos bracket, but anything that slopes more than a billiard table I call a hill...

 

[StuAff]

It's not in the Bwlch or Rhigos bracket, but anything that slopes more than a billiard table I call a hill...

Relax. If Susie considers it a flat route, it's flat

 

[Little yellow Brompton]

Relax. If Susie considers it a flat route, it's flat

Pyle onwards is :-)

 

[theclaud]

Relax. If Susie considers it a flat route, it's flat

The problem with that sentence is the "if" bit. A perfect consensus on the Meaning of Flat has yet to be reached, but she didn't seem terribly perturbed by The Tumble...

 

[dellzeqq]

Mudguards or The Tumble?

Mudgaurds are plastic bits that go over a wheel.

The Tumble is a bloody big hill outside Cardiff.

it's a rise, and the entire ride has nothing of the order of Ditchling Beacon, or even the last hill on the Bognor ride. Little ups and downs that require concentration and patience......

Claudine and I did a night-time recce last night. We went from Cardiff to Mumbles against a southwesterly gale. Claudine assures me that winds from the southwest are a rarity in South Wales, and that all those trees leaning to the northeast have been attacked by Terror Topiarists.

Be that as it may, the forecast for the early hours of Saturday is for light southwesterly winds, warm temperatures and just a bit of misty rain. A lightweight waterproof is a must, and, if you wear spectacles, a peaked cap would be sensible.

The good news is that there wasn’t a lot of traffic about. From Cardiff Bay to Bonvilston we probably saw 20-30 cars. From Bonvilston to Ewemmy, which is about fourteen miles, we saw not one.

The Tesco toilets were open and sparkly clean.

A lot of the roads between Bonvilston, Ewemmy and Nottage are overshadowed. Even if the skies are clear you’re going to need lights fit for the job and fresh batteries. Those same roads have rustic surfaces, sharp bends and sudden ups and downs – leave space between you and the rider in front, and let the rider behind know what’s going on – signals here http://fnrttc.blogspot.com/p/lights.html to which I’d add ‘gravel!’ which, at one point, presents a bit of a challenge. If you have a powerful rear light angle it down or cover it with clear tape and set it to constant rather than flashing. Watch the rear lights ahead of you – they’ll tell you when you need to change from big to small ring. Don’t, please, overtake on the left. Ever.

We should reach our halfway stop about ten to three and our destination about seven. There’ll be photo-opportunities along the way, not least a view of Port Talbot by night, and a snazzy new bridge in the centre of Swansea. The views across the bay to Mumbles Pier, our destination, are wonderful.

See you at 23.30 in the Millenium Plaza. If you’re going to be late, please text me on 07776 210 731. If you’re not going to turn up please let me know now – the halfway stop needs an accurate headcount. If you’re catching the late train in to Cardiff then remember that you can get out of the station on the southern side and that the ride to Millenium Plaza takes about ten minutes - ETA by text please.

Looking forward to seeing you on Friday night

Simon

 

[theclaud]

Have I missed the instructions for how to get from Cardiff Central to the start? I'm having trouble distinguishing between all the different Millennium Plazas that google maps seems to have on offer, and there doesn't look to be a southern way out of the station.

Anyone else arriving at Cardiff Central at 10.48 now?

It's less than a mile. You exit the station from the platforms via a tunnel, which has North and South ends. If you find you've come out of the main (North) side, just go round the building to the East side - there's a taxi rank and a big Gothic-looking pub called the Great Western. As you come out of the Station Road, you want to take a sharp right into Penarth Road (there's only a left turn arrow, but ignore it - bikes are allowed to go down there). It goes under a bridge and past the station car park to some traffic lights. Go straight on at the lights into Dumballs Road. It's an uninspiring service road with potholes. Continue to the end, and turn left - you'll see the Millennium Centre ahead of you. It looks like this:

 

[threebikesmcginty]

you'll see the Millennium Centre ahead of you. It looks like this:

Has it got any distinguishing features to help us pick it out?

 

[theclaud]

Has it got any distinguishing features to help us pick it out?

To be fair, the bit you'll see as you come to the end of Dumballs Road looks more like this:

but you can use all your powers of deduction to figure out if that's the right building, or just an unusually stylish branch of Toys R Us. If you manage to exit the station by the South end in the first place, you're already in the car park, so go to the traffic lights and proceed as above. If you use the lift to get out of the station you'll be in a parallel tunnel, the end of which is sometimes blocked off by fencing that can be shunted aside

 

[Dan B]

Has it got any distinguishing features to help us pick it out?

Look for the blue police box and massive swirling cloud of rift energy

 

[theclaud]

Map. Childishly simple stuff...

 

[StuAff]

Have I missed the instructions for how to get from Cardiff Central to the start? I'm having trouble distinguishing between all the different Millennium Plazas that google maps seems to have on offer, and there doesn't look to be a southern way out of the station.

Anyone else arriving at Cardiff Central at 10.48 now?

Well, I am for one- probably get on at Cosham as it's up the line and nearer home than P&S or Fratton- possibly Rich if he decides not to go to Swindon instead, Mark A should be joining the train at Fratton. Relax, we will not let you get lost!

Thanks for the route Claud, bikeroutetoaster came up with a route going down Lloyd George Avenue (after about seven turns to get there!), but that's going to be much simpler and easier.

 

[theclaud]

Thanks Claudine and Stu, I'm reassured! Childishly simple maybe, but still beyond me! My first look at Google maps told me the Millennium Plaza was 50 yards north of the station (I think it must be a hotel of that name).

The f**k-off great stadium right in front (North) of the station is called the Millennium Stadium, and so the area in front of it is probably called the Millennium Plaza, or somesuch. It looks like this, and will be busy that night:

The proper name of the square we're meeting in is actually Roald Dahl Plass, but no one calls it that. If you get lost, just ask for the Bay.