Linear Trip to Wales Day 2. 1st September.
Second half of my trip.
My expectation was that I would have slept like a log after my unaccustomed exertions yesterday but I didn’t sleep well at all, and ended up getting up early. I felt a bit stiff and sore which was not unexpected though not as bad as I’d thought it would be.
Up at 0600, a light breakfast and on the road out of Montgomery at 0700 into a cool overcast day with a light wind from the North and East.
The road to the junction with the A483 at Garthmyl is mostly downhill and the few miles fly by. Right by the T junction is a gated access to the Severn Way, where the old towpath of the Montgomery Canal has been restored into a footpath and cycle way.
Many years ago when I used to describe my interests in crumbling old buildings, derelict railways and silted canals as “industrial archaeology” I used to feel slightly pretentious. Nowadays I don’t turn a hair. Perhaps it’s because nowadays with the internet anyone can claim to be an expert.
Today I decide to have a gentle meander to Newtown alongside the canal as a contrast to yesterday’s strenuous efforts.
Anyhoo I am still a sucker for this sort of thing. I follow the canal for a mile or so until it crosses under the road. Here there is a green space and a bench so I have a rest and a cold drink.
Taking a break at Plas Meredydd. The canal dives into a culvert here and passes under the A 483. The fenced off area encloses a SSSI.
According to the map the canal crosses back to my side of the road further on so once I get going again I follow the road and then rejoin the towpath further on. The canal is for the most part shallow with clear water and a good growth of water plants. There is plenty of plant growth along it and you can see small fish in the water, and bird life everywhere. Further North towards Welshpool the canal is navigable, and there seems to be a movement to restore it in parts then eventually link up the boatable sections. Modern bridges have blocked off some stretches where the road has been improved so that’s a bigger obstacle for the future. Once on the towpath heading South the canal continues for a while before diving under the A483 via a modern bridge to the other side where it spends the rest of its time. The path could be wider in places as the edge is sometimes hidden by undergrowth. It may not be deep but you wouldn’t want to fall in it.
Rolling along at a steady pace old bridges, locks, abandoned and repurposed cottages and machinery pass by. A roar of water heralds a waterfall on the Severn in one wooded stretch and as progress is made towards the town parts of it appear more neglected. Parts of the path divert from the canal and rejoin. The uppermost reaches are dry with grass and even trees in the canal bed, though old buildings still exist at the canal side. As Twiddler the younger has previously said about the Linear, “it ain’t no off roader” but it copes pretty well with these trails, bags, panniers, and all. The Linear is more comparable to a tandem in length but it is surprising what can be ridden on it.
There are many more elegant bridges on this route than this but unfortunately I didn't get any photos of them. Must try harder!
The Severn Way is planned to eventually extend to the source of the Severn well beyond the end of the canal at Newtown.
This pleasant interlude has whetted my apetite to ride more of this canal’s towpath. Although not all of it is rideable, a surprising amount of it is, between Garthmyl and its connection with the Llangollen Canal at Frankton Junction. To reach Frankton Junction from home and ride a token stretch of the Mongomery Canal before returning home is doable in a day. This could be a precursor to doing the “full Monty” and more next year when the days lengthen again. It’s a a bit ironic to travel to Wales to travel a canal towpath when there are miles of them back home. As it would be to travel home in the expectation of finding mountains in Cheshire.
After a pleasant morning mooching about on the Linear, I have to consider some more hill climbing if I am going to leave Newtown. I’d had an optimistic plan to get as much mileage done as possible yesterday and have a go at getting to the watershed between the Severn and Ithon today. Probably about seven miles of climbing to that point, then about twenty two miles of mostly downhill to Crossgates just outside Llandrindod Wells via tha A483. After my battering on the uphills yesterday I am a bit more pessimistic about my likely climbing ability today. My legs don’t feel as if they were invited to that particular committee meeting.
Nevertheless, off I go to Greggs for a couple of sausage rolls, and a cold drink I have got with me.Then off up the A483. It starts off well but I start to go down through the gears even though the gradient is constant and I find myself wilting. Despite several stops then getting going again I realise that I’m not going to make much progress today if the gradient doesn’t ease soon.
I keep on going. This is getting ridiculous. Another sweaty mile and a couple of false summits later I doubt my ability to climb anything any more. A woman comes hurtling dowhill on a flat barred bike, no bags but still… she looks so cool and carefree.
My over weighty panniers feel like some kind of medieval penance which I am doomed to haul about for evermore as punishment for some ancient sin. Travel light! Travel light! My inner voice clamours. Tattoo it inside your eyelids so you’ll know next time! All right, all right. A bit excessive, isn’t it? I am getting extremely hot by now.
After another bend reveals another false summit the heat gets to me. What if...what if..just up the road, round the next bend… another few minutes...you could maintain your claim to be a Proper Cyclist rather than a proper overloaded one...Oh bolleaux to that, extremely sweaty ones as it happens. Aaaargh! I turn down hill to cool off and just can’t bring myself to stop. The regret at all that wasted effort is dissipated in the blissful chill of my descent. I’ve never got my rear brake to squeal before but it shrieks like a good one today as I haul on it before the final bend, fighting all the weight I’ve got aboard. I am well goosepimpled by the time I come to the roundabout for Newtown and it feels great. Sometimes it’s nice to be impulsive and just worry about what’s going to happen next, afterwards.
I call in a local garage for advice on local vehicle hire and they suggest Kwik Fit “as they would know”. They certainly do. Mmmm nearest would be Welshpool though there’s a little place in Caersws, see, otherwise it’s Aberystwyth. I decide to try Caersws being the closest though by the time I’ve got there it wouldn’t be such a big step to Llanidloes, Llangurig then following the Wye through Rhayader to Builth Wells. If I hired a vehicle I would have a self imposed time limit eg 24 hours, and would also have to get back here to return it as it’s a local not national company, then return home by train. The hire company do a good job of trying to discourage me from hiring a van but in the end my legs have the last word. I’ve already done 30 miles today on top of yesterday’s 70 + and they might get me a bit further today, level miles, but not much climbing left in them. Perhaps I need to give myself permission to accept that I’m getting old, too.
So I hire a van, take the bike with me to South Wales then stay overnight with my brother. Next morning I set off early for Cheshire, drop off the bike and gear, then return the van to the hire place. (pause for breath). I get a lift to Newtown Station then return surprisingly cheaply home by train. It reminds me how much I enjoy train travel, and makes me want to look into getting a railcard.
It’s interesting how things turned out, and it made for a refreshing break at a time when I haven’t been anywhere much for 18 months
Total self powered mileage over 2 days 102.81 miles. Total ascent 3725 feet. Total descent 3511feet. Max height on day 2 was 951 feet (sounds a bit dubious to me), all according to mapometer. I would have preferred to do more under pedal power but looking at the figures, it makes me feel better. No wonder I felt knackered for a few days afterwards.
Maybe I will be motivated to squeeze in another trip before the nights finally close in this year. It’s certainly a tantalising taster of what I could do on the Linear if I can build up my fitness a bit.
. Took 28 secs of it to lower it 8min 12sec. After a rest at the top to put my heart back in my chest . Plans for a metric half century was ditched and took the shorter route back followed part of the route of the tour of Britian so I could compare my segments with the pros I think they must have had a massive tailwind as they were so much faster than me 
. At least every ride ends with a fabulous descent a rarity in Cornwall with good line of sight and few junctions topped 40mph coming down it . Back for breakfast 
before some of the family were even up
. 31.4 miles in the bag in under 2 hours so 16 mph which was 2 mph quicker than any of last weeks rides and just 974ft of upness ,works out at 30ft per mile last week I was doing 90ft per mile you get an idea how hilly Cornwall is .I had waited for the rain 
to clear and got round in the dry and the sun 
came out at the end
