The car park of the Sycamore Inn between New Mills and Hayfield provided an enormous, well sheltered camping spot from which to tackle the remaining sections of the Pennine Bridle Way - the pub ask that you have a drink or meal and their food was excellent and served by delightful staff.
I set off towards Buxton but on a badly eroded ascending gully met three idiots on ebikes careering down the narrow path, one just missed me, I jumped out of the way for the second but the third slammed in to my front wheel. On expressing the opinion that they should be more considerate towards other users and slow down I received an Anglo Saxon tirade after which they shot off. At the top of the push I discovered that the latter genius had knocked my wheel well out of shape - cheers guys.
Thanks to having disc brakes I was able to ride it though and continued south on a good mix of tracks, trails and minor roads. As the southern sections of the PBW are well known to me I decided to pick up the Monsal trail instead and head down towards Bakewell and then over to Bamford from where my digital railcard enabled me to get a ticket for the train back to New Mills and the short ride back along the Sett Valley Trail for a good meal in the pub.
The helpful landlord allowed us to leave her car there and we skirted Manchester to park up at the Ship Inn at Downholland on the Leeds to Liverpool Canal for a couple of days good riding using the canal, the old railway lines and coastal cycle paths to explore the area. Up at Southport we cycled to the end of the pier where an ice cream van in an old Citroen van wasn't quite what it seemed - look at the wheels.
That morning we had had trouble unlocking a recently bought D lock that secured both bikes so we returned it to Halfords and bought a sturdy padlock locally from the most disorganised hardware store before returning for a well earned pint in the canal side pub garden.
The canal took us south towards Bootle where a large terrapin sunbathing on a raft of reeds provided interest and amusement before we followed a trail towards Liverpool. Unfortunately my derailleur had not been running right since, on reflection, the meeting with the ebike and decided to fail. I removed it and shortened the chain to give me a rideable gear for the flat terrain and we headed out to Crosby to see the art installation 'Another Place' which was very impressive.
As the tide receded we walked the two mile stretch of beach that contains a 100 of these statues before returning to base along the old railway line.
Across at Birkenhead we disembarked for a couple of hours there peering in to the Uboat museum and enjoying a Thai meal in the cafe before catching the ferry back which took us past the shipyards and returned with good views across to the city's two cathedrals.
The train had us back to the van in time to get round Manchester to New Mills before rush hour which I then sat out for a couple of hours and had a swift journey across to the cheap and basic site at Northrop near Flint which enabled me to wash the bike, fill up with water and clean the bathroom.
A steady run down to Coed y Brenin north of Dolgellau, passed Llyn Celyn which was very low, and I collected a key to give me access in to the forest for our work party at Penrhos bothy.
Here the security team from Alfa were being assisted by our Area Organiser to remove the shuttering and padlocks that had been necessary to keep Covidiots out of the place last year after some lockdown vandalism. The bothy is dark at the best of times but a year of closure had seen mould grow on the walls and windows, a layer of dust and debris accumulate on most surfaces and the place looking a bit run down with some damage to windows and internal doors.
Thus a list was made of the cleaning, repair and decorating materials and equipment we would need and I headed off in to Dolgellau to get them leaving Tony to sweep out. The builders and farmers merchants between them provided the bulk of our needs and I returned to spray all walls, ceilings and painted surfaces with Jeyes fluid before we called it a day and left the doors and windows open to get things dried out.
So as at Dulyn bothy in August we spent the next few days washing the surfaces with sugar soap to prepare for painting, doing the actual painting , starting upstairs, and repairing the damaged windows and doors using the skills and tools of Chris and Martin, the latter having fetched in a remarkable array of equipment all the way from Swansea.
Slowly the place brightened up, the walls shone, new glazing sparkled and the floors gleamed although slightly unsettled weather meant we were working around it with regard to external glossing.Three of us were occupying our vans and two were tenting giving the bothy time to air and the odd walker dropped by to admire the work done. By the Monday we had really made a difference so I decided to head off and return to Brecon to play badminton for the first time in two years, staying in the town centre car park I have used on and off for 15 years.
I called at Lower Chapel to assess the bike and managed to straighten out the wheel using the bike rack as a mount and a small screwdriver to identify the points of distortion. I then ordered a new derailleur and chain but as delivery was delayed turned my attention to replacing a failed brake light bulb that required some dismantling of the van wardrobe shelving to gain access. I then decided to head off back to Brecon and visit the new Y Gaer library and museum. This project had overrun and gone well over budget and in my opinion there was little to show for it with a museum that lacked the sophistication of the many others I have visited this last year. However it is early days for the site and certainly the library will be popular with children and families.
Neither the cinema nor theatre were open so I treated myself to an excellent pizza instead and slept well in the quiet corner.
On Sunday from above Talgarth I walked over to the small bothy in the Black Mountains where apart from a small amount of rubbish all was well although as the stove lacked a regulator it popped rather dramatically. There had been a rave further down the valley a couple of weeks previously but I don't think they had got as far as our tiny hut.
Gliders were taking advantage of the thermals and a northerly wind as I returned and then drove round to Hay on Wye for a night in the main car park alongside a couple of other vans.
On the Monday I dropped a note through the door where I hoped the friend I cycled round Nepal with for 6 weeks in 1987 still lived and then enjoyed a good look round the enchanting town. Hay Castle is being restored at long last and I walked down the Wye watching various canoeists on the slow moving water.
Dave made contact and came to find me - he plays table tennis on Mondays and invited me to tag along so somewhat unexpectedly I ended up in the same theatre space that in recent years I had given HUBB presentations at Clyro Court. Later we returned to Hay and the Blue Boar Inn and enjoyed a long session of catching up having not been in touch for almost twenty years.
As I left next morning I noted an issue with my windows so decided to investigate later and returned to Lower Chapel to fit the now arrived bike parts. This was fairly straightforward and I began to inspect the van's wiring loom where it passes through bellows in the crook of the door. An alarming electrical fizz could be heard so I disconnected the battery, removed door and dash trims and managed to expose the loom and unpick the outer covering.
Of the maybe twenty wires that link window, mirror and central locking switches or motors four were severed, and eight had breaks in the insulation. Thus I carefully bared the wires for rejoining with connectors, taped up the damaged insulation and carefully returned everything to find all well for now.
Next day I was meeting a friend at Talybont who'd just come back from a cracking trip round Ireland and suggested to Jan that she could take her paddle board from there back to Brecon. Crad had enjoyed a memorable trip and Jan managed to reach Brecon before later that evening we went down to badminton to meet the crowd I'd last seen two years ago. We played a shortened session and only had a quick pint as Jan and Ian were off next morning to London for the Chelsea Flower Show.
Next morning they left early and I fed and watered the various animals before returning to the issue of the van wiring - whilst this van is lovely and really comfortable I did prefer the simplicity of my previous one with manual doors, mirrors and windows. I looked online for a replacement loom but figured second hand ones would be heading the same way so contacted TPS who supply OEM parts to VW. They said there was only one left in the UK at the VW central parts warehouse in Milton Keynes and after that was gone it would be a discontinued item so I asked to buy it only to be told that they can only supply to the trade.
Thus I rang the VW commercial van centre in Swansea and spoke to the parts manager - remarkably after twelve years he recognised my name and said 'you're the guy who shipped a van to New Zealand....'. In fact I'd had a spare key supplied by them and on the day of heading to Southampton to get the van loaded in to a container after our Brecon Beast Mountain Bike event had discovered that it had been wrongly coded and wouldn't overcome the immobiliser so had had to head down there in something of a panic to get it done properly. Anyway after a chat he said he'd happily order the loom and pass it on to me at cost price and I hope a friend from Swansea will bring it up to our forthcoming work party next week.
Yesterday I visited the bothy in the Elan valley as part of a catch up with my brother - the reservoir was the lowest I've seen it so we were able to collect bottles and cans from the shore to add to the few removed from the bothy and then enjoyed a light lunch at the excellent Penbont Tearooms half way round the dams.
My final night in Brecon linked the experiences of the last week in a neat way as I attended a fund raising dinner in the Brecon Guildhall organised by the Nepali families of Gurkha soldiers who have a long association with the town. Singing, dancing, music and superb Nepali cooking made for a memorable evening with generous bids at the auction, a successful raffle and great company.
So I'm now at Llangurig for one night before heading to Nant Syddion bothy where a group of us will spend a week getting the place back on track - it has been a bit neglected in recent years and seen some abuse so we hope to work our magic again. There is a hitch on fuel availability which may affect people's journeys and the closure of the Cwmystwyth road will mean longer journeys for those stalwarts coming from the south. This will also add to our journey times next Saturday for our First Aid Training session near Builth but I'm sure our loyal and resourceful team will overcome the hiccups.
As I will be out of communication for much of the next week you can spy on me using this link to the
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