In Sheffield with time to spare I decided to tackle a small issue with the van loo. The original mild steel mounting plate had corroded away at the base so I cut away the sealant, identified a number of screws to remove, disconnected the flush electrics and carefully eased out the complete unit, fully aware that 25 year old plastics are somewhat brittle. Having no DIY tools anymore required some ingenuity in cutting a replacement panel from a sheet of aluminium and fabricating the necessary folds and tabs : for ingenuity read an old chisel and a lump hammer !
The panel was a good fit and the loo itself went back in without issue so I resealed everything and left it to cure.
We met the Dethick friends again at a pub near Froggatt Edge and later enjoyed a walk with superb views across the White Peak to the Dark Peak of Kinder away to the north.
After a good catch up with Penny over a curry, a ride in to Sheffield gave us a chance to explore the rivers and canals including out at Tinsley the remarkable canal boat art work : Invention. We had stopped in Kelham Island, fast becoming the trendy area to live in for young professionals, and passed through Victoria Quays on the city centre section of the canal. Earlier we had been amazed to see an adult deer bounding through an industrial estate near Meadowhall where we stopped for coffee at a quirky cafe nearby.
We joined a friend and her husband for a ride on the Trans Pennine Trail up to Dunsford Bridge, a great adventure for her on her recumbent as she is profoundly disabled. However new horizons await as they have ordered a tandem that with luck will enable them to travel even further afield.
Decathlon in Sheffield gave us a reasonable buy back deal on Mandy's bike that we had bought in Spain last year after the thefts. As she now has an excellent titanium Sonder from Alpkit we spent the vouchers on a few accessories and nipped in to Go Outdoors for other odds and sods.
During an interesting walk near Hope which started in the rain as we climbed Cave Dale to emerge above the caves around Mam Tor where the sun appeared we spotted the open top double decker negotiating Winnats Pass and decided it would be worth doing. However it was too late in the day to do the full trip so we left it for later in the week.
On the Monday I dropped the van off for a timing belt change, a squeaking pulley had been a source of concern since Armenia back in April and some 6,000 miles ago. I also asked them to investigate the possible cause of an alarming creaking and groaning from the front suspension. The courtesy car was a new fangled Polo with far too many bells and whistles but we used it to go and visit family where Steve is processing a heavy haul of repurposed jarrah for winter fuel. All was well with the van but even after another test drive with the mechanic Sod's Law dictated that the groaning failed to materialise.
Tuesday gave us the chance to jump on the open top bus at Bamford, enjoy the run through Winatt's pass despite the rain and eventually arrive at Chatsworth where we hopped on to the other circuit down to Bakewell. After a couple of hours in town we arrived well in time for the return bus which didn't appear. The driver of the next bus said it wouldn't have waited at the town centre stop which is why we missed it. Unfortunately the later bus arrived after the last bus back to Bamford had left Chatsworth so we ended up getting a bus in to Sheffield, and then realised that if we hopped off at Totley we could save time by getting the train back to Bamford, complicated but successful.
So it was time to head south and after packing up the van we drove to Ellesmere, parked by the lake and after a decent lunch we cycled along part of the Shropshire Union canal to pick up the largely derelict Montgomery canal that reaches Newtown eventually from the junction at Lower Frankton.
Down at Brecon we parked up at the Promenade alongside visitors from Spain, France, Germany and the Netherlands and enjoyed a very peaceful night. Foreign vanners are amazed at the lack of provision of water and waste facilities, and given that there are public conveniences alongside this really should be easy to address.
On the Thursday evening we drove up to the Black Mountains Gliding Club above Talgarth as Mandy had arranged a surprise glider flight for me and staying overnight in the van was permitted. We met some of the very friendly members and decided to walk up the steep scarp slope of Mynydd Bychan for the extensive views.
The following morning we took a look at the various gliders being prepared and the checks being made on the tow plane before, earlier than expected, Andy came over to say it was time to go. He explained the four point seat belt release mechanism as this would need to be released before in an emergency my parachute could be deployed and then helped me in to the front seat for a bird's eye view. Within minutes we were being towed up to 3,000', then released to begin a remarkable 50 minutes of soaring and gliding over an area I know so well. Ridge lift enabled us to climb repeatedly back over the escarpment with views across the Beacons to the Severn Estuary, the Cotswolds, Malverns and almost beneath us the bothy at Grynne Fawr. Unfortunately trying to take photos soon had me feeling very nauseous and whilst I held it in until landing I was grateful the van was nearby ...
It was a great experience and for insurance purposes I am a member of the club for 3 months so hope to go up again soon before November.
At Lower Chapel we helped Jan and Ian get exhibits in to the flower and produce categories in Lower Chapel show, watched Jan show a friend's Exmoor ponies and get the top award and later enjoyed the barbecue as we watched the speed shearing competition where a time of 16 seconds to shear a well grown lamb seemed unreal.
We met friends in Brecon on Sunday morning to see the Shantymen perform at the Rugby Club as part of Brecon Jazz before enjoying a ride along the canal to test the bikes which included a good lunch at the Royal Oak in Pencelli. Another ride on the Monday took in Mynydd Illtud common, the NP visitor centre and then a section of the Sarn Helen out towards Ystradfellte which reminded me of the many Brecon Beast Mountain Bike events we had routed that way.
Returning past the Maen Llia standing stone we dropped through Heol Senni to Defynnog where both the Welsh Rarebit cafe and pub were shut. Even the garage cafe had just closed but we bought some sandwiches before returning along the back road through Trallong to Brecon and then parking up back at Pentrefelin. Leaving the van there the next day we cycled across to Tirabad and picked up quiet lanes as far as Cynghordy and then Rhandirmyn before calling at the CACC site for snacks as the pub was yet to open. The superb road round the Llyn Brianne offered amazing views and a spot for lunch before we headed to Soar y Mynydd chapel and a final pull up to Tregaron before the exhilarating descent to the Talbot Hotel whose Garden Suite room provided excellent showers and a chance to rest up before dinner.
Three top quality courses revived us for a walk round the small town that saw the birth of banking as drovers on their way to London, Birmingham and Manchester sought to protect their wealth. A friend from the Mountain Bothies Association had been in touch and was planning to stay at nearby Moel Prysgau so we arranged to join him on Wednesday night after our return. Following a hearty breakfast we headed to Ffarmers via Llandewi Brefi and then back over to Rhandirmyn before reaching Llandovery for lunch in the Pengawse cafe before the steep climb above Myddfai to reach the Roman Road high above the Usk reservoir. From there we dropped to Trecastle and tackled the final few climbs back to the van after 90 miles and 9,000' of ascent.
Following a quick turn around we retraced some of our steps back round the Llyn Brianne and arrived at the bothy at dusk to find Chris and Frank settled in with a fellow visitor. They had removed a pickup full of other people's rubbish, an all too common problem at bothies these days, but retained three brand new tents, two camping chairs and half a dozen double inflatable mattresses. The tents and chairs could be repurposed but the mattresses were grubby and punctured so would need to be ditched.
On a drizzly Thursday we painted the interior walls of the snug, Chris treated the windows he had made 40 years ago which are as good as new and Frank and I created a brash and barbed wire barrier to prevent quads accessing the bothy from the Towy Track 4x4 route. We think it is the unauthorised vehicles that bring in most of the rubbish left behind so they have even less of an excuse not to take it all out with them.
After a peaceful night in the forest we headed out via The Devil's Staircase and Abergwesyn to reach Brecon via the Epynnt for food shopping before arriving at Jan's in Lower Chapel once more. Pete joined us for the weekend as we tackled the challenge of removing an old railway goods waggon roof, renewing many of the timbers and then fixing the six unwieldy replacement curved sheets and one of the iron structural supports. It was quite a challenge and presented a number of logistical issues but eventually the job was done and everything looked much improved.
Before Pete left I used his grinder to remove the 8 hook bolts that hold my fresh and waste water tanks in place, installed new ones with protective plastic in place and tightened everything up as there had been some play before, not surprising after the many rough roads of Georgia and Armenia but this still did not resolve the creaking and groaning. I put new front pads on and copper greased all points of contact, similarly to no avail and whilst underneath renewed the brake fluid. One of the bleed screws was getting rounded off so I have ordered four replacements and I greased the handbrake cables and operating mechanisms for good measure.
After badminton in Brecon on Wednesday we parked above Heol Senni for a walk across to Fan Ghyrich via Fan Nedd with more astounding views and then returned to Lower Chapel for an excellent meal. On Friday Jan and Mandy caught the same train from Abergavenny with Jan leaving at Shrewsbury for the BH Folk Festival and Mandy carrying on to Sheffield.
I stayed on with Ian at Lower Chapel to give the bikes a good clean and service and then
finally in a long overdue sort out I got all my tools together and sorted out the various spanners and socket sets to give me one comprehensive set in one place and repacked the space under the single rear seat to go through what was lurking in there.
A rotten old window frame in Ian's shed offered little resistance on removal and we used the casement window as a pattern to build a new frame. This was then fitted and the existing window reinstalled with new sealant before the surroundings were repointed. Half a dozen sturdy frame fixings will resist the winter weather and all Jan has to do is renew the old putty at some stage.
Thus as the title says a busy (but productive) few weeks and all hugely enjoyable.
I will move on down to Brecon tomorrow and may join a small group going in to Moel Prysgau midweek for one night, partly to test out a new bivvi bag, after which if the weather settles down I will return to the gliding club.
Beyond that in early September there is the Work Party for the cycle path at Shelton Mallet, a gathering of friends at Priddy and then we hope to head to the Isle of Wight for a couple of weeks as Autumn arrives.....
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