Day 5 - Brecon to Cardiff and the end!

The Brecon Hotel had hanging baskets which obviously need watering occasionally (very occasionally I suspect based on the rainfall we'd experienced) and the hose they use offered a great opportunity to give the bikes some TLC...

And then we were off... in the rain again... in fact we took the road rather than the canal towpath as it was so muddy our brakes were fouling... also, we didn't want our nice clean and shiny bikes to get mucky!

Bananas are a staple of all cyclists though I'm not really sure the middle of the road is the safest place to stand and eat them... Robin!

Whereas yesterday had been about scalding hot tea and sausage rolls, today was the day of the hot pork roll... they others tested them while I found a quiet corner of a field and once again applied Savlon to my chaffed bits and bobs...

We're now well and truly in the Brecon Beacons and the road started climbing once again, in fact it was ridiculously steep, I found it pretty soul destroying as my whole body ached by now...

We found out later the guys we passed are a father and son from Huddersfield who were doing the same journey as us but they're camping... in other words they were also carrying a tent, sleeping bags, cooking kit etc. on their bikes... mad!!

Seth, the mountain goat, as usual was waiting at the top to greet us... it was fantastic to see him standing there as we then knew we'd made it!!!






Next stop Merthyr Tydfil for lunch at the Station Cafe... it was a lovely couple running it, great home made pies, and then on over the unusual viaduct, built curved so it avoided the rich (and particularly unpleasant - by all accounts) landowner's property.

Everything was going great now... as soon as we left Merthyr the track became a steady downhill run - fantastic :-) - and then... that was it, puncture number 7 - Bob this time...

Rear wheel again, so that's 6 rear 1 front so far and, please note the supervisors!!

Finally Cardiff was in sight... the 11miles sign was particularly welcome especially as it had always been '11miles' to all destinations... so this was 11miles in reality...

and then more easy downhill or level runs brought us into Cardiff's outskirts and to the Bay... It was pity I hadn't properly researched the end section of the route and so wasn't quite sure where the end actually was (in fairness I wasn't sure of anything other than it was by Cardiff Bay)... and then we found it... the Celtic Ring that marks the end...

... so, that was it... WE'D DONE IT, YEE, HAA!!!!

The staty stuff is here:
The Garmin log (what the below image is copied from) can be found here

The photos from the day can be found here


Started at 08:40
Finished 17:35
Average speed 9.5mph
Max speed 32mph
Elevation gain 715m
Max HR 153