Our Trip To Hay-on-Wye And The Black Mountains

[WildGoose]

taken a while to put this together, so hope it doesnt take too long to load for some people

inspired by Maurice's similar antics a few weeks back, it put me right in the mood for a bit of adventuring, so cheers for that dude


it was my one and only weeks holiday from work last week (doesnt matter now incidentally as i left the job yesterday but thats another story, for another day ) and as we had an offer from my parents for use of their holiday home, which is on a campsite about ten miles due east of Hay-on-Wye in a tiny village called Peterchurch

now from Hay-on-Wye east is an area they call the Golden Valley, and i've been going on various breaks here since I was a little kid, but only recently been able to go as an adult, and for the first time really get to appreciate how nice it is here. rolling hills, beautiful weather, NSL country roads, and not a speed hump or traffic light in sight

only had a few days there, so frantically reading some guide books to try and make the most of the short time up there, decided the Black Mountains would be a good place for a bit of exploring, then the Forest of Dean near Ross-on-Wye if we have time

don't know if anyone knows the story of Hay-on-Wye but apparently it lays claim to having the most second hand book shops anywhere in the world, and they werent joking! pretty much every other shop is a book shop, you could spend hours searching here, they have everything. A haven for people even remotely interested in reading. the town itself only takes about 20 mins to walk across, so its really quite tiny, but right on the river, its a really pleasent place to spend a few hours, we stayed here just bimbling around to kill the hottest part of the day before going up into the hills

https://www.hay-on-wye.co.uk/

a little single track road, on the edge of Hay, leads up the not so steep bits of the mountain to the base of the summit of Hay bluff, where we intended to start. After the initial climb of some very dodgy single tracking with blind corners and 10ft hedgerows, you come out at the top and its a fantastic feeling as the road just opens up into huge plains either side with views, suddenly all of civilisation just disappears. Being the middle of the week, there is next to no one about, it was great.

The road from here, known as the Gospel Pass, winds through a valley in the Black mountains, heading south and will eventually bring you out in Abergavenny. I've never driven all of it, but the views are incredible, and although not a road for speed, i could definately recommended it on bikes for a slow cruise down to Abergavenny taking in the views.

so anyway, our start point, the base of Hay bluff, and the north edge of the Black mountains and Gospel pass.

https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/car_190.jpg

the climb, if you choose to start here, its pretty hard going, hands and knees stuff at points. the pics are are from a disposable camera so the quality its brilliant, and its hard to get the scale, but the little white dots are sheep

couldnt have asked for better weather, and although still hot, we made it to the top, without too much huffing and puffing, its good to get what would hopefully be the steepest bit out of the way first

at 690 metres above sea level its pretty high, and the views are great.. the trig point at the top..

https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/bluffsummit.jpg
a good place, i figure... to check the map and work out a route or some sort, however, these OS paper maps arent the most dainty things in the world, trying to fold it to the right section in 30+mph wind was fun.. anne decides to initially take pics of my misery rather than help

https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/windymap1.jpg

finally work out where we are going, and decide its probly best to follow the paths for the first bit, as i havent used a compass in years, and its the kind of day where you dont really need one anyway

onwards, and the views just get better.. the kind of thing you see from Hay bluff, looking roughly in the direction of Hay although its hidden by the valley

https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/view2_190.jpg

and further on a few miles, and looking roughly west, gospel pass runs down through the valley behind me

https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/view1.jpg

all sorts of wild horses and stuff running around up here, this pair let us get closer than we were expecting

https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/wildhorses.jpg

we followed a trail (of which the name escapes me, because the map is still up there ) basically running parallel with the pass, and heading across the top of most of the ridges, so that it was fairly flat for quite a way, allowing us to make good progress without lots climbing

as it starts to get late, we decide - as we have no idea how far we have actually walked and need to get back to the car anyway - to start turning back and we come up with a rough circuit on the map, that should take in some more great scenery, we decide to abandon the path, and just take a bearing across country towards the road, so we can pick it up, and work our way back to the car

go west, young man, go west.. cue obligatory adventurer pose, out come that damn compass

https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/thatway.jpg

after trekking across some harder terrain, we make it to the edge of the valley, and finally realise how far we have actually walked, and the scale of the journey back, oops we werent 100% sure how far away we were, as after some heated discussion, it was concluded that /that/ pile of stones, wasnt actually the one indicated on the map

however, we knew as much as, that the car was definately way beyond the saddle of the hills in the distance, and so we should probably start making our way towards it, we decide to head for the farm (just to the left of my shoulder) and then pick up the track from there up to the main road through the pass

https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/gospelpass.jpg

not quite realising how steep our chosen route was, way steeper than what we had climbed up, with lots of rocks strewn about everywhere, it was a bit of a struggle

many sheep were mocking our city slicker efforts to get down the side of the mountain, however, when we got further down and the ground got damper, we realised that we had just climbed down a waterfall

https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/downwaterfall2.jpg

very glad we did though, as the layout of the hills, and the path of the stream down the mountain were quite breathtaking

https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/downwaterfall1.jpg
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So in other words, he stopped you for being flagrantly in posession of a motorcycle in direct contravention of the Hippies, Darkies and People Whose Face I Don't Like The Look of (Police Powers) Act. 1976

[Sephiroth]

That was a cool read.

The black mountains rule.

[Rookie]

Cool write up, but you need a better camera, those photos look like they were taken in the '80's!

[WildGoose]

continued....

can see here, the view a bit better from the bottom, when we finally got down, we had to cross over a barb wire fence as it was the only way out and onto the farms land

not a great pic for scale, but the bits of white fluff are again sheep

https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/annewaterfall.jpg

and finally after another half hours or so walk, we get to the farm, and pick up the track to the main road, met the scary welsh farmer, on our way out the gate, but thankfully he seemed quite alright with people on his land, we opened and shut the gate for him to let him drive through, and we went on our way

then at the top of the road we saw this

https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/farm.jpg

gives a much better view of the waterfall in the mountainside, and at the bottom where it runs into the woods... finally were able to get our bearings on the map at this point, and realised that the waterfall even had a name (again which escapes me) but was kinda cool to find out

also realised we werent as far away from the car as first thought, so it only took about and hour or so to walk back along the roadside

we were tempted to hitch a lift, but in that hour only 1 car came past and that was infact a transit minibus, by the time we had thought about it, it was already a dot in the distance

the rest was just the walk back, ideally you dont want cars or bikes when you go walking, as you will always have to walk in a big circle to get back to them at some point

this was just a taster really to see if i could manage to get anywhere on the hills, as its the first time ive been up there without someone barking the way at me, and it was really enjoyable definately cant wait to go back

didnt undertake anything quite as heavy the rest of the week, but a visit to Symonds Yat which is the remains of a fort viewpoint on the side of a hill, on the edge of the Forest Of Dean and overlooking a tight U-turn in the river wye, its definately worth a visit, you can drive almost all the way to the top also

https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/symondsyat.jpg


cheers for reading
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So in other words, he stopped you for being flagrantly in posession of a motorcycle in direct contravention of the Hippies, Darkies and People Whose Face I Don't Like The Look of (Police Powers) Act. 1976

[Suzuki]

Excellent write up Mr Goose.

Glad you had a good time. The weather was perfect for you!

You definitely need to get yourself a new camera though.
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<Simple> no I'm shaven Jon
<Simple> it is a big enough hole.. I'll leave it now
Ride: 1999 Suzuki GSXR600 (yellow/black) IRC: Stats - Relationship Map

[WildGoose]

yes yes, they were 3 quid specials from the hardware shop in Hay

anne has put my proper camera in a "very safe place"

and thusly it couldnt be found to come with us, my picture resizing and editing sucks also
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So in other words, he stopped you for being flagrantly in posession of a motorcycle in direct contravention of the Hippies, Darkies and People Whose Face I Don't Like The Look of (Police Powers) Act. 1976

[McGee]

Reasons why not to take the over half hunting number 49:

Camoflauge skills leave a lot to be desired.

https://img238.imageshack.us/img238/5975/huntingcamo7eg.jpg
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◙◙► K6 GSXR 600 ◄◙◙◙◙► K5 GSXR 1000 ◄◙◙◙◙► K5 GSXR 600 ◄◙◙◙◙► 96 RF600r ◄◙◙
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Its pronounced Jixxer!

[Lawnie]

Nice

The Brecon Beacons and Black Mountains are very beautiful

[Wave2k]

LMAO mcgee
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Ducati 1299 Panigale
2009 Corvette C6 z51
RS125->CBR400->RXS100->GSXR750K2->Ducati749S->CBR600RR5->TL1000R->DRz400->RSVR1000->Honda VTR SP1->CBR400->GSXR1000K6->Honda H100->CBR600RR3->Ducati1299

[Mister James]

Interesting read, and sweet Pusser's Tan dude!
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>Soultrader Mister James, I bet you are a copper
>Bazza Wow. Eyes like a shithouse rat, you...

[Sephiroth]

https://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y22/cacophony_103/orlymountains.jpg

[McGee]

No one is safe from the owl
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◙◙► K6 GSXR 600 ◄◙◙◙◙► K5 GSXR 1000 ◄◙◙◙◙► K5 GSXR 600 ◄◙◙◙◙► 96 RF600r ◄◙◙
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Its pronounced Jixxer!

[Sephiroth]

And there's a McGoo shaped cloud too.

[msgander]

PMSL at that pic or O RLY!!!!
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Always believe that your guardian angel flies a bit faster than you...............

[Flip]

Bloody Southerners coming to Wales.

[msgander]

ah but we did appreciate it and looked after your welsh sheep
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Always believe that your guardian angel flies a bit faster than you...............

[Flip]

[msgander]

I think not!! We educated them................
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Always believe that your guardian angel flies a bit faster than you...............

[suzi_bandit]

That's my back garden that you came to play in

Last September there was a film crew in the area and one of the scenes involved a view of Hay Bluff and about 200+ motorbikes appearing over the horizon. Although I was there as an extra I was only just through my test and admit to being too much of a girl to ride my bike on an extremely wet mountain side. Bit naughty of me really coz I took full advantage of the free camping and rally type revelling. Think I made the right choice, the ground was sodden and loads of bikes went down. Can't remember the name of the movie. I have a feeling it'll be straight to video
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I want a big boys bike, preferably a Speed Triple. To date I have ?7:42p stashed away to put towards one. Need to get it in the bank & earning interest asap.

[Lone-Wolf]

Wotcha.

Most enjoyable - now go back and do it on a BIKE
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Cheers.
^..^
L.W. - www.moonshiners.org.uk

[msgander]

we plan to!! just awaiting a retake of my test due to FJKJDKLJ:FJ:KJJ DVLA tossers!!! - long story wont bore you but lets just say I did my "part 1" and "part 2" many moons ago. Will be great on a bike!!!!! Cant wait!!
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Always believe that your guardian angel flies a bit faster than you...............