Gales a Pedales. Etapa 1) Barry-Ystradfellte.
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 44.42 mi
- Elevation gain
- 3,419 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Difficult
- Elevation loss
- 2,808 ft
- Max elevation
- 1,591 ft
- TrailRank
- 29
- Min elevation
- 26 ft
- Trail type
- One Way
- Coordinates
- 502
- Uploaded
- July 16, 2014
near Barry, Wales (United Kingdom)
Viewed 929 times, downloaded 6 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
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First day of the alforjero journey through Wales. We left Barry, a peripheral city of the capital, Cardiff. We started by taking a small detour (half on purpose, half not) on secondary roads and local roads. We take the first impressions of the Welsh orography: green everywhere and plain, what is said plain, very little. We began to take the pulse of the short but steep hills of the area.
About three km before Llantrisant, we take the main road that will lead us, going up the course of the Rhonda River, towards the Breacon Beacons: mountainous massif declared National Park, with peaks rounded by the impious climate of the islands. The road (with its well-equipped parallel bike path) goes slightly uphill, always in constant up and down, until we find the surprise of the day. After Treherbert, a port master exceeds 300 meters of altitude in 7km leaving us at the highest point of the day (485m) on a superb landscape: The Breacon Beacons in front of us and a small lake under our wheels, the find surprises us very pleasantly.
After the ascent, stretched but long, it takes a vertiginous descent towards Glyneath and from there to Pontneddfechan, where we decided to attack the Beacons by pulling down the middle road: the narrow road-road that leads to the small town of Ystradfellte, famous for the spectacular waterfalls that arise to their surroundings by the two slopes of the cordal in whose center the locality is located. You leave the upper part of Pontneddfechan by ramps that exceed 13% and you see yourself submerged in the deepest Wales: green meadows, rounded hills and ... more sheep than people. The feeling of loneliness and infinite landscape overwhelms, in the purest Highland style. They are also purely autochthonous the steep slopes of the area: if you look at the profile, what seems level are tiny saw teeth that stick to the wheels and how. Already suffering and enjoying equally, we arrived at Ystradfellte: tiny locality but with great pub and better people who provide their selfless help to sleep under the roof tonight. Or something similar.
About three km before Llantrisant, we take the main road that will lead us, going up the course of the Rhonda River, towards the Breacon Beacons: mountainous massif declared National Park, with peaks rounded by the impious climate of the islands. The road (with its well-equipped parallel bike path) goes slightly uphill, always in constant up and down, until we find the surprise of the day. After Treherbert, a port master exceeds 300 meters of altitude in 7km leaving us at the highest point of the day (485m) on a superb landscape: The Breacon Beacons in front of us and a small lake under our wheels, the find surprises us very pleasantly.
After the ascent, stretched but long, it takes a vertiginous descent towards Glyneath and from there to Pontneddfechan, where we decided to attack the Beacons by pulling down the middle road: the narrow road-road that leads to the small town of Ystradfellte, famous for the spectacular waterfalls that arise to their surroundings by the two slopes of the cordal in whose center the locality is located. You leave the upper part of Pontneddfechan by ramps that exceed 13% and you see yourself submerged in the deepest Wales: green meadows, rounded hills and ... more sheep than people. The feeling of loneliness and infinite landscape overwhelms, in the purest Highland style. They are also purely autochthonous the steep slopes of the area: if you look at the profile, what seems level are tiny saw teeth that stick to the wheels and how. Already suffering and enjoying equally, we arrived at Ystradfellte: tiny locality but with great pub and better people who provide their selfless help to sleep under the roof tonight. Or something similar.
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Hola ivandamme.
Estamos pensando hacer las 5 etapas de que tienes publicadas de Gales con bikepacking, ligeros. Para retornar de Caernarfon a Barry veo que hay autobús y 3 trenes. El bus a Bangor lo puedo evitar haciéndolo en bici, ¿Sabes si se pueden meter bicicletas en los trenes ingleses?
Gracias.