A cycle route across southern Wales, from Chepstow to Fishguard, following National Cycle Network 4 (NCN4).
Into Wales at Chepstow, over the old Severn Bridge, on a sunny afternoon.
We rode along narrow lanes with high hedges, and little traffic. Fortunately, because there was little room to pass and there were stinging nettles in the hedges! A pleasant night in Chepstow. The next day, we stopped for a wander around Caldicot Castle before having our regular bread, cheese and salami lunch.
We arrived in Newport in the early evening and stopped to look at the Newport Transporter bridge, as empty and deserted as it had looked two years ago (when I had also arrived when it was closed). It was difficult to tell if it was just closed for the evening, or more permanently for repairs; there didn’t appear much evidence of daily use.
There is a large difference in height between low and high tides on the River Usk through Newport – in the region of 12 m. A conventional bridge would have to be high to allow shipping, requiring substantial bridge approaches. After study of the Portugaleté transporter bridge near Bilbao (which Bev and I used on our Camino del Norte ride four years ago), a transporter bridge was decided upon for Newport.
A transporter bridge has a platform, or gondola, for vehicles and passengers, suspended on cables from a high superstructure. The platform loads up passengers at one side, takes a quick ride across the river, and deposits the passengers on the other side, like an elevated roll-on roll-off ferry across rivers in many parts of the world.
But it wasn’t looking hopeful for ride across the river on it :(
We spent the night in an Ibis Budget Hotel in Newport and were on our way, back past the transporter bridge in the morning. Now riding along the west side of the river, I stopped to photograph the transporter and spotted the gondola moving – yes, it was operating! Run, apparently, by volunteers. We happily paid our £2 for a return ticket.
Opened in 1906, the transporter eased access to steel works on the east bank of the Usk without impeding access to the town docks which were, at that time, located further upstream. There are a handful of transporter bridges still in use around the world.
Caerphilly Castle, Wales’ largest, has its own leaning tower resulting from damage incurred in the 17th Century in battles between the forces of Oliver Cromwell and King Charles I.
Locals believe it leans twice as much as the tower in Pisa and that the Leaning Tower of Pisa does not deserve its place in the Guinness Book of World Records. Pisa leans at 4° and the Caerphilly tower at over 10°.
The Welsh take their angling seriously.
There are hills everywhere, not particularly long climbs but frequent. The elevation gain affords great views of rural Wales. The route follows a combination of minor roads with little or no traffic, dedicated cycle tracks (often along abandoned railway lines) and some gravel double-track.
I was struggling on the hills, with chest pain, especially after stopping to eat (so it was easy to blame it on indigestion). After ten minutes or so doubled over, the pain would recede and I could get back on the bike. Late sixties, out of shape, overweight: how serious could it be? In denial, the tour continued despite sensible suggestions from my accompanying wife and brother.
EDIT: Later, safely back home in Canada, my doctor sent me for a stress test. A few minutes on the treadmill (the summer cycling didn't seem to have helped my walking-jogging-uphill-quickly fitness any) and all seemed well. The technician told me I could stop whenever I wanted; she had the readouts she needed. Well, I wanted to stop immediately but for some reason (fortuitously) continued. Only for a couple of minutes, though, before the technician noticed something amiss and I was quickly shutdown. The cardiac specialist was summoned. And an ambulance was called. At the hospital, I was admitted and immediately scheduled for a couple of stents: two of three main arteries (including one referred to as 'the Widowmaker') were 90% blocked. Very fortunately, I hadn't died by the side of the road and, somewhat incredibly, had suffered no permanent heart damage. Now, three years later, I have had no recurrence of any heart-related symptoms. I'm a lucky guy!
Chris would have preferred wider, and less slick, tyres for the gravel we occasionally encountered.
And into Swansea where the castle remains are not particularly enhanced by the concrete tower behind. Still, a pleasant city to spend a day in.
Chris left us in Swansea, taking the train back to London. Three hours instead of the almost three leisurely weeks it had taken us to ride ;)
