By Pedal and Foot

Encounters with Cows Cycling from Fishguard to Cardiff   Buoyed up by the memories of our successful length of Wales trip at the beginning of the summer Julia and I decided that we should end the summer the same way, with an epic cycle tour adventure. We only had a week available so crazy ideas of cross European adventures would have to wait till a later date and the search was restricted to closer to home. Then we realised that the natural sequel to a length of Wales ride was a ride the width of Wales at its widest point, happily Sustrans have a challenge route called the Celtic Trail which goes from Fishguard in the West to Chepstow in the East. We didn't want the faff of public transport both ways so we decided to leave the route at Pontypridd and head to Cardiff. Thus the route was set for our 200-mile jaunt from Fishguard to Cardiff and masses of planning and preparation ensued. (We booked the train and bought a map). This 200-mile route is brilliant for seei...

Wales Isn't Flat Cycle Touring for the Uninitiated After finishing our 2nd year uni exams a friend and I decided we wanted to go on a holiday (like any normal student), however we didn't want to just go sit on a beach we wanted an adventure! In the end we decided on cycle touring and so chose to cycle the  Lôn  Las Cymru Sustrans challenge route. This is a 250-mile route from Holyhead to Cardiff, or in other words the length of Wales. It crosses 2 mountain ranges and is described on the Sustrans website as “ one of the toughest of all the long distance routes on the National Cycle Network” (which I neglected to tell Julia). So basically it has everything you need for a proper adventure! Before we set off we weren’t super fit cyclists, indeed I wouldn’t even have considered myself a cyclist. Sure I cycled regularly, I cycled to uni, to meet friends in the pub, to go shopping, to running races and to go sailing but I wasn’t a cyclist...