A little jolly

Bank Holiday Monday (plus) a promising weather forecast (equals) ?

Well?

Come on, Aston Minor, I’m waiting?

No of course it’s not forty two, you stupid boy.

It equals this: A motorbike jolly!

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A to B is my favourite route towards Wales. I love the roads in the Forest of Dean; for a neglected corner of the UK, the surfaces are surprisingly good, but the corners/bends, flick-backs and cambers are a delight to ride. Add in to this the constantly changing light pattern as the sun bursts out from/is obscured by the trees, and the Forest is such a pleasing, joyful place to experience the best of the British countryside. Especially on two wheels. Natural hazards – deer.

B to C drops you down in to Monmouth. I usually take the last 3-4 miles as an opportunity to throttle back, sit up in the saddle, and enjoy the roads at slower speed. It’s easy to get held up by a car on the last couple of miles, there are few absolutely safe overtaking opportunities, so just sit back and enjoy the view as you drop out of the Forest and over the river in to Monmouth.

There are two routes in to Abergavenny, the way everybody else takes, and the route I know from my childhood. To get in to Aber I take the former. To get out I take the latter.

C to D is a very straightforward (read: dull), mostly dual-carriageway route – the A40 all the way. Yes, the same A40 that runs from Oxford. Once you pass the big roundabout at Raglan, there are no other breaks in the A40 until just before Abergavenny. It isn’t the most interesting route, but the Blorenge, Skirrid and Sugar Loaf Mountains can (on a clear day!) look quite stunning.

In Abergavenny, take the right-hand turning in to the bus station and park up close to the cafe. Today there were 50-60 other motorcyclists enjoying a cup of tea, a chat and the sun on their shoulders. Oh yes, and I saw this amazing helmet cover:

 

 

 

 

Apparently the owner bought it on the internet (obv) from a supplier in Australia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

E to F: Leaving Abergavenny I head back towards the large A40/Heads Of The Valleys roundabout but take the B4598 (my favourite route back towards Raglan).

This is a foxy little road with more than a few challenges that frequently catch out the unwary motorcyclist/driver. Yes, it is a slower route than the dull as ditchwater A40, but you get to enjoy the countryside, you get to ride a more interesting/challenging series of bends and cambers and, surprisingly, it actually is not that much slower than the A40 – and by not that much slower I mean there’s possibly 45 seconds in it.  Or there is approximately 45 seconds in it for me, but I do know this little road exceptionally well (I have walked and cycled the B4598 for decades, and know, intimately, every long sweeping curve, every adverse camber and every fast straight).  This road never fails to put a smile on my face.

F to G used to be the main road from Raglan to the M4, before the A449 was built. Amazing fact.  It’s a straightforward road, but the surface has some peculiar angles and cambers to it as you cross Cobbler’s Plain (location of the shoe-leather uprising of 1241). The drop-down through the woods towards St Arvans from Devauden is really pretty.

G to H is motorway and therefore (mostly) dull. But it’s a means to an end, and not an end in itself. I say mostly dull because one does get the post-Chepstow run out of Wales across the SSC, and that’s a pretty awesome piece of architecture to ride across.

H to I is a nice little route that passes the northernmost runway of (former RAF) Aston Down. It’s a place I share a history with, and I give it a nod whenever I pass.

I to J is another nice piece of straightforward country road. I take a slight detour and ride through RAF Fairford.

J to K and L are more typical country roads that are in my ‘back yard’ (though I know them less well than any of the roads in Wales.

And that’s it.

That was my little ride out today.

What did you get up to?