Day 2 of the Welsh weekend away.
Everyone made it to the meeting point in the Cowbridge Town Hall car park, having sourced their breakfast at various points. The weather was much as forecast, warm, breezy with sunny intervals.
We were away on time, and we headed out of Cowbridge to make our way to the mountains. Again, we were met with a strong westerly head wind. The roads were relatively quiet as we cycled through Pencoed and onto Blackmill. Just after Blackmill we started the long 10km climb into the mountains to reach the summit at 531 metres (Mynydd Llangeinwyr). This is the highest mountain in the borough of Bridgend. Libby had kindly baked some traditional New Zealand cookies called “Afghans”, so these were enjoyed at the top as everyone took in the surrounding views. It was time to put on another layer for the long descent down into Maesteg. Unfortunately, due to the amount of climbing required in the morning and the over ambition nature of the ride leader, we missed are lunch reservation at the Corner House Inn, Llangynwyd, so alternative arrangements were sort, and we ended up have an Alfresco lunch at ASDA!!
While the large percentage of the days climbing had been completed, we still had another 600 metres of climbing remaining, so we got back on the bikes and continued the ride. After Llangynwyd, we headed up a very narrow track which got progressively steeper and overgrown. Near the top we were presented with a gate, which fortunately for me we were able to get through and continue the climb to the top and eventually meet an all together much more suitable surfaced road. The remainder of the route, which still had a few climbs, took us through the West side of Bridgend and back into Cowbridge. Once back in Cowbridge an Ice Cream refreshment was taken by those who did not have to rush off. It was a very pleasant way to finish the day and what was a very enjoyable weekend with excellent company – thank you everyone.