Our trip photo album can be seen by clicking this link.

>>>>>>>PHOTO ALBUM LINK<<<<<<<


It should be a public album but if anyone has any problems, post a comment below.  Please feel free to leave any general comments or questions regarding the photos.

Rhayader to finito!

Sun shone brightly to wake us all up super early at Pencelli Castle on the outskirts of brecon. Ally “Super-mum” Hoskins was on the ball with bacon, sausage and beans before I could feel the dew drop on my flip flops. It made for great fuel as we set off for Rhayader. We needed it! What began as undulating hills became a sin wave of road runner downhills and exhausting climbs. Challenging yet uneventful.... You would think!

The fun and games began at a turning point (no pun intended) called upper cefncoed just after Newbridge-on-Wye. It takes you along the Wye Valley walk between Trembyd hill and the Wye river. It's shown on the sustrans map-site as a “rough off-road section”. I hadn't looked on the sustrans map-site! Cue lots of fun for mountain bikers Swifty and Hanno. Not so much fun for road and hybrid cyclists me and Mick. After putting our bikes through some violent vibrations that only a Sea King pilot could endure, we decided enough was enough and walked clippity clop in our cleat equipped cycling shoes, along near alpine terrain (Ahem). It smoothed deceptively to country road gradient, so on the bikes we went and having been starved of cycling freedom I belted it down the Wye Valley, overtaking the mountain bikers just before the path laughed at me and became riddled with immediate dips, ditches and divots. Paul Hanson reported seeing me accelerate past before hearing me shouting expletives in horror at what can only be described as a two foot deep crevice across the path. I attempted last minute to leap “Betty” across said ravine while reciting the lords prayer at pace! I just made it! Mick and I walked the rest of the rough path until reaching a PROPER road. 

You'd think that events would continue to remain smooth. They didn't. For I had made a slight boo boo an the pre trip maps. I marked the Wyeside Camp-site on completely the wrong side of the river and around 2 miles off course. By the time I'd uttered my humble apologies Hanno had gripped us by the scruffs, told us to get a grip and said “lets carry our bikes across the river, stop whingeing and get to this camp-site” (Artistic licence was used in the last paragraph, as if Hanno would talk to anyone like that) So off we went a la Bear Grylls, bikes on our backs and we were at the camp-site in no time!

Rhayader was amazing. Gorgeous weather 25degC. It laid host to a great camp-site, a refreshing river, a pub that doubles as a bike shop and a pub that opens early to feed us massive full English breakfasts. The latter was and continues to be super-mum Ally Hoskins' nemesis. She wasn't the least bit impressed with OUR diplomatic decision to overrule her Granola breakfast in favour of lard! Probably didn't help that I requested granola the day before! Clive Powell runs the Mountain bike centre in Rhayader a pub come bike shop. 

 Following some accurate diagnosing by myself (take note Delwyn Williams, Hanno's ex bike engineer), Hanno decided to bite the bullet and change his bottom bracket ,which had been annoying him with clicks and clangs since Cardiff. Clive also changed it free of charge seeing as it was all in aid of Help for Heroes. We were soon off towards Dolgellau. A note for anyone challenging the dragon, beware of this part of the journey. It's hard but extremely worthwhile. Hafren forest was a blast maybe too much of a blast as I hammered round corners thinking I was Bradley Wiggins. I felt more like Bradley Muggins when I took a corner at 40mph realising my error I clipped out and braced for my inevitable CRASH!

 I lost my cycle computer in the brush, decided it was too much hassle to continue looking, dusted myself down and continued on to meet with the others, yes they passed me! Onwards and upwards eh and man was it upwards. We hit a beast of hill at a turning point just after Dolbachog. The climb began by taking us slowly towards a beautiful viewpoint overlooking the gorgeous Afon Twymyn. On and on it took us slowly forcing our legs to seize with lactic acid. By the time we had “summitted” at Bryn-y-Fedwen we were quite genuinely exhausted, were it not for everyone's support effort some of us might have walked some of the way. 

 We all pulled together and managed to pedal every single inch out. Thank Lord Shimano there was Flapjacks and Isotonic waiting for us. We chilled for a while knowing that just beyond this point and the memorial on route 8 was the descent that made the climb worthwhile, we zipped down towards Machynlleth and it was a sensational ride. 

 Our joy was short-lived we had the climb from Hades awaiting us. After a fairly challenging route to Aberllefenni the Gradient was way too much for any of us and we ended up pushing our bikes up to the summit between Cadair Idris and Mynydd y Waun. We got some crazy looks from workmen removing an old gas pipe (Extensive work all the way from Corris to Dolgellau). We were rewarded with another superb descent into Dolgellau. Where we were accommodated for free by the Vanner Camp-site. Slept well we did!

For reasons that only the trip members will discuss, we were on our way by 7.20am along the beautiful Mawddach estuary. The path here was sublime, Flat no undulation whatsoever and we found ourselves racing towards our first rendezvous. Ally and John were nowhere to be seen and we took great pleasure in reminding them that they had CARS! Hanno took great pleasure in the fact that we had chosen a spot next to “Birmingham Garage” in Barmouth. We were storming towards Caernarfon where I think (being bound for my town) 

I once again let my legs get carried away. Looked back and no one could be seen! I looked where I was and I was standing next to a route 8 sign. I was at the right place. I wasn't at the right place 100 yds previous though, as the cycle route took the team up a huge hill and back down to where I was stood at a junction. Mick Jewitt even descended again to correct my wayward legs only to find I was nowhere in sight. We met further up the road and they spoke to me some colourful words! Having regrouped we commenced to the back roads of Mount Harlech to be gifted with wonderful views of Snowdon and the Lleyn Peninsula.

 We blitzed through Porthmadog in no time and Lon Eifion cycle path was a true pleasure to ride and Caernarfon soon welcomed us to Cwm Cadnant Camp-site.

We awoke to our first cloudy day. Clouds became rain and stayed with us for the rest of the day. The rain however did not dampen our spirits. We went and had breakfast rolls and panads at the SPAR Min-y-Nant store in Caernarfon. We had begun the last stretch of our journey. Flat most of the way, uneventful none of the way. I began by allowing “Betty” to upend me on some slippery bricks in Morrisons car park. I was only doing 5mph but man did it hurt.. Lon las Menai was a kind Journey in the rain. The Menai Straits gave us further impetus as we neared home.

 Just as we neared the peak of Penrhosgarnedd Hill Hanno's rear tyre gave him his first puncture, and having looked at his tyre, it wouldn't be his last today. 271 miles and the Wye Valley rumble strip had taken its toll it was bare. The same could be said for Swifty's knee joint. We were hobbling to Holyhead slowly but surely. Back roads through Anglesey were a lot more substantial than we gave them credit for yet we joked along the entire Anglesey route “What hills”. Following Mawddach Hill and Bryn-y-Fedwen these seemed to pale in comparison. We were scheduled to arrive in Holyhead at 1230pm but we were early. Gave us a chance to top Hanno's rear inner tube up with air and it would have been rude not to fuel up with burgers from the van at Stermat. What an awesome welcome from our families in the habrbourfront bistro. I must be honest it was an emotional finish to a phenomenal bike ride and we all deserved our beer toast at the finish line. We got to know each other much better on the trip and we all found out that Wales is truly a breathtaking country. I was a proud Welshman fanning my Welsh feathers for the entire duration.

Cycling Day One; On your bike!

First of all my sincere apologies to anyone who tried to follow our blog daily.  We struggled to get any 3G coverage and life without a laptop was not working out for us. So here it goes.

Premier Inn all you can eat breakfasts, well what can I say. "A perfect start of the day to four cyclists about to embark on a perilous journey through Wales", well it is listed as one of the hardest cycling challenges going... in the UK.  We all got up at 7.30AM and got stuck in to Premier Inn's awesome brekkie.  All except Ally of course.  Who'd have thought that our token armed service member, OFFICER at that, would be late for breakfast ;-)

In all seriousness all the pieces of the logistical puzzle soon came together with ex-military precision.  Ally and Swifty got to sort out the rendezvous points with some excellent map reading skills on both their parts.  We offloaded any non essentials and off we headed for Brecon.  We thought it would be quiet on the roads and headed South towards our start point, the Norwegian Church in Cardiff Bay.  Our quiet stroll became a suicide mission through the streets of Cardiff.  Kicking wing mirrors, swashbuckling with white van man scaffold poles, and hitting UPS delivery grenades for six.  I think you get the idea, it WASN'T quiet.

Didn't take long for us to get to our start point, I say us. Ally got lost in suburban Cardiff, fended off the urban rapscallions and eventually found her way to the Norwegian Church at Cardiff Bay, late, again!  We confirmed our rendezvous (RV),  Swifty swiftly took charge of map reading duties and off we went.  The first place I recognised was our Senedd (Welsh Assembly) I proudly stood for my first photo of the cycling journey proper.

Then SPD pedalgate debacle began, Mick had invested some hard earned overtime cash in a fine pair of SPD shoes and cleats. We had just got on the Taff Embankment (Approx 4 miles in) when I had to stop to mount a cross kerb, seems I stopped a little to abruptly and Mick was left cursing my idiocy as he rolled himself and his trusty Kona Dew to the right.  I thought "Holy $h1+" good start Georgie, but he took it in good stead and on towards Brecon we trundled.  We were truly amazed at the quality of cycle track we were given, signage out of the city on National Cycle Route 8 was truly amazing (thanks Sustrans).  But as with any journey we had to have diversions and confusion reigned supreme in my head when we approached a crazy diversion leading us up to Taff's Well, I damn near killed everyone with some crazy suburban halting and was lucky to survive a lynching, Ha ha ha.

Swifty's excellent navigational skills had us through in no time and we were fast approaching our very first rendezvous(RV) in Pontypridd. "The Taff Trail" occasionally became our route 8 path and looked after us well, but we were all more than perplexed when we spotted the pretend bikes dotted along the Taff Trail, "I'm just off for a walk on the taff trail and I'll go for a spin on the pretend bike honey" what do you think of them?  Stress soon gripped Mick as we cycled along Merthyr Tydfil.  He was petrified someone familiar might sliiiiiddde out of the brush to say hello,   so much so that he totally missed the Adder that was sunbathing on the track next to his ankles.  Then came the CLIMBING! Argh!!!!!

 We knew things were getting harder when the gradient became a challenge and Rhondda kids jumping into rivers could use X-Ray vision to call us baldies.  All this before Mick was mistaken for a Policeman by Yo'ths on a Dirtbike. "Evening All!"

Then came ADVENTURELAND!   Brecon Beacons National Park was a true treasure.  It's beauty was unrivalled.  It looks and feels different to Snowdonia so it added loads to what I love about my country, so we were a little awestruck.  We blazed through the tracks and the baking 25 degC sunshine only made us appreciate it even more.  We were goosepimple ridden for all the right reasons.  After the Pontsticill reservoir came an experience every single one of the "Cycle Wales for Heroes" will savour for the rest of our lives. Three words "THE TORPANTAU PASS".



Click on this map link for a location of Torpantau>>>>>> http://goo.gl/maps/pK9T








This pass can only be described as a lunatic cyclists paradise.  We got to brow of the Torpantau hill and we were "supposed" to follow National Cycle Route 8 along the very gentle contour passing the Talybont Reservoir before setting up camp in Pencelli Castle.  Swifty with his navigational prowess soon spotted a much more adventurous ride, by deducing that the gradient was crazily straight down, he convinced us we should take the pass rather than the NCR 8.  What an amazing experience. Mick and I was descending at 45mph with both rear and front brakes applied fully.  Hanno and Swifty with apt Mountain Bikes went through the pass like a dose of antacids.  I can only guess at what speed they descended at, probably nearing 55mph.  We were soon to have a meeting with the Brecon Rotary contingent. The road led us nicely into Pencelli Castle for Night one and the Brecon Rotary President, Derek Adams accompanied by his wife very kindly donated £100, amazing, A huge thank you Derek.  WHAT A DAY! Ther rest was well deserved and as for difficulty rating, it has to be a 7/10.

First day in Cardiff Asda

We had a gorgeous drive down in Dafydd Hardy's van. Things were completely sardined to begin with in the van, but after a little reorganising outside my house we were able to get on the road. Even if I was travelling to Cardiff with two 700c wheels on my lap. We stuck to the A470 route through the Cambrian mountains, absolutely stunning.

I was told I couldn't store my pride and joy in my room so there was a bit of a James Bond mission to get her into safety!
We we welcomed at Asda by Lauren Beere who gave us a very warm welcome, thankfully so did the Cardiff Asda contingent. Totaliser tipped the scales at £440 for Asda's generous customers. Thank you Cardiff.

It's nearly there.  THE Date for leaving.  Fundraising has picked up slightly but Help for Heroes will always need more to support our wounded service men and women.  Jill Scholes at Tesco surpassed herself AGAIN yesterday when I went to pick up our Brecon Carreg water.  She then proceeded to donate energy gels and some High5 isotonic drink tablets.  These should go some way to ensuring Swifty gets his arse "in gear" :-)

Mick picked up the van from Dafydd Hardy a few days ago, and we gave it some minimal Help for Heroes treatment.  Any thoughts?  I must take this opportunity to thank Dafydd again for helping us out with the van.  This trip would be twice as hard without a support van.  If you need any real estate sold or your climbing up on the real estate ladder.  I would look no further, just because he's a top guy and he supports Help for Heroes.

Thanks to Holyhead

Thing are slotting nicely into place for the fundraiser from Cardiff to Holyhead.  We had a good day trawling what's left of Holyhead town centre yesterday.  We received support from all quarters, Hannah and Wayne Robinson's Little Stars Cafe get a huge thank you for their support.  They can always be relied upon for continued support of Help for Heroes, as can The Cambria Inn and Cambria Stores. Chocolate Box, William street stock a variety of Help for Heroes memorabilia with all proceeds going to H4H. Thanks also goes Chadwick's Newsagent and Jumping Jacks Cafe/Bar for supporting our cycling venture.

Moved on to Tesco afterwards even though I was dressed in, as Zena would call it, "your gay cycling equipment", the security guard ignored my conspicuousness and allowed me to talk to Jill Scholes.  ( I hope I got that right!)  about what we are doing.  She was very forthcoming about Tesco's support and she said we could fundraise on the final day of the journey in the store.  She also asked if they could help by donating 48 sports bottles of Brecon Carreg, fantastic support thanks Jill.  So we hope to see a lot of our fellow islanders for some final fundraising support.

All our supporters can be seen by clicking on the sponsors tab and scrolling through them.

Visited HRUFC

Went back to my old rugby ground today to get some sponsorship off me ol' HRUFC team mates. Turns out there was a bonus! The Heineken cup was visiting the changing shack! Courtesy of Jon Jon Campbell. Couldn't resist a few pictures! Not to mention a huge thank you to those who dipped in their pockets. Totalizer is ticking over nicely.

EXTRAORDINARY!

Well we have made the Help for Heroes extraordinary events page.  See our feature on http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/events/cycle_wales.html.  Mick has been busy canvassing businesses in Betws-y-Coed.  Their pictures can be seen in the pictures tab.

A HUGE thanks goes AGAIN to Alison Bradley and her Husband Jon.  We received a fantastic Framed Signed Limited Edition print of  "Beneath the breakwater" By Alison Bradley.  It is a beautiful piece of work and we will be selling raffle tickets with the proceeds going to Help for Heroes.  See more details Here.

Mick also received from George in The Edinburgh Woollen Mill (Betws) a stunning lead crystal decanter.  This will also make a great prize for the raffle.  So a HUGE thanks to her and her team.

Just made a new logo at of the request of the H4H Extraordinary events team.  So I thought I'd make it the logo for the website.  The Welsh Dragon has been created using bike components.  Any comments are appreciated.

GREAT News! We spoke to Dafydd Hardy of estate agency fame yesterday.  He seemed shocked at our latest blow of losing the van.  So much so, that he volunteered us the use of his company's van to use for the duration of the trip. Coupled with that we had great success in trawling some of Bangor High Streets shops.  The H4H bike has been busy gathering dus... I mean publicity in Evolution bikes.  We picked it up and went fundraising.  Not too far away is Jack's Deli.  Here an old school friend of mine (Matthew Cook) is running his own delicatessen.  He was impressed with the bike and was happy to be the first business to contribute.  It's always nice to catch up a little as well, especially since Liverpool FC pipped his club Everton to their second cup final this year.  Had to get that one in mate!  All the best with Jack's Deli Matthew.

A few other High Street businesses were keen to contribute as well. A huge thanks to Varsity, Army and Navy Stores,  Millets and a particular thank you to G.Williams and Son the Butchers,  they seemed very interested and Snr. told us about some cycling jaunts of his own from Ellesmere Port to Llanfairpwll.  We did invite him along on our cycle trip but he gracefully declined citing his 81 years of frame fatigue, that was just his bike. In all seriousness though I got the feeling he could have come along and taught us a thing or two about endurance.  Many thanks again.


Now on to our neighbours in Holyhead!

H4H bike is upon us.

Received the Help for Heroes bike yesterday thanks to Gaz for his support. A lot of his own time went into creating this bike as is evident by these quick pictures featuring Derek Brockways bessie mate, Mick H4H Jewitt. The bike has changed considerably since we were given the Felt hardtail mountain bike by Evolution Bikes.  More pictures were taken by Tom Brown of the Valley Aviation Society. These pictures will be of a much better quality and will soon be posted in the pictures tab.  (April 17th Update:  Tom Brown's photo's are now available in the Pictures tab on the hompepage.)

Down but definitely not out.

So we've received a little blow to our campaign to raise money for H4H.  Babcock have decided to drop out of our fundraiser, so the van fund will have to come from somewhere else.  However like Mick said yesterday, our wounded servicemen and women have hurdled well past most obstacles put in front of them.  This is a mere hurdle and we aim to carry on even stronger.  Rough with the smooth and all that.  I dare say as the time nears we will have hurdled many more obstacles.  Businesses that donate will now feature on the website sponsors tab.

Mick Jewitt being the fundraising genius he is, has come up with a blinder.  AGAIN! So following on from his idea to create a Help for Heroes bike, he's imagining an image on the van, with names of local businesses (supportive businesses of Help for Heroes) together depicting Wales.  Similar to what's found left, obviously not in the form of Brazil.  Once the bike is ready, we'll go canvassing for sponsor cash so watch out Holyhead businesses! Your name could be in the map for as little as a tenner. Come to think of it I'll have to open up a sponsors tab on the homepage.

So here it begins!  Never done a blog before, so hopefully I can appeal to the masses that is the worldwide web!  On the 27th of May this year, myself, Mick Jewitt (Anglesey H4H Co-ordinator) and a small team from 22 Squadron Search and Rescue at RAF Valley will be embarking on the "Lon Las Cymru" route from Cardiff to Holyhead.  We will be doing this in aid of Help for Heroes and we hope to raise £5000.

As you all probably know Help for heroes has been instrumental in providing support and services for those wounded in service of our country and RAF Valley Search and Rescue has been instrumental in providing services to the public both local and nationwide.

We hope to have around 8 of us on the bike ride with a support team of 2 mechanics accompanying us in a hire van.  This will be conditional on our employer Babcock International sponsoring the hire of the support vehicle through hertz.  Fingers crossed that they come good in such tough financial times.

 We hope that we might be joined along the way by various “Band of brothers” members.  These are ex armed forces members who are being supported by Help for Heroes.We have already received some interest.

We have been given a Felt mountain bike by “Evolution bikes” of Bangor  (thanks Matt for sorting that out).  I stripped off all the bike parts and the frame has been given the full Help for Heroes spray treatment by the Aircraft Painters of RAF Valley. Appreciations galore to Gaz at the paint shop and his team, a HUGE thanks! I rebuilt the bike after the paint job and is now back with the painters for Help for Heroes stickers, or should that be "decals", professional speak, for a professional job, by professional paint technicians.  Mick an I are getting excited now to see the bike in all its H4H glory.

We will soon be using the H4H Bike for local public relations such as local press photographs, media footage and for this Trip Blog.  Once the trip is over the bike will be handed over to Help for Heroes so that they may use it for future challenges or PR work.  Keep following the blog for before and after pics of the bike.