South Wales cycling holidays: Exploring the Celtic Trail with two wheels (and a map)

By Sebastian Lander

Wales of a time: South Wales' romantic mixture of history and natural beauty makes for an intoxicating mix


It was a defining moment. With leg muscles revolting and sweat streaming down my back, we managed to reach the top of an Olympic-sized hill without bursting a lung. I felt like Lance Armstrong.

But the feeling of triumph was short-lived as someone consulted the map and delivered the killer blow: that we had gone the wrong way over a mix up between Route 47 and Route 4, thwarted by poor map reading skills and a surplus digit.

We had already experienced a Benny Hill-esque moment that morning, farcically doing laps of Pontypridd town centre before managing to escape. I could hear my father’s words as we realised we had been going south instead of north: ‘You couldn’t find your way out of a paper bag’.

As we whizzed back down the hill with legs out and brakes at the ready, I reflected that if ever there was anywhere to get lost it was here in South Wales.

I had joined a group of cyclists - a mix of novices and muscly-calved enthusiasts - on the Celtic Trail, a route yoking Fishguard with Chepstow in a coast-hugging 223-mile run taking in Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and the Valleys.

We allowed ourselves just under three days to get from Tenby to Newport, a journey of some 140 miles, staying overnight in a B&B and hotel. Luckily, it was an estimation which included time for slip-ups.

The strain on our tired legs and sore rumps would be lessened with two car rides making up some of the distance.


Wheely good: Sebastian Lander gets in the saddle for a cycling adventure


That is the beauty of the trail – with rail-linked sections and various bypasses, you can do as much or as little as you have time for.

Accessible to all skill-levels, some sections are particularly suited to families – and if that’s not enough, the wind is behind you for most of the way.

Other than the fact that it didn’t rain once (I was forewarned continually about the weather), the most surprising thing I found was the diversity on offer.

South Wales is just hours from London by train on which you can reserve a place for your bike and yet it actually feels rather foreign, despite North Wales being considered more ‘Welsh’.

We rode through villages where snippets of the language spoken by the ancient Celts hung defiantly in the air at bus stops, outside post offices and at train stations.

The Celtic Trail itself is something of a chronological timeline made tangible, albeit rather jumbled up, charting centuries of Welsh history, including the Romans and countless ruined medieval castles sacked by the natives.

The more recent detritus left behind by the Industrial Revolution can often be found beneath your tyres in the recycled railways and tramways which used to ferry vehicles hauling coal, now part of the trail.

There are also the ghosts of the more recent past to visit too - we stopped at the Wiseman's Bridge Inn where Winston Churchill took tea in 1943 while overseeing rehearsals for the D-Day Landings on the local beaches.

We roamed around the former home of Churchill’s war-time contemporary and bon viveur Dylan Thomas, who lived the last four years of his life with wife Caitlin and their three children in Laugharne, a charming town dominated by yet another castle.

Laugharne was the main inspiration for the poet's radio play Under Milk Wood and we traced Thomas' probably staggering footsteps from Brown's Hotel to the Boat House and writing shed where he lived and worked.


Thrills and valleys: The 12th Century Laugharne Castle, one of the many historic sights to see along the Celtic Trail


Dylan Thomas is not Laugharne’s only celebrity boast. The cosy New Three Mariners pub and B&B where we laid our weary heads was once owned by Men Behaving Badly’s Neil Morrissey and pictures of visitors including Hollywood stalwart Susan Sarandon and actor Rhys Ifans adorn the walls. And as one mispronouncing local told us, 'that Pierce Bronson' also came here.

But the real star of the Celtic Trail is the stunning Welsh countryside, particularly captivating set against the grim backdrop of its industrial past.

We cycled through the most verdant wooded countryside with streams running bright orange, a reminder of the country’s mining legacy.

And the hilly trail through Carmarthenshire was accompanied by a symphony of gear changes as we gritted our teeth against the steep climbs and barking sheep dogs at farms.

We snaked our way across eerily still salt marsh and by the World War II RAF Pembrey airbase as fighter jets soared and dived overhead like the native Red Kites.

The other astonishing discovery we made was the quality of the beaches. Taking (another) wrong turn one day, we ended up on a seemingly endless stretch of sand that looked like it could have been passed off by an Australian tourist board.


Words worth: Dylan Thomas' boat house in Laugharne has a killer view and must have been inspiration enough for his works


We were alone with the sea and one land yachter powering along the beach with a spray of sand dancing behind.

We passed through the Valleys, red brick terraced housing and grey pebble-dashed estates rising from a topographical trough filled with the most abundant of animal and plant life.

It seemed a cruel irony that the workers who lived in these magnetically beautiful valleys spent most of their time toiling underground in near-darkness.

In other areas of the route, much has been done to turn the fortunes of these once industrious areas around.

The Millennium Coastal Park on the Burry Estuary is a ten-mile traffic-free stretch of land which was once Victorian steel mills and tinplate works.

Now it is the home to the National Wetland Centre of Wales, where we popped in to feed the collection of birds from around the world which includes a flock of shockingly pink flamingos.

And while that might have been as exotic as the holiday got, it just went to show how Wales is a country full of surprises.

Travel factsA Celtic Trail guide is produced by sustainable transport charity Sustrans and Pocket Mountains, priced at £6.99.

The Celtic Trail guide can be bought as part of a pack for £21.00 (plus £2.50 p&p).

This includes the Sustrans Discover maps for the Celtic Trail (East & West), the Mid Wales Lôn Cambria & Lôn Teifi route and The Celtic Trail Official Guide to National Cycle Network Routes 4 and 47 from Fishguard to Chepstow.

www.sustransshop.org.uk
Double rooms at the New Three Mariners cost £40 [room only as they are renovating the kitchens].

For more information on Sustrans visit www.sustrans.org.uk or call 0845 1130065.

For more on Wales, go to www.visitwales.co.uk.



source: dailymail