As I write this I’m sat here at home on the drive as I’m locked out my house. My son has my key and is in Birmingham so I’m writing this from my car lol. Just piss-poor planning
Last night I woke up again at 1am with toothache. For some reason my gum blew up overnight Friday and yesterday afternoon was spent tracking down some flossing sticks to try and remove what felt like was stuck in my teeth causing the issue but nothing, just loads of blood. I took a paracetamol and hoped for the best. The pain did subside and seemed better today so hopefully it’ll right itself but I still don’t know what the cause was.
I left my AirBnB about 9am and drove the short distance to cycle centre which was starting to get busy and the sun was out warming things up too. I got a cup of tea and nibbled on a nice flapjack while I waited for todays cohort to rock up.
At 10am we had slightly smaller group than yesterday. Down one couple because he got struck down by food poisoning overnight and they went home. We all rolled out through the car park before things began to split up on the fire roads around the centre. Nothing too technical or hilly here, just enough to warm the legs up which were feeling yesterday’s ride in them.
The first few miles done we enjoyed some tarmac and a nice fast descent to Bracelands Campsite to pick up one of my favourite trails on the route that rolls around the woods and pops out at the Symonds Yat Rock car park but you do have a spicy climb back up to the main road to deal with first before the steep descent to the river.
I’d warned everyone about queues on this singletrack road and we weren’t disappointed. Not as bad as I’ve seen it but we did have to stop a couple of times while cars let others pass.
Into Symonds Yat and things were getting busy there with a small queue for the kiosk already. As we exited the car park I expected the riverside trail to be quite busy but it was actually pretty empty which allowed us to crack on.
At this point there were 3 of us but one dropped off for a comfort break but didn’t tell me and we carried on unaware. We did ease for a bit but never saw him so we carried on.
At Monmouth we climbed through the housing estate and back into the trees. Here we had to dismount a couple of times to jump over some fallen trees but its a nice and fast section to Redbrook.
At Redbrook we crossed the river and hit the disused railway line again. After a couple of km it was right and onto the big climb of the day. It’s quite steady just long and unrelenting right from the valley floor to the top. I waited at the end for my ride buddy. There was no point me carrying on, on my own, it’s more fun when you ride with others.
From the top there was a short road section to pick up the trails around Trellech Common which are really quiet. We reached the farthest point then began to track our way back via a village called The Narth with it’s really narrow and windy lanes.
We eventually started to descend then went left onto a bridleway that parallels the road. It’s a nice bit of singletrack. A bit rocky in places to test your skillset and a bit overgrown too. I had a fight with a big bramble across the trail though and lost.
Back on the road we dropped back down to the river and picked up the old railway line again back to Redbrook and its old bridge. I considered stopping at the pub but I knew it would be hard to leave so I stayed silent and carried on.
One last climb of note now out of Redbrook and around the headland on a Byway. It’s a great track spoilt only by the gates you have to go through. When I rode it last time it was blazing sunshine but it had clouded over a bit which tempered the temp thankfully.
Into the lanes for a bit now back to Coleford and we caught a couple that had started from their campsite. They seemed happy enough as we left them and rode into the outskirts of the town to pick up the Parkend Link which is fantastic trail which starts flat but eventually drops and winds itself around the contours of the land making it fast and fun descent.
At Parkend we caught up with rider we lost and rode back together the last few km back on family trail back to a busy cycle centre. We crossed the bridge and we were done. Day #2 and The Wye Valley Wander done.
It was an awesome weekend with gteat weather and company. Thanks to everyone that came and had a go. Numbers weren’t massive. Not sure if its time of year or riders get put off my the hills but it literally is one of the best places to ride a gravel bike. See you on the next one.
Adios
Paul
