In search of the hidden BOAT

[Sir Fallsalot]

In this case the BOAT is a Byway Open to All Traffic, It seems that Merthyr council have been sly dogs and not put one of the byways on the map and nobody knows it exists, that was until they had a sly meeting where they have proposed closing it which meant they had to put it on their page for the public to see and luckily somebody spotted it, so the plan today was to ride up to it and ride it while it's still legal which is a bit ironic because everywhere i rode to get to it isn't legal LOL. Anywho set out around 08:00 this morning, it was quite frosty and was -1.5c but with clear blue sky's and very sunny. I had around 3 miles of road riding before i got off road and after the first mile i was already thinking about turning back to put warmer gear on the heated grips were working overtime trying to keep my hands warm inside my summer enduro gloves but i stuck it out because temperature is a different story when you hit the dirt

This is the mountain where i spotted that tetradactyl before LOL

This was one of the legal lanes, it felt a bit exposed to the right now that everything is dying back for the winter, the bridge carries the A470, Merthyr to the right and Cardiff to the left

I ride up past my parents house and onto trials of my past heading down towards the old Cefn Glas railway tunnel as i have done many times before

Further on i have to cut through the forestry to avoid a deep mud hole i didn't fancy riding though it on my own and risk getting stuck, the cold has gone now and i'm feeling quite warm

After the forestry it opens out to this moorland, a stretch of land I've hated riding from the age of 16 as it's riddled with ruts hidden by the long grass its quite slow going picking your way through the ruts although I've seen good riders go through here like it's tarmac 

Back into the forestry and its still frosty in the shade all the water from here on is frozen typical Merthyr weather

I end up taking a detour due to get around fallen trees and end up having to negotiate this, something i wasn't comfortable doing on my own and as usual it doesn't look that steep in the photos but believe me it was and i'm now steaming hot and sweaty 

This is the last time you see my mirror

There's a steeper short drop off onto the forest road and i decide to walk the bike down to be safe but i loose my footing when the front wheel drops off the short step and i end up falling down the bank taking my mirror with me when i go back up for the bike it's also taken the Radiator Shroud off where it dragged on the bank knew i should have just ridden down doh!

 

From here there was lots more mud and fallen trees to negotiate and eventually i got onto the Byway i was looking for. The start was nice and easy so i could catch my breath and cool down heading into the sun now

An nice drop down into a gully and back up. the trail goes sharp left up to the top left corner of the photo and was similar dropping down to where i am

Back on some easy stuff

About halfway along i get lost, there's trails going off in all directions and i end up by the Abernant railway tunnel it goes from Merthyr to Abredare and theres rumours their going to reopen it for walking and cycling 

This is a photo of the inside from stolen from on line, i would have loved to have got in there again its just under a mile and a half  long. I went through there on a Honda 400 superdream when i was 17 years old but it's all locked up now with a thick layer of grease on the gates to deter anyone climbing over

One of the fallen trees to get over there were quite a few like this on route no real problem for the mighty Beta

And this would take me into Bike Park Wales mountain bike center, the fallen leaves from ere on hid lots of slippery rock which got me all hot and sweaty again

A bit more road work to get my onto Heol Cymro which is a half mile steep climb covered in loose rock made worse today by the low sun flickering through the trees blinding me

From here it was a gentle ride over my mountain to the petrol station for a wash before home

You can clearly not see my missing rad shroud here

Another good day's riding lit the fire when i got in so it's all toastie in here and i'm now sinking a few pints of Skippy piss chilling out

 

 

[XTreme]

9 minutes ago, Sir Fallsalot said:

In this case the BOAT is a Byway Open to All Traffic, It seems that Merthyr council have been sly dogs and not put one of the byways on the map and nobody knows it exists, that was until they had a sly meeting where they have proposed closing it which meant they had to put it on their page for the public to see and luckily somebody spotted it, so the plan today was to ride up to it and ride it while it's still legal which is a bit ironic because everywhere i rode to get to it isn't legal LOL. Anywho set out around 08:00 this morning, it was quite frosty and was -1.5c but with clear blue sky's and very sunny. I had around 3 miles of road riding before i got off road and after the first mile i was already thinking about turning back to put warmer gear on the heated grips were working overtime trying to keep my hands warm inside my summer enduro gloves but i stuck it out because temperature is a different story when you hit the dirt

This is the mountain where i spotted that tetradactyl before LOL

This was one of the legal lanes, it felt a bit exposed to the right now that everything is dying back for the winter, the bridge carries the A470, Merthyr to the right and Cardiff to the left

I ride up past my parents house and onto trials of my past heading down towards the old Cefn Glas railway tunnel as i have done many times before

Further on i have to cut through the forestry to avoid a deep mud hole i didn't fancy riding though it on my own and risk getting stuck, the cold has gone now and i'm feeling quite warm

After the forestry it opens out to this moorland, a stretch of land I've hated riding from the age of 16 as it's riddled with ruts hidden by the long grass its quite slow going picking your way through the ruts although I've seen good riders go through here like it's tarmac 

Back into the forestry and its still frosty in the shade all the water from here on is frozen typical Merthyr weather

I end up taking a detour due to get around fallen trees and end up having to negotiate this, something i wasn't comfortable doing on my own and as usual it doesn't look that steep in the photos but believe me it was and i'm now steaming hot and sweaty 

This is the last time you see my mirror

There's a steeper short drop off onto the forest road and i decide to walk the bike down to be safe but i loose my footing when the front wheel drops off the short step and i end up falling down the bank taking my mirror with me when i go back up for the bike it's also taken the Radiator Shroud off where it dragged on the bank knew i should have just ridden down doh!

From here there was lots more mud and fallen trees to negotiate and eventually i got onto the Byway i as looking for. The start was nice and easy so i could catch my breath and cool down heading into the sun now

An nice drop down into a gully and back up. the trail goes sharp left up to the top left corner of the photo and was similar dropping down to where i am

Back on some easy stuff

About halfway along i get lost, there's trails going off in all directions and i end up by the Abernant railway tunnel it goes from Merthyr to Abredare and theres rumours their going to reopen it for walking and cycling 

This is a photo of the inside from stolen from on line, i would have loved to have got in there again its just under a mile and a half  long. I went through there on a Honda 400 superdream when i was 17 years old but it's all locked up now with a thick layer of grease on the gates to deter anyone climbing over

One of the fallen trees to get over there were quite a few like this on route no real problem for the mighty Beta

And this would take me into Bike Park Wales mountain bike center, the fallen leaves from ere on hid lots of slippery rock which got me all hot and sweaty again

A bit more road work to get my onto Heol Cymro which is a half mile steep climb covered in loose rock made worse today by the low sun flickering through the trees blinding me

From here it was a gentle ride over my mountain to the petrol station for a wash before home

You can clearly not see my missing rad shroud here

Another good day's riding lit the fire when i got in so it's all toastie in here and i'm now sinking a few pints of Skippy piss chilling out

 

That's hardcore Fred! How much are the replacement parts going to cost?

[Pedro]

Nice one Fred. 
 

Do you over the fallen tree properly riding over it?

I’m not going to complain about it being chilly here in the morning anymore.

[Sir Fallsalot]

22 minutes ago, XTreme said:

That's hardcore Fred! How much are the replacement parts going to cost?

I think it's £51 for the shroud plus whatever the graphics cost as they come separate.

[Sir Fallsalot]

9 minutes ago, Pedro said:

Nice one Fred. 
 

Do you over the fallen tree properly riding over it?

I’m not going to complain about it being chilly here in the morning anymore.

Not the one in the photo i'm too scared to commit, I play it safe get the front over so the sump guard is resting on the log then stand on the log straddling the bike to get the rear over. I have no problem getting the front over just the rear. If my mate was with me i would probably have had a go on that one because he would have 

[Pedro]

1 minute ago, Sir Fallsalot said:

Not the one in the photo i'm too scared to commit, I play it safe get the front over so the sump guard is resting on the log then stand on the log straddling the bike to get the rear over. I have no problem getting the front over just the rear. If my mate was with me i would probably have had a go on that one because he would have 

Maybe you should ask @busabeast how it’s done.

[Sir Fallsalot]

Just now, Pedro said:

Maybe you should ask @busabeast how it’s done.

Better still he can come down and show me on my bike LOL

[busabeast]

37 minutes ago, Pedro said:

Maybe you should ask @busabeast how it’s done.

Well if you insist 

[busabeast]

36 minutes ago, Sir Fallsalot said:

Better still he can come down and show me on my bike LOL

What I'd do is get a chainsaw and cut it in half that way you don't have to worry about it, or better still get a road bike and don't worry about all that off road stuff  

[XTreme]

43 minutes ago, busabeast said:

better still get a road bike and never ride it.

[busabeast]

20 minutes ago, XTreme said:

See pete knows I give good advice

[boboneleg]

Fair play to you Fred, I admire you for still having a go at that stuff on your own

 

There's a bit about Heol Cymro here ..............     http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/Troedyrhiw_HeolCymro.htm

[Sir Fallsalot]

1 hour ago, boboneleg said:

Fair play to you Fred, I admire you for still having a go at that stuff on your own

 

There's a bit about Heol Cymro here ..............     http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/Troedyrhiw_HeolCymro.htm

I’ve been thinking about this since and not because I might hurt myself which is what I should be worried about more what happens if the bike breaks down it would be hard to push it out of there on my own 

[Sir Fallsalot]

1 hour ago, boboneleg said:

There's a bit about Heol Cymro here ..............     http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/Troedyrhiw_HeolCymro.htm

I posted that up before but no fucker on here was interested you just can’t educate pork Bob

[boboneleg]

18 minutes ago, Sir Fallsalot said:

I’ve been thinking about this since and not because I might hurt myself which is what I should be worried about more what happens if the bike breaks down it would be hard to push it out of there on my own 

Bikes are pretty reliable now Fred but yes it concerns me as well if you're in the middle of nowhere.  That's why I rode on a flat tyre last month to get to some sort of civilisation 

[Six30]

Good report @Sir Fallsalot... the weather does look a bit fresh.... 

and @boboneleg dont worry he'll have busabeast as his riding partner soon.

[XTreme]

1 hour ago, Six30 said:

dont worry he'll have busabeast as his riding partner soon.

Bringing up the rear no doubt, then trying to come from behind!

[Sir Fallsalot]

2 hours ago, XTreme said:

Bringing up the rear no doubt, then trying to come from behind!

You spelt come wrong 

[Marcel le Moose Fondler]

Nice one Fred....that's hard-core.. 

[Sir Fallsalot]

On 28/11/2023 at 20:15, Marcel said:

Nice one Fred....that's hard-core.. 

Thanks but it's not that hardcore because If you could see some of the tracks i was passing i just wouldn't attempt them you would see i was riding mostly the easy stuff but still hard enough for me, i could only look at the harder stuff in awe thinking how the fuck did they get there