ARCHIVE Gelligaer Adventure

I was concerned that the climb up to Gelligaer Common would be too much for the ladies, but the cycling was not a problem.

I met the Green Ladies riding group at the Hengoed train station for our weekly adventure. It was a small group of five, including myself and we set off by 9:30 am.

Looking back toward Fochriw.

Our route was pretty straight-forward: we would take NCN Route 468 north through Bargoed to Fochriw. We'd then join the road to climb up over the moors.

In one short mile as you climb across the moors and up along the mountain side everything changes in scale. The view down the Darren Valley is stunning.

The road across the moors.

Once up on Gelligroes Common you have views into both Darren and Taf Bargoed Valleys. The route is then mostly flat with some slight rolling hills. Traffic is mostly non-existent. It's brilliant.

Heading across the ridge.

But the real fun came just a few minutes after reaching the top. And it came on quick and hard. Before we could get our jackets on, the clouds blew in and the sky turned black. It began thundering and suddenly it started sleeting. (Our profanities flew as fast as the wind whipped...) I snapped this one photo and that was it for the day.

Get yer jackets on!!!

We cut the trip short by not heading down to Parc Taf Bargoed and back to Hengoed. Instead, we shot straight across the ridge (raining!, raining!, raining!), through the wooded farms and down into Gelligaer. Then it was a fast cruise down the steep and busy B4254 to Pengam.

The ladies decided to catch a train in Pengam and that was it! Our adventure was over in less than three hours.

It had been a great day; super-intense, extremely dramatic, surprisingly gorgeous, and very, very wet.

See ya soon Green Ladies. Cheers! - cm