Finding ourselves with a four-day window me and my good mate decided to do this challenge which was published in ABR magazine a couple of years ago. As Dave lives in Weston Super Mare and I am in the Midlands we met at castle number 1, Chepstow, at 9.30am on Thursday. A good start and we were up and running.
Dave had organised the accommodation, first night in Montgomery, then Blaenau Ffestiniog, Narberth then home.
Some of the castles are way out in the sticks and the routing takes you for miles on single tracks, some of them are barely roads and are gravel strewn, pot holed with grass in the centre with extreme inclines and very tight turns, very slow going. Often, we had barely 18 inches of tarmac to ride on, not for the faint hearted. Add in the stupid 20mph limits and we found ourselves having close to ten-hour days in the saddle.
Our plan was to take a photo in front of each castle but this is not always possible as some of them have no vehicle access and are just ruins perched on the top of remote hills so we had to take a photo from the road. We didn’t have the time to park the bikes and go trudging up steep hills in bike gear. Some of them are tourist attractions and charge for access and we were not going to cough up just to get bike to the castle for a quick photo so we had to make do with a photo of the information board or try and get a glimpse of it from the car park.
We found the routes per day were over 200 miles, add on the journey to and from home we covered almost 1000 miles in the four days. On day 1, as I arrived at Chepstow, I was getting the warning on my screen that the Remote Key was not in range, I suspected the battery but fortunately I keep a spare in the small storage panel on the tank, changed battery and off we went.
The plan was
Day 1 – 9 Castles
Day 2 – 12
Day 3 – 14
Day 4 – 15
The routes took us on roads and to areas that I have never been to in Wales and we enjoyed some spectacular scenery and some stunning roads with sweeping corners to enjoy, often with barely any traffic. The traffic was generally busier up in the north than in the south and west.
It all went very well until the last day, Sunday. We had just been to Cennen Castle and were en-route to the next one on the usual single-track roads then we came to a ford. It was barely six feet across with no more than an inch of water, if that. I was leading so off I went but as soon as my tyres got onto the ford BANG! Down went the bike and dumped me heavily on my right hip and elbow. I lay there for a few seconds in the water, winded. The surface under the water was slime and algae, it was like ice. I hauled myself up with my hip stinging and I could here a female voice coming from somewhere. It was an SOS call coming through the TFT screen asking me if I needed emergency services. I told them I was ok and closed the call.
The bike had been dumped at a really awkward angle on the right side. Dave had stopped before the ford, he almost went arse over tit walking into the ford to help me. We got the bike upright and facing in the right direction. I checked it over, the only damage was to a sacrificial crash bung I fitted to the crash bar and thanks to the panniers no other part of the bike hit the ground, the right-hand mirror was askew, but that was it. Obviously, it would be daft for Dave to attempt it as we would just end up with another bike on the deck so we arranged to meet at a village a couple of miles ahead and Dave would double back. In hindsight, I curse myself for not getting off the bike and stepping into the ford first to check the surface.
I found the village and dismounted and waited. By now my hop was stinging and quite painful but I was sure it was only bruising. After a while I checked the map and could see that I was not far from an A road and I figured that was the road Dave would come from so I decided to go and wait at the junction as I had no phone signal in the village. I arrived at the junction and a message came from Dave with a Google pin, he was at a pub in a village on the A483. I set the satnav to go there but it wanted to take me back down the single-track roads which I was not prepared to risk on my own. I found a longer route sticking to the main roads which took me a while but when I got there, no Dave, he thought I hadn’t got the message and was now elsewhere waiting en-route to the next castle.
I was now in a world of pain and I came to the realisation that this was the end of my challenge. I told Dave I was heading home. Off I went and soon I was on the M4 heading East, the motorway was a cluster fuck even though it was only around 12.30 on a Sunday. My hip was giving me loads of grief and I just wanted to get on with it and get home. After leaving the M4 I stopped at Monmouth Services on the A40, I really needed something to eat and a hot drink as we had set off that morning without breakfast. My hip had sort of set and I struggled to get off the bike and it hurt like buggery. I hobbled into the services, had a piss and had a baguette and coffee at Greggs. By now I had just over 60 miles to do, so grit my teeth and one last push to get home via the M50 and M5.
I road onto my driveway about 15.15, got off the bike in agony and went light headed with the pain and had to hold on to the bike as I thought I was going to go down. By now I could feel a massive swelling on my hip. I took my time in gingerly unloading the bike, turned it round on the drive and pushed it backwards into the garage. I made tea and gobbled some Ibuprofen got a pack of frozen peas on the hip in a reclining chair. I’m going to France this Friday and I thought I was in a world of shit and the way my hip felt I would not make it.
An hour or so later I took some co-codamol for the pain which did the trick. As the evening progressed, I was able to get up and make some dinner and quite remarkably the hip was feeling better and the swelling seemed to be reducing. By the time I went to bed early at 9pm I was able to walk up the stairs with very little discomfort. I rose at 7am and I have just a twinge and soreness in the hip – so it looks as if my trip to France to Sid’s do is still on as I expect that by Friday I will feel fully fit. I was lucky, it could so easily have resulted in a broken hip.
Dave completed the 50 castles on his own, I think I was up to 40 when I was forced to abandon the challenge, disappointing but given the pain I was in I think my decision to cut my losses and bail out was the right decision. I’ll have to finish it another day.
I’ll post the route image and a few pics.
Dave had organised the accommodation, first night in Montgomery, then Blaenau Ffestiniog, Narberth then home.
Some of the castles are way out in the sticks and the routing takes you for miles on single tracks, some of them are barely roads and are gravel strewn, pot holed with grass in the centre with extreme inclines and very tight turns, very slow going. Often, we had barely 18 inches of tarmac to ride on, not for the faint hearted. Add in the stupid 20mph limits and we found ourselves having close to ten-hour days in the saddle.
Our plan was to take a photo in front of each castle but this is not always possible as some of them have no vehicle access and are just ruins perched on the top of remote hills so we had to take a photo from the road. We didn’t have the time to park the bikes and go trudging up steep hills in bike gear. Some of them are tourist attractions and charge for access and we were not going to cough up just to get bike to the castle for a quick photo so we had to make do with a photo of the information board or try and get a glimpse of it from the car park.
We found the routes per day were over 200 miles, add on the journey to and from home we covered almost 1000 miles in the four days. On day 1, as I arrived at Chepstow, I was getting the warning on my screen that the Remote Key was not in range, I suspected the battery but fortunately I keep a spare in the small storage panel on the tank, changed battery and off we went.
The plan was
Day 1 – 9 Castles
Day 2 – 12
Day 3 – 14
Day 4 – 15
The routes took us on roads and to areas that I have never been to in Wales and we enjoyed some spectacular scenery and some stunning roads with sweeping corners to enjoy, often with barely any traffic. The traffic was generally busier up in the north than in the south and west.
It all went very well until the last day, Sunday. We had just been to Cennen Castle and were en-route to the next one on the usual single-track roads then we came to a ford. It was barely six feet across with no more than an inch of water, if that. I was leading so off I went but as soon as my tyres got onto the ford BANG! Down went the bike and dumped me heavily on my right hip and elbow. I lay there for a few seconds in the water, winded. The surface under the water was slime and algae, it was like ice. I hauled myself up with my hip stinging and I could here a female voice coming from somewhere. It was an SOS call coming through the TFT screen asking me if I needed emergency services. I told them I was ok and closed the call.
The bike had been dumped at a really awkward angle on the right side. Dave had stopped before the ford, he almost went arse over tit walking into the ford to help me. We got the bike upright and facing in the right direction. I checked it over, the only damage was to a sacrificial crash bung I fitted to the crash bar and thanks to the panniers no other part of the bike hit the ground, the right-hand mirror was askew, but that was it. Obviously, it would be daft for Dave to attempt it as we would just end up with another bike on the deck so we arranged to meet at a village a couple of miles ahead and Dave would double back. In hindsight, I curse myself for not getting off the bike and stepping into the ford first to check the surface.
I found the village and dismounted and waited. By now my hop was stinging and quite painful but I was sure it was only bruising. After a while I checked the map and could see that I was not far from an A road and I figured that was the road Dave would come from so I decided to go and wait at the junction as I had no phone signal in the village. I arrived at the junction and a message came from Dave with a Google pin, he was at a pub in a village on the A483. I set the satnav to go there but it wanted to take me back down the single-track roads which I was not prepared to risk on my own. I found a longer route sticking to the main roads which took me a while but when I got there, no Dave, he thought I hadn’t got the message and was now elsewhere waiting en-route to the next castle.
I was now in a world of pain and I came to the realisation that this was the end of my challenge. I told Dave I was heading home. Off I went and soon I was on the M4 heading East, the motorway was a cluster fuck even though it was only around 12.30 on a Sunday. My hip was giving me loads of grief and I just wanted to get on with it and get home. After leaving the M4 I stopped at Monmouth Services on the A40, I really needed something to eat and a hot drink as we had set off that morning without breakfast. My hip had sort of set and I struggled to get off the bike and it hurt like buggery. I hobbled into the services, had a piss and had a baguette and coffee at Greggs. By now I had just over 60 miles to do, so grit my teeth and one last push to get home via the M50 and M5.
I road onto my driveway about 15.15, got off the bike in agony and went light headed with the pain and had to hold on to the bike as I thought I was going to go down. By now I could feel a massive swelling on my hip. I took my time in gingerly unloading the bike, turned it round on the drive and pushed it backwards into the garage. I made tea and gobbled some Ibuprofen got a pack of frozen peas on the hip in a reclining chair. I’m going to France this Friday and I thought I was in a world of shit and the way my hip felt I would not make it.
An hour or so later I took some co-codamol for the pain which did the trick. As the evening progressed, I was able to get up and make some dinner and quite remarkably the hip was feeling better and the swelling seemed to be reducing. By the time I went to bed early at 9pm I was able to walk up the stairs with very little discomfort. I rose at 7am and I have just a twinge and soreness in the hip – so it looks as if my trip to France to Sid’s do is still on as I expect that by Friday I will feel fully fit. I was lucky, it could so easily have resulted in a broken hip.
Dave completed the 50 castles on his own, I think I was up to 40 when I was forced to abandon the challenge, disappointing but given the pain I was in I think my decision to cut my losses and bail out was the right decision. I’ll have to finish it another day.
I’ll post the route image and a few pics.
