The Book
This book is a guide to a series of bike rides around the West Gwent and Borders region. All the rides are over traffic-free or virtually traffic free routes.
They cover a wide area extending out to the eastern fringe of the Black mountains, the Herefordshire and Powys borders, a large expanse of Monmouthshire, and the valleys of Torfaen and Blaenau Gwent.
I have completed all the rides myself several times over the past two years and was motivated to write this Guide because I found there was very little available that tied in bike riding to the many heritage sites in the wider Gwent area.
My aim was to put together a whole package of rides that covered a large area of Gwent, could all be completed in a day, and linked in with as many heritage sites as possible
The Blaenavon World Heritage site is already on the global map as a key tourist attraction but it also happens to be located in the midst of some of Gwent's most diverse and spectacular landscape. This made it a very attractive central location from which to launch a series of rides since each ride within a twenty five mile radius around Blaenafon could easily be completed in less than a day.
The rides are routed roughly north, east, south, west around the World Heritage Site and can if more convenient be started at other points along the route.
There are a cluster of eight rides within an approximate 10 mile radius of Blaenafon Ironworks and the rest extend out to the fringe of southern Gwent and the Brecon Beacons National Park in the north.
I have included a brief history on sites of interest along the route as well information on the Blaenafon World Heritage Site, a number of local towns and the Mon & Brecon canal.
Rides 21 and 22 are dedicated heritage rides along valleys east and west of Blaenavon and are routed around the sites of the old coal mines and ironworks that used to be a dominating feature of the landscape over the previous two centuries.
The cycle routes are over some of the early industrial transport links such as the old tramroads, disused railways, canal towpaths, old mule-pack trails as well over mountain bridleways, forestry tracks, country lanes and minor roads.
You will need a mountain bike in most cases, but six of the rides could be undertaken with a road bike.
Many of the rides utilise Sustrans cycleways over parts of the route. The Blaenafon-Pontypool disused railway track for instance (Sustrans Route 46) is a key south-east access route to several of the rides.
All the rides in the series have been star graded as easy, moderate or challenging so there should be something there to suit everyone.
I hope you enjoy the rides but please check the route information boxes first to familiarise yourself with the type of route.
Alwyn Thomas