The UK has thousands of miles of cycle paths, and one of its longest, National Cycle Route 4, runs from the centre of London to the shores of west Wales, following old railway lines across flat plains, country lanes up steep valley walls, and main roads through urban settlements over many hundreds of miles. In late August last year, I set off on a cycle ride that lasted for almost two days, with about 20 hours of my life spent peddling over a distance of 100 miles. While my original goal was to ride from my home in South Wales to the city of London, I reached my limits just as I was approaching the city of Bath in Somerset. It was perhaps the most trying experience of my life, and yet one of the most rewarding, and is one that come next summer I am eager to repeat and exceed. Naturally, I took plenty of snaps to share with you as I relay the trials and triumphs of my time on the trail.

The next leg of my journey, from Pontypridd down the Taff valley, and then left towards Caerphilly and the shallow Rhymey valley, looked like an easy one on paper. After all, following the Taff valley downstream, you’d imagine it to follow the flow of the river downhill, right? So, imagine my surprise to find myself going slightly uphill, and after a couple of miles to look across the valley and see myself almost halfway up the eastern valley wall! Would-be long-distance cyclists – do your research! Once I knew what I was up against, the rest of the leg was fairly simple, with mostly flat or slightly downhill terrain from Nantgarw to the middle of Caerphilly.

Castell Caerffili – Caerphilly Castle – is the second largest castle in the UK after Windsor, and was originally built in the mid-13th Century by the Anglo-Norman de Clare family, near to the remains of a former Roman fort on the Rhymney River. The initial construction of the castle was fraught with difficulty, mainly due to rebellious Welsh nobles crossing into Glamorgan and burning/knocking down anything that building work that was attempted. Once the castle was finished, however, it proved impregnable, surviving multiple local revolts, uprising, and civil wars. In the end, subsidence would prove to be the castle’s greatest adversary, as the deterioration of initial water defences near to the castle’s moat caused the earth beneath to sink, and several towers to collapse over centuries. Following the acquisition of the castle in the 1700s by the Bute family, they set about restoring it using their industrial wealth in a series of projects lasting from the 1870s to the 1960s. The castle is currently open as a tourist attraction, and is maintained by the Welsh heritage organisation CADW.

Hope you enjoy!