I had wanted to ride over the Gospel Pass, the highest road in Wales, during the summer, but was not able to fit it in. Mick and David volunteered to accompany me, so we left Basingstoke at 7am on a damp and overcast morning and drove to Abergavenny with our bikes on the back. It was quite cool when we unloaded the bikes in the main car park, and with jackets on, we started off on the ride at 9:15. Within a few hundred yards we started the climb up the Old Hereford Road, 10% for a mile - hard going on cold muscles. The gradients eased off and we headed up the single track road up the Vale of Ewyas to the Gospel Pass. The road climbed steadily and at about 5 miles in we saw a pub, the Queen's Head, beside the road and stopped there and had a coffee and very nice cake overlooking the River Honddu and the mountains on either side of the valley.

 

Refreshed, we continued on up to Llanthony Priory, where we had a quick look around. Shortly after this there was a sign saying the road was closed, but we continued on anyway in our usual fashion assuming we would be able to walk our bikes round any roadworks if necessary. When a car coming down from the pass stopped to let us past, the road was very narrow, Mick asked him if the road was closed ahead - he said no and thought it was a Welsh joke.  However, further on there was a sign saying Dangerous, road closed - there had been a landslip where part of the road and the wooded embankment had slipped about 30m down the side of the very steep bank - we kept away from the edge as we cycled past. As we climbed the scenery changed to open moorland and the gradient steepened with a long section at 16%. At the top of the pass we stopped for a photo that a passing fell runner took of us. Then there came the wonderful downhill run to Hay on Wye, although we had to be careful of traffic on the narrow twisty road.

 

In Hay on Wye, we stopped at the Drover Cycles cafe, but they did not have any cakes or sandwiches but were happy for us to eat our own sandwiches that we had brought with their coffees. The route became flatter following gently rolling roads to Talgarth. At Llangorse we stopped at a cafe that Mick had sussed out and although it was closed the owner took pity on us and sold us ice creams which we enjoyed sitting in the warm sunshine.  We carried on and crossed the River Usk on a narrow stone bridge then picked up the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal for the next 11 miles back to Abergavenny where we arrived at about 5pm - 53 miles and 1006m ascent with stunning scenery along the way.