Cwrw

There was a feature in my cycling mag recently about the Sheffield cycling scene and they were saying that The Peak District is brilliant for riding because every 10 miles you can get 1000ft of climbing in, so I've had that in my head since reading that. And, whilst it's not quite at that level round here in Mid and East Lothian where I normally ride, the hills of Mid-Wales today certainly gave us plenty of scope. In fact, looking at the final stats for the day - 6700ft of elevation in 69 miles - that's about as close as can you get to that figure I was thinking of.

A cracking day's ride in some pretty lovely weather, among spectacular scenery, and featuring some pretty long climbs (such as this one, at the summit before the descent down to LLandrindod Wells). The steepest climb (12-15% and longer than it really needed to be) came at Glascwm, 57 miles into the ride, and, fair to say, we both could have done without it - tough! But, as we sat perched on bar stools in the back room of The Royal Oak in Kington with our £2.50 pints of pale ale before that final ride up the hill home, we really were very tired but very happy.

Out in the evening, a pal of my pal's drove us to Presteigne for steak night at the pub. It hit the spot like you wouldn't believe. Perfect.

Welsh