The Way Out West - A Blog about Pembrokeshire life, as written by an idiot

The MarReg trail - We did it again!

06 September 2010
The MarReg trail is an ancient path travelled centuries ago by the MarReg tribe. The trail starts at the top of Foel Drygarn and runs along every major peak to Carn Llidi, which overlooks Whitesands. GPS'd at 55 miles, its one hell of a mountain bike ride, the views at the end are worth it. This shot is taken at the top of Garn Fawr looking towards Carn Penberry and Carn Llidi (the furthest peak). We did this trail once before in 2008. You can see the route here. Scroll down and to the right. The route goes from right to left.
(Comments)

Preseli Mountain Biking

15 August 2010
Its not always sunny in Pembrokeshire, but it doesn't always have to be.
(Comments)

Pembrokeshire Iron Man (over two days)

05 July 2010
What better way to enjoy the Pembrokeshire summer than cycling 120 miles through Pembrokeshire?

Rosebush > Porthgain > St.Davids > Newgale > Dale (day 2) Lawrenny > Freshwater West > Freshwater East (The worse hill in Pembs?) Tenby.

While you're at it, why not throw in 26 miles of coastal path running and a good swim down the Cleddau Estuary for good measure.
(Comments)

Pembrokeshire Spooks

12 April 2010
An awesome weekend of biking (canaston woods), rugby and surfing (freshwater west) was topped off with more biking in Brechfa on Sunday. Beware the spooky section on the black run... there are freaks within!
(Comments)

Sunday cycle

14 February 2010
A great way to round the weekend off, a blast in the local woods. Conditions were good and there were a few new jumps to play on. If you see a biker with a saw in the northern part of south Pembrokeshire give him a pat on the back from me ;) Good times.
(Comments)

Green Bridge of Wales to Freshwater East

14 February 2010
We walked (not mountain biked) from the Green Bridge of Wales to Freshwater East yesterday. It's a great stretch of the coastal path which ranges from the flat barren landscape of Castlermartin to the rocky undulating path from Barafundle onwards. This shot is in Barafundle.
(Comments)

Green Bridge of Wales to Freshwater East

14 February 2010
The Green Bridge of Wales
(Comments)

Brechfa Enduro 2009

17 August 2009
The JNT collective entered the Brechfa Enduro mountain bike race again this year. Competition was fearce, as is being proven hear as Dylan runs some youngster off the track! More photos here and here. The 55km race was won by Wiggle rider Mathew Page.
(Comments)

Meribel

08 August 2009
A view from the lift, looking down at Meribel.
(Comments)

Mountain biking in Meribel and Les Arcs

05 August 2009
Four of us drove out to Meribel for 5 days of downhill biking. It was amazing. A few more snaps to follow.
(Comments)

Pembrokeshire Coast Triathlon

13 July 2009
A few of us took part in the Pembrokeshire Coast Triathlon on the weekend. Batman was also there. Check out more photos from Raw Photography
(Comments)

Charity Cycle

25 April 2009
Here are some snaps from the charity cycle ride i did last week. Top one: First day, hammering it down, this was taken on dual carriage way coming into Crosshands. Middle: We were sponsored and supported (food etc) by the Co-op. They raised a great deal of money for us. Bottom pic: The end! Taken in Kendig Hill RFC.
(Comments)

Solva to St Nons

21 December 2008
Instead of a Brechfa trip we decided to bike from Solva to St.Nons by bike today. It was good to be amougst the elements. Gale force 8 south westerly, rain and some weird sea foam.
(Comments)

Brechfa Raven

20 November 2008
A group of us cycled round the Black run in Brechfa on Sunday (well the bits that are open). James took this snap of a headcase from Cardiff. He missed the end of the jump by at least 6 foot and stacked it big time. James took this by chance of him just before he crashed.
(Comments)

MarReg trail 08'

01 September 2008
Yesterday 3 of us took on the mighty MarReg trail. The MarReg trail is a mountain bike route that hits the 9 highest peaks in Pembrokeshire. It starts in Crymych, the first peak is Foel Drygarn, the final peak is Carn Llidi by Whitesands beach, St.Davids. It was very hard! It was clocked originally at 55 miles with 50% of it being off-road on the Preseli hills. This is a snap of the view towards Whitesands and RamRamsey Island.
(Comments)

Brechfa Enduro

15 July 2008
The JNT team took on the 36k (there was also a 72k for loons) Brechfa Enduro last Sunday. Not that out of the ordinary i hear you say, but what was weird, we won! JNT Team1 came in first followed by JNT TeamA in second. Here’s a little snap from the official Brechfa paps. Loads more here.
(Comments)

Jump building in Canaston

12 July 2008
Jase and me decided that it was a good idea to make some new jumps in Canaston woods. Perhaps not the best idea the day before the Brechfa Enduro, but its better that staying in!
(Comments)

Mid Wales biking - Nant yr Arian

07 July 2008
A few of us hit the Nant yr Arian centre in mid Wales yesterday, we wanted to complete the Syfrydrin \ Continental trail as a training\preparation blast for next weeks Brechfa Enduro. The trail is awesome, which leads through some seriously remote and exposed parts of the mid Wales hillside. The weather turned out pretty good for us. This is a snap of the drive back…
(Comments)

Solva to Porthclais pt 2

29 June 2008
Another snap on the path today. This one near Caerfai bay.
(Comments)

Solva to Porthclais

29 June 2008
Nigel and me took on a small part (12 miles) of the Pembrokeshire coastal path today. We cycled (not permitted) from Solva to Porthclais. Its a stretch of path with few gates and good technical bouldery sections.
(Comments)

Brechfa Forest - Green and Blue run

23 June 2008
We took on the Blue and Green run in Brechfa forest on Sunday. Its a great run which gives you access to bits of the new Black 'Raven' run too. We're doing an enduro race there next month so we need to get some training done. Heres a picture of Nigel, being shamed on the internet because of his appauling choice of clothing. The all-in-one lycra.
(Comments)

1-2-3 @ Brechfa

22 May 2008
Ali shows its easy as 1-2-3... to fall off the 'Log of Infinite Doom' in Brechfa
(Comments)

Brechfa

19 May 2008
A buddy from London hit the singletrack with me on the weekend. Here's a snap of Ali breaking in his new Cannondale Prophet 2 in Brechfas Abergolech (red) trail on Sunday. We did the Cwm Cerwyn to Gwaun Velly run on Saturday.
(Comments)

Newport Bike Race

13 May 2008
Got the snaps back from Jaime which he took last week in the Newport Spring Festival mountain bike race. Here we are at the start... I started 3rd, i only wish I could say I finished 3rd.
(Comments)

Fame at last!

08 April 2008
I've just returned from a cycling trip to Italy. It was amazing and surreal. The trip was arranged in order to raise money for Prostate Cancer. The donations are still being counted, so we dont know the total yet, but we hope it to be in the region of 4000 pounds. If you would like to donate some money we have a justgiving account get up here. More photos to follow.
(Comments)

Brechfa

10 March 2008
I finally took my camera out with us on a trip to Brechfa forest on Sunday. Heres a snap Jaime took of me, coming to the end of the Blue section.
(Comments)

Death Road

29 February 2008
Theres a little known road in Bolivia called "Death Road". "Narrowing to only five or six feet in certain areas with a total elevation drop of 3000m in only 80km, Death Road has certainly earned its reputation. Fatalities can exceed over 100 annually."

Oddle enough its also an awesome mountain biking in the area too. Check it out
(Comments)

Chinster

24 February 2008
We cycled round Llys Y fran today (Gary, Jase, Jaime, Me, Chinser). John Chin made his second outing in twenty years on his new bike. The big guy did good, with his Pulse watch recording bpms of over 180 at times. Didnt manage to get any shots, so here is one of some snopdrops instead.
(Comments)

Skyline - "a good day out"

29 January 2008
A few of us hit the Afan Argoed mountain bike centre on Sunday. We decided the only trail to do, to really test the place out was the Skyline . 28 miles of Single-track, Fire-trail and especially made descents. Epic and Awesome! Here’s a snap of us in action, I’m the one looking mad for it, bike aloft.
(Comments)

Hope GB

24 January 2008
I bought some Hope lights at the start of the winter to allow me to bike at night. They’re amazingly good lights and last for just under 3 hours on one charge so are ideal for winter outings. I recently wrecked them on the ‘bank of destiny’ in Canaston woods, they got smashed from the frame when my handlebar spun round 360 (with me still on the bike). They looked pretty screwed. I sent them off thinking this is going to cost big - here’s the return note I had from Hope. Legends.
(Comments)

Canaston Chaos

03 January 2008
As i am suffering from the mother of all colds, i cant cycle. I followed Jaime into the woods earlier in the week and took some snaps of some of piste jumping.
(Comments)

Rear view camera for bikes

24 December 2007
I’ convinced this may be the stupidest bike gadget I’ve ever seen. What’s wrong with mirrors! Anyhoo, more info here
(Comments)

...up a creek

13 December 2007
Well, last nights outing down the Cynin valley...was a nightmare! Pictured here is the map... the Red bit is where we actually went (GPS plotted) and the turquoise is where we should have been. The Last two miles were 'cycled' through a bog!
(Comments)

Surfboard rack... for a bike"

12 December 2007
Im into anything surfy or bikey... so imagine my delight when i spotted this little gem. A bike with a surfboard rack! Come on! More info here
(Comments)

Sounds of the street (bikes)

04 December 2007
These dudes in Queens, New York, have taken to pimping their bikes with huge sound systems. some of them have extra support from stablisers. Some of their systems put out 5000 watts at 150 decibels.

More snaps of their bikes here
(Comments)

Poor Swell, Nice Colours

19 November 2007
Aside from this weekend the Autumn swell this year has been poor, autumn is usually the best time of year for swell. There seems to be far less storms out to sea this year so no lows and no swell.

At least the colours of the trees are just as good as always. Here’s the starting point of our local bike trail at Canaston woods.
(Comments)

Legs 11

16 November 2007
Heres a snap of my leg after Wednesdays bike ride. Guess where the top of my boots were.
(Comments)

Superlightcrazybike

15 November 2007
This crazy bike is made from Kevlar and Carbon fibre. It weighs 2.75lbs. It cost £4000 just for the frame Click here for some video action
(Comments)

Night Bike near Templeton

15 November 2007
Another edition of 'Mongo tours' last night as we did our first (and possibly last) ride around a forest near Templeton. We were supposed to do a big loop of the area but we got lost! Here’s a plot from my GPS of the ride.
(Comments)

Tenby to Amroth

12 November 2007
Griffster, Horse and myself took on a small stretch of the Pembs coastal path yesterday. After a heavy night in Carmarthen the night before we didnt fancy an epic. Nice 9 mile loop (bikes are not allowed on the path)
(Comments)

About Me

This blog is not written in the hope that anyone will find it interesting; it's a visual record of my life which I will be referring to it when I'm old and decrepit. I will not be swearing in my blogs in case my grandkids read it.

I am a graphic designer who lives in Pembrokeshire. I like living in Pembrokeshire because the landscape and culture allow me to do all the things I enjoy, surfing, biking, playing rugby, climbing and boozing with my mates..
Click to subscribe to my RSS feed Click to add to you del.icio.us account Click to add to your Stumble favourites Add to your digg favourites

Categories

Mates Links