MB Swindon member Anthony Holmes organised another weekend away at Wales’ finest: Mudtrek. Here’s his report:
“Nine people finally assembled at MudTrek on the Friday evening. Tom of course chose to be different and arrived at about 0830 on the Saturday morning. His final message from the previous evening being “I’m having a lie down”!
Most of us met up at the Brechfa trails for a quick spin round the Green/Blue options prior to arriving. Margaret and I having got going early had time for a lunch in the Black Lion at Abergorlech with Katherine and then a stroll round the woods after.
After a week or so of dry weather the forecast for the weekend was rain. This was an MBS ride after all so we were all therefore pleasantly surprised when Saturday dawned dry!
We left base shortly after 1000 for a ride over the Preseli Hills, a first for MBS and in fact all the eight riders. These are the hills where the Stonehenge rocks are believed to have been quarried over 4000 years ago. About an hour’s drive and we were parked up ready to go.
The first mile or so was on a main road before turning up onto quiet lanes and eventually onto open hillside and bridleways. All of which made for a pleasant start to the day and warmed up the legs nicely. A final road climb brought us to the main ridge and a lunch stop.
We then set of eastwards along the spine of the hills on tracks, grass, some bog and interesting little gullies in the heather without any massive climbs. The views to the North were absolutely stunning and we finally got to see the famous Bluestone outcrops, reminiscent of the Dartmoor Tors in some respects.
The riding is not particularly techy here, shortish grassy climbs with some fun descents and the option of looking (in my case) at a very steep descent from one of the summits. Tom had at least four attempts at this one and finally cleaned it. We all admired his determination. We also all admired Tom’s spectacular faceplant into a bog! Captured on video too! Everyone else rode around it.
[Video will be warmly welcomed here at MBSwindon Towers if anyone wants to send it in – Ed.]
The end of the ridge brought a fine fast descent followed by a traverse round and some final bogs for Nik to show off his skills too.
We were then back onto quiet country lanes for the return to our start point. A stop at a pub for a well-earned pint followed by another hour in the vehicles and we were back at base.
Katherine and Margaret spent the morning in Lampeter at a quilt museum. In the afternoon Katherine took Nikki and her three dogs for a bit of exercise on a beach whilst Margaret spent the rest of the day chilling and watching a family of Redstarts who were nesting in the wall of the barn.
After another splendid MudTrek lasagne we were treated to a stunning sunset.
We also christened Jay’s newly built “Mancave” with a showing of photos and videos from the day’s riding including the eagerly awaited faceplant evidence.
Sunday brought more fine weather and another spin round the Brechfa trails. All except Tom drove there to ride. Tom chose to do another door to window ride which of course meant a killer climb back up.
All in all a most successful weekend trip with good weather for a change and an excellent ride on the Saturday. I can thoroughly recommend the Preseli Hills for the relaxed riding and wonderful views. Natural riding at its best.”
[Editor’s Note: Tony’s camera broke during his trip so he apologises for no photos with this piece. There are some to be found on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/mbswindon/]