THE BRUNEL RIDE

The yearly Brunel Cycle Ride runs, obviously enough, between Johnston and Neyland in Pembrokeshire, along the course of an old railway line now called The Brunel Cycle Trail. In previous years I've had the thankless task of helping to organise the event and get people there to help and to marshall. This year I declined, making it clear that I would be there with my children and that having an enjoyable time with them would be my sole intention.

Getting there is hard work. From Pembroke Dock one has to cycle over the Cleddau bridge (Pont Cleddau) and the smaller Westfield Bridge. There is a very nice wide cycle path alongside the main A477 across both bridges and despite the steep hill to the bridge the ride is very pleasant. After crossing Westfield Bridge, the Brunel Trail can be accessed via The Zigzag. This is a gravel path which descends with steps down a very steep embankment. To get me, my children and our cycles down there is a logistical nightmare and very strenuous. It involves leaving two cycles and a child at the top, descending halfway with the other child and their cycle. I then leave that child on a bench while I return to the top for the two other bikes and the other child. These I take all the way down, then return for the first child. Much of the gravel has been washed from beneath the concrete steps by rain, making the steps very high for little legs. Pembrokeshire County Council have apparently secured £250,000 of funding to improve access here, but frankly I'll believe it when I see it.

Rather than use the Zigzag, we continue half a mile or so up the road to Honeyborough Roundabout, where we turn off the main road and cycle down into the village of Neyland. The road itself is quite dangerous with fast and heavy traffic, but we can get off the road quite quickly and onto Neyland Vale, a traffic-free route down to the river. The whole ride is probably an extra 2 miles, but worth the effort.

We had been told that this year's ride was to start and finish at Johnston School, so we had timed our arrival so we could meet with the riders as they turned around at Neyland Marina and ride back with them. As it turned out, everyone stopped for refreshments, and then straggled back when they felt ready,so we headed off with the lead party. The ride is about 4 miles with a very slight uphill gradient the whole way, and Jasmine (10) and Dylan (7) were both red-faced and sweating by the time we arrived.

The return is a lovely downhill coast, so I suggested seeing how far along the trail we could go without having to pedal. This slowed the pace nicely. We discovered that the only times we needed to pedal was where the trail crossed roads and we had to slow down to pass through gates.

When we returned to Neyland we took the same route back, though I did offer them the option of the Zigzag as we came past. They preferred to cycle.

Altogether, we probably covered around 14 miles on a Sunday morning.

Please click on the title to take you to my flickr page for some photos of the event.