upon arriving on Thursday at the Ancient Briton Pub at Abercraf in South Wales I was greeted by Enrico and I promised to join himself and Ap for the evening meal in the pub.
first, i had to put up the tent - how hard could it be right? well I'd brought two tents and three sets of poles and had downright forgotten which set was needed. first false call then another then finally the right set of poles, then I decided the tent faced the wrong way so I turned it the right way and proceeded to put everything inside.
I met up with Ap and Enrico inside the pub and also the rep from AJP - Craig, one of the head organisers of the taffy Dakar - Christian and head honcho - Jason!
Jason had given me routes for the "Ammanford Run", then the "Brechfa Run" and little did I know it but that the Rhyader run that Ed supplied had also started with Jason.
I use hard copy still and have to confess it is a while since I used maps for virgin country, I use them more for alternatives when days are a bit short or we are slow etc.
Day 1 - Ammanford Run
meeting at the New White Swan on the first morning I had the hearty breakfast of the condemned and met the landlord I was with just 11 days earlier - Garshell! as said before, the New White Swan, Ystralfera is an excellent Hotel and good value with a rocking nightlife!
setting off I mentioned that I'd get lost early on (Rhiwfawr) if at any time and sure enough I couldn't even find the second run! Enrico (a lot) and Ap (a bit) were closing gates while I was opening them and the boys soon found that this is a hard ol job and not a lot f fun.
I then took us into a farm yard, not so good... then we went under some wind turbines and then headed north to Glannaman. Just a couple lanes had to sustain us as there was a fare bit of roadwork at the beginning. then in Ammanford i followed the main road instead of cutting around the town - wrong move! - we hit traffic lights and road blockages etc and by the time we left town i didn't know it but I had swopped to DAY2 - the Brechfa run on my map as the two days overlapped here.
realising my mistake only at the end of the map, I felt very disappointed and told the lads I'd screwed up, anyway, we headed back and east to Llandielo and had tea and cakes before fueling and heading in the correct direction up towards Talsarn the highest point. Both Enrico and Ap had very high tyre pressures and you can see this in all the day 1 videos as they struggled to steer them.
we sat on top of the mountain at Rhiwiau next and watched the Red Kytes glide on the thermal and upward currents and admired the beauty of these birds of prey. the lanes were either 'good' or 'bloody hard'! we worked our way up to Llangadog and then Talsarn which was really tough and had a river crossing at the bottom.
we now headed north again to Llandovery before east to the Roman Road. we stopped in front of a gate that said "NO ENTRY" and in the logic of minds that presume the wrong thing - we entered the farm and found it was wrong anyway! well we do like to go where we are banned so to speak - purely on the basis that it must be legal and it is just someone protecting something good! = reverse logic!
next came the drop down Motel Hill. I warned the lads about this one and invited them into the clutches of the devil as I sent them down the steepest of hills which is strewn with 30cm bolders everywhere!
the next thing: Enrico's feet are horizontal and somewhere around the corner!
we had gradually increased the ratio of lanes to roads as they day went and the Roman Road really boosted this and now it was going to get better: we did a few more lanes before dropping out of Sennybridge and onto Sarn Helen. this was initially enjoyable but got tougher in parts as we got to a river crossing with 30cm ledges on the otherside. Ap copped out but Enrico and I had a go. Enrico made it up with the 'screaming tyre' technique while I failed with the "bald tyres can't" technique!
by the time we got back it was late and the campsite was filling for Saturday's Taffydakar Rally. I met the lads later for the first of three nights in the Indian Restaurant in Ystalfera. It was agreed that Enrico would lead the next day using Sat/nav and this was a worry off my mind.
regards
Taffy
