First of all let me say that the last time Bob Evans took us up to the Crymych area was memorable, certainly for him. Since that trip he has been reminded constantly of his promise of "A total of 34 miles, mostly on quiet roads, not too many hills". The '34 miles' bit was accurate, so was the 'mostly on quiet roads' bit - the 'not too many hills' bit was extremely suspect. The question in so many riders' minds must have been "Can this man be trusted?"

Not so strange perhaps that four of the riders who experienced 'Crymych, City of Dreams' should send their apologies claiming a subsequent engagement.

Anyway the meeting point was the car park close to the Crymych Arms and John and I arrived at 10.10, a bit late due to heavy traffic in Swansea. Six riders were anxiously circling Crymych city centre perhaps confused by the wide choice of car parks in this vast metropolis. They seemed visibly relieved when we arrived. A quick calculation tells us that that would be eight riders altogether. Mike Wood had cycled up from Allt Wallis the previous day and stayed overnight at Newport Youth Hostel, Martin Brain had packed five riders and five bikes into his car - well, the bikes were on the trailer!

At about 10.25 we set off and had a really easy and pleasurable ride for six miles, the day was overcast, very little wind and barely any traffic. Conversation was easy and relaxed. We knew though that there was going to be a long hill of about three miles from Brynberian to its peak at Mynydd Du common. And so it was that when we saw the sign for Pentre Ifan Burial Chamber on our right we started our climb, mercifully our view of the top was obscured so we just set ourselves into a rythmic plod. John Cardy and Mike Brewer made the top in one go but my group of three waited halfway for Trevor's group to catch up. The cloud was still quite low when we reached the top but miraculously started lifting, this was fortunate because just to our west there was a viewpoint on the top of Foel Eryr. Five of us set off and enjoyed the somewhat restricted view, down below us were the Rosebush and Llys-y-Fran reservoirs, Carn Ingli to the north and our lunch stop not too far away to the south. As at many viewpoints there was a directional plate explaining the different landmarks to be seen, that is on a clear day! Worms Head could be seen (on a clear day) but not in the direction that Big Trev was pointing.

We made our way back to the bikes and started our descent into Rosebush, an exhilarating run, and entered the car park of the Tafarn Sinc, the sound of an approaching train filled our ears but I knew there was no longer a railway line nearby - could this be Dr Beeching's ghost? We walked into the garden and through the hedge into another seating area to see Rosebush station with passengers still patiently waiting for a train. Absolutely brilliant!! We entered the inn, walked over the sawdust covered floor to the bar and ordered our food and drink, things hung from the ceiling and the atmosphere was superb. We found a table in the corner where we could all sit and supped our ale, this was an excellent lunch stop. Our food arrived, loaded on to large plates, we were hungry and eventually not a scrap was left on any plate until, that is, someone moved Big Trev's carefully arranged knife and fork to reveal a small pile of pointy chips! "Well, I wanted to leave room for my pudding!" he said promptly asking the passing waitress for the dessert menu. This was incredible, how can anyone eat a dessert after so much lunch? Well, I suppose at 7ft 2in there is an awful lot of him to fill! And not one to resist a challenge, let alone the odd temptation I joined him. We could easily have stayed all afternoon but the easy road back to Crymych was calling.

It wasn't long before we reached the outskirts of Mynachlogddu where there is a memorial to Waldo Williams a local teacher and bard, also a Preseli bluestone to remind everyone that the stones that form the inner circle at Stonehenge originated from this area. How the stones got to Stonehenge is a matter of opposing opinions with some believing that Bronze Age Man dragged, floated and again dragged each stone the 240 miles to Stonehenge whilst others believe they were carried to the area by glaciers. I have always favoured the notion of dragging and floating.

Anyway when we were approaching the end of the last millennium there were many projects funded by the Millennium Fund and here in Pembrokeshire a group of people obtained funding to replicate that journey. Many people were inspired by this project and coverage of the chosen stone's progress was regularly to be seen on the welsh tv channels. My mother was an ardent follower and when it came to the time that it was to be slid into the Cleddau at Blackpool Mill my mother and father, my sister and I went there to witness this historic act, it was a rainy day and we watched as the raft that it was tied to slid slowly down the muddy bank. As the tide came in it was floated down river and then began the journey by sea but disaster happened - the stone fell off the raft and sank to the sea bed.

The end of the project one might think - but no, money was raised to send divers down to recover the stone. It was located, but so also were many other similar stones lying on the sea bed so you see 4000 years ago those first transporters of bluestones experienced the same failures, the difference of course was that they were not doing it as a millennium project, to them it was something very serious and they persevered and, eventually succeeded.

And that inspired project should cast away all doubt as to how those stones reached Stonehenge.

Off then back to Crymych and the cars. Bikes were loaded and we bade each other farewell. This will be a day to remember, but this time for the right reasons. A truly superb day!

But the day is not over for me, I still have over an hour in the car with The Great John Cardy who is going to tell me all about his holiday last week. He had been to The Fleet Air Arm Museum in Yeovilton and the Beaulieu Motor Museum amongst other adventurous places. It was the story about the enthusiastic guide in the motor museum which I want to tell you about.

As has already been given away in the last paragraph there was a very enthusiastic guide at the motor museum, we don't know his name but perhaps it would be easier for him to have one, lets call him Mr Keane. Mr Keane knew every detail about every car in the museum along with every detail about its owner and driver. Now John as you will by now have probably gathered is an avid absorber of all facts, this being why he is so interesting! It was a very large group and many were asking questions, but none more so than John. It was not long before the others in the group had asked every conceivable question they could think of but the Duracell powered John was still not satiated, his eyes were still glistening with delight at this seemingly endless fount of knowlege. Mr Keane's eyes however were glazing over, he had successfully and accurately answered all John's questions about land speed records, the cars, their drivers and the location where the record was broken. He ably fielded the question about the difference between speed and velocity and expertly dealt with the question of cars breaking the sound barrier. Mr Keane was about to wind up the question and answer spot, draw the afternoon to a close and retreat home to his loving wife when John hit him with a supplementary, and here I must explain that John has a theory that when you are cycling the periphary of your wheel is moving twice as fast as you are. So the supplementary question was

"If a car travels at 775 mph thereby breaking the sound barrier and creating a sonic boom, then why is it that the periphary of the wheels (which travel twice as fast as the vehicle) did not cause a sonic boom at 387.5mph, or indeed did they?"

Mr Keane sat down wearily, pressed a button on his pager and closed his tired eyes. A door opened and a smartly dressed female guide stepped in, smiled and asked the group to follow her back to the main reception area.

After about ten minutes Mr Keane opens his eyes, rises to his feet, walks slowly through an emergency door and carefully makes his way back to his house, mercifully close by. He opens the front door, walks into the kitchen and sits down. His wife says

"How are you dear, you look very tired?"

"I'm absolutely exhausted," he said "I thought I was able to overcome all challenges but today I have met my match."

"Do you want an aspirin, dear?" she said.

"Yes please dear," he said wearily "I think I had better, come to think of it make it two. If I can't clear this headache I shan't be able to manage sex tonight!"

It took the work of an instant for a glass of water and two small tablets to appear in front of him.

I do hope they worked.

And, by the way - Bob Evans is now absolutely forgiven!!

Happy pedalling

Lew Spokes

Looking up the big hill		Not far now, Lads
Seeing double even before the pub		So, where exactly are we, Mike?
Three heads are better than one		The pub must be over there somewhere.
Lets consult the weegee board		And the winner is .....
Happy trio		Waiting for a train
The Tafarn Sinc!!