"Each step forward has a sacred meaning of its own" Sri Chinmoy
Tintern Express - Permanent Audax Ride - 7 March 2026 - Forest of Dean
With my focus back on running recently, cycling has taken a back seat. Longer sessions where I extend my commute to work to 26 miles have been pretty regular, and those are hilly miles too (Chew Valley, Brockley Combe, Ashton Court) but I've not been managing to squeeze in any actual events or longer rides. The beauty of Audax Permanent rides (or Perms) is that you can do them at a time of your own chosing, keep a GPS track or even just receipts as proof of passage, and they feel like (because they actually are) "events".
Over the last few years the list of local Perms has expanded, with Oliver Iles in particular loading up several rides into Wales, of which the Tintern Express is one. I'd done the similar Fishing Expedition a while back, but this was my first time on this particular 50k route, which turned into 50+ miles by the time I'd made it to and from the start/finish in Aust.
When I rolled north out of Filton on the Saturday of the ride at around 7am, conditions were chilly and grey. It was the kind of day the word overcast was coined for - thick, murky skies and very little visibility. I was soon up to speed on the A38, crossing under the M5 after 15 minutes into the countryside north of Bristol. In Almondsbury, I opted for Hollow Road as the best way out to the bridge, and as soon as I was winding my way down the steep hill towards the Vale of the Severn, I felt I'd made a full escape into the lanes and left the city well and truly behind. I made it to Severn View Services after around 40 minutes of easy riding, stopping as always for a meditation by the Sri Chinmoy Peace Bridge plaque, then circling back to the start in Aust. Peace Meditation seems more important than ever right now.
I later realised I had gone over-distance a little, as the start was actually at the entrance to Severn View and it was the finish line (strictly speaking these are the Depart and the Arrivee) that was by the pub in Aust! Still, it was only an extra half mile or so. Conditions were still as I crossed the Severn Bridge, better known to me and my spiritual family as the Peace Bridge, joining a dull and chilly England with an even duller and chillier Wales. Soon mizzle and then drizzle set in, and stayed with me for the next few hours, on and off. Mostly on.
The route went past Chepstow on the A road towards Tintern, with a long grinding drag up past Chepstow Race Course. Then things got interesting with a turn off at St Arvans - I must have been this way before, but the road seemed unfamiliar. It was called Gaer Hill and this was a steep, straight, relentless climb that rewarded me with a sense of achievement when things flattened out in the forest at the top, but didn't reward me with the views it would have had on a clearer day. The drizzle and mist and the low cloud made everything seem very silent, and that mood carried on as I descended on a winding lane through forests on the steep flank of the Wye Valley. I passed a stone wall covered entirely with moss and lichen, no trace of the grey of the stones beneath. I was instantly reminded of the moss gardens of Kyoto I'd seen a couple of weeks before. I could tell a part of me was still there in Japan, still hanging on to the atmosphere of the temples and zen gardens even while I was riding through this wooded corner of Wales! Shrill birdsong rang through the trees, but there was no traffic and it was otherwise totally still and quiet. A line or two of haiku came to me which I had to memorise, as I wasn't going to interrupt the ride and get cold trying to note them down.
Soon there was another sound to break the silence as I came to the fishing ponds and heard the rushing of water over the weirs. I was descending alongside the river, making good time, hoping for a coffee stop in Tintern. That didn't materialise though, as I was too early and nothing was open yet, so I carried on to Brockweir and crossed the Wye on the old bridge. I stopped to take the picture of the scene upstream and while I was doing so, a driver pulled up next to me and thanked me for wearing so much hi-viz gear. It was nice to have a friendly, smiling chat with a driver, as all too often there is friction between drivers and cyclists (stoked, of course, by our good friend Social Media).
After that, I polished off one of the snacks I had with me (I had a couple of Honey Waffles as emergency fuel) and got ready for the climb up and over the Forest of Dean. It began steep and then got steeper as I turned off on Sandy Lane, a very watery lane on this occasion, winching my way up slowly from the river to the dome of the forest. I came out at St Briavels by the castle, which is also a hostel, and followed the route onward on more quiet lanes - some through forest and some through fields. Still it was very quiet and I hardly saw anyone - apart from a couple of van drivers from an activity centre calling in at the hostel to pick people up for an adventure in the forest.
My sense of direction was pretty much shot by now, and as I hadn't really studied the route in detail (I like surprises) I wasn't sure if I was heading back down to the Wye for an extra climb or the Severn on the other side of the forest. After a series of turns and descents I found it was the Severn, and I had come close to the river at Netherend. I knew there wouldn't be another chance for sustenance before the end of the official route so I stopped at the shop - there were no hot drinks, but a can of Caramel Latte went down well, along with my last waffle - I'd been out over 3 hours now and didn't have a lot of calories left in the tank.
After that short break I was climbing steadily and heading south, inching my way up towards Tidenham Chase - I passed a couple of horse riders who turned their horses for me so I could climb past them on a narrow forest lane. At the top, after a big effort, I was in Tidenham Chase with signs showing me Tutshill and Chepstow were just down the road. This was a familiar route and I descended easily down the nose of the ridge, where the forest narrows between two converging rivers. The Old Bridge at Chepstow was closed to traffic but open for bikes, then I was weaving my way through the town, negotiating traffic lights and junctions. Oliver had thrown in an amusing sting in the tail for this route, in the shape of School Hill - a challenging ramp of a climb that ends at a hole in the old Portwall of Chepstow. Next came a nice, secluded cycleway that spilled out on to the fast approach to the bridge and the end of the Audax at Aust.
A satisfying ride - not fast, but I stayed the course and tested myself on a longer mileage than I get on the way to work. Hopefully there will be more Perms this year as it's a great way to see new and different roads and have unexpected surprises - like School Hill!
|