Hello all. I am off to Cardiff on Sunday with my girlfriend and her mother (cue any number of Les Dawson jokes).
We are going from Chester to Cardiff the A49 way, but I am thinking of coming back through the Brecon Beacons National Park, I believe the area is quite picturesque going through the Black Mountains? Any advice people? Thanks!
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Do what you say and then head up the A483 via Oswestry etc. Depending on traffic it might take much longer.
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The scenic routes from Cardiff up the various routes will drive you mad, especially the A49. The speed limits change constantly and by that I mean every few miles. 60, 40 for mile, then 50 then 30, then 40 and so on . I don't think there is a stretch now that keeps the same speed limit for more than 12 miles.
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Ludlow is worth a visit. Quaintish sort of place.
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A470 via Brecon to Builth Wells.
A483 rest of the way..Newtown, Welshpool, Oswestry, Wrexham.
Nice driving roads, lovely scenery and reasonable progress.
EDIT sorry see RTJ has already suggestd this doh.
Edited by gordonbennet on 11/04/2009 at 11:42
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Just watch you dont get lost in the rhonda see, if you get off the main road out,this place must have the worst signposting in the country when i was last there.
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Just watch you dont get lost in the rhonda see
Had one or two rental compounds etc to visit there over the years and i agree, signed nearly as badly as urban Birmingham amyow
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A470 via Brecon to Builth Wells. A483 rest of the way..Newtown Welshpool Oswestry Wrexham.
Better progress and scenery IMO if you go A470 from Builth via Rhayader - Llangurig - Caersws - Newtown then A483 thereafter.
Rhayader is a delightful little town, and you'll follow the Wye valley for much of the way.
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Better progress and scenery IMO if you go A470 from Builth via Rhayader - Llangurig - Caersws - Newtown then A483 thereafter. Rhayader is a delightful little town and you'll follow the Wye valley for much of the way.
Littered with mobile speed cameras (got done a few weekends back visiting the outlaws) Apparently they have issues with bikers so the area is monitored very closely, although it is a very pretty drive. Unfortunatly for us my partner gets travel sick on the windy roads - shame really as we only go to see her parents
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(got done a few weekends back visiting the outlaws)
I love and would like to live in that part of the world and i like the locals too, they always flash a friendly greeting to anyone coming the other way...;)
It seems you had bad luck not meeting one of those.
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I have driven N.Cheshire to Cardiff regularly for 40 years, usually Whitchurch-Shrew.-C.Arms-Hereford-Abergavenny. The mid-Wales route via Newtown used to be dire because of continuous bends, but has improved a lot. I can recommend the western diversion between Hereford and C.Arms via Leintwardine to avoid the A49 traffic, but it won't save much time. A49 is a great road when traffic is light - and serious North-South traffic goes M6-M5-M50 doesn't it?
I would only go the Brecon way with plenty of time to spare, an urge to drive bendy hill roads, and fine weather. [and you may need a good navigator and reader of signs]
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... usually Whitchurch-Shrew.-C.Arms-Hereford-Abergavenny....
And there was me thinking Humph's suggestion of Ludlow was too far east.
Bit of a foodie town now, I understand.
And the racecourse has the highest number of road crossings in the country, six or seven I think without looking it up.
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sq
and apparently! they sprinkle grass cuttings on the roads that cross the track otherwise the horses try to jump over them causing injury , but it only applies to the flat season because the jumpers have more sense !
Edited by Pugugly on 12/04/2009 at 23:36
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Yes, people who like horses may claim they have character, but little in the way of brains.
I read an interview with a mounted Metropolitan policeman a few years back.
He said the horse would walk straight into the back of a London bus, unless he told it to stop.
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I did Cardiff Leeds this morning - the scenic route is probably quicker now!
There's curently a 50 limit (which appears to be permanent considering there are regular repeater signs) on the M4 from the junction 24 to junction 30 - about 15 miles of it for just a small amount of roadworks at just Junction 29 and jcn 24.
I did avoid the M1 50 limit around Nottingham - another 15 miles or so - by reverting to the A38, which is still a great road.
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Well from South Wales yesterday, I ended up going the scenic route. Went via A465/A470/A483/etc.
Stopped off for a while at Powis Castle on the way back to break up the journey. And if we hadn't stopped there it would have only been about 30 minutes longer than the motorway. The problems arise when you get stuck behind a slow line of traffic.
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The tractor is normally at the front of the line of cars :-)
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We use tractors in the countryside for the same purpose as city councils use traffic lights and one-way systems; to frustrate motorists! ;-)
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HM,
It was a bit of a dig at the townies - I live in the country and tractors are part of my environment and respect their requirement to use the roads around here.
PU
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But from my experience tractors will let you pass easily. If it's safe anyway then you get by and otherwise they pull in when able. They are not a problem.
My comment on tractors being at the front of a slow line of traffic was a bit tongue in cheek ;-) There are times when you cannot overtake etc but this is not the thread to discuss.
The roads through Wales are such a nice drive. The motorway alternatives make you wonder. I need to explore my current temporary work location in Scotland.
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Thanks for all your suggestions! I did the A49 route on the way down and the A470 through the Rhondda on the way back, going through Builth Wells and then down the A483 (the long and winding road) to Wrexham and back to Chester. The traffic was light and I honestly don't think the motorways would have been much quicker. Stopped in Hereford on the way down (couldn't find the boathouse, so still no idea what colour it is) and that was the only really heavy traffic to be honest.
And yes, whoever said the signposting is appalling was right. It took us two attempts to find the A470 on the way out! Dreadful. But I did like Cardiff. Seems a friendly place.
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Tractors !...tractors ? Forget them.....for real traffic chaos what about this one.
Came back from Knighton last week on the bike...lovely road through New Invention, Clun, Minsterley and Pontesbury.
Came up to the back of , perhaps, 30 cars crawling along at about 5mph with a 7.5 ton box van at the front. I gradually hopped along the queue as the double whites and the bend let me. I got up to the van, eventually made my play ( as they say in westerns ).
As I overtook, I passed the previously unseen cause of all our misery...a recumbent bicycle in front of the poor vanman weaving about the road trying to keep upright!
I'll bet all the others are still behind him ! Now those things are worth banning from every road.
Ted
Edited by rtj70 on 14/04/2009 at 00:37
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...But I did like Cardiff. Seems a friendly place....
Unless you're a Swansea fan.
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