Following the previous days of rain the Celtic Trail Day 5 weather forecast promised something better as we cycled from Swansea to Treforest.

It started however with a trip to the local cycle shop for a few new sets of brake pads.

Leaving Swansea we picked up NCN Route 4 again by once again cycling over Sail Bridge as we crossed over the River Tawe.

  

We followed the A483 for awhile.

This was a day where the route directions were bitty and at times difficult to follow, and where occasionally diversions were required.

Eventually we reached the Port Talbot promenade.

We passed the steelworks.

Soon we reached Margam where we stopped for some lunch at the local cafe, Tambini’s.

After lunch we entered Margam Country Park.

…and the notorious gates where getting cycles and panniers through proved a trial.

We followed an old railway path towards Tondu.

Cycling through Parc Slip.

There were some interesting art objects en-route.

As we reached Blackmill the climbing through the hills increased.

The path on this section was quite slippy after all the rain.

We cycled through Tonyrefail.

And then the big climb of the day up Pantybrad towards Pontypridd.

There was however one final tough little hill to climb … or so we thought.

Finally we crossed the Rhondda River as we made our way towards our night’s stay at Trefforest.

However the very last climb of the day proved to be the one up to our overnight stay at Central Hotel, another one of Des’s choice hotel bookings at the top of a steep hill!

Today had been another enjoyable day on the tour. We had cycled 44 miles and climbed approximately 3000 feet. And the rain had thankfully held off – though once in the hotel it suddenly came lashing down!

You can view our Celtic Trail Day 5 route from Swansea to Treforest below:

[sgpx gpx=”/wp-content/uploads/gpx/celtictrail-day5-swanseatotreforest.gpx”]

Tomorrow we are off to Chepstow and the end of our Celtic Trail tour.