We’re blessed here in Wales with so much stunning scenery from rugged coasts to majestic mountains, slick urban cityscapes to rural rolling hills. There will inevitably be competition, then, when it comes to picking out a spot boasting the very best views Wales has to offer – but I’m pretty confident I have the definitive answer.
It may be a bold claim to stake, especially for a thoroughfare I’d wager many will never have heard of, but Ffordd Bedd Morris really is quite special. It’s not like the epic Welsh mountaintop pass that’s breathtakingly beautiful and completely brutal. Or the mountain road you’ve probably never driven slap bang in the middle of Wales. I can almost guarantee that you’ve never driven it though and even fewer will have cycled it (which is when it really comes into its own). The best way to experience it is from the Gwaun Valley, which in itself is a magical part of Wales and ‘like the land that time forgot’. Snaking its way behind Bessie’s pub – an iconic place in these parts – the road is impossibly steep.
The road starts behind the iconic Bessie’s pub in the Gwaun valley -Credit:Laura Clements
It begins with a clutch-testing (or thigh-burning) stretch at 16% with a couple of tight bends to negotiate. But eventually it levels off and the fields give way to common. Overall it’s two miles long in total with an average gradient of 6% (you can find more beautiful climbs every cyclist in south Wales should tackle here). But it’s not so much the climb that’s impressive here as the views as you ascend.
READ MORE: The village with just 750 people living down a quiet country lane named the UK’s poshest place to live
READ MORE: Tourists climb famous mountain in Wales – but what they find blows their minds
To the right you look over the common right into the back of the mystical Preseli mountains, the place where the bluestones were taken to create Stonehenge. To the left first of all you see Dinas Island poking out into the sea with Cwm yr Eglwys cove below. Then the coast begins to stretch out before you – first the little wooded bay at Aberfforest then right round to the big smiling sweep of sand at Newport, a perfect Welsh village off the beaten track in an ancient port with the ‘best pub in the world’.
The view down to Newport from Ffordd Bedd Morris -Credit:Laura Clements
The road is a cyclist’s dream -Credit:Laura Clements
Right at the top of the climb a standing stone shrouded in myth and legend marks the highest point. Called Bedd Morris – which gives the road its name – means ‘the grave of Morris’. Depending on which account you believe Morris was either a grieving lover or fearsome highway robber.
The rather more romantic tale describes how a young man called Morris lived in the town of Newport. He was madly in love with a fair maiden from Pontfaen, a small settlement nestled in the heart of the beautiful Gwaun Valley. In between these two young people was the wild and craggy upland of Carningli Common.
Sadly the young maiden’s father did not approve of the love between Morris and his daughter. Morris, he thought, was far beneath what his daughter deserved. So instead he arranged what he believed to be a more suitable marriage for her. His daughter, however, was not willing to quietly accept her father’s wish. She begged and begged him to change his mind.
Each time she begged him he refused and this led to the young people secretly deciding to sort things out for themselves. Morris challenged the other suitor to a duel at the highest point on the rocky road over Carningli Common. There they met and fought to the death.
So that’s how Morris lost his battle and according to this particular story the stone, Bedd Morris, marks his battleground. Shortly after his death, the story tells us as well, the fair maiden who loved him also died – of a broken heart.
The road over Carn Ingli Common -Credit:Laura Clements
Carningli Common in the background -Credit:Laura Clements
Science has shown that the remains of the standing stone date to the Bronze Age (c. 2300-800 BC) and stands at the highest point of the ancient route which is now a minor road across Carningli Common – a place where the traffic has to give way to wondering sheep and a compulsion to stop and stare a while. The descent into Newport is equally dramatic. On a sunny day the blue horizon where the sky meets the sea extends as far as the eye can see, only occasionally broken by the white of the Irish ferry heading to Fishguard. The lush green of the Welsh countryside is punctuated by bursts of purple in September, when the heather is at its best, spreading over the common like a thick-pile carpet.
The road surface is surprisingly good too and the clear line of vision gives rise to a burst of speed both on the bike or in the car. It’s almost sad to descend further and further as bracken gives way to bush and the warmth of the lowlands rises to meet you. Carningli translates as ‘Angel Mountain’ and, high above Newport, it really does feel like you’re in heaven.
Find out about the latest events in Wales by signing up to our What’s On newsletter here.