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Two hours into Wales and just inland from Port Talbot, we arrive at the mountain biking centre, which turns out to be not unjustifiably ranked in the top ten such places in Europe. Steve appears to be deliberately pulling a funny face, although it could be due to the wind, which at that point was probably at least a force 5.

The first 6km of the route we took (White's Level) was a not too gruelling uphill through forest, with some quite technical bits to keep it interesting.

I didn't have a lot of opportunity to take photos during the ride, partly because it was too entertaining but partly because of the weather, which you can see here. Still, Wales is spectacular.

Steve and Matt rounding a bend during the climb.

They made me take this photo. Look, it's Windy Point. You can't see in the background through the mist a small array of wind turbines, but you can see Steve's shiny new bike, which he surprised us with earlier.

I took this one because riding out of the forest into the mists provided a stark contrast between the darkened trees and the white beyond. But you can't really see it that well in the photo. You'll have to go see it for yourself.

This highlights my basic problem with photography that day. Poor light levels coupled with fast moving objects. If I'd cut out all the pictures with blur, this'd be a pretty short album.

Experiments with my camera, Take 5. Here Matt demonstrates...

...correct cycling procedure...

...around a bend.

It took quite a lot of tries to get this to even vaguely look okay, so you get all of them.

I came away with something like a dozen shots of this bend without Matt on it.

This was towards the end of a wooded section that (if I'm remembering correctly) was called Energy and started with a section of really fun up and down humps.

If you do go here, don't worry about bringing your lunch. The centre has a cafe which had the most impressive looking lasagne and spanish omelette I've seen for a while.

And showers. It had showers. Bring 50p.

Matt and Steve pause to contemplate the view.

Steve crossing a bridge.

Steve pauses. Note the little chunk missing from his leg - mountain biking can be a dangerous business. I managed to skin my ankle on a section of planking later, on a very fun section called Goodwood. Anyway, no more photos unfortunately. Total distance, 16.5km. Maximum speed, 25.2km/hour.