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Flight Time
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SEPTEMBER 2018
Wanderlust
plateau at the foot of the dune, as I took
a deep breath and let gravity do the rest,
descending the sides of the sandy gulley in a
series of sweeping curves as the bike gained
momentum. Finally I zoomed across the
plateau at scary speed, making an unplanned
“jump” in the process.
In fact, as ever, it’s when your guard is
down that accidents tend to happen and my
own came as I hit the brakes on the way
back to Porthcawl with the intention of
dismounting, only for the highly-efficient
disc mechanism to lock and stop the bike
was only when we met deep shingle that
I recognised that – while fat may well be
functional and even beautiful – it does not
confer superpowers. I juddered to a halt.
Grudgingly I dismounted until the terrain
became more forgiving again. Finally,
after a few more miles, Corum invited us
to get off and push the bikes through the
dunes that fringed the beach. It was then
that I appreciated that the hyperbole was
not misplaced: ahead of us rose veritable
mountains of sand, as far as the eye could see.
It was here that a bike with super-duper
powers would really have come in handy as
pushing a bike uphill through soft sand is
a bit like ploughing a wet field with a lame
horse. By the time we were able to remount
on firmer and downward-pointing sand, I
really knew I’d had a workout. Yet it still
remained to push the bikes a further 200ft
up one of the taller dunes – so that we could
come down again. At speed!
It was a feeling I recall having experienced
in more youthful times at the top of ski
slopes, tumbling backwards into the ocean
with an aqualung, or on a cliff edge beneath
a hang glider. As I perched at the summit,
it looked like a long way to the bottom of
the dune; it also looked very steep and the
butterflies were fluttering in my stomach
– I would need to resist the dangerous
temptation to apply the brakes.
The previous rider was by now little
more than a speck at the far side of the sandy
“I took a deep breath
and let gravity do
the rest, descending
the sides of the
sandy gulley in a
series of sweeping
curves as the bike
gained momentum”
dead, leaving me to topple inelegantly
sideways. I still have the bruises.
Fat-bike hire costs a little more than more
conventional equivalents: the bikes don’t
come cheap and the salty, sandy conditions
exert a heavy toll. Indeed, our own little
party suffered both a broken chain and a
loose wheel. But it was a hugely enjoyable
experience and one that still differentiates the
area around Porthcawl from other potential
adventure destinations.
Local entrepreneurs, backed by Bridgend
Council, are looking to reinvent the place
as a bit of an adventure destination and, by
the time I found myself on the fat bike, I’d
already tried my hand at surfing and, at a
very rudimentary level, kite surfing. The aim
is to persuade some of those heading west to
the Gower or Pembrokeshire to hang a left
and – in this, Wales’s Year of the Sea – try
out the largely unsung Glamorgan Heritage
Coast, with its dramatic tides that wash wide,
sandy bays.
Hugh Murray is another local who turned
his back on a conventional career for one