It's one of those cheesy idyllic romantic images innit, riding on the beach on a crisp clear autumnal day.

So, who'd a thought it would be this easy!?

Ogmore in South Wales is within very easy reach of a day trip from Bristol/Bath. A long sandy beach and a million miles from it's nearest neighbour, the declining and seedy ex-coal port, ex-tourist resort, Porthcawl.

As you approach in a car the expectations built are Porthcawlian - you have to cross endless bleak sponspored roundabouts through burgeoning out-of-town retail developments and brown field building sites. When you turn into the sudden greenness of the valley itself, it comes with a sigh of relief and from thereon, the valley continues to reveal unlikelihood after unlikelihood.

Q: What do a massive stable, a tipee field and a ruined castle have in common?

A: They are all within a stone's throw of the windy stepping-stone river-crossing at Ogmore.

And there's not much else. The valley is sparsely populated and there are miles of woods and dunes to get lost in. After your ride, its well worth exploring on foot to find the adorable little church over the cute little footbridge.

I'm overdoing it. Ogmore is idyllic and romantic but it's not at all picturebook cheesy. The stables are rudimentary and unfussy and its a wonderful tonic to the health-and-safety obsessed stables in Richmond Park for instance. Rob, the omnnipresent proprieter, gives off an immediate sense that we're all really one big local family. (Always eager to please we quickly responded to his inclusivity by lapsing into unconvincing Welsh accents, see boyo.)

2 hours in the saddle will set you back £30 but for the next few days aches, bruises and memories come included in that price. Furthermore, the rugged feel-good factor you can only get from all that fresh air makes your first pint of Double Dragon at the 'Pelican in Her Piety' taste like a million dollars. So at the end of the day you've saved.