Spend a penny and you’ll far on this Great British icon. They don’t make them like this anymore and for good reason.

The Penny Farthing may have been the first ‘bicycle’, but try thundering down the face of the Blorenge on one of these bad boys and see where you end up.

The world of two-wheeling action has come a long way since these ‘bone-crunchers’ shook, rattled, and rolled through the Victorian era.

Also known as the ‘high-wheeler’, the Penny Farthing was named after two coins, one little and one large. Hence its distinctive wheels.

The Penny Farthing was a dangerous ride and it involved plenty of thrills and spills for those moustached mavericks and daredevil dandies of the late 1800s who would roar around the streets of Abergavenny with unbridled glee.

By today’s standards, these pioneers of cycling would look pretty damned stupid, but no doubt to their fierce and unforgiving eyes, the current rage for lycra amongst keen participants in the cycling fraternity would look even more ludicrous.

Back in the day, you could purchase a Penny Farthing from Arthur E. Saunders Cycle Depot on the Hereford Road and ride into the sunset without a care in the world or a penny for your thoughts.

That’s all changed now of course. The common cyclist is viewed as little more than vermin by other road-users, namely automobile enthusiasts.

And a Sunday afternoon jaunt on the borough’s highways and byways is not exactly a leisurely outing for the type of rider who likes to take their time and perhaps smoke a French cigarette along the way.

Oh well, c’est la vie.