Cardiff to Liverpool

I had some great riding through Wales, in generally good weather. It was some of the best riding I’d had so far on the trip, even though it pretty much felt like New Zealand!

The first day was with my friend Josh who came across from London for some riding.
We rode north out of Cardiff following the Taff Trail, a generally off-road trail that follows old railway lines to Brecon. It forms part of the Sustrans Route 8 ‘Lon Las Cymru’ which goes the length of Wales and formed the basis of my route for the next few days.
As it was a Sustrans route they had a multitude of anti-motorbike structures, some of which were pretty narrow for my wide handlebars and broad shoulders.

Most of the route was on a pretty good surface, but here’s an interesting photo of Josh crossing a bridge in a forested section.

It was a good day, cruising up the valley, stopped for tea a couple of times along the way. We eventually crossed a little path and headed down the other side towards a reservoir and a great little hostel in the valley.

It was such a nice evening, with nice light so we checked out the reservoir a couple of times.

The next morning Josh headed back up the hill towards Cardiff to get his train to London, and I headed on to Brecon. It was a great morning for riding, along small country roads, and I even jumped on the tail of a group of road cyclists and kept up pretty well for a while (even though they were probably just cruising).

Here’s the centre of Brecon:

Just outside Brecon the route followed steep country roads to stay away from the main road. This wouldn’t be a problem on a normal bike, but for me being so heavily laden it wasn’t quite so much fun! Luckily it was still pretty early, and Wales, so it wasn’t too hot. The problem was that you couldn’t speed down the other side of the hill either because the bike’s so heavy that you need a decent distance to brake, and the rims get too hot!

After the steep stuff it was mainly following river valleys. At one point near the end of the day it was in a narrow valley, so rather than following the busy road it followed a track through the forest on the other side. I didn’t get any photos of the worst part, but I was really glad I had my new wide tire on the back on some of the squishy muddy bits!

That night was at a busy campground in the town of Rhayander which for a small town had an impressive 11 pubs (apparently!).
The next day was pretty hilly. The first part of the day had some steep stuff, but it was all pretty manageable and looked really nice.

Again there were some decent descents that I had to take my time on- I was glad it wasn’t wet!

After lunch saw some ridiculously steep riding up over a pass. On my map it wasn’t a sealed track (and I’d seen some advice saying it was a muddy grassy track), but they were laying a pipeline over the pass so they must have sealed it for that. Regardless of the surface it was unrideable on my heavy bike. I didn’t get any photos of the steepest part of the track (I was having enough fun getting my bike up it), but here’s one of the lower bit.

It was a fast ride down the other side and through Dolgellau to pretty much sea level. From here it was a smooth ride around another old railway line towards Barmouth.

It was a bit annoying trying to find a campground on the coast there. A lot of parks here are just for caravans, UK equivalents of trailer parks. And then I hit a few that only catered for families and couples- not for individuals, so their cheapest pitches were £30! Eventually I found a great cheap place that was just a shower and toilet in a paddock with a picnic table, all I need and I had it to myself!

I followed the coast the next day, with some good views as I went.

This place is laced with old railway lines, and a lot of the ride here was along a fast sealed railway line. Unfortunately the routes were often surrounded by a lot of trees so you couldn’t see many views of the mountains. Here’s one shot I got though, and it made me kinda glad I was on the coast rather than in the mountains!

After another night in a hostel in Colwyn I had a long (and initially wet) day of riding around the coast to Liverpool. I had some views out to wind farms and oil rigs as it was starting to clear, but couldn’t get any good photos.

I made it to the Mersey River, and took the Feerrryyyyyy, across the Merrrssseeyyyyyy to Liverpool.

I had a day here, doing some work, checking out the museum (for a great Wildlife Photography exhibition) and did some errands like booking my train ticket from Fort William back to London.

I’m quite looking forward to the next few weeks of riding through northern England and Scotland. Hoping to get to some relatively wild places up in Scotland etc like the Isle of Skye which should be fun!