This has been in the offing for quite a while. I think it was about 2 years ago that I thought about riding across from Glossop to Llanbedr- (although the actual plan was to continue onward on the next day down to Fishguard, which, in retrospect, might have been a little ambitious).
The plan was to do it in the speediest way possible- so on roads and cycle paths, rather than make it hard for myself by trying to do it on gravel and offroad.
The initial idea was to go across to Llanbedr (the one just south of Harlech- a place of childhood holidays and a family cottage) with a few clothes in a bikepacking bag, and then perhaps come back a day later. This time around, the parents were up in Wales for a week, Lynne wasn't able to come down until a few days later, so it seemed like a perfect time to saddle up and try the route out. (with the added bonus that Lynne could being some more clothes and a whole load of revision for me in the van a few days later).
The initial route was planned (a long time ago) on a website called ridewithgps. Since then, I have started to use Komoot with some success. So I pretty much plugged in the start and finish locations and pretty much went with what it spat out, not really knowing quite what the route was going to be.
When working on the gravel side of things, I'm always very skeptical because the routes don't tend to take into account minor things like the fact a number of rights of way are in fact footpaths- and also the fact that a number of theorectially ridable routes are very much NOT. Road riding is a very different matter. The route it sends you on is pretty much going to be rideable, no matter what. So I went with it.
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| And I'm off! |
The only minor problem was the weather forecast. A steady SouthWesterly, all day from about 16mph, gusting to 32mph. That's a headwind- every mile of the way. No respite, no shelter, just hard work throughout. After the reiver where I basically hid behind Matt for 9 hours because of the headwind, I thought I should probably just harden up and get on with it. So that ended up being the plan.
Big saddlebag on, food in pouch and lights on, I left the house at some ungodly time in the morning, following a very decent double espresso. It was about 5am, by my memory. The wind was already pretty strong, but not ridiculous and good progress was made. Soon enough I was beyond normal territory, (I tend to ride in the Peak district, not Cheshire), and new places were being visited. The M6 was passed in what seemed like a ridiculously short amount of time, Wilmslow, Alderley Edge- all the footballers houses etc, and I ploughed on into the wind.
Across the Cheshire plain it was *technically* all downhill, if ever so slightly, so decent time was made. In fact the first 100km was done almost as fast as I've ever ridden that distance in the past- just over 4 hours- which- into a headwind, is pretty decent. The minor issue was that the first 100km had about 1000m of ascent in it- not a lot. But the subsequent 50km had another 1000m of ascent, and the 40k after that had *another*1000m of ascent. All into an increasing headwind.
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| You could tell when you reached Wales.... |
Thus far I had been very impressed with the Komoot route finding. I wove my way through the Cheshire lanes, only occasionally having to venture onto main roads. All the way to Chester was pretty much a delight. Once at Chester I think I must have played around with the route a bit- I was on the the Chester Millenium way for a while, but ended up going through an industrial estate for a while as well.
I'd pretty much got to Chester for 9am- (the reason I remember that is because I was thinking that technically I could have done Chester Parkrun!), but there were still no places to stop for food or drink. Well, there was a Greggs and a McDonalds, but I have *some* standards. So on I ploughed. From this point on, things would get a little more challenging, but the roads would steadily get steeper (and if it had not been for the weather- more pretty).
The main things I now remember are the beautiful narrow country lanes, the steadily climbing hills into a headwind and going past a number of places where I raced in 2015- Moel Famau and Moel Hebog being the main ones. After the ridiculous (or so I thought at the time) climb over Hebog, the steady descent took me into Ruthin where I was *finally* able to stop for a coffee and a sausage roll. Oh the bliss! A HUGE danish pastry was also purchased for eating further along the way, and the cafe kindly refilled my water bottles.
From Ruthin there is a bit of a flat(er) section and some undulating bits (read "not flat") and a section where I was joined for a short spell by a local who was out for a short ride in the wind. We parted ways just after the A5 where he was going to turn around and enjoy the fruits of the tailwind on the way home, and I was about to start a very long, very draggy uphill section onto some of the bleakest bits of road I've seen in a while.
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| Ruthin food stop! |
I have no idea how far it was, but all you need to know is that it felt like it went on upwards forever. Not at a huge gradient, but against the wind, you don't need a huge gradient to make it hard. This is one of those hills where you think you can see the top, and every time you think youve got there, more of it appears. There is no overarching massive hill above you which tells you how much more of it there is to go- just an ever onward ribbon of tarmac that inexolerably climbs across the moor and out of sight. I was overtaken by a few cars on the way up, and one of them broke down at the top and by the time I finally made it up there, he was being towed off by his mates.
Finally the downhill came, and I stopped off in Llan Festiniog for a very very well earned sharing (yeah right) size packet of Doritos, some lucozade and a refill of water. From here it was a fairly simple cruise down through to Maentrog and beyond and then a quite frankly ridiculous 20% climb onto the back road. After 180km there was no way my legs were going to do that and I got off and walked.
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| The road that went up forever. |
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| That's what it looked like |
And a few days to relax before I did the whole thing in reverse.
The way home
Again, I was up early in the morning, but this time, it was a beautiful clear day- and NO headwind. Fabulous. The route was mainly the same as the one on the way out, but with a couple of minor detours- the main one being into Queensferry, which, initially was a bit of a bummer, but ended up being rather fabulous as I cruised along the Sustrans link with Chester, which was a true delight.
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| A much nicer day than when I came over previously! |
The main thing that I noticed through the day was the quietness of the roads- ok, so it was Thursday morning, but looking at the A-roads and the motorways that I wasn't on, they were still busy... the small backroads that took me across Wales to Ruthin were blissfully quiet, and without a headwind- were a beautiful way to travel.
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| Quiet roads |
Ruthin was the stop off of choice- mainly because there was a bit of a stonker of a hill directly afterward, so it made sense to have a bacon sandwich and a double espresso prior to that (and to pick up a bit of brownie as a well done for later in the day).
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| Ruthin food stop! I could make a habit of this... |
To be honest, the hill wasn't all that bad- certainly not as insane as the 20%er at the end of the day on my way TO Llanbedr. Although I won't say I made short work of it, it was quite fun to get up it. (Always amusing when you think you're out of gas on a hill, wondering how far it is to go having just done a *really* steep bit and you pass a house called "halfway house".... oh great).
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| Coffee stop with Lynne. (yes these photos are out of order) |
Up and over and the roads steadily got less hilly- though there was a steady incline pretty much all the way back to Glossop. No freewheeling here! Had to stop at a random garage in Wilmslow area to pick up some more water and a Coke- the heat was really beginning to get to me... that and slowly becoming more and more saddle sore as well.
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| Go to Wales see a Dragon guarding a grit bin... |
Perhaps that was the worst part of the whole thing- getting saddle sore. I wonder if it was because I didn't really have a chance to wash my shorts properly- or maybe just the heat of the day? Or maybe the two combined? Who knows- but it's never happened before. Mind you- neither has riding 2 200km days within a week of each other... that might have had something to do with it.
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| That lovely Sustrans route. Everything a bike route should be? |
I eventually staggered through the door just over 9 hours after I left Llanbedr, quite hot and ready to have a shower and some more proper food!
The main things about my long rides in this past week have been just how good the roads have been (ok, there were some pretty crappy bits of tarmac in places), but by and large, it has been decent under-wheel. (Having 700x32 gatorskin hardshells might have something to do with it as well).
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| Stumbling in through the door. |
When you leave at 5am on the way out to Cheshire, don't expect anywhere to be open for coffee for a good few hours! It wasn't until Ruthin that I found a coffee shop that was actually open, and to be honest, I really didn't pass many coffee shops in Cheshire, so it didn't matter about the time of morning. Lots of posh houses, lots of hairdressers, precious few coffee places.
It would be interesting to do this again but in different shorts. I have some old Rapha shorts that have ALWAYS been comfortable. I was in Endura shorts this time around, and I wonder if that had a bearing on how sore I was on the way back.
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| And that was the route home. |
Otherwise- the kit was great. The Fairlight Secan keeps on rolling, the Giro shoes keep on turning (Though I have to say, although they are "ok" whenn walking, they are not what I would call "good" for walking in... a bit of a gripe when it comes to "touring" or "bikepacking" shoes.... something that will, no doubt be extrapolated on in a future blog).
The Stolen Goat socks - the only cycling socks that I've ever bought were marvellous, and the Camelbak dirt bottles- made so that crap doesn't get on the mouthpieces continue to be excellent.
Just need to do some more long rides now. (though it might be prudent to wait til sitting on a saddle is a little more comfortable).
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