Photos from my recent ride across Wales

[raybo]

In September, 2014, I rode the Lon Las Cymru (The Welsh Way) from Holyhead in north Wales to Chepstow in the south and across the Severn on my way to Beaconsfield via Oxford.

I have culled through my photos and chosen 30 of my best images: http://www.biketouringtips.com/showTipComments.php?tipID=2186. Here's a sample:


View north of Llanidloes

It was a fabulous 8 day ride. Detailed journal to follow, eventually.

[tyreon]

What grand photos. What a trip it must have been. You have restored my faith! I believe there's a God. At present living in hell's corner: it's all being built over with roads criss crossing and lots and lottsa inbuilding going on: fields become horse paddocks,paddocks become allotments,then houses,then schools and more buildings. Your pics lent me 5 mins of heaven. Thank you. And,by the time your pics becomes concrete...I will be gone. What glory!

[Sooper8]

Lovely pics!

[videoman]

Great photos and thanks for sharing as this ride is on my list to do hopefully next year.

[Spinners]

Great shots mate - lovely stuff.

[neil ry]

great pics looks fantastic

[davetb]

Really great photos. Lots of happy memories

Most of the first ones taken within 30 miles of our house which is fantastic if rather hilly country.

Just after your misty view across Porthmadog (Glasly & Dwryd) estuary you had a great down hill bit we are at the bottom. Up hill home or uphill to start:o)

You obviously had good weather as well

[greg1984]

Nice pictures! Fancy that ride myself

[raybo]

Just after your misty view across Porthmadog (Glasly & Dwryd) estuary you had a great down hill bit we are at the bottom. Up hill home or uphill to start:o)

You obviously had good weather as well

It is true I "had a great down hill bit" after the very hard uphill. But, the climb kind of ruined my faith in Sustrans a bit. After that, I generally avoided the Sustrans routing for parts involving major uphills. Instead, I used busy A roads (a rear-view mirror helped me to pull off the road when lorries were bearing down) or more direct B roads. I can't say what those parts of the Sustrans routes were like, but the alternatives I used were plenty hilly and with a bit of traffic now and again. Frankly, it was a hard choice between traffic or long, steep climbs/pushes.

Indeed, anytime I ride a bicycle in the UK and it doesn't rain, it is good weather!

[mill4six]

I've thought of giving this a go, now it's a must.

[captain offensive]

Looks a good ride. Very tempting. What was the problem with the Sustrans hills? Poor surfaces?

[raybo]

Looks a good ride. Very tempting. What was the problem with the Sustrans hills? Poor surfaces?

It wasn't the surfaces. After the uphill between Porthmadog and Barmouth, I tried to avoid the bits of the route that clearly went uphill to avoid roads, so I can't really comment on the road surfaces after that. I use 28C tires and only had to walk my bike once (due to road conditions) on a rocky track where I couldn't get traction going up.

It was the steepness. Riding up switchbacks at a 20% grade takes as much effort as sprinting all out. At the end of it, I was spent yet had to keep riding uphill only to find additional 20% sections later on. In addition, the roads are quite narrow, so once I stopped to rest, I couldn't ride across the road to get started again and had to push a bit, which is usually more tiring than riding.

But, the real kicker was that once I got to the top, the views were so hazy that I didn't get any grand vista pay-off.

So, the issue for me was waking up in Dolgellau with very sore thighs (not just sore, but painful) facing a ride up the highest point in the route or going around it on A roads. Having ridden A roads in the past, I know they can be narrow, no verge, death traps. But, I didn't have the confidence that I could do the hard climbing, so I chose the A road option.

What I found wasn't so bad. The first A road actually had small space for bicycles (the first I've seen!):


The next A road was narrow but not busy:

In addition, I use a rear-view mirror (on my helmet, no less!) and whenever a lorry was coming up, I simply stopped and moved to the side to let it pass, so it didn't feel all that dangerous.

When I got to the turn-off, I gave it a look and decided the A road option wasn't so bad, so I'd keep on it.


It was the riding experience I had on these 2 consecutive days that informed my choice between traffic and long, steep climbs.

[meic]

Hills, in Wales! Whatever next?

I dont ride up North much because you tend to get a choice between main road or narrow lanes liberally splattered with chevrons. Down here we have those too but also a fair few lightly trafficked and less steep B roads.

I recently did a ride from Dolgellau going around Cadair Idris, the climb out of Dolgellau on that Sustrans route was 20% of the days total climbing.

[Ambler]

Great photos.
1:1 aspect ratio?
I like them in this view.

[22camels]

Very nice. Looks like you did all the bits I missed in August..