October/November Double 11/11
Iv'e only done one two-nighter this year (WRT) most of my bivvies being of the dash'n'crash ilk, so for October and November I set out on the Triban(-ish) trail. On the afternoon of 31st October I parked my car in Coedpoeth and set off on the Triban trail. I by-pased the Llandegla loop and headed straight off towards Llyn Brenig. It was a very grey afternoon with a strong headwind to make life a lot less enjoyable. I knew that the clocks had gone back, but forgot that it would be dark an hour earlier, so most of the 25 miles I managed was in darkness. By seven o'clock I was tired and started looking for a bed for the night, scanning for somewhere out of the wind. There didn't seem to be anywhere that was level/dry/sheltered/free-of-livestock enough and I was starting to despair. Eventually a rather sub-optimal spot presented, on a slope and with a good crop of undergrowth, but good enough. I had a noisy nights sleep because of the wind but at least no stiffness from sleeping on the ground.
In the morning..
Say what you like about my preference for hammocking but sleeping on the ground here would have been impossible.
Next morning, November 1st, the wind had dropped and I pedalled up to the Llyn Brenig visitor centre for fish and chips. Very mediocre it was too. The toffee cake was good though. I quite often bring my grandsons cycling at Alwen/Brenig so saw no need to follow the Triban loop around the lakes and headed off towards Ruthin. In the sunshine.
As the day drew to a close I was struck by the redness of this tree, when all around was greyness
Someone had left a tractor tyre and said tree had grown through it..
Quite a lot of the bridleway was like this:-
Or full of mud, fallen branches deep cattle foot-print, but there was a good bit of trail:-
A green lane..
Needless to say, with my 4mph average speed it became dark before I'd finished what I wanted to do
Liverpool..
I pitched up in the kiddies playground in the Moel Famau Country Park car park. Because my camp was so visible, I was afraid of being turfed off, so thought I'd be unable to sleep. Not a bit of it.. Slept like a stone for 10 hours.
Morning after photos.
They're a bit dark because taken at 7 o'clock - I wanted to break camp before the warden came and sent me packing.
Again, I've ridden around Moel Famau a few times, so missed out the loop and headed for LLandegla. I strayed off the path a bit and came across this:-
A beer-keg graveyard
Somebody has been very naughty, I think, since beer-kegs all belong to someone, in the same way as gas bottles do - they're only loaned/rented out. Shame really - a good few potential stainless fire-pits there, I'd have thought.
Thereafter an uneventful ride back to the car. Two months BAM for the price of one. Just one left to do.
Konia kują, żaba noge podstawia...
).
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