Trans Cambrian Way - Easter?

[Wild1]

Greetings all -

Anyone with Trans Cambrian Experience pl.? Was considering one way, end of April 2019 (on a gravel bike). Is the route too muddy/ bag of shi*e at this time of year/ worth doing anyway?

[Wild1]

Have prob posted above on wrong thread! Was just looking for any useful info/ yr experiences of the Trans Cambrian early in the year

[whitestone]

A lot depends on what the weather's been doing in the week or two beforehand, way too early to tell at this point. I did it two years ago in March and it was pretty boggy at the Knighton end, I wouldn't have liked riding it on a gravel bike in those conditions.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Very rarely will the entire route be dry - last summer maybe. As Bob says, just how wet will depend on the amount of rain in the week or so beforehand, however, even if it's wet, the really wet bits will only account for a small(ish) % and will mostly be located at the eastern end.

[Scattamah]

Do it irrespective of the conditions. It's a good ride through some lovely areas. Bad conditions will just make the memories sweeter when you complete.

Greetz

S.

[Lazarus]

Very rarely will the entire route be dry - last summer maybe

it was [ sunken road not quite dry mind]

I think a cross bike will be great for about 90% of it and unsuitable/a pain for a couple of places[ though i rode it east to west]. it will certainly be the fastest option IMHO
I slashed the tyre on my bike[2.8 650b+ tubeless] in a place i would have happily ridden my cross bike It required stitching and glue to repair

[Mike]

Go do it, you will enjoy it. Its such a pleasant route :0)

[Wild1]

Sounds like its a go with the Gravel bike then - cheerz for the updates
Am still running with inner tubes at the moment (slime) - have never tried a tubeless set up - perhaps it would be better
Will keep an eye on the weather a couple of weeks before, hopefully won't be needing a snorkel for the river crossing

[Lazarus]

if you mean at the end of the sunken road/near the damn there is a bridge not on the OS map
did i miss a river crossing due to the dry weather?

I think i would take the road on a cross bike though as that is proper rough terrain and very glad i was going downhill and on a mtb

[Wild1]

Hi Lazarus,

I just received a copy of the IMBA UK maps for the route at the end of last week. Their info page mentioned five major ford crossings which they say, “can be treacherous after heavy rain”. So I was kind of referring to that perhaps I should have said Ford crossing and not river. It all sounds v. exciting anyway...am looking forward!

[RIP]

Fords? Love 'em. There's only the odd one or two that could apparently be frisky at times


https://www.flickr.com/photos/168034769 ... 420664865/

(the pic I actually wanted is now unavailable )

[whitestone]

The only one that was impassable when I did my TCW was this one http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=309717 ... &A=Y&Z=120 at Llanbadarn Fynydd, fortunately there's a road bridge a little way downstream.

The one Reg has pictured which is here http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=279279 ... &A=Y&Z=120 did have a footbridge at the time but (in)famously that had gone by the time of last year's BB200 I think Reg was wanting the shot of Javi doing his Indiana Jones impression You can avoid that ford by following the road and track further up Avon Hengwm to a bridge then double back on yourself - should be clear from the map.

There's two rivers below Claerwen dam but there's a footbridge for the first and a farm access road for the second. Beyond Claerwen and around where you'd cut off for Claerddu bothy is another ford but it's part of the access road to Claerwen farm so while deep (about knee deep) isn't too bad.

[RIP]

Yeah that's the legendary pic I was after but it's been taken down by the shadowy Authorities as being too scary for a family audience . (yes I fully understand the good reasons, when explained at the time)

[Wild1]

Aw dam would like to have seen the Indiana Jones thing. Never mind. Will def. be using an alternative bridge crossing if any of these fords are looking a bit too frisky. Not bothered bout me, just don’t want the bike and gear getting washed away

I’ve marked the ones u have pointed out on the shiny new map set - cheers

[Retiredtester]

Sorry to hijack thread, but interested in where you got a copy of the map for the route from? I've had a bit of a Google and not unearthed anything yet, but was hoping to do it at a similar time of the year. Ta.

[Wild1]

“Come cycling Ledbury bike maps”

Google this and the TCW maps and guide is at the bottom of the page. Delivery took about four days the maps are on fancy waterproof (?) paper in colour.

There’s loads of info on accommodation re supply shops etc. On route

I also got a GPS download of the route from I think it was the Bikrpacking.com website, I’ve not had chance yet to check the GPS route against the maps, might have to tweak it a bit on Basecamp software for the Garmin so the maps and GPS are properly aligned

[Wild1]

* bikepacking.com

[whitestone]

Just checked the bikepacking.com GPS trace and it seems to ally pretty closely with what I rode. There's a place or two where the GPS track parallels a road or track but it's obvious that it's a simple alignment error and when you are there it's obvious that the road/track is where you go.

Apart from the diversions for fords mentioned earlier there's one or two farms where the RoW has changed to avoid going through the farmyard but at most it's a case of going left for fifty metres then straight on for one hundred rather than going straight on for a hundred metres then turning left. The one I remember was near the bottom of a descent so easy to miss the sign, this was after Claerwen.

Near the end you might want to head straight to Machynlleth rather than down to Dyfi Junction, before you descend to Glas Pwll turn right and I think it's one of the old Mach routes you follow into town. If not then riding along the A487 isn't too bad as there's a cycle path for most of the way to Machynlleth.

[Wild1]

Ok - will have a look at the route 'end' options on the map - cheerz Whitestone

[Retiredtester]

* bikepacking.com

Thanks very much - have just ordered the same and bookmarked the website with the gpx.