Wales Tour: Great Orme to Worm's Head

[Ian]

Back in Wales after dropping Gian off in Glossop, but only as far as MacD's in Newtown at the mo.

Reflections in the car are that these sort of trips are made up of three things: the route, the weather and the company. The route was tough, the weather awful and the company most excellent
Great trip, thanks chaps for the pleasure of your company. Some good laughs along the way.

Definite sense of achievement/victory getting to Llanwrtyd, considering the weather, and last river crossing...

A useful kit/leg test for me too. Some useful things learnt in both areas.

[composite]

Thanks for the offer Steve but I will be still be recovering. :)

A few notes.

The descent in Coed y brenin is blocked with fallen trees. There is a way round on the right side. Over the fence, into the trees up the bank and kind of curve round left back down the bank and on to the track. There are more fallen beyond that though that you need to climb over. It wasn't to bad but given the choice I would try to find another route if possible. We were doing that section at about 12:30am and that was over 12 hours in for me so maybe my view is tainted...

The bridge that crosses Nant Henog just before you get to Llanwrtyd Wells has been washed away and you need to ford the river. It was pretty tricky to say the least. Thigh deep but the current was crazy strong, specially when your balance was all screwed carrying a loaded bike above the water. I don't think I would have done it if I had been on my own to be honest. Ian was saying if it wasn't raining then it would be fine.

To be honest the mud probably wasn't to bad. There was some hike a bike through bogs but apart from one section of about 1km they were generally small jumps on and off the bike. Doethie Valley was very greasy though and I question how much I really enjoyed it. For me it just became about staying upright on the off camber slipperyness rather than that really riding it like I have in the past.

[slarge]

Thanks Neil, will take heed of your comments. The weather is looking up towards the end of the week so hopefully dry feet all the way!

[composite]

A few pictures.

[Ian]

That cabin is a great place to stop the night

[Mart]

Looks similar to sone ive stayed at in Finland
Where is it?

[composite]

Looks similar to sone ive stayed at in Finland
Where is it?

Nant-yr-Arian

[Mart]

Neil, we passed through there a few hours before you, but I didnt see the shelter (where abouts is it?)
To be honest I didnt know it was there otherwise I would have checked it out

[johnnystorm]

Looks similar to sone ive stayed at in Finland
Where is it?

I stopped at a similar arrangement in Norway once. It had a stainless clad toilet that had a makers plaque stating it was made in my home town!

[composite]

Neil, we passed through there a few hours before you, but I didnt see the shelter (where abouts is it?)
To be honest I didnt know it was there otherwise I would have checked it out

It's at roughly SN 72181 81644, it sleeps 4-5 comfortably.

[Alpinum]

"A welsh riding experience"

Thanks for that Ian.
Best Guide for Wales.

Despite or because of the weather I really enjoyed it.
Considering where and the distance we rode I thought it had quite an adventurous aspect to it.
Those "specials" like windfall trees, the ford, wind driven rain in sheets, fog, bog, the delicious smell of the chopped wood in the hikers cabin etc. did spice it up nicely.
And good grief there are many gates in Wales. I thought there were many in England and Scotland

Here's a link to my pictures. Only one (pub) from day 3 unfortunately.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1l7a247pansm ... wgO8/Wales
Should one of you like one of the photos in full size just drop me a message.

A useful kit/leg test for me too.

You sure it wasn't too lame to test your legs?
(my legs felt rather good, so I went for a longish run up Bleaklow on Wednesday morning, what must have been too much - now they are really stiff... )


Thanks guys, you made it even more worthwile.

[Mart]

Neil, we passed through there a few hours before you, but I didnt see the shelter (where abouts is it?)
To be honest I didnt know it was there otherwise I would have checked it out

It's at roughly SN 72181 81644, it sleeps 4-5 comfortably.

Ah we came straight down the hill so missed out the little loop where this is. Nant Syddion was our destination for the night

[composite]

Neil, we passed through there a few hours before you, but I didnt see the shelter (where abouts is it?)
To be honest I didnt know it was there otherwise I would have checked it out

It's at roughly SN 72181 81644, it sleeps 4-5 comfortably.

Ah we came straight down the hill so missed out the little loop where this is. Nant Syddion was our destination for the night

We came down the final descent of the trail centre and then back along the path to where it is. I think it's actually a dead end so you have to deliberately go there. We had aimed for Nant Syddion as well but as it was late and we had a stayed in a bothy the previous night we stopped there for some variation, so we almost bumped into each other!

What time did you leave the bothy the next day, we rode past it about 9:30am?

My full ride report: http://www.composite-projects.co.uk/201 ... coast-ish/

[Mart]

Neil
We were gone before 9am so just missed you. Took the high road up to the windmills before turning back to Machynlleth
Nice report, loving my revo as well

[slarge]

Great Orme to Swansea in 2 days. A brilliant 2 days of riding, but quite a toughie! 203km on day 1 and 192km on day 2. Almost made it to Worms Head but couldn't quite face another 2 hours after 18 hours riding. I'll post more when I've got my head together.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Good effort Steve.

[johnnystorm]

Wowzers! I was discussing logistics with composite last night. Don't think doing it in two days was considered!

[Ian]

Impressive ride Steve, well done.

[slarge]

Advice for anyone thinking of doing this ride: take 3 or 4 days, avoid the last bit of Sarn Helen as it's just bad. Avoid the nightlife in Neath - there's some scary things who come out at night! The 1st 100 miles Is brilliant riding and spectacular views.

[99percentchimp]

Amazing riding all... Meant to pop out from work the other Friday to see you all off from the Orme and say hello! Must have been touch stuff in the conditions

[Ian]

"A welsh riding experience"

Thanks for that Ian.
Best Guide for Wales.

Despite or because of the weather I really enjoyed it.
Considering where and the distance we rode I thought it had quite an adventurous aspect to it.
Those "specials" like windfall trees, the ford, wind driven rain in sheets, fog, bog, the delicious smell of the chopped wood in the hikers cabin etc. did spice it up nicely.
And good grief there are many gates in Wales. I thought there were many in England and Scotland

Here's a link to my pictures. Only one (pub) from day 3 unfortunately.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1l7a247pansm ... wgO8/Wales
Should one of you like one of the photos in full size just drop me a message.

Thanks guys, you made it even more worthwile.

Some great pics there
Really glad you enjoyed the trip - a great pleasure for me to show some of my favourite trails here in Wales.

[slarge]

OK, so now got round to writing up my trip:

Weds 9th April - drove down to Swansea, parked up the van and rode down to the train station to catch the 15.55 to Llandudno Junction (with change at Cardiff).Had booked the train and reserved a space for the bike - but they seemed to have got this a little wrong as I was booked to go Swansea - Cardiff - LLandudno Jnctn. My bike was booked to go Swansea - Shrewsbury - Llandudno Jnctn. Not sure how my bike would have changed trains so I opted to just take the bike with me. Got to Llandudno around 8.30, had chips from one of the shippies and then rode out to Great Orme's Head. It was a bit windy so I bivvy'd by the cafe in the field right next to the wall.

Thurs 10th - up, packed and riding by 4.20am. Headed out over the Great Orme, down into Llandudno and then up and over Conwy Mountains - the tracks over these were surprisingly good - I was expecting boggy mess, but they were dry and quite fast. It took me a couple of hours to get going, but by the time I got to Dolgarrog I was feeling good and enjoying the riding. I had to stop for a bit of breakfast and a photo stop at the monument at Llyn-Crafnant - the view was spectacular and the early morning sunshine really picked the colours out in the hills. Brilliant track down into Capel Curig - rocky singletrack with great views.
Straight through Blaenau Ffestiniog and Llyn Ffestiniog, then got accosted by a bloke with a clipboard on the tracks heading over by the Roman Practice works near Trawsfynydd (he was checking people in and out of some Electric pylon works - he apologised profusely when I explained I was riding my bike (I think he thought I was turning up for work or something!)).

Down into Coed-y-Brenin - the fallen trees slowed me down a bit but I just took it easy so I didn't get spike by low branches etc. Did a couple of the CYB trails but was trying to get to the visitor centre to fill with water - unfortunately missed this so ended up riding straight to Dolgellau for a major restock of food and water at the Spar. Then headed east out of Dolgellau, up and round Braich Ddu and Rhydcriw - really enjoyed the riding over this section, then dropped in Machynlleth for a 2nd resupply (it was 5ish now, so need to stock up for tonight and tomorrow morning). The Nant-y-moch reservoir tracks I hadn't ridden before,and these were really enjoyable - was starting to think about bivvy spots now as the light was starting to fade, but get riding to get away from the road round the reservoir. This took me into the back of Nant-yr-Arian - did a few of these sections but I didn't want to head away from the visitor centre as I was out of water again and was looking for a water supply. Down the road to Ponterwyd, coffee and pasty in the garage in Ponterwyd, and a water top up, the girl in the garage was quite chatty, and didn't seem surprised when I answered "in the hills somewhere" when she asked where I was stopping. I ended up bivvying by the track in a sheep field just up from Tymawr farm.

Friday 11th. I slept really well having just had some hot food, then was up and packed away for 5.30am. Was a bit of a slow start, and the air felt damp with heavy dew and low cloud, but once I got down into Cwmystwyth I was warmed up and riding OK. I didn't really get going though for 4-5 hours, but I think I was expecting Llantwrtyd Wells to be just round the corner. Many hours and miles later I eventually got there and my mood got back into riding. Late morning and the sun came out, as I rode past Ty'n-y-cornel youth hostel - the warden held the gate open and it all started getting enjoyable. The Doethie Valley was not quite the magical ribbon of singletrack that the magazines promise - it was a waterlogged, muddy, slow ribbon of path - unless there is 6 weeks of sunshine I won't bother with that again (over-rated was a phrase that sprang to mind). A good climb out, down to Llyn Brianne reservoir and then up and over Garn Wen before dropping down into Llantwrtyd Wells (the river crossing the others struggled with was an easy thing to avoid just by following the track round).

Restocked in Llantwrtyd Wells (the worst pasta salad I have ever had!!), then headed south through the Crychan Forest. Got to Halfway and familiar tracks from the last time I did a WC2C over 3 days with a few mates a year or two ago. Up Fan Fraith (I flew up here feeling really strong), and some brilliant trails along Sarn Helen before dropping into Dyffryn Cellwen. The next bit of the Sarn Helen is just hard work - around 15km of ride, push round big puddles, get battered by rocky loose sections, ride, push, repeat - I just didn't enjoy this at all (but I think the 180km in my legs didn't help). It got dark along here as well.
It was then along the canal into Neath, for a double burger, coke, milkshake and an evaluation. I don't think I fitted into the night life of Neath (me - muddy, smelly, MTB clothes, the locals - short skirts, high heels, lots of make up and generally a bit podgy). Then a bit of a miserable road section into Swansea, getting there at midnight and deciding that I couldn't face 4 hours more to get to Worms Head and back. In hindsight I should have ridden to Worms Head, bivvy'd, then back to the van in the morning, but I had promised to be home on Friday night.

Total trip stats:
Day 1 - 203km, 4800m climbing. Riding time 14:26, total time 17:40
Day 2 - 193km, 4100m climbing. Riding time 15:12, total time 18:30

I really enjoyed the whole trip, it would be much easier over 3-4 days, but the route is hard to beat (especially day1). There's plenty of bivvy spots or you could rely on bothies. The only route section I would want to change is the final Sarn Helen bit and the Neath to Swansea bit, which is very much busy road and urban sprawl type stuff.

[composite]

Nice write up Steven, enjoyed reading it.

If you had pressed on for another couple of miles on your first day you would have been at Nant Syddion bothy.

The Nant y moch tracks have to be one of my favorite spots now I reckon.

When I rode Doethie Valley about 3-4 years ago 90% of it was very dry and it was a great then, I really enjoyed it. In the wet though it's sounds like you enjoyed it about as much as I did this time round.

[slarge]

Thanks Neil. One day I'll get a Flickr account so I can post some pics.

I found the nant syddion bothy whilst poring over the maps today - when I rode past it at the start of day 2 I thought "that place would have made a good stop" - it looked like a great spot looking down the valley and there were no car tracks in. I did think it was a shooting cabin or something. But I was trying to spend at least 2 nights bivvying as a kit check. So I would have had to sleep on the front garden anyway! The weather was kind to me as well - no rain, tracks were mostly dry, no mud, and the winds were light. The whole of the first day I had a grin on my face, really enjoying myself.