Riding + Bivy/Bothy near Llanwrtyd Wells from 22-25 Jan

[larsmars]

A bit short notice but I've only just a schemed plan in the past week or so. I have a long weekend 22-25 Jan and I am planning to drive to Llanwrtyd Wells on Thursday evening 21st Jan and setting off Friday morning on a loop of some kind. I am thinking of doing some of the Wildcat 100 / Two Ton of Gravel, possibly mixed with the 2012/13 BB200 route (which I missed).

http://www.wildcatgear.co.uk/events/

I realise some of you have only just warmed up after Bach to Bach, but if anyone missed out and wants to get wet and muddy, feel free to join me!

Cheers,
Lars
07903708258

[Scattamah]

If I can swing the 22nd off...I'd be interested in this. I'll air it with the MD tomorrow.

Greetz

S.

[Bearbonesnorm]

I could be up for something, although I may need to join you along the way / meet up. Do you have any idea of route yet Lars?

[larsmars]

Cool, Scattamah and Norm. Would be great to meet up.

Tentative plan:

Fri 22nd (Day 1): South section of Ian's Tywi Ton (shown in yellow below) going clockwise starting from Llanwrtyd Wells until it joins the BB200 2013 route just SE of Strata Florida. There's the Tyncornel bunkhouse at around 80k if the going is tough or the Claerddu bothy at around 115k if things are going well.
Sat 23rd (Day 2): I would continue north up the BB200 2013 (shown in red below), but at some point I would probably jump across (east) to the southbound part in order to start heading back towards Llanwrtyd Wells.
Sun 24th (Day 3): Ride back to Llanwrtyd Wells, possibly continuing south (CW) on the Tywi Ton back to Llanwrtyd Wells

See screenshot below. I will do a proper GPX hack and merge this weekend. It's all tentative at this stage. I am open to suggestions, but the gravel route appeals this time of year for rideability ;-)

One question - Would this be missing out too much of the northern, wiggly sections of the Tywi Ton (yellow)? Could anyone email me the full Two Ton of gravel route GPX? I think I only have the first 100 (shown in yellow here). That would allow me to do all of those wiggly yellow bits.

Cheers,
Lars

[Crazy English]

I'd love to join you guys, but it's a £90 return ticket from Cambs.

[Chicken Legs]

I am interested in this one.
Jon, if you want a lift I could pick you up from junction 32 on the A14.

Andy

[Chew]

Just a word of warning if you're heading over to Ty Cornel.

The track between there and the chapel is heavily eroded. I was up there last Easter and the track had a significant hole in the road about 4 foot wide gap from the top to the bottom and over 6 foot deep in places.

I went from the hostel towards the chapel and it was just about passable.

I wouldn't attempt it in the other direction and I can imagine it's many times worse now with the amount of rain we've had over the past couple of months.

[Crazy English]

I am interested in this one.
Jon, if you want a lift I could pick you up from junction 32 on the A14.

Andy

Andy that would be vaguely exciting! I'm not far from there at all.
However, i had a job interview today so will have to let you know. I think they may want me to start ASAP.


Just hope i don't slow you guys down to much.

[larsmars]

Good to hear some others might be up for this.

I have seen a few different versions of the Two Ton route. There is one as a screenshot here http://www.wildcatgear.co.uk/events/ and one I have as GPX (screenshot below).

The one below is shown as going CCW. Would it make much difference CW or CCW? It looks like this version misses out the eroded section approaching the Tyncornel hostel from the east down Soar-y-Mynydd? I am not familiar with the area, so I would primarily be following the GPS route and waypoints. Anyone have any recommendations on these routes and which direction round might work best?

Aiming for 70-120k per day over the three days (depending on the weather - I saw Ian's snow pics today!)

Thursday eve - Stonecroft hostel, Llanwrtyd Wells
Friday 8am-ish - Departing Llanwrtyd Wells onto various sections of the routes shown below
Friday eve - Nant-Rhys Bothy, Claerrdu Bothy or Tyncornel hostel (depending on whether we go CW or CCW)
Saturday 8am-ish - Trying to get to more northern sections of the routes shown below
Saturday eve - Nant-Rhys Bothy or Claerrdu Bothy, whichever one we didn't stay on Friday
Sunday - Loop around back to the Llanwrtyd somehow

Cheers,
Lars

Yellow = One of Ian's routes (called Tywi Ton)
Blue = Tywi and Two Ton (from Scattamah)
Red = B200 2013

Northern section


Southern section (starting from Llanwrtyd Wells)

[larsmars]

Just a word of warning if you're heading over to Ty Cornel...

Thanks, Chew. I had a similar warning from Ian and saw the thread here. I have looked at the options to go around that section, unless by some chance it's reopened.

[Scattamah]

I don't seem to be able to see the images, but as I can't make it on the Friday morning, but would be happy to meet up at Claerddu on the Friday evening. Seems about half way between the other two.

For reference...when I rode the Tywi Ton route with Alan G, it was good weather...we left just before 10am and we made it to Strata Florida following the route CCW by 7:30pm. Bear in mind, I was a bit on the slow side and I'm sure Alan was being kind by keeping the pace down, but with good trails and fair winds, it was still a good chunk of time to get around. If the weather is less than kind, expect to take as long... or perhaps a little longer.

Greetz

S.

[larsmars]

Hi Scott,

Strange, the images do appear on desktop for me, but they don't show up on mobile. Possibly a 'mobile responsive' thing which is skipping them because they are large images? Here are some direct links to the images.

Northern sections
Southern sections

I have the GPXs for all three of these and thinking about patching together some sections from each.

Yellow = Tywi Ton
Blue = Tywi and Two Ton
Red = B200 2013

Anyway, meeting at Claerdu on Friday night sounds good.

My mobile is 07903708258... assuming there's signal somewhere, I can always pickup a text.

[Ian]

There's 4"+ of snow on the top of Esgair Dafydd, and I was finding snow was deeper further north. If it all melts by next weekend, you'll be fine, but if not you'll need to revise your route significantly (unless you have a fat bike and legs of steel*)

* 60km of riding in snow was enough for me yesterday

[Scattamah]

If it's only a few miles of HAB through the snow, it'll be ok...just time consuming. :)

Greetz

S.

[Ian]

Sorry - I should clarify - Mid Wales is covered in snow mostly 200m and above. At 500m, it's at least 4" deep, and my hunch is it gets deeper the further north you go. I rode 60km of snow yesterday, not just through a bit on the tops on a 60km ride
At high elevation, which most of the Tywi Ton route is, and you want to actually ride your bike rather than push it, a fat bike would be a prerequisite I reckon. Not to mention seriously hard work.
Don't get me wrong, not trying to put you off, but with cold conditions forecast until Thursday, there's a good chance most of it will still be there at the weekend, or - worse - a slushy unrideable mess mid-thaw. Just plan accordingly and set expectations as required

[benp1]

Gutted the snow didn't arrive for Bach to Bach last weekend

[Bearbonesnorm]

Gutted the snow didn't arrive for Bach to Bach last weekend

There's no snow here Ben, even at 500m.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Anyway, meeting at Claerdu on Friday night sounds good.

I'll aim to be there.

[Ian]

It's been 4 degrees here all day, so maybe when the thick low cloud lifts the hills won't be crisp white anymore

[Scattamah]

I figure it's most likely going to be a slushy ride in most places with a bit of ice in the mornings to be watching out for.

On the off chance that I make it round the reservoir with mostly dry feet (hah!), how far upstream of the ford at SN8143067254 does one have to go before there's a crossing that's good? Or is it all boggy mess?

Greetz

S.

[Bearbonesnorm]

On the off chance that I make it round the reservoir with mostly dry feet (hah!), how far upstream of the ford at SN8143067254 does one have to go before there's a crossing that's good? Or is it all boggy mess?

Scott, if you mean the ford at SN 805678 (last ford before the track turns to tarmac, heading west) ... I've never found one. Although in fairness I generally just wade in with happy abandon.

[Scattamah]

Yeah...that's the one...damned lat/long converters. When it's low, I try the stepping stones, but the last couple of crossings have been wading affairs. Ta for saving me a bog hop in the dark.

Greetz

S.

[larsmars]

Okay, thanks for the heads up about the snow. I was assuming it would melt by Friday. I will reevaluate the route later this week depending on what happens with the melting. I'll be on 29x3 tyres, so not really ideal for 4" of fresh snow.

L

[benp1]

Gutted the snow didn't arrive for Bach to Bach last weekend

There's no snow here Ben, even at 500m.

That makes me feel better, cheers!

Have a good ride guys

[Bearbonesnorm]

Lars - if I can't make Fri night (dentist appointment on Fri afternoon ) are you still planning Nant Rhys on Sat or does that leave you too much to do on Sun?