Trans Wales

[Dusza]

Just bailed out yesterday after 3 days in puring rain and of course it's sunny today :evil:
120km short of the finish line, but the flooded trails and rivers swollen to the point where we crossed the bridge at Soar-y-mynydd wading a swift knee high river made us reconsider our chances of finishing before Saturday evening... I'm starting to wonder if Elenydd hates me
We were really happy to find some dry and warm shelter in bothies. Moel Prysgau was like a second home to us and provided a dry and warm place for me to stitch a sidewall cut in my rear tyre - inner tube exploded 50 meters from the bothy
I'm off to clean the sheep gold of my bike and clothes and be back with some pics later.
Thanks Ian for all your help! :)

[99percentchimp]

Wow... good effort for even stepping out of the front door in this weather
Sounds like you've been in the epicenter of the worst weather over the last few days and survived!!
Welcome back to the land of dry socks and central heating!
Love to see some pictures of the ride and any epic river crossings!

[Dusza]

Finally finished going through all of the photographs :)

Some sneak pics:





Full gallery here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/1028938705 ... directlink

Trip report coming soon. Enjoy.

[Ian]

Dusza, that is one of the best collections of photos I've seen from a bike packing trip. You have an eye for a great picture, regardless of the conditions or situation. I really got a feel for what it must have been like in poor conditions. Makes me realise how easy we had it on the same route last year in fine weather....
Look forward to your report, but enjoyed the comments on the photos in the meantime :)

[99percentchimp]

Second Ian's comments - really good photos set!
They must be some good friends if you can throw a battery at one to stop him snoring! Great tyre stitching too - nice work!

[gairym]

i third that.

really nicely composed shots!

shame about the weather but it happens.....

[Dusza]

Thanks guys, that really made this week's work worthwhile, sad to hear that I wasn't the only one who had to bail this June vide DNF's Highlands trip :(

As a matter of fact I came back from the trip with the words "I love Wales" on my lips, so I guess it wasn't so bad - I'm getting one of those dorky "I ❤" t-shirts for sure, first time that I really feel doing so!

We know each other since our teens so we went through all kinds of stuff before, Snor-BatterⓇ is just one of them now - works like a charm

[Ray Young]

Yep, great photo's and good looking trip 8-) .

[pedalhead]

As others have said, brilliant photos! Such a shame this awful weather is causing such problems for our "summer" trips that we all look forward to so much. Cold & wet is a dangerous combination though when you're out for days at a time.

[Tanglefist]

It's already been said, but those photos are damn good. That old slate (I guess?) barn looked sweet.

[Dusza]

Thanks Tanglefist, we thought so too. Even considered setting up our tents inside for some wind protection but it turned out to be full of... you guessed it! Sheep poo :)

[Mike]

Dusza/Ian - do you have any route details - gpx for this route please, i saw Ians write on a site somewhere awhile ago and its right up my street... I would like to have a crack at this route so any help would be grateful, if anyone fancys joining me also no probs. thanks guys

[Ian]

Yetiman- you can get our actual route from here: http://db.tt/Hn9Ldh3S
Note that the approach to Tywyn from the north where the route runs close to the railway should be changed as you can't get through here legally.

[pedalhead]

Big ride there Ian, those hills just keep on coming don't they?!

[Mike]

Ian cheers, ive tried to download but i just get a page of gobbledeguk. Should i open it with a particular program, it defaults to note pad? I cant make head nor tail of it .

[Dusza]

Yetiman, for most of the part we followed Ian's route so you're for sure set with that - it's a wonderful way to experience Wales. As Ian said you might skip the Tywyn approach as we did, just follow NCN82 to town and than you can easily reconnect with the original route or follow NCN82 via tarmac further down to Machynlleth.
The other place where we deviated from the original track was in Tywi forest since we needed to stay at the Moel Prysgau bothy- be careful when you decide to take the bridleway there because it was HEAVILY flooded (as in 'nearly impassible') during our crossing.
The fells before Ffair-Rhos might also be avoided during inclement weather or after prolonged rainfall - very exposed with soft boggy ground. The route leading to Blaenau Ffestiniog also looked like it might be hard to cover during bad weather but fortunately back then we had a very sunny day.
I'd love to finish the remaining route through the Brecon Beacons - need to keep my eyes open on some nice weekend though.
Bu sure to mark the bothies on your map, these might come in handy

Upload the route to a route planning site like bikehike.co.uk (that's the one I use).

[Ian]

Ian cheers, ive tried to download but i just get a page of gobbledeguk. Should i open it with a particular program, it defaults to note pad? I cant make head nor tail of it .

Thats just gpx file format, which is xml based (text markup language). Try right clicking the link and selecting "save target as", then save as yourfilename.gpx