Ever since Paul had passed his test and got his bike, he'd been itching to do a camping tour. We've done loads of cycle camping over the years but this was new. It’s Ella’s turn to come out and play this weekend - I don't think Anna would have thanked me for having to chase down a 900 Kawasaki for three days!!
The plan was to do the Snowdonia 360 route. As it's name suggests, 360ish miles around North Wales, centred loosely around Snowdonia. We had to do another 45 miles or so out to our nearest point on the route in Conway, so it ended up as a planned 450 miles over 3 days, making a nice and manageable 150ish miles a day.
Day 1 saw 158 miles on the quiet roads along the North Wales coast and a circuit of Anglesey. The weather was great and the roads fairly undramatic, but with lots of glimpses of things to come tomorrow! We ended the day with a BBQ and beers on the campsite.
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| First stop for coffee and cakes in Conway |
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| Campsite just outside Newborough on Anglesey |
Day 2 saw 145 miles through Snowdonia; around the Llyn Peninsula and then down the coast to Barmouth, ending up in an idyllic camp setting on the coast near Tywyn. The Llanberris Pass was a real highlight for me - I've wanted to do that on a bike for a long time. Such spectacular and varied scenery.
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| Llanberris Pass |
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| Aberdaron |
It was nice to finally ride across the toll bridge at Penmaenpool. I've seen it a few times now travelling up and down the Mawwdach Estuary cycleway path to Barmouth and it's always felt like it wanted to pull me across and explore the other side! Well worth the extra 50p each it cost us!
Great riding and weather, though the rain started shortly after we arrived at Cae Du Campsite and got the tents up. When I took my boot off, I found a 2” long slug had hitched a lift from Anglesey in the toe - eurgh, it was swiftly evicted!
It was a very spectacular setting for the campsite though, ranging out along the coast and facing directly out to sea. In the right weather, this would be an amazing place to stay but we couldn't really make the most of it.
The rain stopped for a couple of hours during the evening which gave us time to ride down into the nearest village for a very average pub meal and then finish the evening with a beer overlooking the sea from the tents. Then the rain and wind set in so we retired to our shelters for the night.
Day 3 saw us complete a final 156 miles from Tywyn back to Chester, to make a total journey over the 3 days of just under 460 miles.
It was fairly windy and light rain when we woke, so we packed up and set off early, aiming to stop for an early coffee and breakfast stop. As it happened, being Sunday, we couldn't really find anywhere open until we reached Dolgellau, but were then rewarded with a splendid fry up and a couple of coffees.
The weather was a bit drizzly for the first hour or so but then fine for the rest of the day. We had more open, faster A roads today back up through central N Wales and you could really see Paul easing into his comfort zone after 3 days on the bike.
A feature of today was that the Wales-wide reduction of 30mph to 20mph limit kicked in. I can't say that I found it a great hindrance to go a bit slower through the villages to be honest, though there was lots of griping on the media about it, predictably.
As we were leaving Bala, we came across the sort of meat-heads that were complaining about their liberties being infringed by having to go at the speed limit. A convoy of about 20-30 hugely impressive (!) supercars, ranging from run of the mill Porsches up through Ferraris to McLarens etc was formed up on the road leaving Bala. About a mile after we passed them, we could see the convoy catching us in our rear view mirrors. We turned right shortly afterwards onto a small road up and across the moors and unfortunately that is exactly where they were headed for. It didn't take long for us to get swamped after a series of ridiculous overtakes. After I saw Paul nearly taken out by one of them I though "enough is enough" and pulled up onto the grass verge at the first chance. The whole thing was ridiculously dangerous - I saw at least three overtakes approaching blind right hand bends that could have been fatalaties if anyone had been coming the other way - I assume the locals know about it and avoid the road. Paul gamely saw it through and I caught up with him a few miles later. I suspect that I had a much more enjoyable journey across the moors than he did.
The rest of the journey was smooth and uneventful. We stopped off in Conwy for a final pot of tea and cake, stumbling on a Macmillan Coffee Morning event, so the cakes were enormous. We decided that, once we hit Mold, we'd take the main road (A55) home as the quiet route really took us through some industrial backwaters. It's one of those rare bits where the busier road is nicer than the quiet road. So before long I was waving goodbye as Paul peeled off for the Wirral and I headed back to Chester.
All in all, a great few days. We coudn't have wished for a better weather window and the Snowdonia 360 route is a real cracker - well worth doing.
I think that could be the last decent adventure of 2023 - but maybe not.
