I’m up in Wales, at the caravan and got my longest ride of the year, so far, in today. It was a blustery, cloudy, cool and not very summery morning, but I soon warmed up as I headed out and down the main road, to Barmouth. Very busy, as usual at this time of year, but only 1 stupid close pass from a Toyota. The Northerly wind was behind me and so it was a quick, for me, trip and along the promenade, in Barmouth, I set a new Strava segment PB, which puts me 64th out of 1702. That doesn’t happen often for someone slow like me!
It was busy getting out of Barmouth, due to the day trippers arriving, but I climbed up the short distance and then crossed Barmouth Bridge, to begin the lovely section up the Mawddach Trail. It was quite busy along there, today, with walkers and cyclists. They’ve done some patchwork on the section up to The George Hotel, which was much needed and it’s better than the rutted mess it was becoming.
At Dolgellau I took a left and out towards the A470, along said section came an old VW camper can, and from the stench it was leaving in its wake, of burnt brakes or clutch, I’m guessing it had a difficult trip over Dinas Mawddy!
I then started the climbing, up the Ganllwyd valley, high above the Afon Mawddach.
It’s an up and down section, to start with, until you reach the Coed y Brenin Forest, where it’s basically uphill in any direction you go! I took the long hard steep climb, that follows the Afon Wen, climbing 700 feet in just over a mile. This was the first time I’d used the Hybrid, in Wales, since
@Rickshaw Phil had fitted my new gears. Whilst it was still a slog, they made a difference and I only had to stop once, rather than the 3 or 4 times previously
I was glad to reach the top, though, and then the lovely descent back down the other side of the Afon Wen, towards my lunch stop, at one of my favourite spots in the Forest, Parc y Coeddig.
It’s a bit of a climb again, after setting off from here, up towards Llanfacreth, but as I rounded a corner, quite slowly, I came face to face with a deer that was only a couple of feet from me!! It had a startled look for a second or 2, before hurtling down the bank into the forest again. Lovely to see one so close up though.
Once I passed the car park for the Precipice Walk, I reached my favourite part of this ride, the long and fast descent into Dolgellau, with views over towards Cader Idris. I reached a top speed of 39.7mph, into a strong headwind, which shows how good it is
At Dolgellau I took a trip around the one way system, through the town, before pausing at the cricket pitch, to watch the game for 15 minutes or so. 40 for 0 after 10 overs, slow and steady progress.
Next it was back down the Mawddach Trail again, towards Barmouth, retracing my steps across the bridge and along the promenade, which was significantly busier now and I had the usual problems of people just stepping out and crossing the road without looking. Also had a pillock in a Land Rover overtake me, whilst I was overtaking a parked car, and there was a car coming the other way, who he forced to brake sharply. I then met him, coming back towards me, on the wrong side of the road and not looking where he was going. He got a gesture from me.
What i’d also found was that wind which helped me earlier on, but was now a horrid headwind and boy was it hard work all the way back for the last 6 miles. I passed a chap who was obviously touring and laden down with panniers galore, and the main road was one long stream of busy fast traffic, so I resorted to the pavement/cycle lane, which isn’t a great surface but personal safety is more important.
Back to the caravan having done 43.9 miles, with 2900 ft of climbing, at a very slow 10.8 mph avg speed.
South to Norwood and east to Beckwithshaw with the climb to Little Almscliffe en route. Followed the UCI circuit from Beckwithshaw down Pot Bank in a new PR meaning there are now 418 Strava cyclists slower than me down it! I gather it is not unusual for racing cyclists to go straight down the driveway of the house on the bend
13.66 miles 816ft climbed 12.5 mph avg.
.says he who retired in 2006.
