Llandudno to Ellesmere Port - help, route needed!

[mekkman]

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum but been stuck in the saddle since I was a kid (I'm 53 now)

Back in July I suddenly lost my closest and longest friend of 43 years, he went to bed and simply didn't wake up, he was just 52. I quickly decided that once we knew what caused his passing I'd do a charity ride to raise funds for a charity that supports his cause of passing.

Four months down the line we've now found out that it was a heart murmer that had been undiagnosed and had been with him since birth so he could have gone quite literally at any time, not good when I tell you he was a petrol tanker driver!

Now we have a cause I intend to raise money for Alder Hey Childrens Hospital and Charity in Liverpool to assist, in some way, research into such problems. Jimmy lived in Ellesmere Port and his local pub was The Wirral Hundred so I intend to ride from Llandudno to the pub (well you have to have some incentive don't you?) My question is; what's the best route avoiding all the major dual carriageways? Ideally I'd like to stay coastal for as much of the ride as I can so do any of you good people have any advice, routes or simply something to add that may help me please?

Any comments, advisory, helpful and even downright sarcastic will be happily received with thanks!

 

[Welsh wheels]

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum but been stuck in the saddle since I was a kid (I'm 53 now)

Back in July I suddenly lost my closest and longest friend of 43 years, he went to bed and simply didn't wake up, he was just 52. I quickly decided that once we knew what caused his passing I'd do a charity ride to raise funds for a charity that supports his cause of passing.

Four months down the line we've now found out that it was a heart murmer that had been undiagnosed and had been with him since birth so he could have gone quite literally at any time, not good when I tell you he was a petrol tanker driver!

Now we have a cause I intend to raise money for Alder Hey Childrens Hospital and Charity in Liverpool to assist, in some way, research into such problems. Jimmy lived in Ellesmere Port and his local pub was The Wirral Hundred so I intend to ride from Llandudno to the pub (well you have to have some incentive don't you?) My question is; what's the best route avoiding all the major dual carriageways? Ideally I'd like to stay coastal for as much of the ride as I can so do any of you good people have any advice, routes or simply something to add that may help me please?

Any comments, advisory, helpful and even downright sarcastic will be happily received with thanks!

Will you riding on roads or aiming for cycle paths?

 

[dodgy]

I can help you plenty on the second half of your journey, I'll draw up a route that I would recommend then hopefully others can offer suggestions.

 

[Heltor Chasca]

Cycle.travel is an awesome resource. Enjoy the ride.

 

[dodgy]

Yes, I was going to recommend http://cycle.travel
Draw up a route and I can offer advice when you get near Wirral.

 

[Littgull]

Hi @mekkman

I'm really sorry to hear of the sad loss of your best friend.

There is a superb cycle route planning website www.cycle.travel.com that provides for the user to input the 'start' and 'finish' points and produces the quietest cycle-friendly route (in regards to traffic) between the two points. You can print off the route directions and map once you register with the site (which is all free). The routes produced seem to prioritise Sustrans national cycle network roads, lanes and towpaths etc which is handy as these are generally very quiet, though sometimes a bit muddy and potholed on small stretches.

It produces what appears to be a quiet route largely adjacent to the coast between the two points you have mentioned. See link below:

http://cycle.travel/map?from=Llandu...=53.322475,-3.824325&toLL=53.261592,-2.929738

As well as saving and printing off the route you can also save it as a .gpx or .tpx file for uploading to a GPS unit compatible for cycling (e.g. Garmin, Wahoo etc).

Hope this helps and good luck with your ride.

 

[Littgull]

Hi @mekkman

I'm really sorry to hear of the sad loss of your best friend.

There is a superb cycle route planning website www.cycle.travel.com that provides for the user to input the 'start' and 'finish' points and produces the quietest cycle-friendly route (in regards to traffic) between the two points. You can print off the route directions and map once you register with the site (which is all free). The routes produced seem to prioritise Sustrans national cycle network roads, lanes and towpaths etc which is handy as these are generally very quiet, though sometimes a bit muddy and potholed on small stretches.

It produces what appears to be a quiet route largely adjacent to the coast between the two points you have mentioned. See link below:

http://cycle.travel/map?from=Llandudno&to=CH66 2BY&fromLL=53.322475,-3.824325&toLL=53.261592,-2.929738

As well as saving and printing off the route you can also save it as a .gpx or .tpx file for uploading to a GPS unit compatible for cycling (e.g. Garmin, Wahoo etc).

Hope this helps and good luck with your ride.

Ah, I see other CCers have also recommended cycle.travel whilst I was typing

 

[mekkman]

Will you riding on roads or aiming for cycle paths?

I'd prefer to use roads,WW, but I do want to avoid the major roads. I'd like this to be a pleasurable tribute to my mate not a stress laden arduous journey. Thanks for your reply.

 

[mekkman]

I can help you plenty on the second half of your journey, I'll draw up a route that I would recommend then hopefully others can offer suggestions.

Thanks Dodgy, can I hold you to that and by the way, please feel free to ride in with me on that leg if you wish.

 

[mekkman]

Cycle.travel is an awesome resource. Enjoy the ride.

Thanks Heltor, I've not seen this before.

 

[ianbarton]

Here s a route that will get you from Llandudno to Chester, avoiding busy roads. Note there are some hills after Prestatyn, which avoid the busy coast road.

https://ridewithgps.com/users/133063/routes

From Chester you can follow the cycle track along the river to Neston.

 

[mekkman]

Hi @mekkman

I'm really sorry to hear of the sad loss of your best friend.

There is a superb cycle route planning website www.cycle.travel.com that provides for the user to input the 'start' and 'finish' points and produces the quietest cycle-friendly route (in regards to traffic) between the two points. You can print off the route directions and map once you register with the site (which is all free). The routes produced seem to prioritise Sustrans national cycle network roads, lanes and towpaths etc which is handy as these are generally very quiet, though sometimes a bit muddy and potholed on small stretches.

It produces what appears to be a quiet route largely adjacent to the coast between the two points you have mentioned. See link below:

http://cycle.travel/map?from=Llandudno&to=CH66 2BY&fromLL=53.322475,-3.824325&toLL=53.261592,-2.929738

As well as saving and printing off the route you can also save it as a .gpx or .tpx file for uploading to a GPS unit compatible for cycling (e.g. Garmin, Wahoo etc).

Hope this helps and good luck with your ride.

Excellent and thank you very much Littgull, this is tremendous I've never come across this before. You say that it can become a little muddy and pot holed, not really conducive to a road racing bike I'd guess - what are your thoughts?

 

[mekkman]

Here s a route that will get you from Llandudno to Chester, avoiding busy roads. Note there are some hills after Prestatyn, which avoid the busy coast road.

https://ridewithgps.com/users/133063/routes

From Chester you can follow the cycle track along the river to Neston.

Brilliant and thank you very much, Ian. What a wonderful place this forum is, I'm overwhelmed with tall of your help.

 

[Littgull]

Excellent and thank you very much Littgull, this is tremendous I've never come across this before. You say that it can become a little muddy and pot holed, not really conducive to a road racing bike I'd guess - what are your thoughts?

No worries @mekkman, all but the last few miles between Shotton and Ellesmere Port are on Sustrans NCN (National Cycle Network) route 5 which is a decent hard tarmac/concrete surface all the way - all very suitable for a thin tyred road/racing bike. I cycled the long stretch between Prestatyn and Llandudno in Mid May whilst riding @nickyboy's excellent annual Cyclechat Forum 'Manchester to LLandudno' ride. The advantage you will hopefully have is that you will statistically be very likely to have a westerly tail wind the whole way as westerlies are the prevailing winds in the UK and occur approximately 80% of the time. Unfortunately, in May our route was in the opposite direction and we were battling a strongish, unrelenting headwind! You could strike unlucky and get an easterly wind, but as I say, statistically the odds are pretty high in favour of you getting the tailwind. I'm not familiar with the route from Shotton to Ellesmere Port but looking at the route directions I feel very confident it will be suitable for your road/racing bike.

 

[Littgull]

Excellent and thank you very much Littgull, this is tremendous I've never come across this before. You say that it can become a little muddy and pot holed, not really conducive to a road racing bike I'd guess - what are your thoughts?

@mekkman, sorry I may have confused you in my initial reply. What I meant to say was that some small stretches of the quiet cycle.travel generated routes I have ridden in other parts of the country have had a few potholed and muddy parts (which have not been 'showstoppers') but not the suggested route from Llandudno to Ellesmere Port. That should be fine.