Yesterdays ride, as usual, was a ride I've been planning for quite a while. I'd mapped it out and realised that, for me anyway, quite a challenging route.
With some assistance from @Rickshaw Phil on the roads, as he's ridden some of them, I felt reassured as it's all a bit narrow!
I'd prepped the bike, and loaded everything I'd need for the day the evening before, set off in the car at 03:30
Arriving 140 miles later at 07:30 in Abertridwr, where I wanted to park, the weather forecast was exactly wrong! It should have stopped raining by 07:00. Still, skin's waterproof, and I have decent gear to keep me dry!
With a mile of so to pedal to lake Vrynwy, and the stunning dam wall,
With the rain continuing to fall from the sky, I decided to do the 12 mile circuit of Vrynwy and see how it went. I wasn't going to drive all that way for a 12 mile ride though!!
What the heck, I started of up the hills towards Bala via the Bwlch-y-Groes pass into the mists and rain.
It was officially pissing down by now, and blowing a hooley!
At this point, I stopped for a breather
With the rain slackening off a bit, I descended into Bala, and through the town. I did want to do a circuit of the lake, but the A494 to the west of the lake, is a narrow and busy road. Not conducive to riding, sadly, and the locals seemed to prefer waving at people they know rather than watching where they're going!! (my only close call of the day was in Bala.)
Lake Bala is lovely though, if a bit choppy in the wind.
Having crossed over the hills to get there, I had to ride back over the Hirnant Pass to get back to Vrynwy.. At least the weather had cheered up!
I did ask a few passing folk for directions to, but they weren't local. The chap I finally found who knew the right road was extremely Welsh! He pronounced villages that I'd seen on the OS map in a totally different way that I would have. Great to hear the proper pronunciations though..
The roads on the way back were, I think, even steeper than on the way there, and the rain had been replaced by a headwind. Just what's needed on Cat 3 and Cat 4 climbs.
And the last bit of road visible isn't quite the top. I managed to ride all the way up, but did stop a couple of times to admire the view
Jeez, but that was a toughie!!
The descent, however.. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!
With a few miles to do to get my metric century of the month, I took the longer way back round Lake Vrynwy and after a couple of exploratory sorties up side roads, to see where they went, I stopped for coffee and chocolate & beetroot cake at the cafe, my only proper stop of the ride.
An absolutely smashing ride, with the cr*p weather paling into insignificance once it cleared.
63 miles, 4,500 feet of 'up'.
https://www.strava.com/activities/1138459727
With some assistance from @Rickshaw Phil on the roads, as he's ridden some of them, I felt reassured as it's all a bit narrow!
I'd prepped the bike, and loaded everything I'd need for the day the evening before, set off in the car at 03:30
Arriving 140 miles later at 07:30 in Abertridwr, where I wanted to park, the weather forecast was exactly wrong! It should have stopped raining by 07:00. Still, skin's waterproof, and I have decent gear to keep me dry!
With a mile of so to pedal to lake Vrynwy, and the stunning dam wall,
With the rain continuing to fall from the sky, I decided to do the 12 mile circuit of Vrynwy and see how it went. I wasn't going to drive all that way for a 12 mile ride though!!
What the heck, I started of up the hills towards Bala via the Bwlch-y-Groes pass into the mists and rain.
It was officially pissing down by now, and blowing a hooley!
At this point, I stopped for a breather
With the rain slackening off a bit, I descended into Bala, and through the town. I did want to do a circuit of the lake, but the A494 to the west of the lake, is a narrow and busy road. Not conducive to riding, sadly, and the locals seemed to prefer waving at people they know rather than watching where they're going!! (my only close call of the day was in Bala.)
Lake Bala is lovely though, if a bit choppy in the wind.
Having crossed over the hills to get there, I had to ride back over the Hirnant Pass to get back to Vrynwy.. At least the weather had cheered up!
I did ask a few passing folk for directions to, but they weren't local. The chap I finally found who knew the right road was extremely Welsh! He pronounced villages that I'd seen on the OS map in a totally different way that I would have
. Great to hear the proper pronunciations though..The roads on the way back were, I think, even steeper than on the way there, and the rain had been replaced by a headwind. Just what's needed on Cat 3 and Cat 4 climbs.
And the last bit of road visible isn't quite the top. I managed to ride all the way up, but did stop a couple of times to admire the view
Jeez, but that was a toughie!!
The descent, however.. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!
With a few miles to do to get my metric century of the month, I took the longer way back round Lake Vrynwy and after a couple of exploratory sorties up side roads, to see where they went, I stopped for coffee and chocolate & beetroot cake at the cafe, my only proper stop of the ride.
An absolutely smashing ride, with the cr*p weather paling into insignificance once it cleared.
63 miles, 4,500 feet of 'up'.
https://www.strava.com/activities/1138459727
Last edited:
) to glorious sunshine. 50 miles. 
