Wales Part 2

Days three and four on my ride south through Wales were probably my favorite days in Wales, but for the hills and I will get to that. Day three was comprised of a very nice morning ride through the hinterland around Ffestiniog, meandering through small towns and a mid day pint of Real Ale at a countryside pub. Later I had the joy of a long descent down to the lowlands by the coast. I then continued onto Harlech to check out the castle and grab a coffee. I was gouged for a 3 quid coffee and they wanted to charge me 50p to charge my camera, so I was quickly out of there. But the castle is very picturesque from all sides as it is perched upon a hill that seemingly stands alone in the middle of fields, solid workout to bike up to it as well.

I was on my way down the coast, on the National Cycling Route 8, and into Dolgellau. This town was a very quaint and small town with a very unique, architectural style and layout, and it remains relatively untouched by tourist hordes and development. Set into the Mawddach River Valley it is well worth bit of time for a visit. I later made my way into the hills like the bike riding troll I was becoming to find a wild camping spot, which I did but it was not easy late in the evening. I ended up with a quiet spot that involved a climb over a stone fence, through a small pasture and into a thicket.

The next morning, Day 4, got off to a rough start. I had to make my way out of my afore mentioned camping spot which at 7am was covered in a lot of dew, making my tires very wet. This made for a sketchy decent and in my groggy morning stupor, I lost traction of my rear tire on a particularly steep hairpin turn, with nothing but a small rock wall on one side down an embankment. I jackknifed trying to correct my trajectory and came down on the road surface, using my vast experience of falling off bikes(thanks bike polo), to guide my body down to the ground and minimize the damage. Couple little scrapes, a rip in my down jacket and a few little blemishes in my panniers that were easily fixed with some Gorilla tape. This was indeed my first and only fall of the trip while riding. Not even a pack of Albanian kids throwing fireworks at me and trying to pull at me and my bike while climbing would make me fall again. Haha

I was riding on my merry way, It was a pretty quick ride over a pass and down into the the lush valley and historic town of Machynlleth. I learned “Mach” is a very important historic market town, the former home of Owain Glydwr a welsh rebel and eventually crowned Prince of Wales, and it even has human activity evidenced in the area all the way back to c.2750AD. It is pretty inspiring being in a small town like this that has such a deep history and that has remained relatively untouched over the centuries. I grabbed lunch at a brilliant vegetarian and vegan friendly spot called Maengwyn Cafe, which I must say was very affordable and they were happy to let me charge my devices for the duration of my stay.

Owain Glydwr’s Parliament House

The rest of my day was trying, the roads in Wales’ central highlands are very undulating, one moment 13% grade over a hill, then that same grade down; Repeat; Repeat 12 more times. It was exhausting and all I could think about were some beers, pasta and a shower. So in true bike touring fashion I scoured the website warmshowers.org for a last minute host in the town of Llanidloes. I was lucky, there was only one person in the area and Emily was responsive and took me in! An ex-bike courier, what are the chances out here!? Staying with Emily was great not only because of the last minute nature of the response but also for two reasons. She had much experience bike touring, way more than I, and heaps in the Balkans where I was ultimately headed at some point on this trip. She was also a road cyclist whom was very well antiquated with the hills in the area and had talked me into the prospect that you can actually enjoy climbing and that it was her favourite thing about cycling. I took her word on it.

(I was kindly reminded that I was in the presence of a writer, of two books Emily Chappell. I encourage you to check out her website and her books)

My home for the night at Emily’s, including the guard cat.

Please stay tuned for the Part 3 and the final section of my tour through Wales!