Snowdonia from London, quick jaunt, three days.

er-minio

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I'm going for a quick jaunt around Snowdonia after the May bank holiday (we will be actually leaving London on the 3rd) now that is possible.
Asking for some advice about a couple of things to include in the plan.

The general idea, still very rough, so far is:

Day1
Ride out of London, get some quick miles on the M4 heading west and Cross into Wales, cut through the Brecon Beacons and find a place to settle south of Snowdonia National Park.
Q: Advice over relatively quick but nice routes from (about) Newport going through Breacons and then north would be nice. We are still looking for a place to book for the night, so flexible.

Day 2
Found this post from Wapping. Seems interesting, especially as those should be less popular routes. I downloaded the tracks, will have a better look at it over the weekend.
Q: I saw that the TET track overlaps some of those routes, but seems to be on asphalt. I've seen over time pictures/videos of wide and flat-ish gravel tracks in the area. Any pointers? Easy stuff as one of the guys is on a brand new bike and he is not inclined to throw it in the ground (I don't mind that myself :D ).
Also, a nice/scenic seaside location suggestion for a stop during the day (or during day 3) would be nice.

We should be sleeping near Tal-y-Cafn at the end of the day.

Day 3
Haven't thought of anything yet, but the plan is to make our way back to London, passing through the park once again, crossing towards Gloucester/Cheltenam, a bit of the Cotswold and then hit back the M4 to make quick progress towards LDN.
Crossing Shropshire makes sense.

Long story short:

- one nice spot along the coast near Snowdonia park?
- any wide & easy gravel bits I can get on during the day?
- suggestions for the route up north through Breacon?

thanks in advance
I'll add some more details as I go :D )
 
If you want a nice route through the Cotswolds, I'm happy to meet you and guide you on some great roads.
 
No doubt you will get plenty of advice ... looking forward to seeing how it works out. Nice little trip especially if the weather holds. :)
 
Fast and scenic don’t always go together in Wales in my experience, the main route through the Beacons is the A470, you can stay on it all the way to North Wales if you want, I prefer using the A449 just before Newport then the A40 into Abergavenny, (good place to stop in the bus station)
A40 towards Crickhowell(fuel stop just leaving Abergavenny)
A479 Talgarth
A470 Builth Wells, Rhayader, Newtown. Choice here 483 Welshpool Oswestry Llangollen area or
A489 Machynlleth Dolgellau then a choice again 470 up to Festiniog area or 494 up to Bala
Barmouth is a nice place on the coast, south west side of Snowdonia, or Phwelli, abersoch on the Lleyn peninsula.
Some great roads up there but a high police presence throughout the area.
I have stayed in Llangollen and Criccieth( White Lion) on the Lleyn peninsula.

Al.
 
I'm happy to meet you and guide you on some great roads.

I'd really like that. Also, always nice to meet in person other people from here.
Let me just check with the other two guys (one is a member here) about the timings as we would be on our way back and wouldn't want it to be (the Cotswolds tour) to be rushed.

I think I might have the route somewhere

If you have a gpx track or something, that would be really appreciated – and beers first time we meet in person :D

especially if the weather holds

Considering my usual luck: I'm expecting it to snow or hail :D
 
So far this is the idea:

snowdonia-route.png


Day one is in purple + red routes are the alternatives. We're gonna follow DevonAl's directions.

Day 2 is in yellow. I'll see if I can add some more bits or some gravel bits.
 
I would take in the Elan Valley reservoirs as you leave Builth Wells and not out of your way
A nice stop for lunch on your route is The Honey Cafe (Bronllys near Talgarth)
If you had more time, the Brecon Beacons offer more exciting routes, but maybe not your priority and depends on your timings
 
I’m all eyes and ears on this thread.

I’ve just booked 4 nights in Bala in September.

Have already downloaded 2 routes from the RIDE page (example attached)

I’ll probably pop up to Anglesey (circuit & air base) and anything else interesting in the top half of Wales.

ps - I’m half Welsh :)

pps - I’ll be having an interesting chat with both DFDS and a Luxembourg hotel in a few days as I won’t be using next week’s ferry ticket
 

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I should have been going up to Criccieth 7-9May for a Boxertrix get together postponed from last year, now carried over to next year!!
Hopefully a group ride out with a few of us in the South West will happen instead.
Al.
 
I would take in the Elan Valley reservoirs as you leave Builth Wells and not out of your way
A nice stop for lunch on your route is The Honey Cafe (Bronllys near Talgarth)
If you had more time, the Brecon Beacons offer more exciting routes, but maybe not your priority and depends on your timings

Definitely do the Elan Valley - it's stunning.

This may be of significant interest to you and popped into my mailbox yesterday. 5 excellent looking routes in Wales:

https://www.myrouteapp.com/en/info/collection/123/5-days-through-Wales-on-roads-less-travelled
 
I would take in the Elan Valley reservoirs as you leave Builth Wells and not out of your way
A nice stop for lunch on your route is The Honey Cafe (Bronllys near Talgarth)
If you had more time, the Brecon Beacons offer more exciting routes, but maybe not your priority and depends on your timings

Definitely do the Elan Valley - it's stunning.

This may be of significant interest to you and popped into my mailbox yesterday. 5 excellent looking routes in Wales:

https://www.myrouteapp.com/en/info/collection/123/5-days-through-Wales-on-roads-less-travelled

I’d echo these thoughts , head a little further West than your planned route and take in the Elan Valley and pop out at Devils Bridge. I live in Cheshire but after done the Elan a few times including just last weekend in the stunning sunshine :thumb2
 
I have been looking at accommodation options - my suggestion would be to ensure you have prebooked accommodation, then decide your route based on where you will be staying. Prices have gone up to match demand.

A lot of people will be having the same idea as you as they cannot go on the trip to Spain etc they had planned. Without prebooking you might find yourself in a dive, or more likely some swish place at £200 a night.

Welshpool and Newtown are nice, small towns that can be used as a base.

The roads around Lake Vyrnwy are nice. Head from the Lake to Dinas Mawddwy or across to Bala for some superb views on single track roads. The hills will be purple with heather.
 
I’m all eyes and ears on this thread.

I’ve just booked 4 nights in Bala in September.

Have already downloaded 2 routes from the RIDE page (example attached)

I’ll probably pop up to Anglesey (circuit & air base) and anything else interesting in the top half of Wales.

ps - I’m half Welsh :)

pps - I’ll be having an interesting chat with both DFDS and a Luxembourg hotel in a few days as I won’t be using next week’s ferry ticket

The route I took on Saturday was 278 miles from near Crewe and the early part was similar but I reckon better than that Ride route . From Bridgnorth take the B4363 to Cleobury Mortimer, a magnificent twisty roller coaster of a road, then head west on A4117 over Clee Hill (from the top you can see 16 counties on a clear day ) towards Ludlow then turn south briefly on the A49 before heading west to Shobdon then Presteigne on the B4362 from their go over the tops to the Cross Gates cafe via Monaughty and the A488 .
 
The route I took on Saturday was 278 miles from near Crewe and the early part was similar but I reckon better than that Ride route . From Bridgnorth take the B4363 to Cleobury Mortimer, a magnificent twisty roller coaster of a road, then head west on A4117 over Clee Hill (from the top you can see 16 counties on a clear day ) towards Ludlow then turn south briefly on the A49 before heading west to Shobdon then Presteigne on the B4362 from their go over the tops to the Cross Gates cafe via Monaughty and the A488 .

that is a nice route

there are lots of superb roads either side of the Welsh border in Shropshire, Herefordshire and Powys that are largely ignored by people heading for the main tourist spots. I have friends in Gobowen near Oswestry and we go out to play on them free of tourist traffic and enforcement vans.
 
Boxertrix have had a weekend at Baskerville Hall nr Hay on Wye, the Saturday rideout took in the roads around lake Vyrnwy and the Elan valley and they are worth a trip on their own and not rushed on the way to somewhere else that also has excellent roads but stunning scenery to go with them.

Al.
 
Prices have gone up to match demand.

Definitely. We manage to book a house for two night sort of "in the middle". Wasn't exactly cheap, but we expected that.

Also definitely, rerouting via Elan Valley. :D
Thanks you all with the suggestion and help – I'll post an update when finished.
 
Got complex as the years pass.

1965 Peckham Rye to the Dragon rally.

Through London traffic to Marble Arch, pick up the A5 and follow it for a day and a half.

Stay overnight and return down the same route the next morning. Didn't even need a map.
 
Map 1. Elan valley is great as well as this tour next to it perhaps on route back.

Map 2. When in Snowdonia the route from Maentwrog to Beddgelert is nice in late afternoon. Make sure to take in all the peaks.

Enjoy Glenn :thumby:
 

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Back in London Weds evening.

It was a cold, wet trip. But Wales was beautiful. I seriously felt like an idiot for not visiting earlier.
I've been to Wales a couple of times before (I lived in the UK 14 years now), more to the south and not on vacation.
My mate Tom always insisted we should go to Snowdonia with the bikes, given my constant whining about the lack of decent roads around here, but I always argued I'd rather ride towards south of France/Alps if I had three/four days.
Boy I was wrong.


We had to cut short the last day because we were soaked and temperatures dropped to 1 degree, so no Elan Valley, just direct route to London.
I want to go back to see that and also to do some off-tarmac as it wasn't part of the plan at the end as my mates weren't really up for it.

We did the loop shared by Wapping in his original post (thanks Richard) and it was beautiful. Great mix of slow, fast, very narrow roads and a lot of sheep everywhere :D

I'm sharing the tracks for what we had planned. All asphalt, couple of options for the first day. You can download the GPX file here.

snowdonia_tracks.jpg


Just a note: if you want to follow these routes, please double check the tracks when converting them or re-draw them. I'm having some issues with BaseCamp and MacOS (this is gonna be the topic of another thread/rant :D ) and some of the waypoints are placed inaccurately (off the road) on the most recent City Navigator Maps for Garmin devices + I spotted some plotting error here and there along the route.

Obligatory pics and 60 second from-the-bike-view-montage :D





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