Route from North Wales (Llandudno) to South Wales (Penarth)

cjcp

Does anyone have any route recommendations?

I was thinking of riding through Snowdonia NP to Aberystwyth and Aberaeron (to see some friends there), then turn south east to Lampeter and Llandovery, before heading to Brecon, then south to Cardiff, possibly on the Taff Trail.

I'll be on a road bike and planning to travel as light as possible, with the aim of doing it in two days.

Cheers.

scazzer

Hi cjcp

Not sure if this is any help to ya but four of us rode from Caernarfon to Cardiff following the sustrans route 8 http://www.sustrans.org.uk/what-we-do/national-cycle-network/route-numbering-system/route-8

210 miles and we done it over 3 days,struggled at times to follow the route as not marked as well as others we have done,we carried our own stuff also.

Ive only been riding road bike from march and struggled on some of the climbs as not use to 20% climbs :oops: ,although hard at times the views were well worth the pain

Let us know if you need to know anything else and hopefully can help ya

cjcp

Hi Scazzer,

That's very helpful! Thanks very much.

CJ

dilemna

I would take Sustrans routes with a pinch of salt. I would get some OS 1:50,000 maps and look for yellow and unclassified roads to ride which are far better than some of the NCN directed ones.

I recently cycled Abergavenny up to Builth Wells via Hay on Wye then on up the Devil's staircase around Llyn Brianne to Llandovery then back east to Brecon and Abergavenny all on pretty much empty yellow or unclassified white roads. NCN directs cyclists along some busy B-roads. Also NCN route maps only show the route they give which IMHO is crap.

Anyway your route. I would cycle through Snowdonia NP heading toward Machynellth then across to Rayader over the mountains then around the Elan valley and then Llyn Brianne down to Llandovery then across to Brecon and Abergavenny. Not the most direct but you will see some stunning scenery and riding on quiet traffic free roads.

Have fun.

cjcp

Cheers for that. Yeah, some of that is off the beaten track!

Machynlleth is on the proposed route, then to head south to Aber. I think Abergavenny is a bit far east; I thought about heading south from Brecon, past Pen-y-fan and the old Storey Arms (the A470, I think), and then maybe join the Taff Trail. Will look at those OS maps.

careful

A470 Brecon to Storey Arms is scenic enough, and the climbing is pretty easy going, but it is the main 'A' road N to S so expect a fair amount of traffic. There are a couple of places either N or S of Merthyr where you can pick up the Taff Trail.

Linds

I did a similar(ish) ride last year (although the start and finish were different) in 3 days (4th day was Snowdon to Liverpool)

Day 1 Bristol-Chepstow-Usk-Abergaveny-Brecon

Day 2 Brecon-Garth-Newbridge-on-Wye-Rhayder-Llandiloes-Machynlleth

Day 3 Machynlleth-Dolgellau-Maentwrog-Garreg-Snowdon (Llanberris Pass)

I ignored the Sustrans maps and instead decided to plan my route using a road atlas and Google maps - which resulted in some memorable hills which could have been avoided especially between Llandiloes and Machynlleth - as I wanted to avoid busy roads and most of the roads were nice and quiet, even the sections where the main road was the only option (well relative Bristol anyway).

It was my first (and currently only) multi day tour and I loved it and am hoping to get a St Davids to Bristol 2 day ride in before sprog 3 in October.

Enjoy

cjcp

Cheers, both. Will be discussing the route in more detail with a mate tomorrow.