Monday morning and off I head to Anglesey once again, this time with a forecast for mixed weather and a bed and breakfast booked for 3 nights.
I made my mind up that I wanted to ride eveyday without the added weight of the camping and cooking stuff, the Fargo was stripped of its panniers leaving just the bar bag and rack pack, 30lbs dropped instantly, but still around the 45lb mark when loaded with camera, binoculars and assorted stuff.
On the way over I wanted to ride up and over the Llanberis Pass, its long been on my list of roads to ride, so parking up at Betws Y Coed and turning right into a headwind !, what a surprise, the going was slow but purposeful all the way until the top. And then the going was slow and purposeful all the way to Llanberis, pedalling hard all the way DOWN the pass due to the brutal headwind.
A quick bite to eat and a coffee saw me heading back up, relishing the tailwind that now appeared to have turned around into a headwind, and just to rub salt into the wound it started to rain heavily and go very dark, dark enough to stop and fit some blinkies front and rear.
35 miles in just over 3 hours, and then to the island.
Tuesday was a semi repeat of my epic day from the previous week, following the back roads along the north west coast, up and down, up and down ending up at South Stack for coffee and cake and a sandwich and a coke and a clif bar....
One of the things I wanted to do with this tour was visit the quiet coves along the coast, and also explore the old churches and chapels that crossed my path.
The temperature rose during the day, and combined with lots of hard pedaling the dreaded "hot foot" appeared, first time since last summer !
But, it couldn't have happened at a better place, Cemlyn Bay, one of my favourite places despite (maybe because of) there being a huge nuclear reactor just over the water.
55 hilly miles in blue skies, with even more wind, that evening was spent in the bar at the hotel chatting with other residents and trying not to fall asleep.
A rest day required in light of last weeks issues :-)
Sounds ace Steve!, hot feet! must be warm! -:)
ReplyDeletei fancy a mid summer ride with a small group and use a B&B and Spar shops so we can all ride light. Of course you will be invited -:)
sounds good Bruce :-)
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