A very damp transcambrian ITT

[ianpv]

I'm signed up for the HT550 this year, and I realised I'd not actually been bikepacking since I did the cairngorm loop last september. So I thought I'd do the TCW last friday in an attempt to build some character. It was very wet , and the first 55 km to rhayader were miserable, especially with a very worn cross mark on the back. Lots of pushing up grassy climbs. The rain did stop occasionally, but it was so wet under wheel that rapid progress up or down was unlikely. I really enjoyed the second 'day' from Rhayader - beautiful stuff. It got dark as I reached Staylittle and the thought of a couple of pints and a warm bed at the Star Inn at Dylife were pretty tempting, but I resisted and eventually got to Dovey Junction at around 10pm for 17 hours 15 minutes elapsed, 14:33 moving. A long way from quick but it was a pretty nasty day.

Strava link here:

https://www.strava.com/activities/887451804

Next stop Braunton, the Cairngorm loop, and then the HT550... at least the fitness seems ok and I'm not feeling too bad, so hopefully I'll be ready for May.

I slept in a field near Dovey, up early and back to the van at knighton over the mountain road the next day - I couldn't face the double, but may be back (with mud tyres ) if we have a dry summer to see how quick I could do it...

[Bearbonesnorm]

Good work - the weather was a little rough wasn't it? I very nearly got the van stuck in the snow yesterday morning and the water coming off the hills was quite spectacular lower down.

[ianpv]

From about 7.30-11.30am it was terrible! Pouring with rain - on top of already saturated ground it made the grass track bits pretty horrendous. I think I really underestimated the opening 50Km, which were the hardest by a fair margin in those conditions as it is largely farmed land. I got very cold descending into Rhayader - soaked to the skin despite full waterproofs and shivering so much that I considered packing it in, but I put on my montane prism under the rain shell and a dry pair of gloves and warmed up on the climb up from the Elan valley visitor centre - very glad I ditched the down for synthetic insulation! The rain wasn't too bad from then on 'til much later, and the tracks were rockier (although mainly submerged - it was ridiculous below the Claerwen reservoir dam ) which improved things. Type 1.5 fun on average overall I guess

[slarge]

Well done Ian, you definitely picked the wrong time of year! If it helps the byway before Claerwen is 10x better than it used to be. At least now it's all rideable...

[whitestone]

Just on train back from Dovey jct having done the TCW. Hard work due to strong winds and heavy ground - ended up walking some of the flat bits!

Total time of 23hrs30 but that included nearly eight hours bivy

[Scattamah]

Reading about these attempts, I don't feel so bad about the shot I took at this route a while back, where I had bow waves coming out of the grass. I really do need to choose a slightly less-damp time to give this a proper go (looking at you, KT!) :)

Well done to those that cracked on and got it done in poor conditions.

Greetz

S.

[whitestone]

It's definitely a route that benefits from a dry period.

Here's my account. http://bobwightman.blogspot.co.uk/2017/ ... n-itt.html