WRT stories

[RIP]

How are we doing out there kids?

Sparkly unicorn ice cream and multi-modal travel here!

[RIP]

[RIP]

[RIP]

[RIP]

Left Stu's up the forest track (LHC down below there?) vowing that I was absolutely not, under any circumstances, going over Foel Fadian and down the stupid scree track.



After bumping into and being convinced by Mark to go over Foel Fadian and down the stupid scree track, as fast as possible, we then came across Pickers, Nick and Casper having a brew in Mach, then Kev R and Mr Slingerland at the Dyfi Bridge. They took the monster climb over towards Tywyn, but I decided that was hard work and ploughed on to Abergynolwyn and the, sigh, closed Railway Hotel. Still, at least it meant I could tick one of my two GR's (a Reg record!) in the superb Dysynni valley.

By the way, did anyone else see what looked like a huge waterspout or tornado over Borth way? Quite scary in a way and I wish I'd photographed it.

Dysynni GR...



Changed my mind about a Tonfanau beach bivvy and headed the opposite way up the valley. Some of you will recognise my spot...



Pissed with rain from 4am, Gatewood held up, and managed a short window at 7am to decamp. Couldn't be arsed to go back via Abergynolwyn so took the silly decision to shortcut via the bridleway from Llanfihangel to Talyllyn Lake, which obviously turned out to be Welsh, wet, and HaBtastic. Then again it was a really beautiful route, with lots of 'Atlantic rainforest' trees, moss, ferns, etc, as per my new book about them so that was very satisfying.

Hour and a half later turned up at Minffordd Hotel, very damp indeed (Reg, not the hotel). "Please could you take pity on, and feed, a bike tramp?". Well, breakfast, toast, tea, the works with a superb view of Cadair Idris and the restaurant to myself. Score! Honestly why would you bother leaving these shores with perfection like this on your doorstep. Apparently even Prunella Scales and Timothy West had been in the previous night (got a house in Aberdyfi).



Finally dragged myself away and off up the drover's road towards Dolgellau.



Round past Tir Stent and down the brilliant track into the back streets of Dol. A quick hello to various contestants, including Taylor and Wotsits having far too relaxing a time with their coffees and cake and whatever .

Down the always stunning Mawddach, with a quick chat with Scott Woods coming the other way.

Arrived at Morfa Mawddach and was going to go over the bridge to Barmouth as per usual. Last minute change of mind and turned left to Fairbourne instead, for a go on the little steam railway. Next train was an hour away though so decided to ride further on to the Barmouth ferry.

Get half way there and I meet the train coming the other way so I flag it down and go back on it to where I tried to catch it in the first place, then ride back again towards the ferry!



Onto the ferry (don't picture the Dover to Calais one in your mind cos you'll be well wide of the mark...) - the best three quid I've ever spent in my life - jump off and immediately bump into Pickers, Nick and Caspar again! The harbour railings were festooned with drying shelters which no doubt baffled the natives.

At this point I realised I couldn't be bothered to ride back. Time to grab the next train to either Tonfanau or Tywyn. However Pickers convinced me to have a 'sparkly unicorn' ice cream, and I convinced the guys we may as well tick off the infamous GR-in-the-sea - be rude not too after all that effort throwing darts by Stu. So I rejected the next train for the one 2 hours later. However loads of people got on the first train and I thought "no chance with a bike", so I rode up the coast to the previous station, Llanaber, so that I could get on easily and be smugly pre-installed on arrival at Barmouth. Turns out this is a request stop, and I take inordinate and disproportionate pleasure in flagging the train down. Nobody else got on or off obviously.

I also had to wait a relaxing half hour just staring out to sea contemplating my life and my doom.

Orange P7 staring out to sea and contemplating the futility of its existence....





Once I was actually on the train I realised I couldn't be arsed to ride on from Tonfanau or Tywyn either, so just carried on all the way to Mach on what is a fantastically scenic line. Certainly better than the West Highland, apologies to our Scottish friends .

Currently sat in my favourite boozer near Corris having a few beers (anyone passing?), where of course I bumped into Scott Woods and his pal again who had ridden (silly billies!) via Dol and Fuckit Hill.

Got my eye on a shed for the night....

Sleep well peeps!

[Fat tyre kicker]

Sounds like you’re having a blast

[RIP]

A few beers, margaritas for the pandas, and off out to find a spot. All my 'usual' sheds are locked so it looks like another Gatewood night, which is no problem since apparently no rain forecast. Hang on, one hidden shed still open! Final night treat I reckon, in we go....





And in fact it was all lies about the rain - of course it was! - so a very astute decision.

Down to Mach for brekkie, with few places open these days, not even Caffi Maengwyn. White Lion doesn't open til 9 but we'll go and have a look anyway. Now open at 8am! Lovely



Now the long haul back to base via... well, let's see what the random route generator says.....

[Boab]

Full report later in the week, but I had a great time, even when I wasn't. I'm titling my ride, Bear Bones Boggiest Best Bits; I now have a new found respect for all BB200 Black Badge holders, and especially those who go on to complete the BB300...

Saturday afternoon was quite nice. Totally forgot to take a cap for when I had my helmet off while pushing up hill, now sporting a nice tan.


Sunday morning was horrible, missed a turn in pissing rain when I couldn't see anything, so missed resupply. Instead, I found bogs, lots of bogs...


Today...

[PaulB2]

I'd gone to Barmouth with the LHC on my first WRT (2018?) so despite doing less than 20 miles on a bike since last years event it was Barmouth or Bust this year. This was my first solo WRT so I'd plotted out a route that traded a bit of extra distance for a bit less climbing and I thought I had a reasonable plan for resupply. Not all went to plan.

I took the steady climb out from next to the car park before bumping into the LHC at the next junction. For the only time on the trip I over took someone, if only because they'd stopped to wait for everyone else. Lots of people were heading down the main bridleway but my route took me off sharply downhill before my first navigation failure. My plotted route took me up a grassy bank to a locked gate so after few seconds of umming and ahhing I just shrugged my shoulders and headed back to the bridleway which eventually descended to a road. I bumped into a couple riders sheltering under a tree as the heavens opened so at least wasn't the only one who wasn't quite sure where he was going. My garmin made some 'helpful' suggestions as to how to get back to my route as the rain started to get heavier. The helpful suggestions rapidly turned into a large omega shaped route as the garmin twice sent me a couple of km down a road and then told me to u-turn to go back the way I'd just gone. I would have pulled my phone out to double check but I'd forgotten to turn it onto airplane mode when I was at the start and it had burnt through the battery trying to get signal. Eventually after yet another suggestion from the Garmin to get me back on track which looked like a grassy 25% bank I thought I'd just head down the road until I see a road sign and go from there. Somehow I ended up on the A489 not too far out of Mach roughly where I expected to come out so just sped down the main road to grab some food.

Bumped into Taylor and Wotsits in Mach (I think, the face was familiar so sorry if I've got faces mixed up) before heading onto the Greggs since it was still a bit too early for a meal. I took the back road to Corris that had been described to me as 'undulating' by a passing local on an e-bike which was fair. I got to Corris but had to make do with just a pint of lemonade at the pub since they weren't doing food which was disappointing. Headed out again on the mountain road before dropping down to the A470 for a short stretch before turning down the valley road towards Abergynolwyn. This was a pleasant blast in the sun before yet another komoot routing onto a footpath. Eventually headed onto the very slow climb up to 400m. I spoke to a farmer at the bottom who asked me where I was headed and told me I'd probably need lights. He did say there was at least one person ahead of me who was on really skinny tyres who'd probably struggle on the descent. I didn't tell him I had no intention of descending in the dark. The climb was mostly a push since by this point I was a tad tired. I reached a stand of trees at the top of the climb just as it got dark to be confronted by a convoy of 4x4s on some massively churned up trails. I headed into the trees on the other side and setup camp without any lights on to avoid attention.

I woke up at 3 to the pitter patter of rain before realising that the rain wasn't falling on the tarp, it was falling on me since I'd managed to put up the tarp so badly in the semi-dark that a pole had fallen over and my sleeping bag was getting very wet. I stuck it out until about 4 before giving up and packing all the wet stuff away in ironically named dry bags. At least my stove worked so I could have a coffee as the sun came up. The descent down towards Barmouth was interesting to say the least - massive puddles, lots of loose slate and lots of sheep sub standard. Headed down the Mawddach trail to Barmouth and over the bridge. Unfortunately it was only 7:30 so nothing was open yet so I had to make do with just taking a picture of the beach before head back down the trail to Dol. Got to Dol but the only thing open was the Spar so had to make do with another cold meal.

I was going so slowly up the climb from Dol on the cycle route that I kept on bumping into people coming the other way to Dol for breakfast. I bumped into one duo that I might have scared off going back up the climb I'd come down earlier in the morning and the LHC went whizzing past at one point. Things were very wet at the top but it had faded to just a drizzle as I descended through the slate mine at Aberllefenni. My original plan had been to head over the hill on the trails to Cemmes then Llanbrynmair but with everything being wet I thought I'd rather head back towards Corris and then Mach so I could least be guaranteed of food.

I got to Mach and my GPS started to play up so had to reset it. With my GPS playing silly buggers and it seemed like there wasn't going to be much chance of drying anything out I decided to head back to Pennant. I probably should have looked at the suggested route first because it took me on a never ending climb up to Dylife. At least it was all downhill from there to the much appreciated cake and a brief chit-chat before a very tired drive home.

Pros:
The new bike was great, 29x2.6 tyres were very comfy and didn't really hold me up on the road sections - the only limitation on the descents was me.
The Komoot offline map download turned out to be useful once I'd got power back on the phone for trying to recover from route issues when you've got no phone signal.
Riding solo means you can go at your own pace without stressing that you're going to hold people up because I'm slow.
My shoes were comfy to walk in which was just as well.
I did more than my intended distance in 2 days rather than the planned 3 so there's that.

Cons:
Komoot had plotted several sections of what turned out to be footpath. This was my mistake since I should have double checked more of it against my map.
The Garmin Touring GPS really doesn't like it when you go off route and will quite happily navigate you along big sections of trail only to tell you to do a u-turn once it thinks you've rejoined the route.
Looking at rain reports for the valley floors doesn't really help when you're up on top of the hills, especially if you're in the clouds.
My tarp skills while in the dark and tired are terrible and I need to make my sleep system more idiot proof.
A soggy down sleeping bag isn't fun.
I discovered that my bar light had flown off its mount on the descent down to the Mawddach trail but didn't realise until I got to the loo block just before the bridge over to Barmouth. Did anyone find a NR 450 light?
I overstuffed my bum bag with my waterproof that had soaked up so much rain it was probably twice the bulk and the zip is now broken.
Riding solo makes gates a chore.

135 odd km ridden and 2700m climbed on the back of 10 km ridden this year so far so I did ok, just wish I'd been able to do a bit more climbing while riding rather than pushing. Riding it solo was an experience, not sure if I want to repeat it. All in all, I got very wet, all my stuff was saturated, I didn't eat well but somehow still enjoyed myself. A bit more prep and thought required for next year so that my timings aren't quite so off for getting food.

[Lazarus]

The Garmin Touring GPS really doesn't like it when you go off route and will quite happily navigate you along big sections of trail only to tell you to do a u-turn once it thinks you've rejoined the route.

So does a 530 if you ignore it's advice as to how to get back on the trail even when back to the trail it still redirects.
My only fix is to end the route then reload it .rubbish feature see

Good distance for basically no riding

[ctznsmith]

PaulB2...so you were the rider who left the pub in Corris as we arrived on Saturday (I think) and then we passed you on our way along the NCN into Dolgellau (again I think) on Sunday morning. I was really confused on Sunday as to how and why you were coming towards us! Chapeau to the amount of riding you did between those two crossing of paths!

[RIP]

The Garmin Touring GPS really doesn't like it when you go off route

Sorry to hear about your tribulations Paul. What doesn't damage you makes you stronger. Or some such trite rubbish .

This navigation aid positively loves it when you go off route: .

[PaulB2]

I have one, I found it waiting for me when I got home from where I’d left it on the table. That and 215

[PaulB2]

PaulB2...so you were the rider who left the pub in Corris as we arrived on Saturday (I think) and then we passed you on our way along the NCN into Dolgellau (again I think) on Sunday morning. I was really confused on Sunday as to how and why you were coming towards us! Chapeau to the amount of riding you did between those two crossing of paths!

If you passed someone walking his bike slowly up the hill it was probably me - most people were a blur unless I already knew the face.

[Bearbonesnorm]

I think my WRT story will be somewhat different to most - I'm enjoying these, keep 'em coming.

[psling]

135 odd km ridden and 2700m climbed

Remarkable coincidence (or maybe not ) but we did 135km and 2916m climbed. Also a lot of pushing, or lifting and even dragging in some places. I think we saw more sunshine than you by the sounds of it

Will put together a write-up when time permits.

[Raggedstone]

One of the things I love about the WRT is arriving at the yard and seeing everyone standing around smiling and chatting I wasn't disappointed this year . After some of those famous baps and loads of tea it was time to set off . I had noticed this bloke hanging around all morning so had a quick word with him turns out he was a local and on his advice Pete and myself set off in the opposite direction to almost everyone else . After a bit of climbing in the seated position it was time for the first use of the feet as we headed to our first grid reference looking behind I could see this big black cloud reaching all the way to the ground and was thankful we weren't there, after a bit of is it this way or that way we picked up the BW which was great fun so much so I didn't even spot the GR . Onwards to Mach which was buzzing with people attending the comedy festival we met Reg on the way out of town and while chatting and riding at the same time we were joined by a few other two wheel tramps some of whom had had a close encounter with the aforementioned cloud sounds like it was wet even for Wales .
We could have popped along the main road for a couple of miles to Pennal but when you can climb up a steep road and then through a forest why would you We passed a 4wd up for in the woods who had got out of his depth and then saw the cottage in the woods that had been reputedly owned by Led Zeppelin once upon a time . One rear light short we reached Pennal a quick main road dash and another long climb up the Happy Valley road to the turning onto the byway that goes to Bryncrug alot of pushing followed it was getting to the point where we started looking for a bivvy spot , while wandering around checking places out we were passed by a couple who we were to see again . Spot found we settled down for a nice evening of eating, drinking and enjoying the view , we didn't have to long to wait until the rain started unfortunately not sharing the ability to sleep through anything that Pete has it was a long night only compensated for by a very " English" breakfast at the café on the seafront in Towyn ..
Next grid reference was reached on the way to Barmouth on what turned out to be an off road motorcycle super highway we rejoined route 8 just as the LHC approached lots of happy faces to be seen , excellent job Karl and Cat The next few miles confirmed we must be going the right way as we met lots of of bikepackers going in the opposite direction including Lu and Mike having a sit down and more food after their celebratory meal of the previous evening .
It was all downhill from here to a watery grid reference at Barmouth . It was then up the estuary trail to Dolgellau to visit the Spar for provisions as we left town on the long climb up route 8 we were joined by a really nice young man who was out for a walk he was very interested in what we were up to and took details . Eventually the up stopped and we hoped to find somewhere to stay at the top but everywhere was standing water so down we went at the bottom of the hill we found a picnic area which looked good and not only to us there was another tent already there with bikes outside . Just as we started unpacking it started to rain heavily so a rapid pitch and that was it teady for the another sleepless night . As it turned out the occupants of the other tent were the same couple we had met the previous night ( I must get better at asking people's names ) all us were up and away early . We thought of going to Mach for breakfast but decided to go via Aberangell and Caersws and over the top to the café at Llanbrynmair after a good meal we had the familiar climb back for tea and cake .
A brilliant weekend as always facilitated by Stu and Dee and made by everyone who turns up thanks to one and all .

[JohnClimber]

Apart from No shows, DNS's and early mechanicals our little gang of 5 claim the shortest ever WRT at 27 miles over the 3 days.....

Our old Lonely Hearts Club riders have formed into a brilliant bunch of like minded riders who are a pleasure to ride at any time throughout the year.

Verena and I rode the Brecon Beacon's last Autumn (as they were called last year) and came up with the idea of taking our dogs to do a WRT, several months later and with Sam Walsh as chief herder and general super helpful riding buddy, Verena and her dog Hermione, met up with Sam, me and my dog Molly in Hafren Forest for a get to know each others dog walk mid Friday (the day before the WRT).
As the only rule of the WRT is no wild fires, we thought we'd push every non rule boundary this year.

Those with dog's did a bag drop at Y Star (now a self catering accommodation with the old breakfast room now made into a really nice lounge and dining area) before heading to meet some of our ex LHC gang at the surprisingly quiet Wynnstay pub at Llanbrynmair for a meal and a few beers before sleeping with Molly in my campervan in the carpark.

A quick breakfast and head to Bear Bones Towers to meet up, chat rubbish and not win any prizes, before heading out up the valley behind Bear Bones with the dogs trotting alongside on the fire roads to the top of the pass as the rain came in. Plan A was 16.4 miles, at the turn to a dead end track up to our first GR we changed to Plan B but with 2 massive climbs before descending down the road to Y Star for the evening.
The evening was warm by the fire, with great food, chat, sleeping and playing dogs, drink and very comfy beds. Sam on his airbed in sleeping bag.

Sunday we awoke to rain, rain and more rain, check out was 10, but we faffed and faffed loading up the bikes leaving at 11am after the rain had stopped.
Plan A was to ride south and do a loop around Hafren, find the source of the River Severn.
We did almost this, but with the late start we headed out down the hill from Y Star and turned South, at the very first house on the left I cheekily rode into their yard, knocked on their door and asked for us to leave our heavy packs there. The couple were more than happy to help us and we left our gear in their garage until we headed back towards the North again.
We rode with the dogs on unladened bikes until we got to the first bit of fire road near the bunkhouse, before letting the dogs run free as we rode alongside, Plan B started when we thought the dogs were halfway through their run and we turned back to the road again, loaded up the dogs, rode up to the bag drop. loaded up and headed north down the long downhill road to Bear Bones Towers.

After a quick tea and cake pitstop at Bear Bones Towers while trying to find Sam (who had headed off earlier that day), we headed up the valley to the the Spiritual Camp to take up the personal springtime invite from the Shaman to use his large roundhouse for the evening and overnight as well as eat with him and his team too.

A very chilled out evening followed and a nice night was had with the 5 of our gang spent around the fire in the middle of the large round house, the dogs loved running around it and being free to explore it.

In the morning, breakfasted, loaded up and it was a dog run up to the farm yard and a ride with dogs back to Bear Bones Towers for 9am before a dog trot up the driveway, tea, cake, chat and up to the cars and vans.

So many laughs, memories, lessons learnt, bonds made with pets and friends for life maintained.

27 miles over the 3 days and zero GR's. Is that a record low?

[frogatthefarriers]

So this is was a Biggy! My 9th consecutive WRT. Also my 100th BaM, so I thought it worth making a bit of an effort. With that in mind, I packed a bit more food than usual. I would be accompanied by my son/minder Mike and we would make a special meal to celebrate. In addition to my normal load, I packed wine (Rioja), rib-eye steaks (30 day aged), Portobello mushrooms, 8 medium potatoes (Maris Piper), half a litre of cooking oil, two Spotty Dick puddings, a sachet of instant custard and a measure of Krupnik to go to bed on. I also had a frying pan and a mesh spoon (for fishing chips out of hot oil) that I had to swear on my life to Mrs Frog that I'd bring back. I brought my small wood stove to provide the extra heat needed to fry chips on. This all meant that I was 16lb heavier than my average 55lb.

On the way there...




"Daddy, look at that cow"
"It's not a cow, baby, it's a bull."
"How do you know it's not a cow, Daddy?"
"Because it's got big.... erm... because it's bigger than the others"...


I was packing a lot of extra weight and Mike hadn't sat on a bike since last years WRT, so unsurprisingly we ran out of steam around 10 miles short of where we (I) had planned, at some woodland by the forest picnic area at Aberllefenni. Three tents were already set up on the grass, but we would be hammocking, so headed up into the trees where we pitched up near a small brook.

The kitchen...


Chips on the go, in Mikes Zebra Billy...


Steak frying with mushrooms...


Wine cooling in the brook...


Dinner is served! Steak chips & mushrooms.


Puddings...


A cheeky little Rioja. I don't mind if I do...


An hour's chewing the fat (not from the steaks - they were delicious) before falling into bed.

The morning after...


Through the rain to Dolgellau for breakfast then up over the top towards Tywyn. We crossed paths with Pete and Kevin at the top.

Barmouth, from NCN 82...


That's enough for now. A few more pictures in BaM 2023

[psling]

Judging by the number of Boners we met going the opposite way to us it would appear that our anti-clockwise loop was less popular than a clockwise loop. Of course, at the speed I travel we were never going to catch anyone up but to be fair we were only overtaken once or twice....
Riding with Kevin (Raggedstone) as per post above ^^^ we set out up through the area clear-felled a couple of years back to join the regular fireroad out the back of Stu's and then cutting to the right for our first walk of the weekend up to the hillside and over to the Llan - Talywern road and thence to Machynlleth. A gentle ride out of town with Reg, we left him to continue his research into multi-modes of travel while we headed up a brutal hill from the Corris road and over on fireroads to Pennal (losing my old-favourite rear light along the way ) from where we promptly set off up the next big hill on tarmac to get to the next even bigger hill along a seriously rocky byway involving quite a bit of man-handling the bikes. However, the sun was shining, it was a beautiful evening and we found a suitable bivvy spot to settle down for the first night shortly after being passed by the Woodhouses (?) tackling the same byway

IMG_20230429_203947 by Peter Slingerland, on Flickr

The beautiful evening deteriorated sometime during the night into persistent rain; a lie-in til 08.00 and still no sign of it relenting so it was crawl out and get wet. And we got wet! The rocky hike-a-bike byway was not as much fun in the rain as we pushed on towards Tywyn for a beachside breakfast, shared with some other riders (sorry, didn't get names) before stacking up the 'metres climbed' again heading around the west side of Cadair Idris. We bumped into several other riders along the way including Karl and the LHC, a couple of gents riding Stu's gravel route, and then Lou and his lad perched on a log before we started descending towards the Mawddach Estuary

IMG_20230430_141822 by Peter Slingerland, on Flickr

IMG_20230430_153950 by Peter Slingerland, on Flickr

More riders were met and chatted to as we descended and then it was a trundle over the bridge to the seaside at Barmouth where the GR in the sea was duly ticked off

IMG_20230430_170712 by Peter Slingerland, on Flickr

Fish & chips were eaten and then it was back over the railway bridge following and chatting with a young couple on powered skateboard type things, a kind of cross between a segway and a skateboard with a single central kart wheel powered by a hub motor. Impressive! It was nice to be riding on level ground along the Mawddach but the old perineum was beginning to feel the efforts of the weekend Still, the climb out of Dolgellau took the mind off that, over the top and down to Aberllefenni to find a spot for the night in the darkness. True to form it started raining just as we began to set up camp! We met the occupants of another tent there the next morning, turned out to be the Woodhouses again.

Time to choose a route back towards the Towers, another big hill on tarmac over to Aberangell followed by, yes, you've guessed it... another f-off hill from Caemmas towards Llanbrynmair. Late lunch at the Caffi there and then along the road (with several others) to cake heaven.

A lot of climbing, one sore knee and another handful of memories. Cheers Stu & Dee

[AndreR]

Had a really good time as usual on my favourite non event of the year, but also one of the most bizarre bivi experiences ever. On Sunday night we found a spot to bivi near Corris not too far from "The Best Puddle in Corris". We knew this because it had a very nicely made wooden sign with these very words burned into the wood! Mooched about a bit scoping the area and decided it was good and set up the tarp and got a brew on. Deb and I sat on our sleeping bags sipping our tea reflecting on the day when we hear an odd whining noise from up the path. Odd and damn, hope we don't have to move! In a few moments an older bloke in full army camo strolls down the path driving a fully camo painted, radio controlled jeep! Polite nods exchanged and he proceeded on down the path driving his jeep over every obstruction around and through every puddle available. Spent a few minutes racing his jeep about in the "Best Puddle" before walking through the middle of it and sauntering off into the woods!

Quiet and restful evening followed and away in the morning with no further disturbance!

[ootini]

I'm nor gonna write War and Peace. Just a list of things I learned from this WRT.

I've no intention of going tubeless on my gravel bike. Tubes FTW!
I need to seal the seams on my SMD tent.
I carry too much food.
Carrying two bottles, one empty, one full and a water filter, worked out nicely.
Cheap tyres are just as good as expensive tyres, on occasion.
Being friendly to other riders is nice.
Stopping for too long, mid ride causes quad and hamstring issues.
My Exped Winter Synmat LW was massive overkill.
I need to train my legs for hills. And / or...
I need to review my gearing, specifically in regard to climbing.
A mac in a sack, cheapo waterproof jacket, is spot on for the $$$.
Gels are minging. Eat real food instead.
Everything in mid Wales closes on a Sunday, even on a bank holiday weekend. Its like the pub owners don't want an income.

[Boab]

Did someone say War and Peace...? Buckle up, this is Part 1 of 3...

TL;DR My account of what I’m now calling Bear Bones Boggiest Best Bits. Or if you prefer, extensive evidence of why you should listen to people when they tell you to only ride things that are shown as proper tracks on a map.

Google decided to send me on the scenic route to Llanbrynmair; down the M6 Toll, then some local roads to the M54, then rather than staying on the A5, had me off on B roads for ages. Newtown came and went, stopping at the Tesco for some provisions, and we were soon parked up in the car park opposite the Wynnstay. The stark reality of daylight showed that it’s certainly not looking particularly loved; which is sad, but unsurprising.



After dumping my stuff in my room, I headed to the lounge to see who was in attendance. Fewer than expected, even though a few more turned up, it wasn’t particularly jumping. I headed off to bed at a sensible 22:30, evidently some were up till the early hours nattering away to the locals.

I’d brought my Aeropress with me, so while I was up and about at 06:00, I read my book and drank coffee for a couple of hours. After a quick see you later to everyone having breakfast, the short drive to Bear Bones Towers allowed me to finish a podcast episode I’d been listening to the previous evening.

As I tried to put my bike back together and strap all the bags to it, I was regretting my decision not to bring my big maintenance stand with me. I was really struggling to get the rear wheel in and set, but I finally managed it. Only when I got onto the bike to give it a quick spin around the field, did I find that there was no drive. I knew instantly what was wrong, as a similar thing had happened a couple of weeks before, the freehub had popped out and the pawls were disengaged.

I fixed it last time by wrapping a bit of strings around them, then gently inserting it into the hub shell before removing the string. That was all done without the cassette on though, and I wasn’t sure I could manage it with it on and amazingly enough, I hadn’t brought any tools dealing with my cassette. Thankfully I had two bits of string, and on the first time of asking, I managed to get the pawls held and inserted. We were off to a flyer.



I’m not one for the standing around and chatting bit, but I did say hello to a few people and sat in the sun for a bit chatting, slowly getting hotter and hotter. I moved to the shade, but took my shoes off and left them in the sun to try and dry them out; I also took my waterproof socks off, as my feet were happily sweating away.

Standing in the queue for one of Collette’s baps, lead to a bit more chatting, with the big give-away going on in the background; really quite envious of some of those prizes this year. Then we were off, or in my case, we were back to the car. One lesson I learned from last year was that I didn’t enjoy standing around in my bib shorts for a few hours, so I decided to leave changing into them till the last minute. Then with a cheery bye to Dee, were headed off up the back of the valley.



I made it about four hundred metres before realising I’d left the provisions I’d bought the previous evening in the car. As they were perishable, it seemed a shame to let them rot, so I headed back past John, Verena and their dogs and back to the car. Provisions packed, this time we were actually off and soon catching up with others who had the benefit of lower gearing.

Even though I had my route sync’d with my GPS, I decided not to load it for the time being and winched myself to the top of the pass. The weather had turned and it had started to drizzle a bit, some others at the top were putting on their waterproofs, I was hoping to keep mine off for a bit longer. It was time to load my route and as I didn’t fancy the steep bridleway descent, I figured I could drop down to the next corner and take the track to meet up with it.

The rain got heavier, so on went the waterproof and down we went, straight past the track. I couldn’t be arsed to climb back up to it, so I just headed for the main road. The rain got heavier and I started contemplating boshing straight for Mach and the nearest bus shelter, I hadn’t planned on being this wet, this early. The further down the road I went, the lighter the rain got, till it had mostly stopped. I knew I was off route, so I just followed the breadcrumbs when they told me to backtrack up backroad, as I vaguely remembered that I’d maybe put a bridleway or byway in up that way. What I didn’t realise was I’d accidentally hit “route to start” on the GPS and it was trying to take me back to The Towers, and back into the torrential rain.



I finally figured it out, when some of the other riders I’d seen at the top of the pass came whizzing past me. Given the torrential rain, I decided sod whatever bridleway/byway I was supposed to be going on and turned around to head for Mach. Once back onto the road to Forge, the GPS suddenly decided I was back on my actual route, as the breadcrumbs had turned from blue to black, the rain also petered out. When the GPS buzzed to tell me to turn left, I decided to follow it, rather than going straight to Mach.

At this juncture I feel I should make a comment about my route choices. I’d already planned a long and short ride before the grid references were issued, but they were both to the South. So I’d come up with another one, which at least made a vague attempt at visiting some of them; it was essentially bits of BB200 routes stitched together, all starting with a healthy dose of the 2014 route.



We were off and pushing immediately upon entering the first bridleway, not because it was steep, or technical, but due to all the tree trunks that littered it. At least it wasn’t a bog I thought to myself, as I splashed my way over and around all the trees. It didn’t get any better the further along we went, with the fallen trunks being replaced by horizontal trees. The piece of resistance though, was the ten metres of bog, right at the start of the last little section.



Thankfully the next byway, which I’d had reservations about, was actually a really nice downhill whizz, albeit punctuated by the odd gate, and sheep or ten. Spirits were high as we rejoined the road and booted it for Mach. I was unsure if I was going to stop or not, as I had plenty of supplies and the aim was a poke of chips in Barmouth. Realising the Comedy Festival was on, I didn’t stop and carried on out towards the new bridge.

I did stop on the way out, partly to take the waterproof off, as it was nice and warm again, but also to scoff a pasty. I bonked twice last year, so I was determined not to have it happen again, so I planned to keep stuffing my face at every opportunity. Cue some 12% average, 16% max gradient bastard climb; I made it to the gate without chundering. A bunch of 4x4’s appeared, which was all the excuse I needed to climb off and push the rest of the way, as I had no desire to revisit the pasty.





There was a cracking view and descent down to Pennal and a short section of main road to Cwrt; how do you even begin to pronounce that…‽ I caught a couple of riders on the way up the next hill and slowed down for a brief chat. I still had my eye on a poke of chips in Barmouth, so I was soon off on my own again. The turn onto the byway was a bit of a shocker and I pushed all the way up, as I don’t have the skillz to ride that kind of bouldery, slabby, loose, steep crap; even if it had been tarmac, not sure I could’ve managed to ride 18%, or whatever it was, anyway.



I’d been listening to the You’re Dead to Me Sarah Bernhardt episode in the car, and evidently her mantra was So what? Or at least the French equivalent, so I decided to adopt it too. So what, that I was pushing uphill for what seemed like hours. So what, once uphill I couldn’t ride for more than twenty metres before having to get off to negotiate an unrideable puddle, slab or rut. So what, I was pushing downhill, as I didn’t want to die. So what, I chose to be here and I will damn well enjoy myself. The views were nice.



Once safely down the other side, it was back onto NCR82 and off through Bryncrug, where the inside of my left thigh promptly cramped. I can’t remember the last time I cramped on the bike, I thought I had that sussed out. With no idea how to stretch it out, I set to work jabbing my fingers in till it eased off a bit. I got back on the bike and gently set off again, only for the right leg to join the left and start cramping; then both calves decided they may as well get in on the action.

I checked my water bladder at this juncture, and it would appear that in the four hours of riding to that point, I’d drank one litre and I could recollect having had a piss. So while I’d been shovelling in the calories, I hadn’t been washing them down, and had massively dehydrated myself with all the pushing. Oops.



I’m beginning to wonder if I have some sort of mental block, as I seem to find it impossible to eat and drink to the correct levels. It’s either not enough food and a bonk, or not enough liquid and dehydration; sometimes it’s both to be fair. I drank the rest of the bladder while gingerly making my way to the next climb. Thankfully there was a decent stream not too far up it, so I broke out the water filter and set to work.



After a bunch of MX riders had whizzed past, I was off and pushing. I tried to ride, but was feeling pretty terrible and anything remotely steep, pretty much the rest of the climb to be fair, was just causing the thighs to give out again. I thought the tarmac would never end, it just seemed to go on and on. Finally we ended up riding again and popped out of the final muddy cut up section by some woods to the wonderful sight of the view down over the estuary and Barmouth. I teared up.



I enjoyed riding over the bridge and was thankful that the first chippy I came across was open, so I stopped. They really could do with a better processing system, as it took ages to get my chips, but I wasn’t complaining too loudly, as it at least gave me a bit of a rest and a chance to shove more liquid in. The chips were good, and I even had to leave a few as I was totally rammed. I wandered to the Co-op for resupply and decided to try some Welsh cakes, never had them before, they’re ace and I bought more at every resupply from then on.



I knew there was a climb out of Barmouth, but jeez, Panorama Road with a belly full of chips, no chance. By the time I got to something I could ride, I was boiling, so off came the waterproof shorts. The tarmac ran out, but it was a nice gravel track, shame about the gates. Then the track ran out, and I was in no state to try and ride the rutted, thread of rubbley path in the dark, so it was off and pushing; so what though.



I was now eight hours in and given the state of me, started to look at potential bivvy spots. I’d wanted to go a bit further, but so what! I wandered over to look at a big tree that was surrounded by a wall, if I’d had a bivvy bag it would’ve been grand, shame about the boggy ground to get there and back. Shortly, very shortly, I was cursing that it wasn’t flat, as I pushed, swore and dragged myself and the bike up some tussock and gorse infested 16 - 18% “supposed” bridleway. Once at the top, I found a spot that would take the tent, but as it was only half past ten, I figured I could go for another half hour and see if I could find somewhere with fewer sheep. I eventually found a shitty pitch at about one in the morning, but there’s at least another couple of paragraphs of misery before we get there.

Carrying on, I was soon back onto tarmac, but not for long. My route went right at a fork, but it also had a small no cycling sign and a much larger private road sign, so I headed left up and around Llyn Cwm-mynach. I thought I’d be able to find somewhere to pitch the tent up around there, but no, with no flat ground. Not sure I could even see the Llyn in the dark, but I was confident that after it I’d surely be able to find somewhere with soft ground to get some tent pegs in.

I did eventually come across some flatish, soft ground, shame there was a house next to it; I’d reached the end of the forest track. Back on tarmac and back negotiating various gates, while trying not to make too much noise. I was finally starting to feel a bit cold, it was getting on for midnight, so I stopped just after Tyn Y Groes Car Park and put my jacket on. With too many lights visible and the odd car parked up, I just kept going, hoping to find somewhere a bit more discreet.

I stopped a few times to investigate various verges, but they were either not big enough, flat enough or soft enough. Eventually there was a sign pointing into some sort of Iron Age forge remains or something, it looked flatter, so off the main track we went. Not wanting to pitch up in some sort of ancient monument, I continued on the path out the other side and eventually came to a spot that was almost big enough for the tent; it would have to do.



Tent up, guys bodged as there wasn’t enough space, and I was soon in and unpacked. I shut my eyes at half past one, was woken up at two o’clock by the sound of rain, but was nice and cosy and got a decent night's sleep.

Distance: 100.78KM; Elapsed Time 11:48:22; Moving time: 9:09:24; Elevation: 2,755m
Smiles: lots; Wet feet?: not really
https://www.strava.com/activities/8992887920

[RIP]

Nowt wrong with a W & P, always interesting to read others' experiences.

Enjoyed it, sympathised with some of the Type 2.1, but for those who are maybe a little more time-poor here's the abridged version:

"Smiles: lots"

[NeilA]

We met this fella on day one of WRT on anti-clockwise Long Route. Thought this nice pic might find its owner