“Spars In Their Eyes” or a WRT warm-up run
Dunno whether this is “BAM” – have managed 3/4 Jan/Mar/April - or “Today’s ride” so I’ll just bung it here and hope for the best.
Getting a bit worried about WRT ;-). Especially since I’ll arrive a day early with a toddle over from Caersws station via Foel Fadian, and leave a day late to Caersws via Not Sure Yet. So, time for a test run to Snowdonia. Quite a wierd couple of days with daytime temperatures up to 20c and night time well below 0c as proved by frozen water supplies and iced-up tarps.
Thumbing a lift from a passing Super Voyager at Milton Keynes station took me to Llanduddiddlydudno Junction in a fairly astounding 2h19mins – very fast but those trains are made out of baking foil as far as I can see so quite a lively ride. After a spot of luncheon at Cafe Valley in Trefriw with me mate, it was out the door and straight onto the nightmare climb up to Llyn Cowlyd. I’m not into “numbers” or electronic gizmos but it was something like 400m in a couple of miles. Whatever it was it was a nasty shock although we managed it with three stops and no pushing. I’m very pleased I haven’t succumbed to the strange “1x11” fashion, as Granny Ring cruised me serenely upwards. Sadly I have no calorific calculations for lifting 81192 grammes up 400m (bike 11700g, me 61500g, barbag 2103g, stemcells 410g, fueltank 440g, koala 2342g, worn clothes 2697g). Do “worn clothes” count in the WRT Weigh-In by the way? If not, there seems to be a bit of a loophole there for unscrupulous riders such as myself if you get my drift ;-). By some miracle we’d chosen 2016’s sunny day but confusingly there was snow on the Carneddau in the distance. Should have brought our skis.
The slog along Llyn Cowlyd is beautifully remote, quiet and majestic; but a bit of a bone-shaker with a carry at the far end up onto the col. Having seen nobody at all so far, we were a little baffled to spot a party of Japanese tourists(?) lobbing rocks into the lake half way along. Are they always there I wonder?
The drop down to Capel Curig (short way) was a real bogfest – should probably have gone the longer way via the leat – the funniest thing being the considerable number of small wooden bridges placed at apparently random intervals across “streams”. We couldn’t tell the difference between the “streams” and the surrounding gloop to be honest. I foolhardily decided to rush one bridge, my front-wheel-lift totally pointless as it disappeared to axle-level just before the bridge, pitching me OTB. Good news was I landed on the bridge, bad news was I rolled sideways with both feet into the reeking bog and the smell of my shoes went before me for the rest of the trip.
Another tea and flapjack (I rate trips using the “Flapjack Scale”, this one was a 7), at Capel Curig Pinnacle Cafe (who serve stunningly good value breakfasts by the look of it – next time methinks), then it was off over Cefn Glas to Dolwyddydyddelllan. Obviously rank amateurs we had to push half the rise, ride the rest, then barrel down through the woods to the road. I’m getting the feeling we’re riding this whole thing the “wrong way round” ;-). Predictably Y Gwydyr pub was shut until 6pm (and in fact shut weekdays apparently) so the Spar saved our bacon, or veggie-sausage depending on your persuasion, and we stocked up. A 750ml bottle of nicely chilled Sauvignon slotted into my Alpkit Dual 20. Presumably if one mounted the drybag vertically rather than horizontally you could empty 26 bottles of wine into it, seal it up, then trot off to some remote bivi for a jolly party with 25 friends or a huge solo p1ss up. I mentioned to my colleague that it would stay chilled until we reached our, slightly dodgy, secret hideout at Llynau D* up in the forest, although I rather miscalculated the distance and climb ;-).
Sadly not enough room for the cheeseboard and biscuits in my Koala.
Why the hell won't photobucket rotate some photos properly?
A playfully chilly night followed and we awoke to frozen water bottles and icy tarps. One lump of tea or two with your breakfast sir?
By happenstance in the morning we passed Roman Bridge station just as the first train was wobbling down from Blaenau so we took it to Pont-y-Pant to save a bit of the ride to Penmachno. The guard told us they were stunned to get flagged down – the last passengers they picked up there had a steam-hauled train and the tickets cost £sd ;-).
After dumping the kit in the bushes we managed a circuit and a half of the trails – the new bits are quite entertaining.
Then down to the Alpine Cafe in Betws for a late lunch which seemed to consist mainly of cake which is no bad thing of course. Mine were the cabinet on the left.
A final spin on the last section of the Marin Trail (not keen on the rest of it) and back to Llan Junction and home. An interesting experiment this time was travelling with no water at all, just a Steripen (195g) with 500ml cheapo plastic bottle. This turned out to be a superb arrangement, I seem to have survived to scribble these ravings and the water tasted far nicer than anything out of a tap!
All I need now is a hundredweight of bum anti-chafing cream and I’m sorted for WRT.
Cheers, “Reg”
fun ride tho, just shy of 100 miles for me 
