Trans-Cambrian Way
Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2021 1:17 pm
After an aborted attempt at the TCW last year with two friends I decided to have another crack at the TCW. (Last year we took over geared gravel bikes and a surprise storm made it unpleasant so we ditched the route after the first night and took the road back to Aberystwyth). Having flexibility meant I could work around the weather, I'd originally planned to start at the weekend but with the rain I thought I'd give it a couple of days to dry out.
After some faffing about and life admin, I left home in the lakes mid afternoon on Monday and aimed for Clun (my thinking was there was ample parking and it wasn't too far from Craven Arms so I could easily ride back to the van should I finish after the trains to provincial station Knighton stopped for the day). Arrived at Clun after an easy run down, I set the bike up, finished my Subway and I was away at 18:00. Having done the Knighton to Rhayader section last year and camping in some woods shortly before Rhayader I thought I'd aim for the same spot. Hoping my easier gearing and wider tyres would mean I was a bit quicker. I'd plotted a quick road section from Clun to Lloyney and then I joined the route proper. Max effort to make it over a little rock step and I was spinning up the rocky track and finally offroad.
A quick flicker of recognition and I remembered there was a lovely big grassy hill to negotiate, feeling fresh I thought I'd try to ride it all, getting about 3/4 way up before realising I wasn't going to make it so cut my losses and jumped off, had a drink and plodded my way up.
As I crested the top, my thoughts of a fast paced blast to my bivvy spot was ruined by a delightful couple who were on a dog walk and chatted to me about their various bike touring trips over the years. After our saying our farewells and the wishing me luck, I span along the wide grassy plateau, onto heathery hardpack, wary of stealth sheep doing their usual ‘I’m not in your way, but I might decide to be when you startle me’.
Descent to the river crossing, filled bottles and back up and onto the farmland. Darkness fell and other than a few bugs trying their best to up my protein intake for the day, all was easy until I reached a field with a few eyes looking at me. Winching myself up through a field and I realised I wasn’t alone… cows everywhere! I picked my way between them and then realised half the herd were crowded around the gate. They were a bit twitchy, but I used my strongest learnt Cumbrian farmer voice, they parted wandered off. As I stopped for some water and a few M&Ms I completely forgot they were there, turned around and scared myself silly when I saw them so close.
A few more miles and I got the bivvy spot, set up, had some sausage rolls and then into the tent. A fitful sleep to start with but eventually I was off and only awoken by a very loud owl seemingly looking for a mate.
The next morning I broke camp and rode down to Rhayader. Coffee and bacon butties from the Coop in a bustop really was a perfect breakfast. After reading a few comments on here, I decided to skip the broken road from the Elan visitor centre so I took the road over the reservoir and then to the north of the river. I did have a mild dream of getting to Mach for the last train of the day (approx. 20:00) so thought if I could up my speed here, it might pay back later on.
As I hit the Claerwen Reservoir the sun came out and the breeze started blowing. Felt oddly slow and realised my body was still trying to protest a very salty breakfast. I downed some water and felt much better.
At the end of the reservoir I met a couple of riders who were staying in B&Bs, we chatted for a while, exchanged stories, complained about gates and then I rode off, feeling I had to ride faster than them as they’d commented I looked like I was travelling light. 2 minutes later, I rode through the water splash and then stopped to filter some water. As I was finishing they came up, looked at the splash, stopped, egged each other on. The more cautious of them rode through tentatively and made it pretty much to the other side, revealing she’d only bought her first mountain bike a couple of weeks before and was a roadie by nature. The other, more confident had pushed back up the hill to get a run up. She hammered down in a big gear, immediately lost all her speed and then couldn’t keep on top of the gear, put her foot down, missed a rock and then comically fell into the water. Laughter ensued, no harm done and I bid them adieu.
Realising I wasn’t going to make the train today I chilled out and detoured to a café at Pontrhydygroes for some lunch and a refreshing zesty drink. 15m from rejoining the route, I saw the riders from earlier, caught up with them and we chatted and rode for a bit before I shot off on the rocky descent down towards Llangurig. Feeling good, I knew I’d make it past Hafren and soon found myself on tracks familiar from the 2019 WRT. Stopped for a break at the toilet block and then got the map out to look for a suitable bivvy spot. I thought I’d try to get to the highest point remaining so it would be a nice descent down to the train in the morning.
Climbing up from Staylittle, as I went though the farmyard before reaching the bridleways at the top three very aggressive collies started barking but I tested out some advice a dog trainer friend had given me, held my ground, talked authoritatively and they kept their distance, stopped barking and eventually slinked off.
I started feeling pretty wiped out as I rode through the fields at the top of the route, but fueled up on M&Ms and cracked on. Slid my way down the slatey descent, hiked my way up the other side and then searched for a bivvy spot. Pitched up, made dinner and then realised I’d forgotten to pack a spork. A very cautious 5 minutes of scooping pasta into my mouth with my knife later I was fed and crawled into bed for a slightly fitful sleep.
Next morning I broke camp, knowing it was pretty much all downhill from here. As I wanted breakfast I’d planned a route straight down to Machynlleth, what I hadn’t realised is I’d picked a loose 20% slatey bridleway, some squeaky bum time later, I’d picked/skidded/white knuckled my way down, was on the road and cruising to Mach. When I got there, I grabbed some breakfast and realised there was more than an hour to my train as I’d just missed one, so I decided it wasn’t a bad idea to spin down the road to Dovey Junction to at least say I’d got there. A leg stretching spin down the road felt great and I was only slightly annoyed when I found out all the trains were delayed due to a breakdown further up the line.
And that’s where the story should end, quick train to Shrewsbury and then on to Craven Arms and then a short road blast to Clun and back to the van. Instead, the train I was on only went as far as Mach, so we all disembarked, rejoined the next one and then made it to Shrewsbury, where after chatting to a chap who had ridden from Cardiff in part of a group up to Rhayader while awaiting our south bound train, we were given some rather annoying news. A guy told us he and his three friends on tourers had been waiting for 3 hours for a train to Cardiff and hadn’t be allowed to get on any of the past ones as they’d been full. They had special permission to get their three bikes on the next one, but he didn’t think we’d be able to get on. My new friend Jackson and I tried to see if we could get on, but weren’t made any promises. They also couldn’t tell us if we’d be able to get on the next one. While Jackson had to make it back to Cardiff I thought I’d may as well ride. I’d done over 170km on tough terrain, surely an extra 40km on road wouldn’t be too hard?! It was… hot steep hills on legs which had resigned to have finished meant I was absolutely crawling. I eventually made it back to the van, stripped the bags off the bike, poured copious bottles of water over myself and then drove home. Stopping to eat and top up the oil on the van as it appears to have gained a new thirst for 5w-40.
A great route, I’d love to have a go even lighter and see if I could do it in a day if the logistics worked, but I’d work on my fitness first.
After some faffing about and life admin, I left home in the lakes mid afternoon on Monday and aimed for Clun (my thinking was there was ample parking and it wasn't too far from Craven Arms so I could easily ride back to the van should I finish after the trains to provincial station Knighton stopped for the day). Arrived at Clun after an easy run down, I set the bike up, finished my Subway and I was away at 18:00. Having done the Knighton to Rhayader section last year and camping in some woods shortly before Rhayader I thought I'd aim for the same spot. Hoping my easier gearing and wider tyres would mean I was a bit quicker. I'd plotted a quick road section from Clun to Lloyney and then I joined the route proper. Max effort to make it over a little rock step and I was spinning up the rocky track and finally offroad.
A quick flicker of recognition and I remembered there was a lovely big grassy hill to negotiate, feeling fresh I thought I'd try to ride it all, getting about 3/4 way up before realising I wasn't going to make it so cut my losses and jumped off, had a drink and plodded my way up.
As I crested the top, my thoughts of a fast paced blast to my bivvy spot was ruined by a delightful couple who were on a dog walk and chatted to me about their various bike touring trips over the years. After our saying our farewells and the wishing me luck, I span along the wide grassy plateau, onto heathery hardpack, wary of stealth sheep doing their usual ‘I’m not in your way, but I might decide to be when you startle me’.
Descent to the river crossing, filled bottles and back up and onto the farmland. Darkness fell and other than a few bugs trying their best to up my protein intake for the day, all was easy until I reached a field with a few eyes looking at me. Winching myself up through a field and I realised I wasn’t alone… cows everywhere! I picked my way between them and then realised half the herd were crowded around the gate. They were a bit twitchy, but I used my strongest learnt Cumbrian farmer voice, they parted wandered off. As I stopped for some water and a few M&Ms I completely forgot they were there, turned around and scared myself silly when I saw them so close.
A few more miles and I got the bivvy spot, set up, had some sausage rolls and then into the tent. A fitful sleep to start with but eventually I was off and only awoken by a very loud owl seemingly looking for a mate.
The next morning I broke camp and rode down to Rhayader. Coffee and bacon butties from the Coop in a bustop really was a perfect breakfast. After reading a few comments on here, I decided to skip the broken road from the Elan visitor centre so I took the road over the reservoir and then to the north of the river. I did have a mild dream of getting to Mach for the last train of the day (approx. 20:00) so thought if I could up my speed here, it might pay back later on.
As I hit the Claerwen Reservoir the sun came out and the breeze started blowing. Felt oddly slow and realised my body was still trying to protest a very salty breakfast. I downed some water and felt much better.
At the end of the reservoir I met a couple of riders who were staying in B&Bs, we chatted for a while, exchanged stories, complained about gates and then I rode off, feeling I had to ride faster than them as they’d commented I looked like I was travelling light. 2 minutes later, I rode through the water splash and then stopped to filter some water. As I was finishing they came up, looked at the splash, stopped, egged each other on. The more cautious of them rode through tentatively and made it pretty much to the other side, revealing she’d only bought her first mountain bike a couple of weeks before and was a roadie by nature. The other, more confident had pushed back up the hill to get a run up. She hammered down in a big gear, immediately lost all her speed and then couldn’t keep on top of the gear, put her foot down, missed a rock and then comically fell into the water. Laughter ensued, no harm done and I bid them adieu.
Realising I wasn’t going to make the train today I chilled out and detoured to a café at Pontrhydygroes for some lunch and a refreshing zesty drink. 15m from rejoining the route, I saw the riders from earlier, caught up with them and we chatted and rode for a bit before I shot off on the rocky descent down towards Llangurig. Feeling good, I knew I’d make it past Hafren and soon found myself on tracks familiar from the 2019 WRT. Stopped for a break at the toilet block and then got the map out to look for a suitable bivvy spot. I thought I’d try to get to the highest point remaining so it would be a nice descent down to the train in the morning.
Climbing up from Staylittle, as I went though the farmyard before reaching the bridleways at the top three very aggressive collies started barking but I tested out some advice a dog trainer friend had given me, held my ground, talked authoritatively and they kept their distance, stopped barking and eventually slinked off.
I started feeling pretty wiped out as I rode through the fields at the top of the route, but fueled up on M&Ms and cracked on. Slid my way down the slatey descent, hiked my way up the other side and then searched for a bivvy spot. Pitched up, made dinner and then realised I’d forgotten to pack a spork. A very cautious 5 minutes of scooping pasta into my mouth with my knife later I was fed and crawled into bed for a slightly fitful sleep.
Next morning I broke camp, knowing it was pretty much all downhill from here. As I wanted breakfast I’d planned a route straight down to Machynlleth, what I hadn’t realised is I’d picked a loose 20% slatey bridleway, some squeaky bum time later, I’d picked/skidded/white knuckled my way down, was on the road and cruising to Mach. When I got there, I grabbed some breakfast and realised there was more than an hour to my train as I’d just missed one, so I decided it wasn’t a bad idea to spin down the road to Dovey Junction to at least say I’d got there. A leg stretching spin down the road felt great and I was only slightly annoyed when I found out all the trains were delayed due to a breakdown further up the line.
And that’s where the story should end, quick train to Shrewsbury and then on to Craven Arms and then a short road blast to Clun and back to the van. Instead, the train I was on only went as far as Mach, so we all disembarked, rejoined the next one and then made it to Shrewsbury, where after chatting to a chap who had ridden from Cardiff in part of a group up to Rhayader while awaiting our south bound train, we were given some rather annoying news. A guy told us he and his three friends on tourers had been waiting for 3 hours for a train to Cardiff and hadn’t be allowed to get on any of the past ones as they’d been full. They had special permission to get their three bikes on the next one, but he didn’t think we’d be able to get on. My new friend Jackson and I tried to see if we could get on, but weren’t made any promises. They also couldn’t tell us if we’d be able to get on the next one. While Jackson had to make it back to Cardiff I thought I’d may as well ride. I’d done over 170km on tough terrain, surely an extra 40km on road wouldn’t be too hard?! It was… hot steep hills on legs which had resigned to have finished meant I was absolutely crawling. I eventually made it back to the van, stripped the bags off the bike, poured copious bottles of water over myself and then drove home. Stopping to eat and top up the oil on the van as it appears to have gained a new thirst for 5w-40.
A great route, I’d love to have a go even lighter and see if I could do it in a day if the logistics worked, but I’d work on my fitness first.
but not sure if it was us?!?! Timings sound different.... We met two guys from Oxford, and a group of three South Africans from London, several times over the route, that's it. Remarkably few, considering it was bank holiday weekend and amazing weather, and quite a well known route. Hi by the way 
if any of you are reading this.
We just talked nicely to him and kept moving and it was fine, but I was glad I wasn't on my own...
