Big thanks to Stu and Dee for yet another well run, chilled out and thoroughly enjoyable event.

Third time I've done the WRT and the selection of checkpoints was the best in my opinion. I had the pleasure of riding some excellent trails on terrain that I'm not particularly familiar with, and have come back feeling like I got the best out of the area. I'm also very full of cake and have the best looking WRT t-shirt produced so far to wear too.

Hats off to you both for all you hard work :)

^^^ AGREED

It was only my 1st WRT and the waypoints offered some good riding (except the bog after WP01 Stu!) The Salsa Vaya handled it well.

Thanks for a well organised event (and the Alpkit towel :) )

G

Also agree . . . thanks Stuart and Dee :D

Yeah, thanks guys.

I'm gutted for bailing on the Sunday.

Already thinking about next time and what I can learn from this ride. It was my first ever bikepacking trip and probably a baptism of fire.
Glad you survived Ian, you seemed to be going well when i saw you after the "beautiful ribbon of singletrack through the trees" which turned out to be a bog.

yep thanks to you both. It was superb fun, really well organised and a fantastic selection of cakes at the end . We had a great time in fairly challenging conditions, helped somewhat by some local "trail magic" that brought us somewhere pretty special to bivy on Sunday night. I'll post some pictures and a write-up over the next couple of days. I hope to hear about everyone else's ride too. Must be some interesting tales to tell out there.

A big thanks to Stu and Dee for putting on such a great event and the fine selection of cake at the finish.

Thanks to everyone we met out on route, determined to enjoy yourselves despite the "challenging" conditions.

Finally thanks to Alpkit for my lovely new frame bag. It's been thoroughly tested and I'm happy to report it's bog proof and stood up to the full force of the welsh weather, everything stayed dry and it looks great (if a little muddy now)

Had a great time and have itchy lower legs now, whats not to love.

Did Chew get his half a bear?

A brilliant weekend if a little damp, thank to Stu and Dee for all their efforts and the lovely cake.

It was out first WRT and we really enjoyed it. Saturday went to plan making it to the spa hotel for a drink and to pick up wine before heading on. We got camped before the worst of the rain came by which time we had a roaring fire and a well positioned tarp to shelter us from the wind. Sunday was improved slightly by deciding not to battle over the Berwyns and have a lie in instead

Sunday night's camp was a very pretty spot by a river (slightly midge infested but it looked nice!). we weren't quite as cosy as we had been on Saturday but the sunshine on Monday morning made everything worthwhile, lovely ride back in - although we seemed to lose the ability to read a gps once we hit tarmac ... but what a couple of extra miles between friends..

flatfishy wrote:Did Chew get his half a bear?

Yes just finished it off for first breakfast :D

Thanks Stu and Dee, for another great event

Dont know where everyone was hiding, i didnt see anyone all weekend.

totally vaguely exciting, rain or shine.
saw some amazing scenery (sp) and it just felt great to be a part of something although you rarely saw those who were in it with you!
thank you!

Yup, thanks to Stu, Dee and all involved for putting together such a great weekend. I'd made up my mind to have a fun time and nothing the little bit of dampness in the air was going to do was going to change that :D

Nice to have a chinwag over multiple cakes at the end with other likeminded gear freaks, too.

echo everyone's comments above

still new to bikepacking and couldn't believe what a great event it was, unfortunately we were beaten by the weather on Sunday night with wet kit and the worry of early stages of hypothermia for one of our team we reluctantly we checked into a pub for the night (yes I know hangs head in shame), so glad we didn't bail because Monday was a brilliant ride back to the finish.

that aside we had a fantastic time and rode/ate/drank with some brilliant people

roll on WRT 2013, we've got unfinished business

big thanks to stu, dee and anyone else involved in running it

I was wet and shivering most of Sunday. When Sally was insistent on bailing I took the 'easy' option of escorting her back. I didn't want to bail but on the other hand Mike Hall was finishing his amazing round-the-world ride on Monday and I sort of wanted to be there. I was at the start and was one half of the admin team following them, I was/am the tweeter for the race!

Two of out party bailed first thing Sunday but they enjoyed it and will be back for me. I think. Thanks to everyone for making a fine event.

Regarding the right-of-way email from Stuart I was one of many stopped by a local going up to CP 1 on Saturday afternoon being told it was not a r-o-w despite no signs to the contrary and looking public. Is this the issue Stuart is raising on the email? If so I will respond. Reluctant to complain about being warned off a track that is in fact private!

Blackhound wrote:Regarding the right-of-way email from Stuart I was one of many stopped by a local going up to CP 1 on Saturday afternoon being told it was not a r-o-w despite no signs to the contrary and looking public. Is this the issue Stuart is raising on the email? If so I will respond. Reluctant to complain about being warned off a track that is in fact private!

Its not shown as a ROW on trailwise. Usually though they still list the ROW and then give reason for its closure.

Its most probably been chopped during the CROW act.

anyway, all the forest road leading to that is private, that actual 'bog' route is only a small part of that area we all rode over the weekend.

G

According to the map, there was no legal right of access to CP01. Access was only on double-dashed track across either farm land or through forestry, which is not necessarily public

Similarly, my approach to CP04 on Monday was from the forest to the NW, whereupon I encountered a locked gate across the track. No right of way here either, but a great piece of track all the same :)

I assumed it was a ROW or Stuart would not have given a route where an optional route was over private land. I know OS maps have something that says 'any other marked track may not be public' or similar.

Trouble is the FC don't mind cycling on tracks in the forests they manage, and the forest appears to be all part of the same expanse on which they hold Motocycle Trials Competitions on (the gate in from the north at CP 7 wasn't locked). I always assume that a forest track is fair game in Wales, a) why would anyone care unless forest operations were in progress, b) the FC are happy for people to use the tracks to cycle on. So I guess that Stu assumed the same.

We had a chat with the farmer and in the end Simon pleaded to be allowed to continue and so we were allowed to, a few people had gone before us though and I guess more came after. Wasn't clear to me whether he was acting in an official capacity on behalf of the land owner (some Belgian Duke or something?) or whoever manages the forest.

Probably better to go up from CP4 via Llyn Gwyddior in future.

oh and I'm sorry to say but all I can do is reiterate what the others have said and say thany-you Stuart and Dee. We had a good time too, as usual this was enhanced by some rather fantastic welsh hospitality.

Following a fairly well trod route we made it to Llanrhaeadhr for about 9:30pm. The whole place was paralytic and the people mad a frogs in a box after the town carnival so we enjoyed some Welsh singing in a pub, and were offered a lawn to camp on and then eventually decided that the offer of rooms in the Plough Inn was just too good to turn down.

Sunday saw us drag our bikes up over the top of the Berwyns, this was a bad, really really nasty place to be, before drying out a bit in Llandrillo, by the time we got to Bala we had pretty much decided to try to find another B&B in Dolgellau, which we did, and once again enjoyed some good food, a shower and some beer.

Monday saw us have a fantastic ride, retracing a bit of last year's route through the forest around Llyn Coch Hywad and getting eaten alive by midges before dropping down into Llanbrynmair and a nice roll back to the finish.

I think we might have bailed on Sunday if we hadn't had a good night's sleep on Saturday and our priority as always with the WRT is to ride for three days and have a bloody good craic, which we've never failed to do, but am slightly envious of those who braved it out and had a good time under canvas, well done everyone who did!

As above, big thanks to Stuart and Dee for the organisation and much needed cake!

My first WRT, but kind of knew what to expect from friends who had previously done it. Had an amazing experience from hauling the bike over the Berwyns on Sunday and getting literally blown off my bike at one point, sat in the cafe at Pistyll Rhaeadr desperately trying to feel my hands again, to eating breakfast in a Michelin starred restaurant in Landrillo covered in mud and sheep dung, getting sniffed at by the fellow diners! :D Scared the bejeezeus out of myself on the descent down Hellfire Pass on Sunday night in the rapidly decreasing light, and burnt my legs out on countless other climbs.

Rode until I could barely even stand on both Saturday and Sunday at about 11:30, bivvy spots weren't the best but nothing could keep me awake by that stage...

Met some great people on the ride - loved the way one couple were buying wine in the pub by Lake Vyrnwy to take into the woods for the night - spot on! And thanks for the pint..! :D

So roll on next year! But before that there's the small matter of the Bearbones 200... :D

Just a quick line to say thanks to everyone who helped make this event so enjoyable. The grid references we went through were well thought out and fun. We especially liked the slog through the bog and midge infested woods.

The best hill by far was the cake mountain back at the farm house.

It was nice to meed some of the other guys in the pub, I especially liked the micro tent pegs (the owner knows who he is)

Biggest thanks to the bloke who turned up with a spare wheel at the lake cafe, helped us fit it and only wanted beer money for his effort. We asked a lad in the cafe if he knew anyone who would sell us a wheel and this amaxing man drove 5 miles to help us out.

When can I sign up for next years event?

Tim

The forestry plantation we rode through on Saturday wasn't FC, but Tillhill, and their access policy isn't as 'open' as FC. This was in evident in tramping through the bridleway (I mean bog) after the CP above Cannon Farm where the farmer was a bit iffy, although he did tell us the bridleway wasn't maintained. I did notice on the map that the RoW stopped at the farm, but thought I'd blag it and take my chances. Trouble was, there was a whole host of others who had the same idea... And I guess those riders following their GPS and who didn't have a paper map wouldn't have known that it wasn't a RoW???

We feigned a bit of ignorance regarding rights of way to the farmer, but in reality we knew it wasn't a bridleway, what we didn't know was that it wasn't FC, cos maps don't tell you that (which was the badly made point I was trying to make above).

First time ever riding in Wales, and three WRTs that anyone has ever said anything about where we've been riding.