Fryup's Tour De Wales 13
 

Hi All,

I am on leave for two weeks with not much planned so decided to pack my bags and do a tour of Wales, UK for a few days by myself.

I have been riding for 9 months now (CBR being my first bike) and have never toured before so i decided to do something reasonably close to home.

Before I left I picked up a pair of Oxford Lifetime Luggage Pannier Bags from eBay and an assortment of camping gear including sleeping bag and roll mat and already had a tent from years ago.

I planned a 3 day tour covering mid and north Wales as I am reasonably familiar with the south. I am based near Bristol so actually getting to Wales is only a 30 minute drive.

I planned my route using a giant wall map, highlighting roads that had been recommended to me by friends and websites I found.

My route was as follows:
Day 1 - 180 Miles (5 Hours)
Bristol>Chepstow>Monmouth>Vowchurch>Kington>Llandr idod Wells>Newtown>Llanwyddyn>Y Bala

Day 2 - 242 Miles (7 Hours)
Y Bala>Llyn Cely>Betws-Y-Coed>Conwy>Bangor>Penmon>Benllech>Amlwch>Tregele>H olyhead>Beddgelert>Dolgellau>Machynlleth>Llanidloe s>Devils Bridge

Day 3> 173 Miles (5 Hours)
Devils Bridge>Tregaron>Lampeter>Llandovery>Brecon>Merthyr Tydfil>Abergavenny>Monmouth>Chepstow>Bristol

Planned total mileage - 595
Total actual mileage - 640 (getting lost and repeating nice roads :D)

To make things a little more interesting for myself I relied on my direction list (taped to my fuel tank) and didnt use any maps or GPS.

Before I set off I had a new front tyre fitted and the bike MoT'd (an annual mandatory road worthy check of the bike here in the UK) along with giving her a real good clean.

Now I am back I wish I had gone for longer. The roads in Wales are absolutely awesome... no wonder there are so many bike specific safety signs in all the towns and villages! I was reasonably lucky with the weather as you will see with minor rain up in anglesey but not enough to dampen my spirits!

Heres some pictures I took during the trip:

Tintern Abbey near Chepstow:
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Lunchtime on the A483 between Llandridod Wells and Newtown:
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My directions:
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At one stage I was pretty lost so had to pull over and check my phone, where i pulled in just so happened to be next to a very picturesque bridge and river! (Turns out I was only two right hand turns away from where i wanted to be!):
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Towards the end of day 1 I stopped off at Lake Vyrnwy to do the lakeside drive and look at the Dam:
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Once finished at that lake I rode to Lake Bala where I was camping for the night, These pictures were taken on the B4391:
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Camping at Pant Yr Onnen Lakesidecampsite (£9 for 1 night):
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My walk to the pub in the nearby village:
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The next morning. To the right of the picture you can see the mist that passed through and left my tent saoking wet!:
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First stop of Day 2 was at Betws-Y-Coed to do a bit of souvenir shopping:
http://i380.photobucket.com/albums/o...ps0a86904b.jpg

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I wasnt planning on stopping at Conwy but didnt realise how impressive the Castle was, so I decided to stop for lunch:
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Then I crossed onto the Isle of Anglesey via the Menai Bridge:
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And headed out to Puffin Point to see the views:
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I also decided to stop off at the Train Station with the longest name (just for the picture opportunity!):
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Then rode out to Holyhead, past RAF Valley which meant I saw a fair few SeaKing Helos and Hawk trainer Jets flying very low and loud!:
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After that I headed south down past Mt Snowdon and to Devils Bridge, This photo was taken on the A4120 (a very nice road!):
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Then stopped off for the night at Devils Bridge... with a wet tent :( (Woodlands Caravan Park - £9.50 for one night):
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I rode into Aberystwyth that night for dinner:
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Woke up the next day to another lovely day!:
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Rode over Devils Bridge (A bridge built on a bridge built on a bridge!):
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Got stuck in some countryside traffic:
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Then a final stop in Abergavenney before heading home along the M4!:
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So the plan now is to do a few day trips to South Wales with the GF on the back then off to Scotland next year hopefully. And then maybe one day even Europe :D

Wow, beautiful country! looks like fun!

Hey CJ, was great fun! I've only scratched the surface on Wales... Highly recommend anyone in the UK to do it!

Hey Fryup,
I'm still dribbling slightly after seeing your photos.
I know Wales very well. It's big, beautiful and has probably the best kept roads in the UK. It's a motorcyclists dream come true on a good day. You just have to go prepared for rain. If it doesn't piss down, it's a bonus.
I love you photo of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysilio gogogoch. The name means: [St.] Mary's Church (Llanfair) [in] the hollow (pwll) of the white hazel (gwyngyll) near (goger) the rapid whirlpool (y chwyrndrobwll) [and] the church of [St.] Tysilio (llantysilio) with a red cave ([a]g ogo goch).
It's not every day you get to stop outside that mouthful, unless you're the station mater I suppose.

Wales! You just gotta go there.
Thanks for the narrative. I feel much better after that.
Glad you had a good time, even though it was inevitable.

Scotland I've done several times in the car and by train. It is my favourite place on the planet. I just need to take the bike there.

By the way, are your front indicators standard? You've got a lovely bike there.

Cheers
H

Wow Fryup - thanks for that.

You did very, very well, superb planning, fantastic photos and a great writeup!

This however is the secret to motorcycle travel...........

"Planned total mileage - 595
Total actual mileage - 640 (getting lost and repeating nice roads :D)"

You had to start somewhere and it was a great start - and now you know you can plan longer trips comfortably.

Cheers, SB

NIce write up and smashing photo's man :) - hmmm HolyHead - I kinda remember the
last time I was there but it was very foggy and so was I :D

Thanks! I guess I was kind of lucky with the weather. It got cold enough up in Anglesey for me to put a jumper on underneath my jacket but thankfully most of the rain stayed away. I could see the rain in the hills around me but managed to avoid most of it!

That train station has been the subject of many a discussion at work as a couple of guys can pronounce it so I had to go and get a picture!

Glad you like Scotland, I'm looking forward to it already!

Yeah the indicators are standard. The bike has given me a few problems recently... Had to replace the whole top end at the start of summer but she seems to be running pretty sweet at the moment!

Thanks Seb!

I guess you are right with the secret to motorbike travel! I found some great places which I never planned to visit!

I was always a bit paranoid about running out of petrol in the middle of nowhere but I would say there are garages at maximum 30 miles apart. So really I had no need to worry, just had to start looking to refuel when the trip counter hit about 120 miles.

I certainly would plan a longer trip next time but not longer days! By the end of the second day I think I was starting to get arm pump after 7 hours of gear changes and braking. Was happy to see the campsite that night! 180 - 200 miles seems about right for me on A class roads. Could do longer on motorways but that would be very dull!

Thanks Sprock! Haha sounds like you had fun!

Nice stuff Fryup, lovely roads and you obviously have a photographers eye. Hope you enjoy more wee random wanderings in the future.