Day 3: Llangadfan to Aberaeron

Woke at four for a pee and decided to make an unrushed early start. Blue sky, although the sun was behind the mountains. Last night the campsite manager said today would be overcast but no rain. It was quite chilly so put on a fleece and once I'd set off added my Gore-Tex and a skull cap. Hands were cold too. Road started with a few gentle undulations gradually going up to 300 m. A very gentle climb followed by a nice downhill. Bum still hurt but I'd put on two large plaster’s, one on each cheek; not sure if they were helping.

Stopped at a Co-op in Machynleth -- the first reasonably stocked shop so far -- for breakfast stuff. At Furnace I spotted an interesting looking water wheel and stopped to take a photo. There was a bench overlooking the River and despite it not being in the sun I couldn't resist it as my breakfast spot.



Lovely spot but after a while I got a bit chilly so I carried on. A few rolling hills which would normally be of no consequence but I still felt below par and couldn't really understand why. A brief stop at Tal-y-Bont; there was now a hazy sun and it was pretty warm.

A few undulations and then a nasty little hill and I was coasting into Aberystwyth. I stopped close to the centre and looked a chemist. Found some Sudacreme but not in the very small size I wanted so I asked at the counter but that was all they had. I said no matter the way I'd been going I'd probably need a big tub; she said "oh bless"! I also bought some iron tablets -- I was getting a bit paranoid about my low performance. It was about 11, too early for a meal so I went for a coffee. I'd done about 66k. I was going to put sudacreme on in Costas but I thought the scream as I pulled off the plasters might disturb them!



I was about to head down the coast on the A487; it didn't go very high but up-and-down rather a lot. I wasn't sure how far to aim for today. It was still early. I wanted to stop at a place with shops and a pub. Cardigan was another 60k but Aberaeron only 25, this probably made more sense as I really didn't want to overdo it.

At the top of one hill there were roadworks (surface dressing) with a manual go/stop sign; there was a 400 yard queue as I approached but they pulled away just before I got to the back. When I got to the stop/go sign it went to stop but the traffic was queueing just 50 yards ahead and he let me through. The traffic was queueing all the way through the roadworks, at least half a mile -- clearly letting too many through. The queue pulled away and I followed downhill but just a few hundred yards behind. Behind me there was a slow-moving tarmac/chippings vehicle going just a bit slower than me on the slight downhill. I carried on for ages on a completely quiet road on my side. A small convoy caught up with me as I was going up the next hill. I stopped for a sarny and a drink and the tarmac lorry came past with the bulk of the convoy behind it. I set off after the convoy on a quiet road again. Brilliant.

The roads had generally been fairly quiet but occasionally on some of my slow uphills I held up a few. I generally pulled in (if convenient) when they couldn't pass. Almost without exception truck drivers thanked me (and white van drivers) but almost without exception car drivers didn't.

Since Aberystwyth I'd been going much better. The hills were not as steep as I was expecting (some sections perhaps 10% but generally about 7%). Sun was shining but the air was cool and not so humid as last two days. Bum still sore but I found a ‘sweet spot’ and I forgot all about it. I was feeling good.

I saw a signpost for a campsite as soon as I entered Aberaeron but I went into town first to check for pubs and shops. Looked good, so back to the campsite. There were two, the first full of caravans the second a farm with tents and motorvans. Chose the second, nice people; pitched tent a few yards from the beach.


A bit of a breeze which might interfere with cooking but already decided on fish and chips. A guy in a camper van came across for a chat; said that the two birds of prey in the distance were red kites and they'd been flying low above the campsite earlier. Apparently there are some 2000 pairs in Wales now after declining to only two in the 1930s.

Plugged in the phone charger and it worked. Into town for a walk round, stopped at a cafe. Then takeaway fish and chips -- okay but not brilliant -- which I ate on a seat in the harbour. The sun was now really hot. A pint of Felinfoel in the Royal Oak. Took it outside to some seats on the pavement to watch the world go by. Suddenly the peace was shattered by a road crew who turned up with massive machinery, road rollers and tarmac lorries; then an ambulance went by with blues and twos. So much for a quiet pint but it was fascinating. Then to the supermarket for breakfast stuff and back to the tent




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Fish and Chips then a quiet drink!

Despite my early tenderness this had been a good day. My lethargy dissipated after Aberystwyth and the early finish gave me time to enjoy a pleasant evening.

Distance: 92.37 k

Time: 5: 21: 01

Average: 17.3 k/hr

Max: 61 .0k/hr

Height asc: 1551 m

Campsite: Drefnewydd Farm, North Road, Aberaeron. £10. Good facilities, good location, friendly.

Day 2: Bangor-on-Dee to Llangadfan

Up at five and away by 5:40. My knee was still sore and once I got on the bike discovered that my bottom was too! Still, the sun was shining and it was a nice ride to Chirk, where I re-entered Wales.

Bought more supplies in the local Spar. Forgot that I’d deviated away from the route to go into the town and just continued on through; when I reached the A5 I realised and turned back.
I had the devil of a job finding my way onto the right route: to begin with I couldn't get a GPS fix because of overhanging trees and when I did the obvious track back to my route turned out to be a private road with locked gates. After 50 minutes and 5 extra miles I was back on track!

Breakfast at a seat beside the road just after Pontfadog. Set off again just after nine with just 20 miles under my belt. The next 10k was a gentle climb from 130m to 270m but slight though the hill was it exacerbated the pain in my bottom. A short flat section and then a stiff climb to the highest point of the day (421m); this hill was signed 17% and it really hurt my tender contact point so I got off and pushed -- harder than cycling with a fully loaded bike but easier on the bottom

After a short downhill my route took me over a slightly higher peak but there was a junction with a signpost to “Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant” and from the map it looked shorter and more importantly avoided an uphill “>”, so that was the way I went.

There were several short hills and after Llanrhaeadr a fairly steep one. I was far more tired than I should be and my bum was hurting. I thought about stopping at the campsite at Llanwddyn so I stopped at a shop to buy supplies for the evening meal. Again, very little choice (a bit like small town 1970s Poland). In the end didn't stop at the campsite and went over the next hill - and seemed to be going marginally better - to Llangadfan where I stopped at the campsite.

Showered -- what joy -- and washed clothes; plugged in phone battery charger. Walked into town -- there wasn't one. Checked on battery charger; socket had stopped working after charging battery from 40% to 60% (had the charger blown the socket fuse?).

Laid in tent and fell asleep; woken by rain -- what happened to

"Wales will remain dry"? Still, didn't last long.

Cooked chilli-sweetcorn from what I had (sweetcorn, onions, tomato puree, chilli, lamb stock cube, red wine), with tinned tuna, and rice washed down with more red wine and followed by coffee. There were a few midges about in the evening and earlier in the day I had stopped in a gateway for a snack and received a nasty bite which drew blood from what looked like a horsefly.

Didn't make much progress today probably because I overdid it yesterday and my sore bottom. I need to sort it out. I did pass a chemist earlier in the day but didn't bother to stop because I thought there'd be another one.

Distance: 79.8 k

Time: 5:48:53

Average: 13.6 k/hr

Max: 62.0k/hr

Height asc: 1618m

Campsite:, Riverbend Caravan Park, Llangadfan, Welshpool, Powys. £12. Pleasant, friendly site.

Day 1: Haworth to Bangor on Dee

I decided Sunday morning would be a good time to set off through the Lancashire Mill towns to avoid rush-hour traffic (it was the reverse of the route I used on my LEJOG and that was done in rush-hour - no problem but I thought nice quiet roads made sense). I was up at four had breakfast and set off at 4:50. The weather was overcast and I could see mist shrouding the higher hills. Haworth was beautifully still and quiet except for the rooks above the churchyard. There were loads of rabbits on the road out of the village; grouse flew into the air; several dead frogs on the road (?); and a deer on the moor (never seen one there before, should get up early more often). All this and I'd not gone 5 miles. I went into the dense cold mist above 350m but as I left it on the descent into Hebden Bridge there were spots of blue sky and patches of sunlight across the moor. There was a headwind on the higher ground but it was still by the time I got to Hebden Bridge. Very quiet at this hour except for two guys sitting in the square drinking coffee.

Through Todmordon, Rochdale, Bury, Radcliffe, Farnworth,Tyldesley. Very quiet roads, in fact almost deserted early on.

Lovely ride through the industrial areas on quiet roads but I was now in the country.

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Going down a quiet country lane I was brought to a halt by locked railway crossing gates. There were pedestrian gates, though! I crossed. Soon the gravel road became a rutted track. I hadn't expected this but I knew from my phone I was still on the planned route.

The track crossed the M62 and I rejoined minor roads at Irlam.

I crossed the Manchester Ship Canal, the Bridgewater Canal and the M56.

Just after 10:00 I stopped for a snack in High Legh in a car park with a suitable tree stump to sit on and brewed coffee; I'd done 86 km.

Made a wrong turning at Keeley and went off the edge of my map; fortunately the phone came to my rescue. When planning this trip, I’d decided to get a hub dynamo but in the end couldn't justify the cost. So, I had the routes on the phone but I couldn't keep the damn thing switched on!

A drawback of my deliberately rural route was an absence of anywhere to pick up supplies particularly as it was Sunday; I was out of water too. Fortunately there was a cafe open at Bunbury locks so I filled up with water and sat and had an ice cream.

My left knee was playing up and I was beginning to feel a little saddle sore; something I'd not experienced on a tour before. This was going to become a bit of an issue!

At Bangor-on-Dee I looked for a shop. I had brought food for my evening meal from home because I thought there might be some problems on a Sunday but I needed something for the morning because I knew I would be making an early start and I also fancied a pudding. The only shop I could find didn't have much I fancied but I managed to get a sandwich, two bananas and a large bottle of sugary fizz for the morning; and a tin of custard and a custard tart for pudding.

I set off for the race course to search out the campsite I'd marked on the map but the racecourse was closed and no sign of a campsite. So,back into town, found a Tourist Information (doubling up as a furniture shop) where the guy was very helpful and managed to direct me to one out on the ring road.

I found it. A very small site with no other tents, just caravans and motor homes, and no reception. The owner, a farmer, was away but a motorhome resident was in temporary charge. I put the tent up, looked around and couldn't see a shower block. Turned out the garden shed at the bottom was the toilet but no showers and the wash basin taps didn't work!

With all the faffing around, I’d done more than 100miles; I intended to reduce the distance next day – I must stop treating my planned sections as ‘days’!

Nice chilli bean meal but no wine and too tired to walk to the nearest pub for a drink. I was also suffering from cramp and had to be very careful to keep my legs straight. Early night.

Distance: 160.84k

Time: 9:08:09

Average: 17.6k/hr

Max: 61.0k/hr

Height asc: 1723m

Campsite: Bank Farm Caravan Park, Whitchurch Road, Bangor OnDee. £12. No shower, lavatory in garden shed, clean butno water in washbasin (probably temporary blip).

Equipment

The Bike

Ridgeback Panorama (2009). Modifications by retailer: cranks changed to 170 mm and chain rings changed to 44, 32, 22. I changed the rear cassette to 11 - 34 and saddle for a Brooks B17. It came complete with Blackburn rear rack and low rider front rack.

Tools, Spares and Accessories:

· 4” locking pliers

· Allen keys

· Screw driver ‘bits’

· Cassette hypercracker

· Chain splitter

· Puncture repair stuff: 1 metal & 1 plastic tyre lever, patches (including one large piece) and rubber solution.

· 2 inner tubes

· Gaffer tape

· Elastic bands

· Spare chain connectors and short section of chain

· Collection of first aid stuff & medication

· Security chain and padlock

· Cable ties, 1 bungee & several adjustable straps

Luggage carrying

· 2 Karrimor panniers on the rear rack each with a pocket at the back, useful for quick access to tools, gas burners & sun cream; left pannier for tent, sleeping bag and mat; right for clothes.

· 2 Carradice panniers on the low rider rack each with a small side pocket. Left with stuff for coffe breaks and snack stops; right for cooking equipment. Side pockets: left for tools, right for first aid stuff.

· Topeak compact bar bag for camera, phone, iPod, radio.

· Small waist pack (for money, cards etc).

· String bag clipped to the saddle rails. Mainly for carrying food bought during the day for next stop and evening meal, also useful for carrying damp clothes (so they could dry).

Camping Equipment

Tent: Terra Nova Laserlight Competition, which with the footprint groundsheet weighed just over 1 kg.

Sleeping Bag: Lightweight (700g) sleeping bag I've had for 17 years. It's only "one season" but had been fine for my LEJOG.

Sleeping Bag Liner: Silk liner from Decathlon

Sleeping mat: Mountain Equipment Helium 2.5 (685g)

Cooking equipment:

• 2 Camping Gaz cookers one C206, other using re-sealable C300 cylinders;
• 2 aluminium pans and kettle;plastic plate, cafetier-mug,
• Tesco basics plastic wine "glass"; wine glass holder,
• Spork and kitchen knife.
• Plastic strainer, wooden spoon,
• Corkscrew and lightweight tin opener;

Miscellaneous

• Camera: aging Konica Minolta Dimage Z10
• iPod: In addition to music, some podcasts
• Radio: Roberts Sports 994 (FM, LW & MW)
• Mobile phone: Samsung Galaxy i5801 (Android) PAYG
• Front and rear LED lights: Cateye EL530 & LD1100
• Washbag: concentrated soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, 2 disposable razors, shaving oil, lavatory paper (for emergencies because plentiful supply in UK campsites!).
• Towel: lightweight (ie for camping)

Clothes

On the bike: two pairs cycling shorts, 1 pr Holly Hanson liners, cycling longs, 2 short-sleeved tops, fleece top, two pairs socks, mits, skullcap and two buffs.

Cold and wet weather gear: Gore-Tex top, over trousers (cheap plastic), long sleeved Merino wool base-layer top, thermal long johns, sealskin socks and gloves.

Evening wear(!): lightweight outdoor trousers; 2 pairs u/pants and 2 pairs socks; thin Merino wool pullover.

Shoes: Lidl cycling shoes and Teva sandals