LazyModernTraveler

Tag: Ride

  • 5 Routes | Post Lockdown Miles 2/5

    5 Routes | Post Lockdown Miles 2/5

    Apologies it has taken me so long to getting to the second route on my list. Unlike the first route, I do not know the roads of this route so well and have only ridden about a third of them. Thus some of the detail may be a little lighter than the last, I will endeavour to give a more detailed account of the route once I have ridden it all which is now booked in (government announcements allowing) to happen between the 4th and 6th of June.

    2 | Welsh Coast 400 (WC400)

    Distance: 412m Time:10hr Difficulty: Medium

    Broad Brush Strokes

    My plan is to do route in a day with a couple of similarly enthusiastic friends, which at 412miles and 10hr is completely possible. However it will be a challenging days ride the majority of the route should be fast sweeping welsh A roads, connecting destinations that require a few tight twisty, single track lanes.

    Overall this should make a nice weekend ride, starting on a Friday night after work with heading to a hotel or Airbnb near Cardiff. Setting off on the Saturday morning after a sturdy breakfast to complete the route before finishing the day in a hotel or Airbnb in Llandudno, finally using the Sunday to make out way home down either the middle or east of wales before heading our separate ways.

    In a little more detail…

    The start of the journey will see us making some fast progress taking advantage of the smooth flowing M4, though this is a little boring versus some of the surrounding roads it is a necessary evil for us to make good time and get to the better roads that will be more enjoyable after Carmarthen. If we I were splitting this route up over more days then it I would plot a path up towards the Brecon Beacons first before then going across to Carmarthen which would make the ride a lot more interesting.

    Our first more interesting location is Tenby, I have not in my adult memory been here before however when looking at the map it made a nicer looking more coastal route and gave some twisty roads away from the A40. There is nothign wrong with the A40 but after sitting on the M4 and the start of the A40 I figured a change in scenery and style of riding would be good. It also connects nicely with a location I have been to, Dale, which is a lovely quiet costal village tucked on the inlet of a headland with some wonderful wiggly roads. I figure the A477 should be an easy ride across from Tenby to Pembroke and then across the estuary towards Dale, if the weather is nice we should see some stunning sites from these roads.

    The around Dale

    After Dale we will continue to follow the costal road which is single track and winding through Little Haven and Broad Haven, it is here that it become “welsh road” literally that is the name of the road. In the image below you can see that the default route would be to take the faster roads (dark blue) however having ridden this section is is a worthy detour with the fantastic little hamlets being great places to get a photo, in particular if you end your day in this area there is some great sunset photography locations along this road. This get’s us to newgale and a lovely set of uphill hairpins with camber a plenty, before the fast headland road winds us into Solva another picturesque village with some lovely little shops and a brilliant restaurant called the Cambrian. After Solva the road opens out and is fast with some bends thrown in at random intervals all the way to St Davids.

    St Davids is a wonderful place and a fantastic holiday location, it is a mini bustling city perched on the south western tip of Wales. It has coffee shops and character a plenty and depending on how the gang are holding up we will likely stop quickly for fuel both for the bikes and the bodies. We will however likely skip the trip out to Whitesands bay which will no doubt be busy and focus on making fast sweeping progress up the coast.

    We will use step in from the costal road here to use the fast sweeping and fantastic A487 here however we will dive off to keep minds awake down to Abercastle, it is to pretty to miss.

    Abercastle back in December 2020

    Cutting back to the A487 by Mathry and then cutting up to join the A40 into Fishguard. Our next target for stoping is Llangrannog so we will keep the progress hard and the hammer down continuing on the A487 when I road it in Decemeber it was a fantastic bit of road with fast sweeping bents and the odd tighter bend to keep you awake. Making progress on it was just joyful and it has some brilliant spots for overtakes. Continuing after Nevern, note though the B4582 is tempting and the more direct route it doesn’t have the same momentum and by this point I suspect the pack will be in full synchronised swing and thus making hay whilst everyone is together will be crucial. Continuing until Brynhoffnant where we turn towards Llangrannog…

    Down to Llangrannog

    The B4334 into Llangrannog is a beautiful road that leads steeply over brow and then down into a beautiful scenic village, the bends pictured above are an extremely steep downhill and on tree covered roads and very much a technical riding challenge. If you are not comfortable with steep hairpins and performing near enough U-turns on inclines then you may find it better to head further north and come in on the B4321.

    I would suggest going right down to the harbour front to park however be aware that the harbour car park is ANPR and there is no designated motorcycles slots so you will need to pay for parking. This is a bone of contention with the locals they are extremely friendly and hate that this carpark which was acquired with the pub next door is run by a generic parking firm in Birmingham who do not care about the village.

    If you want to know more about the village I suggest taking a look at the classic simple website they have created here

    For us as a group this will be about halfway and thus we will intend to stop in Llangrannog not only to take in the beautiful scenery but also to grab lunch at The Beachhut, I stopped there for lunch on a training ride with TVAM back October 2019 and the food was fantastic. If however you want a faster stop for something sweet there is an icecream parlour right next to the harbour car park.

    If however you want to keep momentum then the next leg of the route below has several good location to stop, including passing right by the edge of the bustling Aberystwyth where there is no end of places to stop and get a bite. This will be the backup plan for us, if the group want to keep moving or the Beachhut isn’t open then we will head on to Aberystwyth and try and make a timely stop.

    This next leg is where my personal knowledge of the roads runs dry although I have done the section fo road from Llangrannog to Aberystwyth I just remember it being busy. Therefore I have stuck mainly with the larger A roads for continueing up the west coast, adding Porthmadog in not for a fully stop but for a passing Photo and because I remeber there being some good roads around there. (The Imp Club national 2011 was in Bangor and we did a day run out to Porthmadog)

    From Porthmadog we head out onto the peninsular to Uwchmynydd, however that is pronounced… I have not seen this area before so it will be interesting and I am hoping there is a good photo spot that we can stop for a quick leg stretch and evening photo. Maybe if we a lucky a coffee shop where we can get some caffiene to keep us going as I suspect by this point some people will be feeling it a bit being roughly eight and half road hours into the journey. From here we will head up to Anglesey and the race circuit…

    I have been up to Anglesey Circuit before and although not the most visually fantastic place its still pretty cool, If we are lucky there might even be something going on round the track for us to take 10 and have a watch. If however the weather is crap and the riders are tiring this is the leg we will most likely cut off and instead head straight a long the fast easy A55, after all the miles whilst not the most picturesque road it will be a welcome sight and a nice way to finish. Cutting north up to Llandudno where with any luck we will have a hotel by the sea front so that after unloading, showering a meal and a beer we will be able to take a stroll and stretch the legs along the front.

    Link to route on TomTom – where you can view, edit and download the GPX file. And if you fancy joining us on the route or just a section of the route get in touch…

  • 5 Routes | Post Lockdown Miles 1/5

    5 Routes | Post Lockdown Miles 1/5

    Lockdown is a real struggle for me, I deal with a lot of my emotions and thoughts by driving and riding, clocking up miles. Music going and thought process running in the background whilst I focus on a simple purposeful task, to make it somewhere else or awake somewhere new. There is something particularly simple and settling about waking up somewhere new, and particularly primal about taking in the sunrise especially on a the coast. However whilst we have been in lockdown I haven’t done any journey’s further than about 5 miles, therefore I have been thinking about the rides that are going to be top of my list when we are able to ride properly again.

    Here is the first of the five, a perfect day ride to warm back into the saddle…

    1 | Portsdown Loop Twisty’s

    Distance: 205 Mile Time:7:28hr Difficulty: Medium

    At 205 miles avoiding motorways this is a solid days ride, if you are not a fan of slightly gravelly roads or single track lanes then this ride is probably not for you. It has some larger more open roads but to keep to a reasonable time including stops this route requires making good progress when it is safe and possible to do so on all roads.

    I suggest starting off with a good breakfast and an early start, on a nice summers day, some of the roads towards either end of this route are not conducive to being ridden first time in the dark.

    In the clockwise direction the first ‘stop’ is Loomies in my opinion it’s a bit over hyped, it’s on this route as a meeting point for friends to join me from the south. It’s also got a conveniant petrol station next to it, which makes sure everyone has gogo juice for the rest of the day. The ride upto this point is a good technical warm up to have you prepped for the rest of the ride.

    After some wiggling round East Meon the next place that is worthy of note is Old Winchester Hill, from here you can on a clear day easily see the stacks at Fawley and the Isle of Wight. If you want an easier day this is a brilliant place to stop and take a walk round the top of the hill / iron age fort, though if the weather is good it is often busy in the carpark… I would pause and get a couple of good photo’s but continue on as the road takes you over the back of the hill.

    After wiggling over Old Winchester Hill and finding your way down the other side, there is a lovely tea room in Hambledon called The Old Forge Tea Rooms. They do a reasonable coffee, fantastically sweet / sickly cakes but best of all a proper sized home cooked sausage roll! If you went light on breakfast this will definitely keep you going for the next couple of hours.

    The route then wiggles through the back of Denmead to Southwick, this is a great section of road though the forest that often smells fantastic after the rain. Southwick is a unique place in the fact that the whole villaged is still own by the Southwick Estate and you have to get there permission to buy a house there. They hold a wonderful historic WWII revival event every year and there is a fantastic pub at the east end of the high street called The Golden Lion, the landlord and regulars really make everyone feel welcome and they do fantastic food if you can get a booking. The limit is the size of the kitchen not the number of tables!

    From Southwick it is a clear run up to Portsdown hill, if you skipped the other stops there is the well known ‘Micks Monster Burgers’ on the top of the hill. With classic burger van quality but with large size servings, the real treat here is the fantastic views out across Portsmouth and Southsea.

    Down from the hill we cut across central Hampshire via Winchester to stockbridge, Winchester is a beautiful place and well worth a wander round especially near the cathedral. If you are breaking this route up or have more time you can break this transition up avoiding Winchester and take the twisty roads further south. I suggest cutting through the back of Bishops Waltham, Colden Common, Otterborne across to Hursley and then out the back of Hursley (Standon) toward Braishfield before heading towards Kings Somborne and finally to Stockbridge.

    Stockbridge is easy to stop in there is a long parking layby on the outskirts of town , alternatively there is street parking either side in the centre. There are plenty of places to stop and eat, though I normally only spend 5 minutes stretching my legs if I stop here at all.

    If you want to have a little fun on this next section then miss this right turn (picture below) and take the second one on Winchester Road (B3420) and come back on yourself into Wherwell, that little kink is a cracking downhill hairpin that requires smooth bike control.

    The reason I don’t normally stop is because it is worth keeping the momentum and instead making a stop at the Red Lion in Overton, this is on the west of the village as you enter and nicely tucked away. Does nice food and drink and is perfect for a mid afternoon snack / stop before going for the finish line.

    This route takes you out of Overton towards Kingsclere on this road lies White Hill and the views from this point are breath taking, making it a good photo stop if there aren’t too many badly parked cars around.

    From Kingsclere the route becomes the ‘skirting Reading’ technical challenge with a lot of windy single track lanes again up until Henley On Thames, which if you want to stop for a fancy dinner is an excellent stop. The route then takes the main road from Henley towards Marlow, this is a cracking section of road that just flows beautifully, again Marlow (Just off the route continue past the Frieth turning) is another great dining location. If you want upmarket the Botanist does great food and cocktails (for your pillion), alternatively if you want a good eatery style dinner the Britannia is worth stopping at for a solid meal to end the day.

    Finishing off the route with a nice twisty ride up through Frieth into Lane End before crossing the M40 to head back into High Wycombe. If you are going to finish the day with Dinner in High Wycombe, then the Mad Squirrel does great fresh Pizza and excellent beer, Kappad does great South Indian Food or if you fancy American then there is Bluegrass.

    Maybe this time when I do this route, I will take some more pictures to go with this description.

    Link to Route on TomTom – where you can view, edit and download the GPX file.