Team Super Six’s Tour of Snowdonia
- Day 1 The Snowdon Circuit (LGD - 218 Days)
Saturday 7 October 2017, 64 Miles
Click here for Route Flyby
Poking our noses out of the front of the hotel at what
should have been sunrise we realised that we were going to have the first taste
of Welsh weather – grey skies, damp roads, wind and possibly rain. The mountain
tops that were visible last night were now shrouded in thick, low cloud. But in
no way were we deterred – the remedy was an extra slice of toast and tea. By
9:30 am we were at the roadside and ready to go.
Ginseng gel - no thanks! |
With a quick shout of Gadewch I ni fynd (that’s Welsh
for ‘Andiamo’ – get your head around that if you can!) we left Porthmadoc
heading along the coast for Criccieth before turning inland to cross the Llyn
Peninsula above Pwllheli and ride along the coast as far as Penygroes. The
route today was a sort of large circle around Snowdon which I hoped would give
the team a good glimpse of northern Snowdonia on roads that I knew from the
first time I lived and rode in the area when I was a student in Bangor in the
mid 1970’s. A nice little uphill pull gave us a taste of what lay ahead. Vincenzo
recuperated with a ginseng flavoured gel – out of date of course. The rest of
us happily restored our sugar levels courtesy of Geoff’s jelly babies.
Summit of Drws-y-Coed |
From Penygroes we turned inland for the first main
event of the day – the climb of Drws-y-Coed. This is a climb that I know well
as it features in the Etape Eryri as a timed hill climb. It’s four miles long
at an average gradient of 2% with a maximum near the top of around 12%. Enough
to raise the pulse rate! Reaching the top above Rhyd-Ddu we should have been
rewarded with a great view of the western flank of Snowdon. Sadly the low cloud
meant that all we could see was a wall of grey and the team had to take my word
for the quality of the view they were missing.
Where are the Welsh Cakes Mark? |
Once we were all together again we headed west to
Waunfawr and a nice little pre-lunch ascent over a ridge before dropping down
to the Llanberis for a café stop. Our café of choice was Pete’s Eats which in
these parts has acquired legendary status. We weren’t disappointed and mugs of
tea and assorted toasties soon restored our energy levels. As the ‘host’ I just
had to introduce the team to a Welsh delicacy – fresh, homemade Welsh Cakes.
They seemed to be a big hit – we pretty well cleared the cake cabinet!
Geoff has a 'moment' at the top of Pen-y-Pass |
As we finished lunch we could see that the weather had taken
a turn for the worse and rain had started falling. So we simply donned our
gilet’s or capes and set off for the climb of Llanberis Pass which features in
Simon Warren’s book – Another 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs. Here’s what he has
to say about it: “So stunning is this road you half expect Gandalf the White,
staff aloft, to come charging down the valley on a horse. This is truly
awe-inspiring scenery.”
Michael was first to the top and I completed the 3
miles about a minute after him with a time close to 18 minutes. Waiting at the
top in the wind and driving rain was a bleak affair but the group’s humour kept
us all warm. Vincenzo, who had adopted the lanterne rouge position today, was
last up and asked how long we had been waiting. He didn’t seem very convinced
when we claimed it was only a couple of minutes.
From Pen-y-Pass we then had a long, fast descent over
the next several miles to Beddgelert and the Pass of Aberglaslyn. The descent
was pure joy. Fast enough to beat the car traffic even though the road surface
was wet which slowed things down a bit. Aberglaslyn Valley is my favourite area
in Snowdonia and weather notwithstanding, was at its best today. The autumn
colours, steep gorge-like rock faces, tumbling rapids and waterfalls, the
adjacent Welsh Highland Railway (steam) and a sweeping road make this simply one
of the best routes available to ride.
Not a café stop |
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