C2C² Wales Coast to Coast - Cardiff to Conway
Starting Monday 17th April 2006 - 4 go mad in Wales
	The Roman conquest of Wales began in AD 43. They were quite passionate mountainbikers (and you thought the yanks started it) so the troops set to work on one of Wales's earliest off road trails, the Sarn Helen. To honour the great Welsh trail-builders past and present, we cycled the full length of Wales, off road where possible, visiting the modern trail centres on the way. With the aid of the superb Tracklogs and some insider knowledge from our Welsh mole Rich, we made our very own route; allowing for plenty of fun on the way Coast to Coast - Cardiff to Conway "C2C squared" or cheekily - The real TransWales!
Our main reason for doing this is to get in some good multiple day riding, riding as a group with lots of climbing. Myself (Jack) and Gary are training for the TransRockies race in Canada. Rich is also doing the 2006 Rockies race and Pete has completed both Transalp and TransRockies before, so no hanging about then. We didn't set out to do this as fast or as direct as possible but to have fun though the finest Welsh bogs in search of good trails. Starting from Cardiff we head for Afan then on to Brecon, Builth Wells, Rhayader, Machynlleth, Coed-y-Brenin, Penmachno, and Betws-y-Coed to finish at Conway on the North coast. To cries of "South to North that's going uphill;" from my compatriots; I'm the one in trouble if the route planning goes all pear-shaped. The planned route enables us to enjoy some fun in at the man-made trail centres en-route. By the end of it we should be well qualified to answer the perennial question "Man made or Natural - which do you prefer?" If you fancy checking out the full Roman route version there's a book loosely based on it by Tim Woodcock for sale. The Magazine MBR apparently did something similar in Autumn '99, North to South before all the new trail centres opened. (We have read the article and no one believes them though!) and Sustrans have a route that skips off road where ever it gets tough (so that's most of it then). Route guides of our route are available for anyone wishing to follow our wheel tracks, and if you want our tracklogs files get in touch.
Day 1. Cardiff to Glyncorrwg - Afan Forest.
Its Easter weekend, and Sunday night as we could not get down here before today. After a huge farewell Italian feast down town and a fairly cramped night at Rich's pad (12 bikes and 6 people, blimey!) we waved farewell to our drop off driver Carrie until the finish as she headed back to Northants. We were now on our own, alone with the great outdoors, would our bodies and bikes survive, have we got enough kit, will it ever warm up, just how much are we going to smell? The plan is to travel very light, stopping at B&B's so we hoped we had enough in our meagre rucksacks, and that whilst distributing tools and stuff between us, we hadn't left anything behind.
	. Rich's local knowledge of Cardiff helps immensely as we pop down to the Bay for starting pictures at the Celtic ring which designates the start of the Taff Trail. We kiss the ring!!! then head out with some local riders Rich2 and Shergie who have joined us for the day. Amazingly the sun is shining as we wind our way out through the boonies and leave Cardiff behind on the Taff - is this really Wales - Oh yes it must be because we've just gone up a big steep hill. In almost no time we are on the Skyline trail, our day riding companions leave us and return home as we follow the trail, without shortcuts for the superb descent to the Drop off Café, Stocking up on brake pads and a few energy bars we then fill our faces with Jackets as a late afternoon snack. It was then just a Short spin to Queens B&B Glyncorrwg. 01639 850487 and quickly get all our kit off and in the washer, they have a hose so why not squirt bike and lube up too.
The evening meal was interesting, Easter Monday and no local food meant we took up the generous offer from a local to cook for us and deliver it to the local working men's club (thanks to our host) - Two choices; Newcastle Brown, scampi and chips, or chips with scampi and Newcastle Brown. Legs are fresh but we don't want to push it too much so its gentle re-hydration for now. No casualties, the racing Ralph Tyres are doing the trick for me, well except for Gary's exploding seat tool bag but luckily we found all the tools. My makeshift second water bottle carrier is pants. (We were practicing not using Camelbaks, which is tricky on a full sus.) Lots of tape and cable ties and it's sorted. Phrase of the day: 'Don't listen to her - she's a prostitute'?	The official start pose, Pete-Rich-Gary-Jack
Afan descent - traveling light and	The gang before we are left on our own.
Day 1 Profile: that' first climb is tough.
Day 2. Glyncorrwg to Brecon.
Gardening Welsh style at the Queens	leaving the fun man made trails behind
New Afan Black for breakfast	We leave the superb folk at the Queens B&B behind and pass the Drop off café, where we consider a Mk2 breakfast briefly, but its out onto Skyline again, straight upwards so we decide not. Weather is not so good today, very bleak and easter like - but we barely notice as we hit the new Afan Black trail which is great fun and a good start before our onward journey. We have to remind ourselves to not get carried away, crashes now could kill your week, but we still rip it. The climb is gentle out of the valley before we drop down and fast into the Vale of Neath on a cracking descent as it starts raining - and continues to do so all day. Dodging mad dogs was fun, but short lived though as we now have to get up to the Sarn Helen trail. The forest here is not used for Dragon downhill races for nothing, and it's a tough climb, we bin the bridleway option as it's mullered and use some fire roads. From then on it's the Roman way with us following the Sarn Helen trail generally to Brecon, it's no easy ride though. Rough rocky tracks, tricky navigation and more field yomps than we had expected for an old Roman road.
At Dyffren we get our first puncture and hide in a bus shelter while its fixed, Welsh flints take their toll on tyres. Its bleak right now! The temptation to stop at the local pub is resisted as we would probably freeze. Parts of the Sarn give you that real Roman feel, there are brief glimpses of mosaic type patterns of rock on the trail. Onward through swamps, open moorland we even see cyclists coming the other way, 3 of them very spread out over about a mile, they look grumpy and isolated, were having a ball.	Our Blow up puncture shelter comes in handy, Gary again ;-) its bleak
Eventually we descend into Brecon in monsoon like rains to the Bridge café Brecon 01874 622024. What a fantastic warm welcome from our fellow cycling hosts with tea and cake immediately offered to the four drowned rats. We hosed ourselves and the bikes down while we are soaking, put all clothes straight into washer and get straight into showers to get warm. 30 mins later it's a squelchy walk to town for burgers and protein, none of us had spare footwear so it was plastic bags over dry socks in our cycling shoes, works well saves plenty of luggage space. Tue was the bridge's night off for cooking which is shame as breakfast was superb and like eating with friends, well recommended. So that evening we graced an Italian in town with more re-hydration and a very comfy sleep in superb rooms. Phrase of the day: "What have the Romans ever done for us"?	Into real wilderness on the Sarn Helen
Day 2 Profile: that climb is up to the Sarn Helen.
Day 3 Brecon to Rhayader.
We were sad to leave the Bridge Cafe, the fact it was still raining as we head for Builth didn't help. We stick to the plan and avoid the temptation to stay on road. Difficult navigation in places especially finding an almost non existent gate around Sarnau, very muddy remote good trails then got very technical and rooty as we stumbled on some tape marked trails that must have been used for an event previously. Onto the moor tops; some familiar from the Builth-Enduros to the accompanying sound of heavy artillery fire (barely discernible over the sound of the heavy rain) we are lucky we never planned to route that way as the red flags as flying high. This is our big day, and it's the worse day of weather. It can't rain all day said Gary, oh yes it did. The descent from pant-y-Llyn though had us all laughing with joy, I had barely no control from the Ralphs, could not see straight and had to just go with it, and survived. As a result of the weather a warm up lunch was a two hour stop with endless cups of tea - Our tip to the café owners - a large lake where we had been sitting in the cafe, it dripped off all our clothes as we ate, Gary looked like he was melting.	Come on Guys you've been in there long enough
Putting on damp kit we raced off out of Buith to warm up and the next section was a collection of very slow almost needless small bridleways but we decided on this, better than going North then West for an easy trip to Ryhader like others have done. The small Forest after Gilwern has a superb climb and descent in it, the Spider gives me the edge on the slippy loose slate, who cares about rain. We had to visit the ace trails of Coed Trallwm, still pretty fresh and muddy but great potential, No stopping at visitor centre as time is getting on and we were worried about darkness, it's still chucking down. Into the forest then climb up to high point at Carnau Cairn. We had a route that dropped us into the Elan Valley within shouting distance of our base for the night,another cracking descent to Caban-coch resevoir. We had hoped to do some extra stuff round the lakes for fun but it took a very wet leg sapping ride and splodge over the moor from the Carnau summit. The Horseshoe Rhyader. 01597 810982 again get the sodden biker strip show, it's another great service as we drip in, strip off outside and put clothes straight into a washer, drier. Quick trip to local shop and it's a secret scoff in rooms catching up on news on TV, Their food was ace, the place was empty and very cold though glad I had a thin fleece as others didn't and struggled. Out for a quick look around and a nightcap but we sleep well tonight. Poor photoaction today, getting the camera out was just not happening, I'm glad we had the GPS to follow; any map would have been long since destroyed. Phrase of the day - 'It's like eating an elephant - one bite at a time'!
Day 3 Profile: The Monster. That 400 metre plateau was grim wet and windswept
Day 4 Rhayader to Machynlleth.
It would be rude to leave without a visit to Clive Powell's shop in town, we find he shuts on Thursdays, shame, Raiding the shop for snacks gets us ready for the day. Getting out of Rhayader again could be an easy start going via a sustrans route 8 following the River Wye NW. Not for us, we are going up the climb out of town (8km 286 m up) which will be familiar to any one who has done the Merida 100km event here, one hell of a warm up on a full stomach. Most of our tracks today are not as well defined as other areas so the going is slow. We climb round the back of the windfarm and then drop to the Wye valley. At one point there was a mental descent into what was someones back garden, bridleway almost lost.	Above Rhyader the guys are not so sure I know where i'm going!
Great practice for the rockies stream crossings, not as deep though	It would have helped if I hadn't lost the map just before the Hafren Forest! but good tracks finally get us there. No real eveidence of cycle trails but we got through there fine. There's a Bermuda triangle of an area in trying to link up to the area south of Mach' where the Glaslyn lake is, looks easy on the map, believe me it's not. Its getting tricky on grass descents on Ralphs and all of our brakes are suffering with the grit and mud.
The Descent from Foel Fadian starts; Slippy solid rock and steep	We hit one of the best descents in Wales, down from the Foel Fadien Summit lined with razor rocks it's mad at speed linking up with the Mach 3 trail briefly SW of Machynlleth. With the benefit of some local knowledge gained on a previous visit for the Dfyi Enduro we finish the day with some killer downhill's into Mach itself. We all agree we will be back for a weekend here soon.
The Holey Trail bike shop here is another port of call, for more trail advice, and a little boasting of where we have riden from ;-) Long day today, but some seriously good riding, best yet. A real sense of having done it our own way, a very different route from the obvious. Great night large food and puddings are called for we are all on high here, looking forward to slightly easier day tomorrow as we are physically wilting, the ground is very heavy. Luckily no rain today wahoo. Puncture score grows to Pete 1 Gary 2 but the bikes all suffered in the bogs today and get some TLC and a few brake pads. We are all in a monster room at the White lion Hotel: Very little heating though which is handy to find out after you wash all your kit but great food and ale.	It was mental. better than going down the Chute for a change, let it roll and hang on. Phrase of the day - 'Spotted Dick with custard,twice………each'
Day 4 Profile: Just look at that desent off the Foel Fadien
Day 5 Machynlleth to Coed-y-Brenin
The view from the ClyMachx trail of Cadir Idris	Off down the brilliant ClyMachx trail
Deemed our gentle short rest day, well plans are made to be changed! With the ClyMachX trail and Coedy's finest en route you can't help get carried away can you. Today was going to be easy on the navigation, the local lads pointed us in the direction of a good exit from the Dfyi forest to look out for. Familiar routes from town for me up to the Clymachx trail for a gentle start, From the trail head its a little short cut I know it was great to take 3 trail novices straight up to the final descent for some fun. Theres a cool wall entrance and some shore built here so it looks like its becoming a lift entrance. The guys loved it so much we had to do it twice, before we set off following the route proper into the forest.
Jack Chase Pete round one of the many hairpins	About halfway round the much improved trail from the last time I rode it, we dropped down to the steep valley side to pick up the Sustrans 8 route to Dolgellau. Vague but well steep on grass good fun. This has been re-surfaced, its no longer a rough route but still a killer climb, also is still narrow and mad anough to be classed as off road in our book, serious steep in places. And follow route 8 to Dogleg, This has been tarmaced from when pete last did it, but is still mad anough to be classed as off road. We have mega freewheel speed competition, and all agree would not want to do in other direction North to South. The drop down to Dollegau is mental though. 74KM per hour clocked here, wahay another vote for riding North, the guys are warming to my plan. After a chilled lunch snack here en-route it was time to smooze up to the Coedy forest on the back lanes. As our nights rest was in the heart of the forest the rest of the day was ours to have fun, a play on the secret ant trail (dont tell anyone) is always a must in my books.
The Cake stop at the Oasis cafe set us up forand the good sections of the Karimoor and the Munsters descent to finish in style. Not so short a day after all then. The Tyn-y-Groes hotel in the heart of the forest meant we could play till late before a well earned shower and feast. Not cheap but its difficult to book anywhere for just one night as we are reminded that its weekend again. Not many other bikers around though. The maddog ale proved great as we chatted into the night, we were loving this, what an adventure. Phrase of the day - 'All of them'! (High pitched in answer to question which route have you done today lads)	That holiday feeling the excellant house cafe on the Karriomor
Day 5 Profile: Dosen't show the two clymacx climbs at 7km;
Day 6 Coed-y-Brenin - Betws-y-Coed
As a prefix to this effectively 2 day weekend finish to our trip I'll add they were two of the best days riding in Wales I'll ever do. 4 out of 4 riders we asked recommend it. What a superb way to finish a great week, clear blue skys and the most brilliant views of Snowdon matched by top trails. On with the story.
Rich finally finishes the climb into the mist from Llan Festiniog	Leaving the good beer and a sound nights sleep at the Tyn-y-groes hotel it's another huge breakfast and straight on the trails from the doorstep. We ride past the shell of the new visitor centre, a quick trip over to the original centre. We stock up at the bike shop on snacks and a play on the loop there gets us warmed up. We then did the MBR climb up to Karimoor heights and carried on past log cabins to the ski village, a good route. Crossing to Transfynd to ride through town for safety. Up and over the Roman practice works moors and it's warming up as we head to Llan Ffestiniog via more Roman ruins and a brief reunite with the Sarn Helen route. Once again I'm pleased the on paper route turns out to be a cracker. The long climb from Llan Ffestiniog is hard and the first sign of Tiredness. Me and Gary are noticeably fitter than Pete and Rich as we pull out of sight, we slow and enjoy the great views.It's well worth it for what lies next.
The next bit looked vague on the map, we didnt want to go up to Pentre Bont although that was the way we had be advised to go. Pete had struggled doing it North to South around here, and is amazed as we drop down old slate quarry incline with an amazing view of the old works, loved this bit. Small forest trail then drops us down a mental twisting slate track that to Cwn Penmachno. It's not far to the brand new Penmachno trails from here either. We'd have liked to get on them before the trail head but can't find a way. The trails here are a gem and this is turning into one fantastic days ride. fast swooping sections beg us to go fast and we respond. We leave the man made stuff about half way round. The next section is running blind, other people are in the forest here and again I'm chuufed as fly through. The long descent with a cheeky finishing track is the icing on the cake, a gentle spin to Betws and another bike shop visit follows.	The Incline descent
We all agreed that over our daily cake reward that this route will be done again for sure as a one or two day epic. Phrase of the day - ' where is everyone'! The final and biggest hotel of our trip has the worst rooms, the showers were non existent, no way we are eating here, either. Another problem with it being the only place taking one night bookings in a cycling honey pot. We are reunited with Carrie here for the night and Richs parents are around too , so we go for mega meal where we feel very underdressed. Carrie has our going home clothes in the car but we need to save them for the end. Reluctantly; The Glen Aber Hotel 01690 710325	Inspiring stuff, and more pich puntures to follow.
Day 6 Profile: Just shows you how close two trail centres are together.
Day 7 Final push to Conway and the North coast
It's only 27Km to Conway from here, but that's no fun, especially when the Suns beaming down, today is be enjoyed to the max. Most people would have finished the last stretch off yesterday, not us we ride for fun. With Betws close to sea level it's a "return of the breakfast" climb. A steep 200 metres to meet the Marin trail close to it's end. This means we get the great final trail descent in before setting out for another half lap from the trail head. It's then over the valley via the two reservoirs, clear blue skies and great views of Snowdon and surrounding peaks make this another good to be alive day.	Marin trail and Snowdon country
The start of the drop to Capel Curig. Tough but great fun.	Climbing out of Cornel its another good route choice, easilly climbable with skill, while the descent to to Capel Curig is spot on, probably not rideable the other way. Gary makes the puncture count reach double figures, with a double blow out, but he's now carrying all the old knackered tubes so we don't care. I bought him some Ralphs to convince him they were the tyres for the Rockies, but he's destroyed them on his hartail where mine as like new. Pinnacles cafe right on the trail end, ice creams and even some sunbathing, how I wish I was back there now.
Superb views of the Ole Wen valley. Yes this really is wales in Spring. We deserved this.	From the Cafe I expected a really tough bogging route, it was still spring in North Wales, The views of the Ole Wen valley took our breaths away as we plodded up the reasonably surfaced climbs, small bridges crossed some bad sections.
The view of the Llyn Cowlyd Resevoir was amazing, and the chance to ride round it on a glorious day like this lifted our weary souls. The track is actually quite hard work and we start to split up with different abilities, tiredness and camera stops, no-one minds though.	The camera hits overload, what a days riding to finish on.
The Pipeline of North Wales	At the end of the water we meet the pipeline, quite a sight. At one point you have to duck under it. We decide against going straight on the left side on the permissive route, not sure how heavy the going is but I'd heard tales of how good the road from here was, it needed checking out. It dosent look much on the map, but its possibly the steepest set of hairpin bends I've seen this side of the Alps. Race on; Mega brake cooking, big ego cornering and so close to out of control on some of the gravelled corners, what a rush.
Cardiff to Conway castle (shown) coast to coast off road. The lads at the finish	After Alp Wales descender, it's a pretty dull finish up to the coast at Conwy. There's just no off road routes going North up here and the high we're on it soon turns into a chaingang sprint to the line. Luckily its easy navigation down to the sea front, and its all over. We have to end with wheels in the sea, which bemuses all the tourist out in the sun.We sit on sea front with the holiday crowds looking quite bedraggled really chuffed at achievements. It's great to answer any questions from the onlookers; "where have you come from?" CARDIFF The feeling of achievement is fantastic as we are quickly joined by Carrie and Rich's parents for our lifts home. A pint and fish and chips on the beach beneath the Conway castle walls is a fitting end to 7 days great riding.….. C2C squared cardiff to Conway, Coast to Coast- our own twist on a Classic trip. Note to self:- 7 days riding then driving home straight to a nightshift with minutes to spare is not one of my better ideas. Boy did we get sunburnt on that final day too!
When you put it like that it can only impress. Click for bigger view	In Seven days we covered 300 Miles in a ride time of @33 Hrs, enjoyable with nothing to prove by doing it fast for records. Look at that overview you can see a more direct line could be taken, bet it wouldn't be as much fun! How did the bikes stand up? Gary: Specialized stumpjumper (only hardtail):- seatbag exploded, his forks seized and he went through so many tubes we lost count. It's a tough trip on a hardtail. Rich: Santa Cruz Superlight:- Ghost shifted and crunched throughout the trip and nearly killed a Mavic rear wheel hub. Pete: Santa Cruz Blur XC:- Ate its Fox lower mounting bush, but they can do that anytime. He also suffered a fair few pinch punctures. Jack: Intense Spider:- Well it got dirty! Enough grip the whole trip on the superb Racing Ralphs, no puntures on normal tubes. It's not about the bike ;-)
Day Miles Acsent (m) Highest (m) Ride time Bikeshops Notes Food info - Services if required 1. Mon 50 1782 540 4.34 Skyline cycles Join Skyline trail at 30.4 miles at highest point Use take away or Dropoff café at end of trail 2. 41 1645 589 5.02   Tough climb to Sarn Helen Pub Dyffren 20m - Brecon visitor centre 34 miles 3. 45.5 2122 532 6.03 Bulithwellscycles Elancyclery Rhyader   Builth 19m Forest Visitor centre 32mls 4. 43 1911 510 5.54 Summit cycles Longer than map showed as we got lost Dylife 25m(off piste pub) 5. 36 1455 405 4.20 Coedy bikes Fun at Coedy included Dolgellau 24m 6.Sat 40 1651 516 4 Betws bikes Fun play on old MBR start - Half Penmachno loop Transfynd 14m - Llan Ffestiniog 21m - Penmachno village 30m 7. 38     4.22   Half marin trail then great route rather than direct north Ace Café Capel Curig 19m Total 292     @33hrs     At avg speed of 9mph comfortable
Maps of our exact route were at the bottom of the page: I have full pdf files of each days ride on OS maps but they are so big downloading them was going over my site limit, so they have been removed sorry. Contact us if you'd like some info on doing this ride for yourself.	Links: Photos in more glory More In slideshow Flickr Next then lads: Cambrian
Jacks Kit Wearing - socks, leg wamers, shorts, base layer, long sleeve training top, gloves, helmet, boots. In Kimsack: A4 copies of maps, Light Fleece and merino base layer, long trousers that all double up as evening wear or spare riding kit. A light windproof gillet, waterproof and wool socks, boxers. Spare gloves, AA Batteries . Spare tube 2, cash and credit card. Small bottle soap and chain lube, Small cleaning rag. Ear plugs and Phone. Small Blackburn Pump (Rich had the shockpump) spare gear cable and outer. On Bike: Multi-tool and tubes and punc kit,Chain links, Spare Tube 2. Two water bottles one 750ml one 900ml.
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