During the 2020 lockdown I decided I needed a go-anywhere bike. For some reason, I suddenly wanted to give bikepacking a go, and after an enjoyable, albeit not particularly comfortable experiment with my single speed and a pannier rack, I splurged on a lovely gravel bike.
Last May I took the bike up to York over three days, pushing the pace a bit and covering a lot of miles, but with success. Meanwhile my friends Julie and Andrew blogged about their experience on the Hebridean Way, so I emailed them: what about a bikepacking holiday together?
After a bit of discussion we settled on doing the Lon Las Cymru from Cardiff to Holyhead. Roughly translated as the 'green lanes of Wales' (although 'las' also translates as 'blue') the route follows National Cycle Network route 8 all the way across the country. We gave ourselves a week to cover what we thought would be about 400km/250 miles, hoping for a reasonably relaxed pace. Julie and Andrew have done way more bikepacking than me, and have better kit when it comes to the little extras that make things comfortable; my bike set-up is lighter, but that means I had to compromise on a few things.
We met in Cardiff on a sunny Saturday afternoon, and rolled out the next morning on our adventure.
THE RIDE
On day 1 we cycled from our campsite in Cardiff to the start by the bay - my first time seeing the gorgeous Welsh parliament building in real life - then retraced our wheel tracks along the Taff Trail and out of the city. We had miles of nicely surfaced, traffic-free paths to begin with, shaded by trees, before heading up into the Welsh valleys and old mining country. Lunch was on a convenient picnic bench close to the cemetery in Aberfan, where we visited the moving memorial to the 1966 disaster which killed 144 people including 116 children. We swung through Merthyr Tydfil and up to the Pontsticill Reservoir, where the route took us along a forest track smelling delightfully of pine. The legs were tiring, but we managed to push on to the YHA next to Talybont reservoir, where we called it a day after nearly 82km. The YHA had a nice little camping field, which we shared with a French (or possibly Belgian) motorcyling touring lady and her enthusiastic retriever Reuben, plus a restaurant and a drying room.
Day 2 dawned cloudy, but we had more nice roads to follow as we continued along the Taff Trail through the Brecons. We had a bit of a detour after Brecon itself, thanks to gaily following cycling signs which weren't the cycling signs we needed - eventually I decided we were going in the wrong direction, clarified this with GPS, and we turned around up a very steep hill to get back on track. It wasn't the last very steep hill we were to encounter! Lunch was in Glasbury at the café belonging to the outdoor centre there, and we kept going to Builth (pronounced 'bilth') Wells where we'd found a farm campsite which Google Maps helpfully said was up a 'moderate' hill. A moderate hill with a 16% gradient. Luckily the site was lovely, with very welcoming owners including some friendly chickens and three orphaned lambs, although I'm not sure Julie really forgave me for the hill.
Day 3 didn't begin brilliantly; as we were about to roll out we discovered I'd somehow picked up a puncture. A combined effort got it fixed fairly quickly. A few miles out of Builth Andrew lost one of his front brake pads, and spent the rest of the day with only his back brake available - we hoped to buy new pads in Rhayader, but the bike shop was already closed when we got there.
Despite this it was another fabulous day, with a particularly lovely stretch after Rhayader along traffic-free single-track tarmaced roads, in the sunshine. We were pleased to roll into Llanidloes, a small and rather pretty little town with a market hall in the centre and a number of independent shops. Dinner was in the local boozer, the Red Lion, which served huge portions of solid pub grub and good beer.
It rained overnight and into the morning of day 4. We had breakfast in the little kitchen area of the campsite while chatting to a very nice Irish motorbike tourer, Paul, waiting for the rain to ease and for the cycle shop in town to open. Andrew managed to obtain replacement brake pads and fit them, under the shelter of the market hall, and by the time we really got going the rain had basically stopped.
We climbed out of Llanidloes to the Hafren Forest, pausing for a snack in the carpark there and marvelling at the muddiness of the group of mountain bikers who had just come off the trails, then kept climbing to the highest point of the route, about halfway, a viewpoint overlooking Cader Idris. It was windy and chilly but we had excellent pasties and Scotch eggs to eat from the bakery in Llanidloes, followed by an exhilarating descent on smooth tarmac to Machynlleth.
But the climb had taken its toll and by the time we reached Corris, a few miles on from Machynlleth, it was time to stop. After an early failed attempt to find a campsite an old man told us about, we went on to one I'd earlier earmarked online - a 'wild camping' site with basic facilities, by a lovely little stream. We did a bit of stretching and paddled in the stream before dinner; we had the place to ourselves, although we did share it with midges and went to bed early to escape them!
Day 5 started with another steep climb, which finished with a flourish of 18%+ gradients, views over Snowdonia and a good descent to Dolgellau. We decided we'd earned coffee and cake, which then fuelled us nicely for one of the nicest sections of the whole ride, a flat 10 miles along the Mawddach Trail and across the traffic-free bridge to Barmouth.
After Barmouth, we stopped to investigate a cool Neolithic burial mound, before we hit a few more short sharp climbs on the way to Harlech (and, for some inexplicable reason, a microwave embedded in a wall. Andrew checked it; it still pinged). In Harlech it started to rain, and had got very cold and windy - I was frozen watching the bikes while the others bought food for dinner, which slightly spoilt our brief look at the castle because I just needed to move! Out of Harlech we were hit by another wall of a climb, which forced both Julie and me to walk a bit, and we were glad to find our campsite for the night. It had the most spectacular views over Harlech and across to the Llyn Peninsula, but it was way too cold to enjoy them properly; we took refuge in the kitchen and cooked and ate dinner in there. We were perhaps fortunate that this site had the biggest kitchen of all the ones we stayed in, and nobody else wanted to use it. At one point a chap popped his head in, checking the place out after his journey from Gatwick in his recently acquired second-hand campervan had taken four hours longer than planned.
It didn't get much less windy overnight, but as we set off on day 6 we found that we'd done most of the early climbing the day before. That was a bonus. Most of the rest of the day was relatively tame. We paused to buy lunch in Porthmadog, where Julie came out of the cash-only grocers' giggling at the old Welsh man who'd served her. Among other things, he'd felt it necessary to explain the different types of apples he was selling. Andrew managed to buy some more spare brake pads, although all the steep descents were behind us now.
We spun through Criccieth and after a little while hit the Lon Eifion, a 12-mile cycleway along yet another old railway line that took us right to Caernarfon. With the wind behind us and a gradual descent we flew along and arrived in the town in high spirits, doing a loop around the magnificent castle before going to our campsite. Here there were views over the Menai Strait and a nice flat field, which was empty when we arrived but gained a couple of vans by the time we headed back into town (on foot) for large plates of fish and chips and a couple of pints in Caernarfon's oldest pub, the Black Boy - a recommendation from fellow campers.
Day 7 dawned sunny and calm and we lingered a bit over breakfast. But there were still over 40 miles to go ... The section taking us over the Menai Bridge was perhaps my least favourite of the whole ride, as we had a few miles of shared cyclepath alongside busy A-roads and some annoying crossings to negotiate. Luckily, once we'd got past Llanfairpwyllgwyngyll (and stopped for the obligatory touristy picture by the very long sign) things got back to normal - more idyllic, quiet back roads lined by fields and hedges, with views back to Snowdonia.
Somehow the tired legs kept spinning towards Holyhead, where our hopes for an ice-cream were fulfilled. Then it was another couple of miles, and a last climb, to South Stack lighthouse - which my uncle later told me was designed by an ancestor of mine, Daniel Alexander! We camped at a nearby site and enjoyed a last dinner cooked on our camping stoves with the sun setting on a superb trip.
THE CAMPSITES
We left booking for all our accommodation fairly open, which caused us a couple of issues but nothing major - I hadn't realised two of the places I'd found in research were group-only type sites, which led to a long day on day 1 particularly. However, everywhere we did stay was great.
Cardiff Caravan & Camping Park - remarkably close to the city centre, with containers for safe overnight storage of bikes
YHA Brecon Beacons Danywenallt - good facilities including a restaurant, and right on the route, so very convenient. As of May 2022, photo ID is required to stay at a YHA (a photo of ID on your phone suffices)
Noyadd Farm - up a hill outside Builth, about two miles off the route, but a beautiful spot and the cheapest site we stayed at (£8 pp).
Dol Llys Farm - this is a massive site but was almost empty when we stayed there. Like most of our sites it's a working farm, so comes with cute animals and dogs to play with! 15 minutes' walk from Llanidloes
Gaerwern Wild Camping - a small, private, off-grid site - £10 pp arguably a bit pricey for water and a Portaloo, but it was very pretty and the owner is clearly aiming to improve it. About a mile off the route in Corris
Merthyr Farm - when we arrived a sign said they could only take pre-booked campers, but they had space so it was fine. Incredible views, rather exposed when it's windy! Another site right on the route
Is-Helen Farm Caravan Park - weirdly the lady seemed reluctant to take us when I called, but she was super-friendly when we arrived and definitely had space. Mostly a caravan park, but the camping field was great and facilities superb. 10 minutes' walk or about three minutes' cycle from Caernarfon Castle and the route
Blackthorn Farm - a slightly over-attentive owner, who drove around in his 4x4 three times to check everything was okay during the evening, and a bit expensive at £17 pp, but the location was good, facilities excellent and there was free Wifi, so ... about two miles out of Holyhead
THE GEAR
As previously mentioned, my bikepacking gear is on the light side. When I first got a pannier rack I invested in a Topeak bag which has a sort of box plus fold-down panniers, with a total capacity of about 23 litres. I also have a harness to strap my sleeping back to the handlebars. Turns out you can do a week-long trip with this, but you have to be very strict on what you bring, and have compact, light gear. I would have struggled with groceries for the evening and for lunch had I not been with Julie and Andrew and their spacious Ortlieb panniers! If I do another trip, I'll get some bigger panniers to give myself room for another change of clothes, food, and a camping chair - the others had Helinox chairs which were light and comfy.
But my trusty Alpkit Soloist tent did its thing, my Exped mattress was extremely good on its first proper multiday test, and apart from the annoying puncture my Dolan GXA was good on all surfaces and I had just enough gears for the hills with my 11/34 groupset.
I'd definitely recommend a gravel or solid hybrid bike for this route - there's a fair bit of gravel surfaces including some climbing, and a lot of the back roads were rough in patches. At the very least, a road bike would need fattish tyres with good grip.
THE DIRECTION
We chose to ride south to north and I can't remember why. However, I think it was the right call. We had the toughest hills later in the week, after we'd got used to riding and warmed up with some easier climbs. The only advantage perhaps to riding north to south is that arguably bits of our last day were the least nice in terms of route (more traffic around Bangor especially), but it wasn't ever dreadful.
The route is mostly well signposted. I'd uploaded it to my Garmin, but got a few bits wrong somehow and we tried to just follow the blue route 8 signs. Julie had the Sustrans paper maps and these were a helpful addition, especially when there was no sign and Garmin was being silly. Relying just on the signs might be slightly risky in parts.
IN CONCLUSION
This was a gorgeous ride, made better with good company and mostly good weather. May was a lovely time of year for it, with the verges lined with bluebells and other flowers the whole way, the grass green and the lambs gambolling happily in the fields we passed. A week was about right for a fairly steady pace with lots of stopping for photos and food - you could do it in four or five days by travelling lighter and faster, but half the fun is the journey. It's a challenging route due to the climbing, but the route planners need a round of applause, because it's brilliant.
