Day off the bike, Yay! Big Climb, Boo!

It was forecast to be a bright start, so we opted for a 9am start to the climb.  Rachel decided to give the climb a go, contrary to Doctor's advice, so I was a bit worried, but as always there were numerous people who were more likely to be airlifted off the mountain before she was.  My favourite was the lady in high heels who was making a summit attempt.  Mmmm.

The weather was good when we struck off, just maybe the top quarter of the hill shrouded in the clouds and  we made it to the summit in around 2 and half hours.  A little bit damp, but we then spent an hour in the new summit cafe drying out and warming up before the decent. 

So one climb down, two to go.  The only decision now is which pub we celebrate in.

Gorrillas in the mist??!

Celebrating making the top.... I have 6 layers of clothing on at this point

Did you know North Wales is hilly???

It has been a tough couple of days.  We have been crossing over the mountains of Mid and North Wales.  From Builth Wells we cycled on to Llanidloes and then over the main range of the Cambrian mountains into Machynlleth.  The main climb of the day took us well away from civlisation, nearly to the source of the river Severn and the up to about 400 metres before rewarded us with a 5 miles decent into town.  We were frozen from the wind blast of the decent by the time we arrived and opted for a warm B&B over a wind swept campsite for our accomodation.

Our decision to stop in Mac last night means that we had a long and tough climb up out of Machynlleth this morning as we main our way to the next main town of Dolgellau.  We followed National Cycle Network 8 as the main road was narrow and filled with heavy traffic.  It took us on winding lanes up and then onto an even narrower purpose built cycle track whose steepness eventually reduced us to pushing the tandem as we got close to the top.  At least in this blustery weather only the sheep were there to see us struggle.

We then followed the coast road out to Barmouth, where we enjoyed a hearty lunch courtesy of the Co-op, before heading North to Harlech, then on to Porthmadog and finally back on the cycle route into Caernarfon.  Where we met up with Rachel, her boyfriend and Den's Brother ahead of our climb up Snowdon tomorrow.

Into the Land of Opportunity...

We had a difficult time getting from Taunton up to the border yesterday.  The gradients have levelled out so we should have been making good time but Rachy has picked up a niggle on her knee and it seemed to be getting progressively worse through out the day.  More on that later.  First off we cycled up to Bridgewater, where at Morrisions we met another group of end to enders heading the opposite way to us.  Then onto Bristol, where we’d decided to cross the river Avon as we weren’t at all sure if we could cycle on the Avon mouth Bridge (which you can it turns out).  But the route through Bristol was not too bad for so large a city and we were soon back out on the cyclepath that follows that road to Avonmouth.  The worst part of the day was negotiating the road filled with heavy goods vehicles that ran up to the old Severn bridge.

On the old Severn bridge

I'm sure you'll all appreciate the quality of this camera work... but we are just entering Wales

Light Traffic on the main roads...

... and even less on the tow paths

We stayed in the centre of Chepstow for the evening where we got the help of a professional fundraiser  during our evening outing to the pub.  He came in the shape my mate’s 2 and a bit year old.  Who was certainly a lot more effective at getting people to open their wallets in 5 minutes than we have been in the previous 3 days.

When we woke up, Rachel’s knee was worse than ever, so after some experimental cycling around tesco car park she decided it would be best to rest it for a few days.  So we waived her off at the station and headed off towards Built Wells.  After a few initial false starts at getting out of Chepstow following the cycle routes we managed to make it quite quickly to Abergavenny, from where we picked up a canal as far as Crickhowell in time for a latish lunch.  Then, it was onto the fast main road as far as Builth. We are both feeling quite tired now.  Looking forward to reaching Llanberis for our climb at Snowdon and then maybe a day off.

3 Counties in 3 Days

We had a late start this morning by the time we’d taken the tents down, dried our washing in the tumble drier and waited out the thunderstorm that had arrived just as we were ready to get on with things.  When we did finally get on the move, we skirted around the western edge of Dartmoor on as we headed North East to Oakhampton. 

Our late start meant that we held out for lunch until we got to Crediton at about 40 miles for the day.  From there it was on to Tiverton, before we got a break from the main road as we followed a canal tow path a way out of town towards Taunton.

We had over 70 miles up by the time we arrived at our hotel, but we all felt a little chuffed to have managed such a distance in one day.  That’s pretty good going we thought, as we wearily pushed our bikes into reception, where we met a chap, who was supporting his brother in law on an end to end attempt, and who’d done 110 miles today.  So that’s put us in our place.

Tomorrow, it’s all about making the Welsh border.  Hopefully the weather will improve and if we can get across Bristol in reasonable time then we should be over the Severn Bridge before we stop for the night.

This is where it gets serious

After raising the grand total of... err, zero in the pub last night, we walked back through a howling storm to the tents and got totally drenched in the process.  So it was a relief to wake up to blue skies this morning.

First proper day of cycling today.  60 miles from Redruth, in Cornwall to Tavistock, in Devon.  Which mainly saw us braving the twin evils of heavy traffic and heavy winds.  Mercifully the winds for most of the morning were giving us a helping hand and pushing us along.  Unfortunately our six weeks of summer sunshine that we enjoyed before we left on this trip have deserted us.  So things are a little on the chilly side. 

Tomorrow is forecast for sunny spells with a late shower, or thundery storms depending on which website you look at... it's amazing how important the weather can become when you are spending all your time outdoors.

And they're off...

So, just arrived at the campsite on our first day out of Land's End.  After a late start, we had a mostly dry and enjoyable ride over the rolling hills South Western Cornwall.  Everything going well so far.  No major dramas, breakdowns, punctures or run ins with motorists.  We're just East of Redruth.  Hoping to make Tavistock tommorrow.

Three weeks with my little sister... good job we get on otherwise we'd end up fighting...

The obligatory photo at Land's End sign.... Rachel says I look "tubby".  She's right.

Finally mid afternoon, ready for the off...

Managed to get a few donations in the Maggies collecting tin but nothing compared to a group of cyclists we met, who were at the end of their trip.  They had raised roughly 13k on their travels.  Outstanding stuff... but there were 14 of them.

We're off to the pub now... to try and drum up some donations you understand...

Well that time has come.... The bags are packed, the bikes ready, we have the transport, Rich made it home in time and we ae about to set off to pick up Rachel from Bristol train station. Now ever so slightly nervous!! Let's see what this adventure brings.....