Welcome to a collection of blog posts, below, about our one-week North-South Wales Coast to Coast by MTB trip, back in 2014. Make sure you also check out the interactive route map of this trip and the photos and videos too. We were self-supported, which included carrying all our own gear. We followed much of the MBRUK Sarn Helen route. The riding and scenery were fantastic, and it felt really cool to cover the entire length of a country (plus, my grandmother was Welsh, so Wales holds a special place in my heart). We also stayed in some wonderful and quirky accommodation along the way, & met some fantastic people. Enjoy 🙂
- About this Trip
“Well I think I’d quite like it if he marched past me with no clothes on!” exclaimed Myfanwy, the village matriarch, much to mine and Paul’s amusement! Later in the Week – Jon and Paul late in the day at Bwlch Nant yr Arian trail centre. © Paul Bonwick It’s the second day of a … - Day 1 – Conwy to Penmachno
Our trip began on a sunny Saturday in May 2014 in the town of Conwy after a lengthy railway journey with our mountain bikes and kit, the latter being contained entirely in our 20 litre backpacks. Our rail journey hadn’t started well after we were told “No bikes on this - Day 2 – Penmachno to Coed-y-Brenin
Rain, rain and more rain. It barely stopped raining today. From the moment we left Penmachno the heavens opened. At first we tried to ride up the loose quarry slate which festooned the path up the back of Cwm Penmachno toward the Manod Mawr quarries, but, it was in vain - Day 3 – Coed-y-Brenin to Machynlleth
That morning we load up on extra toast from breakfast, spreading it with a healthy dollop of jam and squirrelling it away under the table ready for lunch later. There was no shop nearby – not being too enamoured with the prospect of just cold toast for lunch, once under - Day 4 – Machynlleth to Devil’s Bridge
After a lovely cooked breakfast with home-made bread we set off along the Afon Dulas valley, climbing gently on tarmac. It’s not long before we’re climbing more sharply, on gravel and then grass and finally more gravel toward the top of Foel Fadian. The climb is monumentally steep in places - Day 5 – Devil’s Bridge to Elan Village
With no shop in the Devil’s Bridge village, and, faced with a particularly remote day where we couldn’t see any obvious food shops en route not to mention that we were starting to get a bit tired of cold toast half-inched from breakfast we ask if the proprietor of the - Day 6 – Elan Village to Brecon
Unbelievably, we’re the only people staying in what is a moderately sized hotel (in the Elan Village). I’m struck once again by the remoteness of central Wales, travelling as we are out of prime holiday season and mostly mid-week. How do hotels and B&Bs keep going year-round? It must be - Day 7 – Brecon to Cardiff Bay
And so we come to the final day of our (mainly) off-road trip from the north coast to the south coast of Wales. Our fantastic accommodation for the night (possibly topping the Elan Valley Hotel for me) left us nicely rested, if still somewhat weary after 6 days of hard