Despite a few pints the previous night I only needed to get up once and fortunately the weather was holding. So much so that it was pretty warm inside the tent. My newest tent is a Terra Nova Southern Cross 2 that I bought in 2023. I had wanted a 4-season tent as my others are 3-season and wouldn’t be much fun in winter or very wet weather. I actually slept with the outer doors partly open and the inner door liners down. My EXPED Synmat UL 7 mat was warm and I used my Vango 1-2 season sleeping bag as a quilt. The only issue really was the lack of a decent pillow which stopped me from sleeping like a baby, oh that and Mark’s snoring from the tent next door…
I was up and out by about 07:30 and had a decent coffee thanks to the trusty AeroPress and some Lavazza Qualità Rossa Ground Coffee. I sat watching the high up clouds roll slowly in. The air in the campsite was completely still – it was a really peaceful start to the day. Since we weren’t in a rush to get going I had agreed to ride into town to pick up a few essentials for breakfast from Emerys House, including some lard, bacon, bread rolls, eggs and mushrooms. A couple of breakfast baps later and another coffee we started to make tracks.
Following Mark’s planned route we would basically head east towards Llanberis over the pass that runs alongside Snowdon, or Yr Wyddfa. We’d then head back to base via Rhyd-Ddu Pen-y-Groes, Criccieth and Porthmadog. It wasn’t a massive route which meant a day of easy riding with plenty of stops.
We connected our headsets and set off. The weather was promising to be warm again and it was comfortable riding. As we ascended the A498 on the way to the Llanberis Pass we were slowed by a number of triathletes cycling up the hills along with a number of cars stuck behind them. No wanting to be stuck i a queue all the way we pulled in at a view point where we could see the Pass ahead of us, along with some more bloody cyclists going up it. Sure enough the race route took them into Llanberis.
Annoyingly up to this point I had been having trouble with the Ride with GPS app not tracking the route and my phone turning itself off. I fixed that and attached the cameras. Mark rode off with his camera mounted on a selfie stick looking like he was in a jousting tournament. I followed with my X3 placed on the back again but this time sticking out slightly. I do think his is a preferable position compared with the one from the previous day.
On the Pass I eventually caught up with Mark as he was being held up by a car, in turn being held up by a cyclist, just as we reached the cafe where the Miners Track and Pyg Track begin (or end). He then managed to overtake the cyclist, narrowly avoiding a lancing and left me to dawdle all the way down into the town where there were far too many people. The roads we had just ridden have the potential to be great, but they were just too busy on this particular day. We tried unsuccessfully to find somewhere to stop so just rode on through the town, turning left just before Llanrug.
By now the sun was out again and eventually we stopped so Mark could reposition his camera. I carried on, taking a left onto the A4085 at Waunfawr. This was a nice twisty road with some fast bits and not much traffic at all. Now as much fun as the road was, my attention had been grabbed by the words ‘Brewpub’ and ‘campsite’ on the same site along with what looked like railway tracks. I was pleased to discover the Snowdonia Parc campsite that does indeed brew its own beer. What’s not to like, and steam trains too! I know where I’m staying next time.
The road carried on to a small place called Rhyd-Ddu. I was so concerned looking for a cafe stop that I missed the turning right I should have taken. I carried on for a little bit, turned round and took the turning I’d missed. By this time Mark had caught up and was stopped just after the turning, fiddling once again with his camera. It turned out this B4418 was another fantastic road with awesome views all the way down to when we caught up with a 20 mph dawdler with no room to get round them. We ended up being stuck behind them until we hit the A487 from Pen-y-Groes.
Taking the B4411 to Criccieth gave us a more enjoyable ride than the A-road we had just left. We also took a diversion down an extremely narrow road that appeared to have had opening times on it. Fortunately Saturday afternoon was one of the times it was open so we were OK. Riding along the seafront at Criccieth looking for a cafe looked like it was going to end in failure but I had spotted a couple of places tucked away on our left. We turned round and were able to park for free right outside Sŵn Y Môr. Winner winner, scone with cream and jam dinner! I had an iced latte whilst Mark let the side down with a pauper’s can of Vimto.
After a nice long break we rode towards Porthmadog. I stopped to fill up en route but only needed just over 9 litres. We rode along Porthmadog high street and across a narrow causeway. At Penrhyndeudraeth we took he A4085 in the opposite direction we had done earlier, towards Beddgelert. Once we hit Garreg we retraced our route into town from yesterday. We encountered a stand-off between a camper van that we had come up behind and an oncoming bus on one of the narrower parts of the road. The bus driver simply flicked their hazard lights on and sat there, waiting. As the camper van started to reverse I decided to go round and carry on. Mark followed and as we approached Beddgelert I had a bit of fun on the bends and threw Kenton around. It was great fun.
Once back at the campsite we got talking to a maintenance guy who was strimming the grass and who said he had been riding a Himalayan around India for a few months the previous year. There were a lot more tents than there had been on the Friday night. We’d been warned a load of astronomers would be arriving. If these were they, then they would be disappointed as despite it still being warm, the skies had already started to cloud over and rain was forecast for later.
After a well-earned cuppa we each took a shower, got changed and walked cross-country into town, along the river. We stopped off at the ice cream parlour which was luckily still open. Mark had a cornet with a scoop of some flavour I’ve forgotten, whilst I had a tub with a scoop of Turkish Delight flavour and a scoop of banana choc-chip. Having had desert it was only natural to follow that with mains. We headed for the Saracens Head where we each had the Dragon Fire curry (served with both chips *and* rice) washed down with a couple of pints.
We then walked back to camp and got our heads down.
Route Map:
