Sunday 8th August
Distance - 75 miles (overall 487.65 miles)
Max Speed - 14.2 mph
Time on bike - 4h 56m 55s
Average - 30.5 mph
People Are Strange
We were on the road at 09:20 am for a 6 mile downhill roll to Bettsw-Y-Coed. You would think this would be fantastic, apart from the bitterly cold wind, and as we were rolling downhill we couldn't warm our bodies up by cycling. Once we arrived we stopped at a Londis store to pick up some water, fresh orange juice and some breakfast wraps and to our surprise the weather was amazing, bright blue sky and no clouds. Total opposite end of the scale compared to the massive angry rain this town saw yesterday. There was also a vintage car show taking place. We had a walk around and checked out some of the old school vehicles but the biggest thing I took from the show was the massive sense of community spirit, everyone was out, generations having a blast, kind of what we saw down at Porthgwarra beach near Lands End our first day.
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| Logan early morning |
Woke up after a good nights sleep in our 'bunkhouse' apart from it being freezing. Every time I moved the sleeping let in a freezing draft, I could of laid their all day but that wasn't going to get us any closer to the top of Scotland. We both had a laugh about the night before, looking at all the photos of us trying trying to look gangsta, best of all how did we manage to end up in an old school caravan in an overgrown garden in Wales? It was ace having lots of room to get our kit sorted in the morning instead of getting sorted in a cramped up one man coffin sized tent, but yet it definitely lacked the gnarly side of roughing it, and slightly felt like we were cheating. When we were ready we made our way through the garden and back to the main B&B to pay for our comforts and leave. The land lady then asked "would you like tea or coffee with your full English?" with a smirk. We weren't expecting any breakfast, so it was an amazing surprise and a good start to our day.
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| Our View out side our 'Bunkhouse' in the morning |
As time was ticking on we hut the road at 10:30 for another steady descent (with a few uphills) for 20 miles to Conwy on the A470. The scenery and roads were ideal, wide cycle paths a nice looking coast we were steadily rolling towards 20 miles away, the only thing was we still weren't warmed up so found it difficult on stretches of road that should have been mellow. That was until the 'Beast'. The beast is a kind of hill where it has a peak on top of peak on top of peak where you only notice the following peak at the crest of the previous. We found ourselves recovering from the steep parts of the hill on the more mellow parts of the hill, needless to say instead of being cold we were sweating buckets. For how hard this climb was we both felt as if out bodies had 'woken up' immediately afterwards and were in full flow.
Above are some of the nice looking cars we witnessed in Bettws-Y-Coed. Notice how good the weather was
We made it to Conwy feeling much better where we took the A55 (North Wales Expressway) East towards Chester. This road on the map looked a nice fast road which should be nice and mellow, however the reality was a little different. We found our selves cycling along a hard shoulder of what could easily be described as a busy motorway with vehicles passing us at 70-80 mph super close, scary stuff. The big problem with cycling on the 'hard shoulder' we had to cross these slipways, it was kind of like you just had go for it an shut your eyes and hope for the best. On entering a tunnel where the hard shoulder got skinnier I suddenly heard a few thuds from behind, too scared to look I just carried on hoping it wasn't a biggy. The worse thing was while racing along at a 30mph average we could see, over the crash barrier to our left, the most perfectly formed cycle lane we would come across the entire trip running along the coast, but we had no way of stopping or getting off this road.
Eventually we saw signs for Abergele and managed to leave the A55. We decided then we will take the longer more coastal route via Prestatyn towards Chester, this turned out to be the best decision of the day. We decided to stop and have a five minute break and eat our snacks bought from the Londis store earlier, however we quickly realised that the thud I heard behind me was our water, OJ and breakfast wraps falling out my panniers and getting run over by a camper van. So it was back on the road, hungry, and I felt my back really hurting, I put it down to cycling the last 20 miles super tensed up, anyway we were stoked to be on a much more mellow road where we could relax and enjoy ourselves.
A few miles up the A548 we started hitting more urban areas where the scenery was getting much more rad by the mile. This was due to mile after mile seaside resorts and caravan sites. Its was like a stereotypical 80s seaside resort scene - for miles, and I loved it. It reminded me a lot on the introductory scene in 'The Lost Boys' where the family first arrive in Santa Carla, 'murder capitol of the world', and drive around town while 'People are Strange' by the Doors is playing in the background. I couldn't believe how awesome this place, and cheered me up for the rest of the day.
Still singing 'People are Strange' we left the A548 at Connahs Quay and quickly got lost. Standing their and looking clueless, there was a 68 year old gentleman asked if we were lost. He also was out on his bike, was fully kitted out cyclists and had the body language of an experienced cyclist so automatically got our respect instantly. He advised to stay way from the roads and was trying to describe various cycle paths but we must have gave the 'you might as well be talking japanese' look as he sharply stopped, laughed and simply said 'follow me'. We proceeded to follow our new found friend through lots of cycle lanes, one after the other until we arrived back on the A550 at a more quieter part. He then advised us just to stay on this road and it will take us directly to the Mersey Tunnels. Somewhere on this small stretch of road we entered England, with Wales behind us I personally had a end of the summer feeling where you know you areleaving something amazing behind, mainly due to Wales was such a blast and nearly everyone we met was super friendly, recommend Wales to everyone
We originally decided to to mirror the M56 through Chester then cut up north through Runcorn and St Helens but decided against it as cutting through the Mersey Tunnels and north from Liverpool would shave 20 miles of our route. Also, we were advised that it being Sunday evening, this would be the only time that bikes are allowed through due to the reduced traffic.
We were cycling along fine until the I heard another bang from the rear of my bike, followed by a rattling resembling the noise a wheel makes covered in the spoke toys you used to get free in Frosties years ago. I knew it was a snapped spoke, so I slowed to a stop without even turning my head to survey the damage, feeling utterly deflated I looked over at Logan who was looking back at me with the same look. Even though no words were spoken we both knew this was a show stopper. I wouldn't say that we are both very competitive between each other but both us have acquired a competitive streak within ourselves and this snapped spoke has sharply put a stop to our own personal goals for today. Trying not to admit defeat I called a friend up for advice but the answer was 'without the proper equipment its a bike shop' and as it was after 6 o'clock at night there was no chance.
Next thing was to find accommodation as camping in the middle of Birkenhead didn't seem to sit well with us. After trying out a few local B&Bs and Hotels we eventually forked up the cash to stay at The Village Hotel. After describing our situation the girls at the check in desk were more than sympathetic and gave a us a huge double room so we could take our bikes up, breakfast included, access to the pool, spa, sauna and jacuzzi all for a single room only rate. On top of this she researched local bike shop opening times who had the facilities for fitting spokes and truing up wheels, and, tonight was two people eat for £10 so we promptly ordered two tuna steaks which should have came to a total of £22.50, stoked.
Somewhere in the back of my head was a guilty feeling trying to convince me that this was wrong, this was not part of the plan, this should be a hard grafting cycle but its hard to say no when its offered on a plate, so just for a night I tucked that guilty feeling away. We were both knackered, clothes washed, phones charging and looking forward to sleeping in a proper bed, waking up fresh with a new start in a new country, certainly makes a difference than sleeping in a tent in the rain anyway.
Eventually we saw signs for Abergele and managed to leave the A55. We decided then we will take the longer more coastal route via Prestatyn towards Chester, this turned out to be the best decision of the day. We decided to stop and have a five minute break and eat our snacks bought from the Londis store earlier, however we quickly realised that the thud I heard behind me was our water, OJ and breakfast wraps falling out my panniers and getting run over by a camper van. So it was back on the road, hungry, and I felt my back really hurting, I put it down to cycling the last 20 miles super tensed up, anyway we were stoked to be on a much more mellow road where we could relax and enjoy ourselves.
A few miles up the A548 we started hitting more urban areas where the scenery was getting much more rad by the mile. This was due to mile after mile seaside resorts and caravan sites. Its was like a stereotypical 80s seaside resort scene - for miles, and I loved it. It reminded me a lot on the introductory scene in 'The Lost Boys' where the family first arrive in Santa Carla, 'murder capitol of the world', and drive around town while 'People are Strange' by the Doors is playing in the background. I couldn't believe how awesome this place, and cheered me up for the rest of the day.
Still singing 'People are Strange' we left the A548 at Connahs Quay and quickly got lost. Standing their and looking clueless, there was a 68 year old gentleman asked if we were lost. He also was out on his bike, was fully kitted out cyclists and had the body language of an experienced cyclist so automatically got our respect instantly. He advised to stay way from the roads and was trying to describe various cycle paths but we must have gave the 'you might as well be talking japanese' look as he sharply stopped, laughed and simply said 'follow me'. We proceeded to follow our new found friend through lots of cycle lanes, one after the other until we arrived back on the A550 at a more quieter part. He then advised us just to stay on this road and it will take us directly to the Mersey Tunnels. Somewhere on this small stretch of road we entered England, with Wales behind us I personally had a end of the summer feeling where you know you areleaving something amazing behind, mainly due to Wales was such a blast and nearly everyone we met was super friendly, recommend Wales to everyone
We originally decided to to mirror the M56 through Chester then cut up north through Runcorn and St Helens but decided against it as cutting through the Mersey Tunnels and north from Liverpool would shave 20 miles of our route. Also, we were advised that it being Sunday evening, this would be the only time that bikes are allowed through due to the reduced traffic.
We were cycling along fine until the I heard another bang from the rear of my bike, followed by a rattling resembling the noise a wheel makes covered in the spoke toys you used to get free in Frosties years ago. I knew it was a snapped spoke, so I slowed to a stop without even turning my head to survey the damage, feeling utterly deflated I looked over at Logan who was looking back at me with the same look. Even though no words were spoken we both knew this was a show stopper. I wouldn't say that we are both very competitive between each other but both us have acquired a competitive streak within ourselves and this snapped spoke has sharply put a stop to our own personal goals for today. Trying not to admit defeat I called a friend up for advice but the answer was 'without the proper equipment its a bike shop' and as it was after 6 o'clock at night there was no chance.
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| Drying our freshly washed socks |
Next thing was to find accommodation as camping in the middle of Birkenhead didn't seem to sit well with us. After trying out a few local B&Bs and Hotels we eventually forked up the cash to stay at The Village Hotel. After describing our situation the girls at the check in desk were more than sympathetic and gave a us a huge double room so we could take our bikes up, breakfast included, access to the pool, spa, sauna and jacuzzi all for a single room only rate. On top of this she researched local bike shop opening times who had the facilities for fitting spokes and truing up wheels, and, tonight was two people eat for £10 so we promptly ordered two tuna steaks which should have came to a total of £22.50, stoked.
Somewhere in the back of my head was a guilty feeling trying to convince me that this was wrong, this was not part of the plan, this should be a hard grafting cycle but its hard to say no when its offered on a plate, so just for a night I tucked that guilty feeling away. We were both knackered, clothes washed, phones charging and looking forward to sleeping in a proper bed, waking up fresh with a new start in a new country, certainly makes a difference than sleeping in a tent in the rain anyway.
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