10th May 2018 : Corwen (brisk)

Today the meeting place was the Gallery Tea Rooms at Hawarden. Knowing that my regular brisk riders were not riding today, I had a route prepared, but was edging on accompanying the moderate riders. Arriving at the café, there were soon plenty of riders out to enjoy the sunshine including Ray. After Dave H advised their ride would be to Tattenhall, I decided to ride my route to Corwen was my option and Ray would accompany me but had to return to Chester for appointment later in the afternoon. 

We set of just the two of us and were soon heading down the A550 to go via the Old Warren route to Dobbshill. Crossing the A55 and the unfriendly cycle gate, we head along Hope Rd to Kinnerton Rd.

After 10 miles to Treuddyn,  I realised I hadn’t ridden any miles!! The Garmin had not been activated since the café. Ray and I rode on to Nercwys where Ray decided to leave and head back towards Chester.

My route now takes me via Eryrys and Llanarmon-yn-lal (Raven Inn). The lanes are absolutely fab to ride along after the past winter months and both Ray and I had enjoyed some good climbs. The best was via the Shelf and into Carrog. My ride from here into Corwen was just fantastic and passing over the Dee river into Corwen town; very picturesque.

 The "Shelf"                                              Corwen                                               Hope


After lunch at The Crown, I was soon on the bike heading back towards Hawarden and Chester. Attached is the route and this is one that I will ride again. There are some 17% climbs on my return but with a tail wind I was able to navigate – just!!

A great day, largely solo riding, but an enjoyable one. Glad I made the decision to do some hard riding as Thursdays and different café starts is why we have a riding club. A ride of 80+miles Chester and back, but 59 miles all round from Hawarden, with 5,988 ft of ascent plus the bit not included between Hawarden and Nercwys.

Thanks to Ray for joining me, and I look forwards to riding this another day. 

See route map and/or gpx file download

ID

Photos by ID

8th June 2013: Corwen Audax Rides

With CER members taking part in each of the three audax events the first thing to say is we were very lucky with the weather.  Warm and sunny with light winds was perfect for a great day out.

200k riders at the start

Looking back at Barmouth on the Boulevard

Barmouth Boulevard 200k: 3500m ascent

There was a small entry for the original, very difficult, version climbing to Cross Foxes Inn after Dinas Mawddwy, with one rider from C&NW CTC successfully completing the course in 11h 30min.

Ten riders entered the mega difficult Vyrnwy Variant from Dinas Mawddwy taking in the hard side of the Bwlch y Groes after 150k of very hilly route and then the Northern Hirnant from Lake Vyrnwy.  Times varied from 9 hours (beat that Bradley Wiggins!) to 13h 15min.  All commented that this is a fantastic ride and deserves to be widely known.

To appeal to a larger number of riders the event may be moved to the last Saturday in July before the school holidays. The original finish via Cross Foxes is to be abandoned due to new road works and increasing traffic so the route is to take the Vyrnwy variant in future - 204k and 3750 metres of ascent - one of the most scenic and challenging 200k's in Britain.

Brenig Bach 107k: 2000m ascent

Bird Rock near Abergynolwyn- Barmouth Boulevard

A large entry of over 40 riders for this Graham Mills' classic included one tandem which successfully navigated the steep and narrow, hilly route.  Seven riders from C&NW CTC took part.  Everyone had a great day out and I have had much feedback as to the quality and enjoyment of the route.  (The fame of this route is spreading to the extent that a number of requests have been made to ride this as a "Permanent" audax ride.)

The final section of this ride down the A5 from Cerrigydrudion will be examined prior to 2014, to find the safest route back to Corwen on a summer Saturday.

Bala Parade 60k

Tal-y-Llyn in the shadow of Cader Idris - Barmouth Boulevard

Riding the Bala Parade

A super day out was had for around 25 riders with great service from the pub at Llanuwchllyn.  Seven riders from C&NW CTC took part including two vets whose combined age was well over 140 years.  Congratulations also to Geraldine Goldsmith of Peak Audax who determinedly struggled round the course with the handicap of a partially healed broken leg.

It is intended to re-route this ride next year to avoid the main road alongside Bala Lake and the town itself: too much traffic in summer.      

DM

14th August 2012: Barmouth Boulevard

The Barmouth Boulevard is a brand new audax 208km event heading out from Corwen round Lake Bala, over the Trawsfynydd mountain road and on to Harlech and Barmouth.  The return is through the Bird Rock road to Abergynolwyn, Corris, the mountain road to Mallwyd, Cross Foxes and Bala town.  It is scheduled as a calendar event for October 20, but can be ridden anytime as a "permanent". 

The purpose of today’s ride, apart from having a great day out, was to get Ray to check out the route sheet as initially prepared by DM.  It is quite remarkable how many first time errors appear in route sheets (as well as subsequent changes put in by road makers) and the best way to counter this is to get a second person to ride the route and see it through their eyes.

After several false starts caused by rubbish weather, we eventually left Corwen at 07:30 on Tuesday 14 August and headed out to Bala on a day that threatened just a few showers.  We turned off the main Bala road to ride alongside the E side of the lake, which road was covered in rather dangerous new gravel in several places, to the first control at the Eagle Inn in Llanuwchllyn.  After a good fill of coffee and doorstep toast, we set off for Trawsfynydd over the narrow mountain road.  The gravel spreaders had been at work here also and made the first 10k dangerous as well as strenuous up the steep hills.  The gravel rather spoiled the spectacular mountain views, as all our senses were required to stay on the bike.

Fortunately the gravel ended abruptly just before the last hill, so we could then enjoy the ride and views over to Trawsfynydd and the subsequent main road route to Harlech.  After a deli stop in Harlech, we then continued down the main road to Barmouth, followed by a ride over the Causeway to the Towyn road.  This section of road is really beautiful as it climbs above the sea before finally turning inland near Llanegryn, leading to the fantastic mountain views along the Bird Rock road to Abergynolwyn.

The official control here is at the local library/cafe/post office which we now know is open 6 days per week - closed Tuesdays.  Fortunately we spotted a nice pub down the road where we got our cards stamped and filled up selves and bottles with liquid refreshment.  The route now leads northeast past several lakes and a big climb to Corris.  After Corris, we turned off along another mountain road through Aberllefenni that has been recently resurfaced.  This nice surface helps just a bit on the 17% and 20% ascents over to Mallwyd and civilisation.

The next part of the ride was one of the hardest in our fairly tired state, as we had to climb 10k from Mallwyd up to Cross Foxes on the main road.  No chance of falling asleep here as white van men and tourists whizzed close by on the road and Tornado jets screamed overhead on low level exercises.  Once recovered in Cross Foxes, we headed off through Brithdir and then the main road to Bala followed by the Pale route to Corwen.

Overall a hard but very fulfilling day out of 132 miles (212K) and 12,000ft (3500m) ascent in 13.5 hours.  Thanks to Ray for his company, improvements to the route sheet and for waiting for me at the summit of the hills.

David M