13th April 2017: St Asaph (mod)

It was a dull but dry day as I rode from home to Hawarden.  The forecast was for heavy cloud cover but no rain.  I hoped the forecasters had got it right.  I was the first to arrive at the Gallery Coffee Shop to be warmly greeted by mine host who appeared to be in a very affable mood this morning.  Eight other club members duly arrived as 10.30 approached.  During tea, coffee, teacake and conversation, proposals for the day’s ride were quickly agreed.  The “brisk” group consisting of John M, Paul, Nick, Ken and Tom were headed for the Horseshoe Pass and the Ponderosa while I offered to lead the “moderates” Steve H, Keith, Dave H and yours truly to The Plough at St Asaph.

We took the usual route west on the B5125 through Ewloe to Northop Hall.  I decided to cycle up the main street of the village as opposed to my usual route alongside the A55.  A mistake; the road narrows and uphill traffic has precedence in a 20 mile per hour zone.  Both these were rules lost on a bus driver coming down the hill.  He presumably didn’t consider bikes as road traffic and passed us far too close for safety doing twice the legal speed limit.  One slight misjudgement and he would have wiped us out.  No doubt he would have received a maximum three year driving ban and a modest fine – go figure.

The rest of the morning passed without further incident.  We passed through Northop and having safely negotiated the 100 yards of the A55, busier than usual as the holiday weekend got into gear, we began the steady climb on to Halkyn Mountain and through to Brynford.  Here the first of the day’s fine views unfolded looking north-west across the Wirral to Liverpool, the cathedrals clearly visible.  Re-crossing the A55 at Pantasaph we proceeded to Gorsedd turned left and at Lloc, The Rock pub now sadly closed, we picked up the A5026.  Turning left on to a country lane at Tan-y-graig we cycled past Llyn Helyg and then turned south through Tynewydd to re-cross the A55 at the top of Rhuallt hill.  An exhilarating descent down this long hill, now virtually traffic free with the building of the A55 trunk road immediately adjacent, brought us to the hamlet of Rhuallt itself.  Here we turned left on to the B5429.  Fine views to our right across the Vale of Clwyd to the Denbigh moors and the mountains of Snowdonia accompanied us as we made for Tremeirchion.  Here we turned right and enjoyed a pleasant ride across the floor of the Vale, crossing the Afon Clwyd we joined the A525.  Turning left for 200 yards we dropped off to the right on to the B5381 and enjoyed a fine ride alongside the Afon Elwy to run in to St Asaph and The Plough.

I can only recall one previous occasion when the CERs have visited this pub although it is a hostelry I am familiar with from my working days.  The car park was full but it is a biggish pub and is used to catering for large numbers.  It didn’t disappoint.  The staff plentiful they were efficient and friendly.  Table provided and food and drink ordered, we enjoyed a relaxing lunch all complete within the hour and so to the return leg.  There is no easy way over the Clwydian Hills at this point.  I therefore chose to retrace our steps up Rhuallt Hill.  We cycled up the main street in St Asaph and crossing the A55 on a cycle friendly footbridge we began the long steady pull up the hill.  A bit of a tester after lunch but we were all equal to the challenge.  On gaining the summit a quick dive down the narrow, well surfaced lane running alongside the dual carriageway gave us access to the myriad of country lanes around Caerwys.  I chose my usual route a long flattish ride on good surfaces through Babell and back on to Halkyn Mountain past the quarry.  Keeping our height and again enjoying the fine views across Liverpool Bay to the north we picked up the B5123 at Berth-ddu and followed it to Rhosesmor.  Here a left turn and largely free-wheeling we dropped steadily back in to Northop.  Here I left my three amigos to return to the start.  A very enjoyable 50 miles for those who started and ended in Hawarden, considerably more for Steve H who had cycled from home in Kelsall and the forecasters got it right.

GW

29th August 2013: St Asaph

Another lovely summer's day - when will it end? Paraphrasing Bryan's explanation of why we start in the Gallery Café "Hawarden means hills" and so it was. Jim and Bryan were riding out for coffee only so I lead out Ray, Ivan, Martin, Steve and George on a 50 mile circular to the Plough at St Asaph. I figure that the main roads will be quieter just now so this is a chance to go on a few rather than duck around all the lanes. The idea was to follow the A541 out of Mold to Bodfari. Apparently this is the most dangerous road in North Wales but I only find this out the following morning! So off via Buckley and Altami we head for Sychdyn. Here Martin's front tyre goes flat; this being the second of the day as I had found my own tyre flat in the garage at home before I set out today. No more flats I instruct the group and they comply! Up towards Gwernaffield, we exit right down a delightful lane to Rhydymwyn just touching the A541 before climbing out to run parallel for a mile or so then back on the A541 for two miles before exiting through Nannerch. A similar approach here finds us back on the A541 just before Ddol. Now we have nearly 5 miles of a slightly downhill run at 20mph to Bodfari. A quick right takes us along to Tremerchion where the locals seem to be celebrating, in tableau format, various aspects of breakfast (and PG Tips + monkeys).  (Bryan: cue picture and no comments pls!)

Photographs by Ivan Davenport

Taking the B road into St Asaph, we arrive at the Plough after 27 miles. Although it is a bit pricey (£1.50 for a L&S), the food is plentiful and enjoyable. Martin correctly predicts the return route will be using Rhuallt Hill Old Road. We exit the back way out the town to start the 3 mile uphill climb as we run parallel to the A55. The route back is predictable from here via Babel, but I add a twist by taking in Lixwm and Rhys-y-Cae before the fast run down to Northop. Here George splits for home as the rest of us run back into Hawarden where Martin drops off home. A 50 mile circuit with "only" 2,242ft of climbing but it felt considerably more to my legs! So as the four of us take the Dee path into Chester we will have 65 on the clock and I wonder if this the last summery day's ride? - next week will tell.

CA

25th August 2011: St Asaph

I had pre-planned a route to St Asaph and since the weather promised to be good, a ride over the Halkyns was in prospect.  There were eleven of us (Liz and Dave, George, Alan, Norman, Martin, Ray, Janet, Ivan, Jim an myself) as we said goodbye to Dave Hill at the Gallery café.  The usual route was taken to Northop but at Halkyn, the left turn at the Britannia was taken up the hill to get us onto the top for the run to Rhys-y-Cae.  Here the tandem sailed on, as we turned left towards Lixwm.  A text message said “See you at the Plough”.  I thought “See you later on the Babell road” since we were going the long way round via the Lixwm lanes.  As thus it was that as we emerged on the Babell road near Racecourse Lane we were all together once again.  Continuing straight on this road until we hit the A55 we then took the farmers bypass to get us to the top of Rhuallt Hill on the old road.  A fast descent right through the village took us to the cycleway running parallel to the A55 and over the purpose-built cyclist’s bridge onto the old A525 and upwards into St Asaph.  Having been to the Plough 10 days earlier, this seemed to be the only decent and decently priced pub in town.  It took awhile to get lunch served but all appeared happy with the fare.  

At the summit above Gwespyr

Dave Hill had mentioned that the Dyserth to Prestatyn cycleway had now been tarmaced, so, I re-routed out of St Asaph and we were soon wending our way slowly uphill to its entrance.  We dropped a few here but caught them in time as they sailed by the cycleway entrance.  This was to be a feature for the rest of the day!  The cycleway is nearly 3 miles of gently downhill rolling heaven.  In Prestatyn it started to rain, so we donned waterproofs as we accessed cycleway 5, sailed though the golf course and past thousands of mobile home to emerge at Talacre.  My original plan was to be sympathetic to the group after a steady morning’s hill climbing by returning to Hawarden via the coast road.  Yes, it is not pretty but it is flat and I thought this would have group appeal especially with a drink stop at the nice café behind Sainsbury’s in Flint.  A long discussion ensued as the choice was given between a flat ride or going up the single chevron lane to Gwespyr and Llanasa followed by the eventual climb to Halkyn Windmill (all of 850ft of ascent).  

Photographs by Alan Jeffs

Surprisingly, the challenging ride was chosen and some literally agonising minutes later we were all resting after the first 400 ft of ascent through Gwespyr’s chevroned lane.  The rest of the afternoon saw the same pattern repeated as we went up and down hill through Llanasa, Whitford, Gorsedd and onwards to Calcoed.  It was here we lost the tandem again.  I had stayed at the back at Gorsedd issuing instructions to the passing stragglers to take the next left on the cycleway 5 to Calcoed.  The tandem sailed right on and at Brynford a phone call confirmed that they would find their own way back.  

By this time it started to rain again, and a few of the stronger riders were itching to head for home, so as they sped off ever upwards, Alan and I held back to shepherd Jim and Norman back to base.  The ride was 57 hilly miles but nonetheless enjoyable in that new roads were accessed and the Dyserth cycleway ridden without the bone shaking ride that Ivan and I had had last time we rode it.  For those heading back to Chester, it was a 70+ mile round trip.

CA