Motorcycling holiday in North Wales-Day 1

It's been a very long time since I'd taken a proper holiday. The last time I'd been on a proper holiday was in August 06 to the Andaman islands. I was planning to tour the Shetlands or Ireland. But to certain constraints I suddenly decided to tour North Wales. My wife was happy with the location as well, I suppose. With the location and travel dates finalised, I'd to quickly book the accommodation and there weren't many available. Finally managed to book a room in Bryn Bella in Betws-Y-Coed for our stay as this had a secure garage for bikes. We went and bought new sports panniers for my bike for the tour and was eagerly waiting for the tour to begin. On the weekend before the tour began, took my bike to have a general check-up. Everything was now as planned and we were just waiting for the weekend to over for us to start our tour.

We began the tour on Monday. We wanted to leave our place by 1030 or 1100. But it took us a while to fasten the panniers to the bike which meant we managed to leave the place just after 1200. The bike felt very strange with the extra weight, to the extent I was able to touch the ground very comfortably. After fuelling up at Barking Tesco, the real journey to Betws-Y-Coed began. The weather prediction for the day, and for the week, wasn't great. It was predicted to be a washout week. At least we started in the dry. We took to A406 to get to A1/M1. We had no rain for the first 50 miles or so. We were cruising on M1 when the heavens opened and the visibility from spray was so bad that it slowed us and the Motorway traffic to about 40/50mph.

We had the first break at M1 Watford Gap Services. We had covered 90 out of 240 miles. The eateries in any Services is a rip off. After having a good lunch and changing gloves, filled-up the bike and continued our journey. It had stopped raining and I was quite eager to eat up the miles before the next break and the rain. The next 50 miles was rain-free. We stopped again in Shrewsbury A5/A49 junction Services for some tea and petrol. The rain continued unabated.

I've read a lot about the scenic roads in North Wales. The first taste of the wonderful biking routes I've read about was when we entered Llangollen. From there to Betws-Y-Coed, the A5 was fantastic with sweeping bends and some flowing corners. To our joy, the rain had stopped but the road was still damp. The one thing I hated was getting stuck behind a truck or gaggle of slow moving cars. Enjoying the scenic roads we reached the B&B just after 1830. We had done 240 miles on that day in the worst rainy conditions I've ever ridden. The bike looked like a dirt-bike. Anyway I wasn't going to clean it as the rain was expected for the next few days.

In the evening we went to the town to have some take-away and explore by foot. With the first day of our trip finished we went to bed early to have an early start to take the 0900 Snowdon Mountain train.

Motorcycling holiday in North Wales-Day 2

The main interest of the day was to go to the Snowdon Summit by Snowdon Mountain Train. We had booked tickets for the 0900 train as it was offered at half-price. I wasn't sure if there was any safe parking for bikes at the train station. The B&B host assured us that loads of bikers get there so it shouldn't be a problem.

The route we took was A5/A498/A4086. To get to Llanberis we had to ride through the Pen-Y-Pass and Llanberis Pass. Mountain passes are always beautiful and on a bike it feels extra special. I was cautious not to get (too) excited while riding downhill. At places, there isn't a big room for errors on he Llanberis Pass. The downhill left/right/left flips have to be experienced first hand. The only place where I made a misjudgement was at a very sharp right-hander leading to a very narrow stone bridge. After leaning I found out pretty quickly I was never going to make the turn. So it was time to put theory to practise - sat up and loaded the front as much as I felt it was safe. We managed to get to Llanberis all intact in one piece.

I parked the bike at a nearby hotel parking that was manned. With less than 5 minutes to get to the ticket office to collect the tickets and board the train, we had to literally run from the parking. By the time we got to the train, they had closed the gate and the option of travelling at half price was gone. We waited for another hour before boarding the lovely steam Snowdon train.

For some reason, I felt so nostalgic about these steam trains. Perhaps its the smell of steam or the sound of the engine that makes me feel so. The journey to the Snowdon summit was wonderful. It was only partially cloudy and was not raining. We were able to see the Llanberis Pass from half-way up the summit. The walkers path runs close to the train track and we could see a lot of walkers of all ages. The views on our way were simply stunning.

After the Snowdon Mountain train ride, we had our lunch at the station cafe. There I met a group of 4 bikers who had come from Liverpool on a day ride to Snowdon. I went to check if they had any chain spray with them as my chain's lubricant got completed washed out in the heavy rain on our onward journey. I got the chain spray and then We'd a long chat about our trip. After they had left I continued my cold lunch and continued our day tour.

Our next stop was Caernarfon Castle. Though Caernarfon was a few miles from Llanberis on A4086, We decided not to take that route and instead re-traced our morning journey to Llanberis and took to A498 to go to Porthmadog and Caernarfon. A498 is another scenic route with some good view points. There is a mini waterfall couple of miles from A498/A4086 junction. We stopped at every view point on this section and enjoyed the views on a rain-free day.

Caernarfon Castle is one of the 4 big castles in North Wales. This castle seems to have been well preserved. We had an hour to go around the Castle. The striking feature in all these castles is their Tower. The climb on the dark and narrow spiral stairs of the castle towers are great, especially when you get two-way traffic. We climbed all the towers and walked along the castle wall as well. All around views from the top of the castle towers were not that great though.

After the castle visit, we went to Bangor to take the A5 southbound to return to Betws-Y-Coed. The scenary is quite beautiful and dramatic once we got past Bethesda. We stopped at a parking near Llyn Ogwen and climbed the initial part of Cwm Idwal. The views from the hilltop are fantastic. As we were in the mountain range, the rain clouds were bearing on us and threatening to come down at any moment. After taking some nice pictures, we were just in time to wear our gear before it started raining again. The ride on this section of A5 was very rewarding. I'd have liked it stayed dry for a little bit longer.

We had a great day out and for the most part it stayed dry which was a great bonus. On our return to the B&B, we went into town to get some dinner and buy snacks for the next day.

Motorcycling holiday in North Wales-Day 3

Our plans for the day were to visit Trefriw Wollen mills, Conwy Castle and town, Llandudno and Colywn Bay. The Trefriw Wollen Mills can be found on B5106 at the entry to Trefriw. We saw a demonstration of hand spinning. Visiting the spinning and weaving section brought me memories of my aunt's silk looms. The sound of the machines took me to my childhood days when I'd spend my summer holidays at my aunt's place where there was this constant running of weaving/spinning machines that produced a nice repetitive but loud noise. There were posters displayed about different types of wool, their quality, grading and not to mention the 50 or so varieties of sheep in the World.

After spending an hour or so at the wollen mills, we continued on B5106 to Conwy. B5016 is another good road to ride. We entered Conwy and went through the ancient town wall to a parking next to the Castle. There was a dedicated parking bay for motorcycles which is a nice thing to have at such places of interest.

Conwy castle, like Caernarfon, seems to have been well preserved. The town wall surrounding the castle is pretty much intact. We climbed on all the towers and walked along the castle wall. We spent quite a lot of time enjoying the views of the town from the castle towers and wall. After getting out of the castle, we went along one of the main roads to get a full view. From this distance, the castle looked quite magnificent. The weather had improved dramatically with some nice sunshine but with the riding gear it was getting unbearably hot for us.

We had lunch in one of the restaurants and headed to the Tudor House which was built in 1585. Again, this house has been well preserved with a lot of original features. One could see the excess of Tudor lifestyle, be it in accommodating guests or the choice of food or in employing the "latest technology". The house has been lined with solid oak. The roof trusses made of solid oak are simply breathtaking. It is great to see most of these have stood the time. There was also the "modern toilet" found in one of the floors. In one of the rooms there were posters displayed about the treatments for various health problems. Most of them are really funny and we should be happy that we don't have to go through such treatments.

It was time to leave Conwy to Llandudno. Our main interest in Llandudno was the Great Orme. To get to the Great Orme Summit, there is a Marine Drive (one-way) that runs by the mountain-side. This toll road offers fantastic views to the sea and bay. We stopped at various points on the road to enjoy the views. We also saw a group practising rock-climbing.

A road separates from the Marine Drive leading upto the Great Orme. There are a couple of hair pins on this road and it was my first experience tackling it on a litre bike. The views from the Summit are magnificent. As the sky was very bright and clear, we were able to see quite a lot of places, including the Conwy Castle. We could not go to the Great Orme copper Mines as it was closed. We spent quite a bit of time at the top enjoying the views on a sunny evening. We slowly descended from the Summit taking the Marine Drive and rode to Colwyn Bay. We rode along the Colwyn Bay Promenade and Cayley Promenade before stopping at Colwyn Bay beach to have some drinks/ice cream. There were a few people enjoying the evening on water jetskies. It was a great weather to be in the beach and soaking up the glorious views from it.

We returned on A470 to our B&B. This was another flat and fast road. The entire day went very well and with a balmy weather we could not have asked for anything more.

Motorcycling holiday in North Wales-Day 4

A lovely evening had led to thunderstorms and warnings of flash floods and flooded roads around the mountainous areas. We certainly were not staying back and decided to at least keep riding on the beautiful country roads. The main interests for the day were Barmouth beach (yes in driving rain) and Harlech Castle. We took A470-A496 to get to Barmouth and Harlech.

A470 is another scenic road and a good one for bikes. Within a few miles of our start, we found a slipped lorry being rescued on A470 slowing down the traffic. Fellow road users might have thought us to be lunatics to be riding in such treacherous conditions. I just reminded myself to be very cautious with the front brakes. Approaching Ffestiniog, there is a junction with A496. At this junction, the A470 takes an acute uphill left turn to Dolgellau. It is so acute that I couldn't manage to make that turn and took to A496 and did a U-turn. The only way to get around I think would be taking a very wide turn like a bus. As the rain was very heavy, I was doing about 30/40. The 4x4's that were behind me were so happy to be released approved with a honk while they went past me and they disappeared in no time.

We continued at an ambling pace and by the time we got to Barmouth it was still raining so decided to go to Harlech Castle. Again Harlech castle is more of ruins than a proper castle. It certainly was not in the same league as the castles at Caernarfon and Conwy. The good thing was that it had stopped raining and we were able to spend some time at the castle taking in the views. We returned to Barmouth beach and went for a short walk and that was it.

On A496, from Barmouth to Harlech, there is a signpost for waterfalls in Llanbedr. We went on the road that was signposted to the waterfalls. I followed the river and got lost going deep into very narrow farm roads. Suddenly we were in the middle of farms with nothing but sheep around and no more sign of the river. We decided to turn around and return to A496. As we approached the point where another road crossed the river, I spotted the signboard to the waterfalls. So it was me who didn't spot the not-so-visible signboard. We rode along the river and this time we got to the waterfalls - the Nantcol waterfalls. This is a camping site. We parked the bike and headed to the waterfalls.

It took us a while to get to the waterfalls. It wasn't a very difficult terrain but our riding gear wasn't the most convenient/suitable wear for walking up a hill. The waterfalls was very much to our liking. We spent a long time at the waterfalls and I managed to get down to the water. The surrounding valley has big boulders that got deposited when the ice sheets retreated from the near by mountains during the Ice Age. We were quite lucky with the weather as it had not rained for a few hours now and this certainly helped us leisurely enjoying the waterfalls.

We returned to our B&B riding on the scenic A496-A4085-A498-A4086-A5, bringing even heavier rain showers with us. For our dinner we went to a restaurant in town. While crossing the river Llugwy we saw a lamb struggling for its dear life. The farmer was alerted and we saw the dramatic rescue of the lamb from the swollen river. For those 10-15 minutes we were not sure if the lamb was still alive as it went silent for a few minutes before crying out. We went to see the river from the same spot as we did on our first day and couldn't find any of the rocks that we stood on and took photographs. The river was carrying a lot of mud from the mountains and looked very aggressive.

We were very lucky for the most part of the day. The Nantcol Waterfalls made our day. We will cherish those moments that we spent enjoying the waterfalls.

Motorcycling holiday in North Wales-Day 5

It was raining heavily as we started our final day of our tour around North Wales. With another washout day predicted, we decided to just tour along the coast and try to stay away from the mountains. The main point of interest in today's tour was the RAF museum based in Caernarfon airport which is the only RAF museum in Wales. Again we took to A5-A4086-A498-4086. When we approached A4086/A498 junction, I thought of continuing on A4086 to experience the Llanberis Pass again. With pouring rain and poor visibility at the mountain base, I was quite certain that the weather up in the mountain would be treacherous especially for a bike. After contemplating the idea for a few seconds and checking with my wife, I decided it was too big a risk to take. From Caernarfon we took A499 southbound to get to the Caernarfon airport which was on the coast.

The RAF museum was nothing more than a medium sized shed. Inside the museum, the eye catching display is that of a RAF Mountain Rescue helicopter. There were displays of training jets that were used during the War time. Apart from these real-life displays there were posters related to RAF squadrons' planes and fighter planes' wreckage from the War. I had expected the museum to be bigger than it actually was and considering the £6.50/person fee I felt it was a big rip-off.

After having our lunch at the airport cafe/canteen, we continued our day tour of the coast. We stopped at the beach at Dinal Dinlle. Situated on the Caernarfon Bay this beach was sandy and was a long one too. It was very blustery for us to spend any more than a few minutes. We walked upto the waves touched the water, collected a few pebbles found on the beach and were on our way.

A499 was pretty boring and flat. By now the rain had subsided. As a biker I'm always wary of diesel spills on wet roads. I chose a riding-line close to the median-line to stay away from the diesel spills that I found in the middle of the road for the most part of A499. We took to B4417 heading towards Nefyn. By now the rain had almost stopped and it gave us the opportunity to spend a few minutes at the beach in Nefyn. The Welsh coast, at least, the northern parts has nice sandy beaches throughout. If not for the horrible weather, I think people would be flocking to these nice beaches. In Nefyn, there is a beautiful golf course by the Irish Sea. We parked our bike and went for a long walk on the golf course. As we neared the coast, we could see the waves crashing into the rocks found a few meters from the shore. This was a beautiful sight and I would pick the waves that had the chance to break to the top of the rocks.

We continued on the twisty B4417 following the coast. Our next scheduled stop was Aberdaron. Riding on B4417 was rewarding but as there farms dotted all along this route, I'd to be extra cautious as the roads had mud from the farm vehicles. At some point on B4417, we had to take an unidentified road heading towards Aberdaron. These unidentified roads were interesting to ride but their quality wasn't great. We reached Aberdaron and chose a view point looking at the Cardigan Bay. By now, the sun had come out and we were happy to spend more time enjoying the scenary. We also took to other unidentified roads taking to the nearby coastal villages that were situated on hill top.

Following the coastal roads, we took B4413-A499-A497 to visit the ruins of Criccieth Castle. As it was already 1830 and about 40 miles to our B&B taking the mountainous route, we decided to view it from the shore front. I decided to take the scenic A497-A498-A4086-A5. River Glaslyn (Afon Glaslyn in Welsh) runs along this route and offers nice photographic opportunities at Pont Aberglaslyn. Following the previous day's heavy rain, the river had swollen and was carrying the mountain mud with it. The difference between a clam river and a swollen fast moving river was pretty evident. We had seen the river a couple of days earlier and it appeared to be very calm. We could see what effect continous heavy rain could do to the mountain rivers. After taking photos and spending some time enjoy watching the river, we returned to our B&B. Just as we left Pont Aberglaslyn, I noticed the fuel reserve warning. As we only had to do 17 odd miles to our B&B decided to carry on as it would still leave us with another 8 or 9 mile fuel window.

For our dinner, we went to a restaurant in Betws-Y-Coed to taste some local food. Our tour of the North Wales was almost over. I think we managed to cover quite a lot given the weather. We'd have loved to take a "rover bus pass" that would have enabled us to do some mountain walking. Never mind, there is always next time. I would miss the Llanberis Pass for sure.

Motorcycling holiday in North Wales-Day 6

Our holiday was almost over and we began our return journey to London. The weather forecast for the day was sunny with no showers predicted. We went to Conwy Falls which is located a few miles on A5 southbound from Betws-Y-Coed. Apparently this falls had a Victorian ladder for Salmon fishes to go upstream. The falls itself isn't really impressive and they charge £1/person to enter to view the falls. On A5 we found a lot of sports cars in the northbound direction. I presume it was a weekend run and with the weather being dry, a group might have decided to enjoy themselves on the country roads.

From A5 we took A543 to get to the Denbigh Castle ruins. I thought that the entry would be free as the Castle was in ruins. But to my disbelief they were charging £3/person. We decided to take some photos from the outside and continued our journey home. Our next stop was the "Historic Market Town" of Ruthin. Following A543/A525, we got to this town and could not find anything interesting in the town. The only thing we were enjoying was the ride on the country roads. From Ruthin, there were no further scheduled visits. So we were onto A494 and joined A5 to Llangollen.

We stopped at Llangollen town centre for some drink and snacks. There was a pretty big group of Harley riders ready to start a run somewhere. I just love these out of city places for the fact that there is a group for every sort of activity or interest. Either these group gatherings don't exist in big cities or it's hard to find by.

Once we got past Llangollen on A5, the roads opened up and we started eating up the miles. I was in no mood to stop until we burnt most of the fuel. Nearing Birmingham on M6, I'd an option to refuel at a Services in 3 miles or at the next at 49 miles. The fuel indicator showed that there was enough fuel for about 50 miles but I wasn't so sure because my bike has never given more than 130-140 miles to the tank and going by the fuel indicator I'd be able to do 160+ miles to the tank. Finally I decided to keep chugging along to the next services some 49 miles away. Got to admit that I had an eye on the fuel indicator throughout.

We did manage to get to the Croley Services on M6 with about 15 mile fuel window. After having a late lunch, we reached our home in London just after 1730. A wonderful trip had finally come to an end.

We did a total of close to 1000 miles out of which 500 miles were on the beautiful country roads. I'd the extra pleasure of being able to ride out the twisty/flowing roads. I feel more confident on the bike now that I trusted the bike on the country roads.

This would go down as one of our best holidays, I suppose. I certainly got to thank my lovely wife for happily accepting to take our bike. In a sense the biking gear helped us to get to a lot of places despite the constant heavy rain showers. The long wait for such a good holiday was worth it after all.