Anyone ridden all of it and know what it is like?
I know it’s not off road as such and consists of minor roads and some tracks.

I’ve bought the two Sustrans route maps and plan to ride it next year. Plan on doing it over two days.

It’s great, a little boring in places as all the sustrans routes tend to be a bit flat but saying that there is a fair share of hills on this one. I did it joining from Shrewsbury at Llanidloes and cycled all the way down to Cardiff. If you are short of time there are lots of places you could save time by cycling down the major A roads instead of the ncn route. The best bit is the bit south from brecon, past a resovoir (talybont) and up the hill, a V long fireroad climb. As you get into north cardiff you past through some rum looking estates but I had no trouble as a lone rider.

Thanks for the reply.

Understand Llanidloes is about half way ish. on route 8. Did did you cycle the southern part you describe in a day?

Nope. my full route was stoke to cardiff over 3 days and I stopped at welshpool and builth wells. I made it so my last day was shorter than the other 2 though, so roughly 80/80/60 so you probably could cycle from Llanidloes to cardiff in one go if you got up early and went at it at a good pace. I’d estimate it at somewhere around 90 miles.

Yes I rode it all from south to north in 2012. We took a very leisurely 6 days using the stopovers recommended in the Lonely Planet guide; some of the days were rather short but that left time for sightseeing, relaxing and nice cafe / dinner stops. 2 days might be quite ambitious especially if you’re porting all your kit.

I thought the best bits were the hills and scenery around Llanidloes / Rhayader and then reaching the coast via Machenllyth / Porthmadog.

Edit: some pics https://www.flickr.com/photos/ladyalexmtb/sets/72157630312409190/

Thanks Simon.
Yes, 2 days might make it into to a bit more of mission with no time to stop to enjoy any of it.

I guess 3 might be more realistic.

Nice pics.

been looking at doing this for the past few years, with as much offroad as possible.
might give it a go next September with the mates.

I did it over 3 days a couple of years back, going from Anglesey – Barmouth – Llanidloes Abergavenny – Chepstow. I then tacked on an extra bit to the Isle of Wight to make it a coast to coast to coast to coast to coast to coast ride.

You could do it in two days, I guess, but it would be long days and wouldn’t leave you much time to stop and admire the view. There are lots of views to admire.

There are a couple of disused railway line type bits but hardly any of it is in any way off road in the sense of technically challenging.

My favourite bit was between Hay on Wye and Abergavenny – a beast of a climb, a plateau with amazing views then a stonking, endless descent.

There’s a section before Dolgellau where you’re offered the option to do an offroad section around Llyn Trawsfynydd. That is (or was 3 years ago) fiddly, slow-going and annoying.

I had started in Manchester and was 80-odd miles in, stopping near Dolgellau, and the hassle of that section in the rain nearly finished me off.

🙂

We’ve ridden it all and run guided and self-guided trips on the route.

There is a lot of climbing – and some not great roads. It’s a fantastic route. Obviously I know nothing about your level of ability and fitness but doing the whole thing in two days would be a serious achievement and I would imagine would be very, very hard.

We rode it initially over 4 days ourselves, not long after getting back from a 2-year cycling expedition – and found that quite tough. We were carrying our gear but travelled pretty light.

We offer it over 8 days – which is very gentle and only a short part of each day is spent riding – or over 5 days, which is more challenging. It could comfortably be done in less but even 3 days would be pretty challenging in my opinion.

Better not to rush it and take a bit longer, if you can – unless the challenge is the whole point, of course!

Enjoy – it’s a great ride. If you need any tips on places to stay then feel free to give us a shout.

is there a offroad version? or is it doable offroad?

Did it in 5 days on a tandem, with panniers staying in B&B’s over 10 years back. Cardiff to Holyhead.
Allow some time for navigation.
It will be tough in 2 days.

is there a offroad version? or is it doable offroad?

From memory the signed NCN Route 8 is about 70% road with the remainder mostly hard-packed railway trails and dirt tracks. Not “off-road” in the MTB sense.

You could certainly do the same journey but using a different route to take more bridleways etc but it would take a lot of planning and navigation, but that wouldn’t be the NCN8 (obviously!).

ton – Member
is there a offroad version? or is it doable offroad?

Ton, Max from Rough Ride Guide has done a route, and friends supported his guided ride of it earlier in the year.

Article here.

Pretty gruelling I think! 🙂

There’s also a trans-Wales off-road route going from the border to the coast – might have been an article about it in Singletrack in the last couple of years? About someone doing it on a CX bike. Although it might have been some other bike mag, possibly Cycling Plus.

Not quite such a tall order as the one above.