Can anyone recommend some good road routes? About a couple of hours long. It’ll be there on a weekend so ideally avoiding some of the busier roads.

Thanks.

Head north up the B5106 to Llanwrst.
Then turn right (SSE) down the B5427 to Nebo then B5113 to Pentrefoelas.
Turn right, take the A5 back to Betws (it’s actually an OK road and it’s not that long a section).

That’s not going to be much over 75-80 minutes though.

You might be able to extend it by going past Llanwrst further north up the B5106 up to Tyn y Groes then turning back south on the other side of the A470, there’s a whole network of little roads that’ll bring you back to Llanwrst but I really don’t know them that well.

Then follow the rest of the directions from Llanwrst > Nebo etc

Betws y Coed – Conway falls – Penmacnhno – Carrog – Pont yr Afon Gam – Llan Ffestiniog – up to Llyn Stwlan and back – Maentwrog – Rhyd – Garreg – Hafod Garregog – through Coed Caeddafydd – Bethania – up the pass to Capel Curig – Betws y Coed.
Nice ride with some hills.

Do you do GPX mrblobby?

I did a decent 4hr ride around there on some very quiet roads. Could easily be cut down if required.

Thanks all. Shall investigate.

I do do GPX. Hefin dot e dot jones at gmail dot com. Thanks 🙂

ygm

Splendid, thanks. Should be able to piece together a route or two from all that.

If you fancy some hills, the Pen-y-pass (Llanberis Pass) is worth a go, as is the climb from Ffestiniog to Stwlan dam.

I was super disappointed to see how far down the Strava times my Llanberis time was – until I discovered they run open hcs there, and the ToB has been up.

It’s just to get some extra road miles in after doing some of the trails there, so not that fussed about doing any of the big climbs. And I’ll probably not bother changing my gearing so my smallest will be a not very long steep climb friendly 39-25 combo!

That climb from Ffestiniog to Stwlan dam looks amusing 🙂

Where does it start from? Can’t see it on google maps. Open to the public?

Pen y pass looks good too, busy with traffic up there?

I’ll knock up a few routes for the Garmin before I go then see how the legs feel and how much time I have after the trails.

Oh and if anyone has suggestions for a good route from Llandegla to Betws that’d be smashing. Thinking maybe going past Llyn Brenig?

One of my customers was the engineer on the Stwlan damm, entry to road near the tanygriau power station,used to be therough a metal gate, just lift bike over, easy ride up and a good run down, beware of silly blind and deaf sheep.

I did Llanberis Pass on a glorious sunny Friday in May half term. I don’t recall there being much traffic.

Stwlan Dam – https://www.strava.com/segments/1398283?filter=overall

Prenteg – https://www.strava.com/segments/7466921
Bwlch y Groes – https://www.strava.com/segments/6670984

These 2 are absolute ball-busters, so may be a bit much on a 39/25. (I did the Prenteg after 90k, so was glad of the 36/32 I had on my Tripster). First time I did the Bwlch was on a 36/25 and I went way too hard, too soon, and blew up.

Think I might be digging out the compact rings for this trip!

Bwlch y Groes, I may have to revisit that. I still remember a ride up it from my teenage years growing up in the area. Riding my heavy steel bike with totally inappropriate gearing for my young spindly legs, as everyone did those days, up a newly resurfaced loose gravel Bwlch. Hideous!

Thanks all.

Ended up just doing a couple of road rides. Friday was pretty straightforwards from Llandegla to Betws. I’d planned to go up via Brenig but a bit of a GPS fail meant a more direct route.

Saturday was a complete wash out. Got a soaking going round Penmachno and was in no mood to head back out on the road bike.

Sunday ride was from Betws, along the A5 to Bethesda, across to Llanberis, then up Pen y Pass and back via Capel Curig (linky). I did consider a route back through Beddgelert but had rubbish legs that day 🙁 so much so I was pleased that Pen y Pass was nice and steady without any nasty ramps!

Would be nice to go back and do some proper road riding in that area. Riding down the Ogwen Valley past Tryfan with the clouds rolling over the mountains makes you feel pretty small!

Shame you had a jour sans on the Llanberis day. You missed out getting an ice cream in Beddgelert.

Well if I’d known that was the go to place for ice cream I might have put in a bit more effort 🙂

Oh and I was amused to see that North Wales isn’t averse to a bit of crap cycling infrastructure either. This bizarrely random bit of bike shaped white paint in the middle of the road… what is it for? Am I now on a cycle lane? 🙄

Someone’s gone to the trouble of putting it there and I’m baffled as to why that might be!