• This topic has 15 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 2 years ago by eskay.
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  • Bikepacking Welsh routes
  • charliemort
    Full Member

    Any recommendations ? I think Cambrian way is one; some coast to coast options?

    Thanks

    supernova
    Full Member
    dove1
    Full Member

    Did The Gower Loop last summer. It’s a nice ride with some lovely coastal scenery and it’s easy enough to find somewhere to camp.
    The only downer is the ride in to and out of Three Cliffs Bay. Deep, soft sand is unrideable!

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    Fantombiker
    Full Member

    I’ve done the trans cambrian, gower and also the brecons mountains route from bikepacking.com. All pretty good. On the gower route you are never far from a pub 😁 the other 2 routes get you into more remote and beautiful scenery. There is a FB group called bikepacking wales where people post up routes

    montgomery
    Free Member

    Devise your own. I’m currently planning a sea-to-source-to-sea trip for the spring, starting Chepstow for a round trip up the Severn to its source, along the Plynlimon ridge to the source of the Wye and back again, taking in the history and geomorphology along the way. A lot more interesting than following whatever some other random has dreamed up.

    molgrips
    Free Member

    @montgomery please share the route!

    montgomery
    Free Member

    Nope. I’m happy to deal in generalities, but I specifically don’t share routes I come up with because I don’t want them to become a ‘thing,’ followed by mobs of riders who don’t have the imagination to look at maps and dream a bit. The KAW gravy train is a good example of why this is probably not a Good Thing in the long run.

    ricko1984
    Free Member

    I did my own coast to coast last year.

    Some really nice riding, although some bits abit more mtb than bike packing as that’s what I enjoy.

    Can send you a gpx if you want.

    molgrips
    Free Member

    On the other hand the TCW isn’t exactly busy, is it?

    jhinwxm
    Free Member

    I’ve done the Gower loop, its ok, wouldn’t do it again though. A lot of road and the route it takes you on is very odd. The beach ride part is pointless and not rideable as said above. I’ve got no idea which genius thought it was a good idea to include that section, so if you do do it avoid that unless you like carrying a loaded bike.

    I wouldn’t say its easy to find somewhere to camp either unless you fancy camping on farmland. We mistakenly believed the article on bikepacking.com which stated that too, but its not true. You never really get into remote enough areas.

    Loads of better routes in Wales, in fact I’d say pick any other bar the Gower loop.

    IdleJon
    Full Member

    Loads of better routes in Wales, in fact I’d say pick any other bar the Gower loop.

    The Gower loop is local to me, and was devised by people I ride with (or have ridden) based on the obvious classic loop. But it’s always puzzled me because it’s not quite long enough to make a decent weekend’s bikepacking trip, imo. It’s a longish one day loop from my house, but breaking it into 2 parts would make it too short. And it misses out on some of the better obvious and not so obvious trails – but that’s the advantage of local knowledge.

    The only downer is the ride in to and out of Three Cliffs Bay. Deep, soft sand is unrideable!

    Did you follow that bikepacking.com route? Both sides of 3 Cliffs Valley are rideable, unless you drop in from the Pennard side which takes you down the sand dunes. The bikepacking.com route doesn’t go into the valley and doesn’t include any beach at all, from what I can see. Maybe it’s changed?

    jhinwxm
    Free Member

    Did you follow that bikepacking.com route? Both sides of 3 Cliffs Valley are rideable, unless you drop in from the Pennard side which takes you down the sand dunes. The bikepacking.com route doesn’t go into the valley and doesn’t include any beach at all, from what I can see. Maybe it’s changed?

    I followed the route from Bike packing.com (gpx file) and it took us down the sand dunes onto several un-rideable sections. Used a Garmin and thats where it directed us – we’re not local so relied on the gpx route entirely.
    We did it over 2 days or one and a half actually and I agree its nowhere near long enough.

    Some bizarre route choices like the way it takes you out of Rossili bay up that steep hill and then back down the other side to the caravan park – wtf? bearing in mind its a bike packing route and bikes will be loaded that made zero sense to us – a lot of work for little to no reward with a loaded up bike anyway.
    I’ve ridden quite a few bike packing routes in Wales and this was by far the biggest disappointment due the route choices, the inaccuracy of it saying plenty of wild camping spots, which is quite frankly totally misleading and the beach part and the amount of road you have to ride on. Needs revising or description updating so its not inaccurate.

    kraken2345
    Free Member

    Last summer I did 5 days gravel starting from Bangor, down through the Llanberis mine, through Beddgelert, Coed y Brenin forest, resting at Barmouth before returning via Porthmadog and Caernarfon.

    It was amazing riding and the rest day at Barmouth on day 4 was fantastic also, I have strava routes of each day if they’re of use. We either stayed on camp sites or wild camped by the side of lakes as we went.

    IdleJon
    Full Member

    I followed the route from Bike packing.com (gpx file)

    Sounds like the gpx route is different from the route outline on the website. I wouldn’t be impressed trying to get through the dunes with a bike when there are perfectly serviceable tracks to use.

    Some bizarre route choices like the way it takes you out of Rossili bay up that steep hill and then back down the other side to the caravan park – wtf

    Ironically, the bridleway around the front of Rhossili Down is more entertaining than the one over the top, although you don’t get the view, obviously. Is there a suggestion about camping on top? I’ve always liked the idea of bivvying up there.

    jhinwxm
    Free Member

    Ironically, the bridleway around the front of Rhossili Down is more entertaining than the one over the top, although you don’t get the view, obviously. Is there a suggestion about camping on top? I’ve always liked the idea of bivvying up there.

    Wish we knew that!
    A couple we met on day 2 camped up there but more out of desperation than choice. (From what I recall you could easily camp or bivvy up there, plenty of spots) They were following the route and like us were looking for all these supposed wild camping spots and like us they got to Rossili bay without finding a suitable one that was far enough into the route.. They carried on up the hill and camped, we rode off course down to the cliff tops and camped there, again out of no choice and little remaining light left.

    To the OP – plenty of routes in North and Mid Wales with plenty of wild camping spots along the way.

    eskay
    Full Member

    Bookmarked

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