We met at Carmarthen train station and had a fairly relaxed first day down to Manorbier, where there was some gentle banter at the Youth Hostel, resulting in the YHA calling us a week later to complain of Den’s inappropriate behaviour.  None of us could remember exactly what was said but it was no more than mild innuendo.  A sign of the modern world catching up with us.

On the second day we had a fantastic ride out to Pwll Deri, a Youth Hostel on the edge of a cliff on a remote part of Strumble Head, just before Fishguard.  A stunning location.

On day 3, we took the difficult decision to head inland to avoid heavy traffic on the main road north of Cardigan, which comes off the coast for long stretches anyway.  It was a bit of a shame as that piece of coastline between Cardigan and Aberaeron is quite beautiful and hardly visited, except by a few ramblers.  On our route further inland we chanced upon a very quirky brewery, somewhere in the wilds north of Fishguard.  It was the Bluestone Brewing Company, the refreshment from which did not exactly help progress.  But we enjoyed a lovely ride up the Afon Teifi river valley before stopping the night in Llanbydder.

I have few memories of day 4, apart from stopping in Tregaron for coffee and meeting an old couple in the square under the statue of Henry Richard (a local Liberal, peace and anti-slavery campaigner).  They told us of their time performing in the Eisteddfod in Cardiff, where they got second place, and I had some craic pulling their leg about why they lost out on the title.  It was a lovely welcoming little town well off the beaten track and from there it was just a short climb to the head of the valley and a gentle roll into Aberystwyth.  We stopped for more refuelling before the steep climb up and over into Borth, where got a good soaking our our way to the Youth Hostel.  They were very welcoming there too, and invited us to do some laundry and dry our things.  The only small problem was that the drying area was in a lot of demand, and was more like a steam room.  So our clothes  were still pretty sodden when we picked them up next morning.

We left Borth YHA early and made it to Macchynlleth for a well earned breakfast, then onward to Tywyn for further refuelling.  From there we took an unnecessary dog-leg up and down the beautiful low-lying Afon Dysynni valley, which lulled us into a false sense of security before a monstrous climb up into the hills which would cut the corner off our route to King's Youth Hostel near Dolgellau.  At the top, we stopped to admire the wonderful views over the Mawddach estuary towards Barmouth, stunning in later afternoon sunshine.  At this point we noticed that the smooth tarmac we had enjoyed all the way up simply came to an abrupt halt.  What is marked on the OS Maps as NCN trail 82, down Ffordd Ddu, could not even be described as a rough track.  It would have been tough enough on mountain bikes, but it was fairly lethal on our touring bikes with panniers on the back.  However with regular dismounts we successfully made it to the Hostel where we met up with Paul and Helen Reader who were also staying there to try out a camper van.  We had a very pleasant evening enjoying the tins that were available in the hostel and sharing old war stories.

Leaving King's in the morning we were soon taking the rickety toll bridge across the Mawddach estuary and enjoying early morning coffee in Barmouth.   An uneventful day, as far as I remember, with a lunchstop in Porthmadog and a brief look around Criccieth.   But it was also a long and a tough one, with a difficult struggle up the last stretch to Nefyn, where we were glad to be staying in a very comfortable pub on the outskirts of the village.   We pulled in not much before 6:00pm.

The final day was a bit frantic as we hoped to get an early train to our various destinations.  This part of the world is very familiar to me, after numerous holidays and cycling trips over the years.  And there is a reason we have been there a lot.  Probably because of its propensity to attract rainfall, as well as its inaccessibility, it not hugely popular, other than during the school holidays.  But the coastline in wonderful and there are numerous beaches, some of which are very underused.  This particular day we were not tarrying to enjoy the scenery and, apart from a brief pause for coffee in Aberaeron, we only stopped for ten minutes or so in Abersoch (aka “Shrewsbury-on-Sea”).  We made it to Pwllheli station about 1:00 pm, and got an early train before Tim left us for his long haul back to the south east.  It had been a terrific journey, and its one that I would not mind repeating, albeit at a slower pace, and avoiding Ffordd Ddu!

Shrewsbury to Nefyn