Lôn Las Cymru Trip: Barmouth to Caernarfon

After hiding from the rain all evening & night, the next day was determined to ensure I got a good Welsh drenching, so it rained all morning and much of the afternoon. In retaliation I got cross at it, at my damp smelly clothes, at the scenery that wasn’t quite as beautiful as mid-Wales, and at the numerous midge bites that were really getting on my nerves.

I escaped the rain briefly in Llanbedr village shop to get some lunch, trying not to buy too much comfort food. I mostly succeeded...but if ever there is a time to stock up on flapjacks, it’s while touring and feeling sorry for yourself. I concluded it would be wrong not to get any, and filled a few spaces with tasty oaty yumness. Ma Baker’s awesome flapjacks are so good, and so cheap here!

After a classic touring lunch in a bus shelter a few miles later, I passed through Harlech: home to the steepest street in the world. At least, it was until Guinness World Records reviewed the rules in 2020 and downgraded it from 37% to only 28%. Somehow stopping for a fully-laden novelty ride up it still just didn’t appeal though…

I then lost the route and ended up on a busy main road in tricky conditions. Fortunately, 3 guys on their own tour heading up into Snowdonia had similarly lost the route and so we re-found it together and shared a few unpleasantly wet miles. A downside of solo touring is it can be harder to stay positive through tough bits, but after we parted ways I felt brighter and more resilient than before, buoyed by the company, and continued on to Porthmadog.

Heading toward the mist, but it’s not actually raining!

As I dropped back down towards the water, the view opened out onto the beautiful Traeth Glaslyn, a saltmarsh nature reserve set up on the Afon Glaslyn estuary in the 18th century. The 2-mile cob (seawall) passes over it alongside the Ffestiniog Railway, where a locomotive stood steaming in the station as I passed. The rain even went away, and as I drew into Porthmadog, the sun came out and I decided to reward my soggy self with a coffee.

From Porthmadog the route headed up into some rugged hills then through pastureland to Criccieth. I nearly gave into damp-induced apathy when I spotted a shortcut that would bypass about 10 miles and some extra climbing. After some mental wrangling, the idea of capturing a flyby of Criccieth Castle won out and I persuaded myself to go the long way round. I’m glad I did, as despite some traffic I got a great view of the castle and a nice sprint along the seafront!

As the afternoon wore on, repeating rain showers continued to dampen my spirits along the road, but a lengthy off-road stretch through a nature reserve kept the scenery pleasant, and traffic non-existent. Not even so much as a dog walker. This section was formerly a railway, so without even any gradient changes I settled into a steady cadence and switched off, finally tuning out my inner whinge.

View from Caernarfon Castle over the old town, the Menai Straits, and Anglesey

Sometimes like this you get exactly what you need to take the edge off. When I’d just found the path ahead to be closed I met a local cyclist, Karl, who not only guided me along the coastal route into Caernarfon, but through town and up to my planned campsite. My planned campsite, it turned out, was no longer in business, but like a champ Karl guided me to another campsite out of town. Even better than that, he suggested the route I would take through Snowdonia a few days later, hitting Peak Cycling Awesomeness. Can’t thank you enough Karl! While I was setting up camp I was even given a cup of tea by the lovely Irish lady from the neighbouring tent who clearly knows a little something about the needs of soggy 2-wheeled wanderers.

My plan was to stop here a couple of nights, and also to treat myself to a really good meal out. I headed into town and visited Karl’s recommended eatery, the 16th century Black Boy Inn. After filling up with delicious food, I wasn’t in the mood to head back, and instead occupied the bar until late, enjoying the local beer and even discovering there is such thing as Welsh whisky.

My day off couldn’t have been better: bright sunshine all day long and barely a cloud in sight! I spent a couple of hours exploring the impressive Caernarfon Castle, which involved a fair bit more climbing than I’d expected on my day off…once my legs had run out of steam I left to drift through various shops until a cafe beckoned.

I decided to try my hand at speaking Welsh, which was apparently convincing enough as it elicited a response in Welsh from the waitress. I ticked off a ‘must-eat’ item at lunch: Welsh Rarebit; a celebrated cheese on toast variation, which in this instance came with bonus bacon, to ensure a top-rate eating experience. To make sure I didn’t miss out on any of the essential food groups I rounded it off with some thick local ice cream, which was delicious, even if they had run out of rum & raisin.

Inside Caernarfon Castle, with Snowdonia behind

Once I’d had my fill of busy streets and shops I decided to wander along the harbour for some peace and to a good look at Anglesey’s coast. Although my route was a few miles further inland, this would be the first island I cycled on, and it felt good to connect with it, and have fanciful thoughts about how different a place it might be. A pier brought me just a little bit closer to it, and I stopped for a while, soaking in the views and watching children eagerly check their crabbing lines and filling their buckets.

After a tiring day of tourism I raided a nearby shop for dinner and treats and mooched back along the busy main road, past the unpleasantly stinking landfill and back to camp. The Irish lady and her chap later invited me over for drinks by their fire so, feeling quite up for some company after the solitude of the past days, I mooched over. We’re quite different from each other but, brought together by beer and fire, that didn’t matter, and we nattered until late. I’m only sorry that despite this, I can’t remember their names!