After a restful night at the Four Seasons in Aberysthwth (and a great
burger at Salt), I set out on the journey back to the Devils Staircase and the
scene of last nights abandonment. All together, the detour last night and the
reutn this morning has added approximately 100 miles to the weekend, which was
just under 900 miles of driving in total when I got home. Disaster 1 was the
bike GPS not working today – it had frozen and needed a hard reboot when I got
home!
I’m amazed at the remoteness of some of these roads. The journey from
Tregaron to the top of the climb was about 15 miles of single track road. There
would be some great riding here with lots of climbing and very little traffic.
A return is a must!
Anyway, to the climb. I parked at the top and set off down.
It was a
short, but steep descent to the bridges and you can see from the videos that
they were still under a bit of water. They were more like fords than bridges
though.
I was able to drive the car through the water on the way to my next
climb, but not until I’d made the climb back up. It was steep, but traction was
good despite the wet and the leaves .
But disaster 2 struck as I managed to
leave my gloves at the top of the climb after putting them on the roof of the
car. They were my fluorescent Altura gloves. Brilliant gloves, but I’ve
hammered them for a year and they were at the end of their life so now I know
what to spend my Wiggle vouchers on!
The journey up to Bwlch-y-groes was eventful, as disaster 3 struck,
with a puncture on the car. I also managed to lose the locking nut for the
wheels, major schoolboy error.
Hellfire Pass was steep and relentless. There was a farm called “Pant”
at the bottom, and pant I did. The book gives it 10/10, but Hardknott is
definitely more demanding. The ride down was eventful. Very windy, and I was
almost blown to a standstill downhill. Plus, I had no gloves so cold hands were
the order of the day.
Next up was Fford Penllech- billed as the steepest hill in the land.
Vale Street in Bristol is surely steeper, but what fun this one was. I had to
go against the traffic, but there wasn’t any!
I had driven down it on my
arrival and it was really entertaining. It is matched by a slightly less steep
version the other side of Harlech Castle – what a great training loop that
would be.
Next it was a rush to get to Horseshoe Pass before it got dark.
I dug
the lights out, only to find that one of the batteries was flat and knowing
that I would definitely need lights on the last climb, I opted to turn them off
for this ascent. A long swooping descent from the top down to Llangollen saw a
quick turnaround and a flog back up in the gathering gloom. Not quite sure
about the Ponderosa cafe and gift shop at the top, but it was a steady and
picturesque climb, passing the Valle Crucio Abbey, the canal and the Eisteddfod pavilion
on the way.
The day wasn’t over yet though. There was the little matter of the
Shelf, and then a 175 mile drive home.
The Shelf proved to be quite a challenge to find. It was squirreled
away east of Ruthin and difficult to find in the dark. Added to this was
another flood that had to be negotiated, with yet another detour and I was much
relieved to park up at the top.
I knew it was the right hill though when I found ALLEZ ALLEZ EDDIE written on the road!
I rode the hill mainly in the dark with no lights as it was really
moonlit. It was a fantastic and fitting end to a demanding weekend. I’d had to
push myself mentally quite a lot, spending a lot of time wet and behind the
wheel of a car, so the surreal experience of cycling up hill in the moonlight
with great views over the welsh hills was brilliant.
Back in the car and on the way home, and it was time to reflect on a
great weekend with lots of different experiences. Looking ahead – only one to
go!!
19 miles 1176m of climbing.
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