I'm having a few days cycle touring along the North Wales coast. Tuesday turned out not to be a good day to have started my trip.
10.30 am On a train in Cheshire It took a considerable effort of will to get out of the front door into the Manchester rain but the sun was shining ahead so I pedalled off towards the station. Within 5 minutes the rain had stopped and I wished I'd waited. The sun came out, I dried off a bit and started concentrating on how the bike handles with 10kg of luggage. The rain came back for the last mile to the station, with very strong gusts of wind. By the time I'd carried the laden bike up the stairs to the footbridge and found the train was late I was regretting the whole idea of Wales in September. 1.30 pm At a B+B in Prestatyn I remember Prestatyn as a busy place with great beaches from childhood holidays in the 60's. It's hit hard times since then. The bit of town between the railway and the beach now seems to be Barratt homes, caravan parks and closed businesses. The B+B's have almost disappeared. Despite riding around for over an hour I found just 3. The grey wet train ride gave way to welcome sunshine, but the wind was so strong that going east on a flat inland road I was blown along at 10mph without pedalling. On the coastal cycle path next to the sea I could hardly stand against the wind-didn't dare actually get on the bike. Fortunately the plan for the afternoon was a ride inland (see North Wales CTC web page for details). I just hope the winds drop a bit tomorrow or I'll have to get the train to Colwyn Bay. 4.15 pm A bus shelter in Dyserth Welsh trains must be very powerful. The Prestatyn to Dyserth Way is along the line of an old railway, but is steadily uphill for its 3 mile length. This gives great views across the land and of the five rows of six wind turbines a couple of miles out to sea. Dyserth has a spectacular waterfall, reached after some wrong turns and very steep ups and downs. The waterfall tea room was shut, but I was prepared with my flask so sat under a tree scoffing a sarnie and sipping tea while a light shower passed over. The 12% hill up to the village had me off and pushing, but it was only short. Coming up to the next junction I was pondering whether to do the entire CTC ride, or turn off back into Dyserth and find the path again to go back the way I came. Looking west along the A5151 preparing to cross it, I saw a wall of rain heading towards me, doing at least 30mph. I crossed the road as fast as I could to hide in a bus shelter opposite, but got very wet. Unfortunately the deluge has quite a horizontal component allowing it to get into the shelter, so I'm getting wetter as I write this. 9.30 pm At a B+B in Prestatyn When the rain stopped I decided to just go down the Cwm road half a mile to see the views of Snowdonia. The sun came out and I realised I'd left the sun cream at the B+B. All the water from the rain ran down the hill and then along this road. It was like cycling in a stream. My feet got wet despite the mudguards - oh well, now they just matched the rest of me. In this soggy state I didn't fancy riding another 14 miles up and over a range of hills, so I freewheeled my way back to Prestatyn down the railway line. Total for the day 21.7 miles, every one of them wet, windy or hilly. Regards Steph [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
