We are South of the Scottish border this time taking a road trip to North West Wales.
Our first stop was near Dolgellau as we really wanted to revisit the mountain bike trails at Coed-y-Brenin. This was a favourite destination of ours times no when we lived in England.
The first night we stayed at Torrent Walk campsite. It was a bit more “rustic” than advertised on their website but we did get a quieter pitch away from the Bank Holiday crowds. And we enjoyed the campsite fire pit which was fun for a few hours … until the rain arrived.
Coed-y-Brenin was quieter than we expected given it was a holiday weekend. What we hadn’t anticipated was the midges being out – Welsh midges can be as annoying as Scottish ones so we plastered on the “Smidge” cream which seemed to work just as well as at home. We decided to cycle the Dragon’s Back trail as this was an old favourite before all the new trails were put in. It didn’t disappoint and we didn’t see a single other person until we got back to the visitors centre. Legs are tired after all those hills though!
The second night we were lucky to find space at a CAMpRA aire at Fairbourne which is a beautiful little town on the coast. The aire was remarkably well equipped with optional electric hook up, water and waste disposal. Each pitch even had a small grass space to site in the sun and BBQ dinner.
Fairbourne has the smallest narrow gauge railway we have ever seen. The beach is only a short walk from the aire and is a miles long with a mixture of sand (when the tide is out) and beautiful cobbles. The sunset that evening was beautiful.
Today we cycled at the ClimachX mountain bike trails near Machynlleth. I loved these trails. Just hard enough to stretch my riding but easy enough that I could ride almost all of it. Not sure Illya enjoyed the single track drive into the forest though – the Welsh don’t seem to do passing spaces the way the Scots do!
Staying near Aberystwyth tonight. Went to get a few things from what was clearly a student supermarket next to the university. Almost half of the wine was alcohol free! Had to be careful what I chose. Students today are a bit different from in our day 🤣.
Wee Van Tour 