June 2014
North Wales Coastal Route
01
The North Wales Coastal Route covers the entire north Welsh coast from Chester to Holyhead on Anglesey, following national route 5 and at times sharing the Wales Coast Path. The ride is 105 miles in total and takes 2 or 3 days to complete, with plenty of beaches, coastal towns and castles along the way.
Practicalities:
We rode from Chester in a westward direction and took 3 days. We caught a train from London to Chester on the Thursday night after work and set off on the Friday morning. That evening we stayed at a hostel in Llandudno, which is a very pleasant seaside town. The following morning continued on past Conwy with its impressive castle. There also happened to be a pirate festival taking place in the town, which created quite an amusing atmosphere. From there we continued west with the border of Snowdonia just to the south and crossing the motorway on a couple of occasions. We stayed at a B&B in Bangor and enjoyed a fine curry.
On the Sunday we completed the cycle to Holyhead, although we actually had dinner and spent the evening in Treaddur Bay - a detour to the south - as it's a much nicer spot than the town itself. In Holyhead we stayed at the Travelodge and the next day took the train back to London.
Itinerary:
Completing the route over three days is feasible for anyone who rides regularly or with a reasonable level of fitness. We cycled 50 miles on the first day and then had two fairly east days of 30 miles. Being Wales, it did of course rain a few times but we only experienced one proper downpour and in fact on the Sunday had clear skies all the way.
Day 1: Chester to Llandudno (50 miles)
Day 2: Llandudno to Bangor (30 miles)
Day 3: Bangor to Holyhead (30 miles)
For more information on the route go to:
http://www.sustrans.org.uk/ncn/map/route/north-wales-coast-cycle-route
