Goodbye Blackberry Way - Cycling the North Wales Coast Route

You can see bits of this route winding along the North Wales Coast if you take the train to Holyhead  and my son did it with his pals a few years back so I've wanted to give it a go for quite a while. As good luck would have me and the missus chose a great weekend to do it with fine weather and a (mostly) westerly wind pushing it along.

We got our bikes to Holyhead by  train with one change at Manchester and although choosing to travel at rush hour on a Friday on the weekend the students are all migrating perhaps wasn't the best choice we got the bikes on and found our booked seats without too much trouble. The Arriva Trains Wales train at Manchester wasn't very well signposted for the bike spaces though. It's long trip which gave us the opportunity to have a picnic and finish off a bottle of wine which livened things up a little.

Holyhead is a town which has seen better times - I suppose the decline of ferry traffic to Ireland is to blame although there are still regular ferries (SailRail is a great way to get to Dublin) but most of the traffic heads off on the North Wales Coast Expressway (of which more later) and bypasses  the town. To connect the town to the station and attract more rail passengers into the town an amazing "iconic" bridge across the harbour has been built, and we used this to get to the excellent value Travelodge. Other than a few drunken people shouting at each other there wasn't much going on although we noticed that the "no vehicles" rule on the high street was mostly observed in the breach. The station is busy with Virgin  and ATW running trains and we admired the Welsh Government train which runs a daily service to Cardiff with coaches and a proper loco. Breakfast in a nearby cafe was interesting as it seemed to double as the local "Care in the Community"centre.

There are two signed bike routes across Anglesey - we chose 8 which is more southerly. That took us across the Telford causeway aad through the lanes, past Anglesey airfield which is mostly military I think (we were buzzed by a chopper and checked out by the military police) and across the island, past hedgerows that were brimming with the most delicious blackberries I've ever eaten .

And the odd stone circle

Then it turns north along a ridge with views of the Menai Straits before dropping down to Menai Bridge  - here the bike routes were not so good, poor quality shared use and the local cyclists seemed to be sticking to the road, unsurprisingly.

The crossing at Menai Bridge proved to be a bit of a problem - the missus suffers from vertigo and couldn't get over the spectacular suspension bridge. Attempts to flag down a bus failed so eventually she hitched a lift while I walked the bikes over.

Pic: Wikipedia. No snow when we passed!

We abandoned the official route, which takes you uphill to a quieter road - and headed along towards Port Penrhyn where a neat contraflow arrangement took us down through a salubrious area of town overlooking the bridge. A pint of Blonde refreshed us and we were ready for the next section along the pretty Cegin Valley and past Penrhyn castle (with an interesting little passageway where you emerge from a hole in the Estate wall) before running parallel to the Expressway for a while.

Then comes one of the most amazing parts of the trip. Between Llanfairfechan (where we saw traces of the handiwork of Roy Spilsbury of CTC Cymru who has mounted a campaign against inappropriately placed bollards having fallen victim to one himself and following a shocking case where a cyclist died after running into a chain stretched across a cycle route) and Penmaenmawr there is a stunning piece of infrastructure to get you across the two road tunnels  - we thought we must be in Norway for a moment.

Pic: Cycling in North Wales

Then it's a pretty clear run into Conway with it's stunning castle. At the next bridge we left the route, preferring for speed to take the main road into Llandudno. We stayed in the Winchmore hotel which was fine, although I think we were the youngest guests in the place, and ate well in the New York Diner. We did have a sea view room so we could watch people enjoying the prom, both walking and cycling.

In the morning we had the privilege of cycling along the prom ourselves recently legitimised through the efforts of Roy and CTC Cymru, and what a civilised way to leave town, Then a stiff climb along a narrow path and a downhill swoop brought us out by a co-op, handy for picking up lunch provisions. The off-road cycle path along the road brought us back to the shore and we continued along Colwyn Bay, some bits were worn out and bumpy but mostly OK and improvements seemed to be under way. This is Static Caravan Site central - not my sort of holiday but each to their own I suppose. Us metrosexuals need our coffee though and we didn't find a decent cappuccino until we came to the excellent Cycle Hub at Rhyl.

Beyond Prestatyn the route turns inland and it becomes more like the sort of cycling you expect in Wales - shortish steep climbs and dipping in and out of valleys. A few more blackberries refreshed us as we ascended to a ridge that took us behind Holywell  with views clear over to Liverpool - we could see the protestant cathedral quite clearly.   A steep track took us back down again - not the sort of exhilarating descent one might have wished for, but very pleasant none the less - and with a sting in the tail, a shortish steep climb up before the final descent to the Dee estuary. With the scenery becoming more urban we stopped at Flint Castle to enjoy the view, then had an unpleasant section along a busy road with no apparent alternative. Connah's Quay offered us a detour via Golftyn, visiting a well-tended urban park before a crafty dip under the railway and onto the railway bridge across the Dee - this was negotiated by me pushing the bikes and the missus walking across, keeping eyes dead ahead!

The last part of the ride is along a disused railway line into Chester and as we passed from Wales back into England the surface quality dropped noticeably - perhaps the Welsh Active Travel Bill is starting to bite. It was still tarmac though, not the dust surfaces that can really slow you down - every kind of person was using it, from dog walkers, families, high-speed roadies (but they slowed down for others) and of course laden tourists like ourselves. As we passed over the Shropshire Union Canal and having arrived with a couple of hours to spare we thought that might be a pleasant detour, so we took it and shortly came to Telford's Warehouse. Thomas Telford is a figure who had been following us all the way, from the Stanley Embankment that took us from Holy Island onto Anglesey itself his work on the A5 (and the modern road builders who had superseded him) and of course the Menai Bridge itself that had proved a bit of a problem so it seemed an appropriate place to stop  - is this the brst pub in Chester? Certainly a fascinating building with great beer and food and what looked like a fab music programme. We lingered slightly longer than we meant to and had a bit of a rush to the station, but got on our train no problem, and with a stopover in Manchester soon found ourselves back in Sheffield.

Verdict:This is a ride well worth doing and if you have a couple of spare days why not cycle all the way back to Sheffield? Cheshire has some great bike routes.  Go in Autumn and enjoy the blackberries!

(Simon and Patrice travelled with Trans Pennine Express and Arriva Trains Wales, booking with their bikes online at the East Coast Trains website. Accommodation and travel cost with a "Two Together" railcard £212.90)