Day 15 begins with the "Devils staircase". At 25% this is the new record steepness, and I was going up the easy side! Had to push a little section as traffic coming down round blind corner so I had to stop and had no chance of hill start in that.
Met a bikepacker guy struggling to push up other side, then had to reset brakes as have just worn half off on the descent
As foretold, the valley on the other side is stunning. Absolutely.
Why waste all that time in Cornwall for no reward when could have this. Anyway, early in day, hubris etc

Rain! Shower, but properly rain
I shelter under an oak tree
First wave passes, but it's a trick, a second, heavier pour.
Try to remember which bag contains as of yet redundant waterproofs

Then meet Elliot, also from Nottingham, pushing up hill as has lost all low gears. A long day ahead I fear. A timely meeting though as she's just been stung by a bee and I have the cream on standby.

The Elan Valley is a pretty but touristy series of reservoirs which supply Birmingham 73 miles away. Up and up, the wind gets stronger, but I'm not planning to camp - heading for Rhys Nant bothy which is REALLY in the middle of nowhere. Surprised to find 4 bars if phone signal though!

Day 16
Expecting heavy showers, but stays mostly dry.
My quads are screaming for a day off

How many calories to burn 2 stone fat?
Sounds like an experiment from GCSE chemistry
Simple really, already know best ratio for food/ fuel is 10 cal per gram, so if I'm burning 4000+ a day, let's say 2000 excess, that should be 200g a day? Seems like a lot but I am noticing some effects

The freshness after rain, petrichor

After all the climbing, reaching a peak at 514m, an epic long descent passing more cyclists pushing uphill. They have a really long way to go. They are from Holland though so I guess hills are an alien concept.

Reach the bottom of the hill in Machynlleth just in time to shelter from another downpour under the market cross, along with a rather large bloke with a very shiny looking e-mountain bike, complete with decals proclaiming gnarliness. Somehow I can't picture it...

Passing through slate mining villages, i've succumbed. Had to push up a bit of the next hill. Meet another lady pushing up other side, so she'll have a lot more pushing ahead

Stayed in another bothy, an old farmhouse named Penrhof Isaf. This one is not far off the road so surprised to have it to myself - the log book is the usual mix of party groups and subsequent tut tutting and complaints about rubbish

Day 17 To Caernarfon (for a day off woooo)

Starts with bumpy gravel forest roads

What's the smallest number divisible by all integers
Is it 2520? Yes!

Passing the decommissioned nuclear power station at Trawsfynydd, which operated for 26 years but projected to take 100 to fully clean up.
There are plenty of signs up in the countryside protesting about new wind turbines but, now I feel like deja vu from 12 years ago.

Low flying trainer aircraft roaring overhead, and Snowdonia looms, jagged and purple

Portmadog jammed with tourists, so I don't even stop for a snack. That's the one thing Wales lacks, a Cornish pasty style snack.

Old railway again for last 10 miles
Bloke holds gate and wishes good luck, but at next gate I have to dismount and realise a flip flop has fallen off. Noooo! When? Would I have noticed in the last 40 bumpy miles?
Quick googling shows no flip flop shops in the near future. Well I'll go back a bit, maybe it did fall off recently. Back past bemused workmen. What's that? A bird. What's that? A branch. What's THAT? It's a FLIP FLOP oh praise his noodly majesty.
Passing the workmen for a third time, flying along like a train, until the line meets the actual heritage railway.

Caernarfon has tempted me with it's magnificent 11the century castle.
However it comes with £7 a pint tourist tax!
First fish and chips of the tour, excellent, fighting off the seagulls.
"the good" fish and chip shop has massive queues, so I find another, greeted with almost militant welshness. It's a bit of getting used to that in these parts people actually do speak Welsh by default and not just deliberately to confuse tourists

In the hostel meet Rob from Saltburn walking the whole England and Wales coast pathfor mental health charity. He started day last year, the day before Charles big official opening.

Day 12
Red kites everywhere, nice long descent and then another lovely repurposed railway path, just reopened after a half marathon event.
Down to the coast, the Welsh equivalent of Cornwall, up and down, and oversaturated with caravan parks.
Tenby seems nice though but I gave up an headed for the YHA at Manorbier. After two weeks camping I soon regretted this as the dorm was stuffy and snoring inevitable.

Day 13
Pembroke castle looks cool. Another nice old railway to break up the hills, well, it's all uphill but at a gradient you don't notice.
Mike's bikes too busy. Leave it with us 2 days...
Decide I've seen enough coast so to cut off the St Davids corner and head for the hills

My target pub isn't open, but the village of Maenchlocog does have a cafe with cake. A local retiree, Richard, is intrigued by my Cook Islands shirt and begins telling me all sorts of interesting things, primarily that his grandfather captained a ship called the Rangitoto which sailed the route from UK to NZ across the pacific
Let the man eat his cake! Cry the cafe ladies
Apparently all the Welsh flags everywhere are because I've just missed the 850th Eisteddfod, which Wikipedia tells me is a cultural literary event, which has involved giant articulated puppets of guy from cardigan and his dog touring the countryside.

Ive spotted an Iron age hill fort on the map, and these sometimes make good camping spots, but this one is being visited by some annoying Americans and it's also away too windy, so into the damp forest I go...

14
Waking up in the damp forest, for some reason felt like listening to Neighbours soundtrack. Maybe because when Ibturn up in random villages and pop into cafes and pubs I feel like I'm making a cameo in a hundred different local soap operas

Following route 87? Largely along the Afon Teifi river valley which would normally have scenic waterfalls but at the moment just has scenic rocks

Absolutely fantastic bacon sandwich from a bakery called Crwst w=oo

Try another bike shop, "Bike wise & run" in Lampeter, and this time Dallas with a tattoo commemorating his own lejog ride drops current work to fit new gear cable for me, which is a relief as was concerningly frayed.
But his indexing efforts haven't improved anything, can't use cog 3/4 at the back and still hit and miss dropping to small front cog, so maybe need a new chain and cassette.

Stopping tonight at Dolgoch hostel, definition of middle of nowhere, after a brutal hill
Its an old YHA, bought by group of enthusiasts, recent solar panels etc
And a perfect example of what YHA used to mean but now doesn't.

Staffed by volunteer wardens who essentially do a week working holiday - super friendly, down to apple crumble and quiz books in front of a warm fire, which believe it or not is not uncalled for

To Taunton - Continuing along the lovely river path / bridleway, passing families paddling... Another puncture. Well the tubes seem to be splitting rather than being pierced by foreign objects. Hmm.
Over the tops and down to Taunton for new inner tube. Taunton seems a sizeable place to have such a lowly football team. Nearly run over twice by errant motorists so happy to get to our if town again to campsite even though it has occasionally overpowering wafts of cow farm and busy road, great showers though.

Day 9
To Trowbridge!
Via Glastonbury, full of eclipse hippies. Obligatory detour to climb the Tor.
Then onto Wells, as per 2013, dying of heat, this must be the hottest day yet, so really didn't need to find a "road closed" sign requiring a 5 mile detour up another hill
Must have drunk 8 litres
Eclipse? Hardly noticed

Trowbridge = Andy's place and a first day off, mainly watching lawn bowls.
First in the form of an amusing Australian movie,
"Jackanory", coming soon to stuflix, and later with Andy skipping his team to a narrow defeat.
The adjacent clubhouse bar being a welcome facility.
An evening of shooting stars. Then it'll be back in the road, over the Severn bridge to Wales

Along the impressively engineered Kenney & Avon canal to Bath, crossing two viaducts, then old railway to Bristol, skirting the city itself, over the bridge and down to Usk to soak in the river

Everyones phone is going off like siren with the stupid Government alerts

Part 2 to Exmoor

Decided to get away from the coast road by following a bike track on the moor marked on the map as West Kernow Way, where I met a French couple from Savoie picking blackberries. They had also suffered someone shaking their tent at 6am so maybe it's just Cornwall sucks. The track however soon dwindled from 4x4 to a deep single rut which my panniers couldn't clear. So back to tarmac, although immediately regretted routing through St Ives


It's another scorcher - Play along at home by sticking your exercise bike in garden on hardest setting.
So when a quiet lanes emerges into a cider factory I can't believe my luck.
Many villages and towns are showing signs and bunting for summer fetes, and the next town is crowded for their carnival parade, but i [...read the rest]

Part 1: the Southiest

The route for this trip does cover some of the same ground as when I walked it back in 2013, when the south west coast path proved a rude awakening with it's steep downs and ups, but for some reason I thought further inland would be safe from such gradients. How naive. 20% slopes up and down every time. Your supposed to enjoy the downhills aren't you? The reward for the climb? But I've got to be in a death grip on the brakes to avoid potholes and tight bends.
So it was a tough first few days.
Fortunately, my neighbour Ben was on holiday in Cornwall so I dumped a bag full of heavy cameras and a bike lock which i'd managed to not bring the key for, which must have made things easier?!

First night was a wild camping on Dartmoor. It was wind [...read the rest]

This time by bike!

So! This trip has been on the back burner for a while, a fallback option for when time is a bit short. An easy option, rather than the logistics of going abroad.
I did a couple of shakedown rides, a bit of maintenance, all ready to go - then at 9am took the bike out of the garage to load up and found the back tyre was flat. Arg! Train to catch! Hoping it was a slow puncture, frantically pumped it up and rolled down to the station.
From then on journey was smooth, there was surprisingly adequate bike space on the trains, which ran on time, bringing me to the start line in Exeter.
I chose to begin there so I could cross Dartmoor and pop down to Lizard point before the "official" start at Lands End... [...read the rest]