Platypus HQ - Functional Bikes and Trips

hawt

Always liked those

great bike, glad you didn't break your ankle. Needs these as an upgrade

Or onza!

££££££££££££££

With more time on my hands for obvious reasons I’ve done some route planning.

Riding the Trans-Cambrian Way with @spotter and co last year prompted me to get thinking about a better version. The TCW is a great sampling of what mid-Wales has to offer, but is let down by poor resupply options, rather inaccessible start and finish, some routing choices that are debatable at best, and it doesn’t separate particularly nicely into days with good camping/bothying options.

So here is the p-wales route, my better across-wales adventure. 4 days, 270km, 5000m climbing. Each day segments nicely with logical resupply and sleeping spots. The route might change very slightly, but I’m happy with its general cadence and orientation.

Obviously, can’t ride it yet, and won’t be going out until the MBA open the bothies post COVID. If you are interested in joining me then for a ride let me know, it would be great to have some company on an adventure like this.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/32890418

yeh id be down for that. not seen enough of mid wales.

Obligatory Q: what is the ideal bike for this?

eBike, plus 4 friends to carry your spare batteries.

steel short-travel hardtail, or rigid plus bike

I do kinda want this for multi-day single/zero-track exploration epics

Always up for more time in my homeland, as long as you have check the route for marshy uplands...

Interested...nice and accessible from Bristol as well

Laps at BPW to finish, eh? Could well be up for some of that. I bought all the OS maps to contact ver Snowdonia just before lockdown, they've been taunting me ever since.

this route is certified tussock-free ™

Another weekend, another early-to-bed early-to-shred Epping excursion with the inimitable @Dogs. Both of us on steel UK bikes but different in just about every other way. Both fun in the forest. Didn’t smash my ankle in this time so that’s a bonus.

If anyone is thinking of going, we got into the forest at 7am and it’s perfect then, cool and fresh and devoid of people save some Labrador walkers. Overnight rain had produced some rare loamy goodness. 5hrs of riding and back for lunch, perfect.

1 Attachment

Oh, and something of a milestone in Epping today. For the first time we saw more e-MTBs than MTBs in the forest. I don’t know why but it’s clearly happening. Wasn’t that long ago that I saw one for the first time, bouncing around the teahut under its lithium-ion load.

Won't be long before one turns up on a Badger ride.

iT's a gEARbOX!

Remains to be seen.

Need to look in detail, but guess it would be possible to hook up with the end of Ian Barrington's Cambrian Trail? It'd likely add another day, but the option to finish in Swansea provides another convenient rail link.

Edit: might need scoping to maintain the tussock-free ™ status. I've only ridden the top half before, bailing after 48h of torrential rain.

finishing in Swansea is to everyone's advantage....not just people who happen to have their parents living there...

Thanks for the suggestion!

Yes, this is a South to North route for a couple of reasons. For example the Gap MTB route, one of the UK's best descents, works nicely in this way, there's mellow climbing from Merthyr to start off with. And more generally it is designed to be ridden S-N but no reason you couldn't start in Bangor, then extend to Swansea at the finish.

The reason it doesn't run from Swansea is that in that case it would be a 5-day route rather than a 4-day, which can be harder to get enough time off from work. I don't know of any particularly good wild camping spots near Merthyr, and the riding from Swansea to Merthyr is a lot of climbing that can be easily skipped with the regular and friendly valley line train...

Oops. I didn't realise yours was from the bottom-up!

yep, links in better with trains too.
given the tight time of resupply on day2, it is envisaged as: you leave by train from London early on a Thursday, ride the whole thing, and get back on the train by late on Sunday