Despite the fact that we lived fairly close to the Welsh border, I'd never done a Welsh ride other than a few brief excursions over the border around Chester, Wrexham and Oswestry, so to rectify this I planned a ride on Lon Las Ogwen. An hour and a half drive took me to the start, in the tiny village of Abergwyngregyn, a start point I'd chosen for a couple of good reasons, the first being that it offered free parking, or Di-dal in the local lingo. More than a few people had the same idea, presumably as there were good walks in the area, including Aber National Nature Reserve and Aber Falls, however I got parked up fairly easily and got the bike out of the car. The parking spot was right on National Cycle Network route 5, which runs through Sandbach a couple of hundred yards from my house, so in theory I could have ridden to the start. In my dreams, maybe!
I loaded the route on my Garmin and set off. I'd only got a couple of hundred yards and gone under the A55 when my Garmin reset itself for no reason. I stopped to set up again and started once more, crossing Station Road to join the cycleway that ran alongside the A55 North Wales Expressway, with views of the mountains of Snowdonia / Eryri to my left, and farmland running down to the Menai Strait on my right. The joys of the landscape were tempered somewhat by the busy traffic, but it was only for a couple of miles as the cycleway joined the road to Llandygai for a short while before a left turn took me uphill on a quiet lane, with clumps of snowdrops lining the route. At the end of this road, opposite the pretty St Cross church, a right turn dropped me back down to the main road again to head to Llandygai. Just after crossing the River Ogwen a small, arched opening in the pavement on the right, almost hidden by overgrown trees, was my route. This took me up into the quiet heart of Llandygai before rejoining the main road again, this time taking the cycleway running alongside, and eventually crossing, the A5 road. A right turn onto Lon Cefn Ty took me downhill to reach a ford, and just before this I turned left onto Lon Las Ogwen, and left again to drop down to the start of the trail at Porth Penrhyn.
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| Porth Penrhyn |
Lon Las Ogwen runs out of Porth Penrhyn following the trackbed of the old railway that brought slate from the Bethesda Slate Quarry to be shipped around the world. As you would expect the trail rises from the start, albeit fairly gently to begin with. There are a few information boards along the way, though these look a little dated now, and are starting to fade in places. The trail starts off as a tree-lined tarmac path with the chattering River Cegin running alongside on your left, passing the low Cegin Viaduct which carried the line over the river, past the noticeably pungent Llandygai Industrial Estate and running under the much bigger Cegin Viaduct which carries the Chester - Holyhead railway line high above the river.
I spotted a heron on the banks of the river and passed the spot where I first joined the trail. Still climbing gently along the tree-lined path, it became more noticeable that the river was now running below me rather than alongside. Also noticeable was the wind, which was blowing stiffly and rather unhelpfully in my face. As I rode on I noticed the path was become distorted in places due to tree roots pushing the tarmac up. After a mile I passed under the A55, and rejoining the old trackbed the views opened up on either side now, with the trees no longer lining the track, and the first glimpses of the mountains showed themselves beyond the green farmland.
In another mile the first steep gradient of the line appeared after going under a tunnel carrying the intriguingly named Hen Dumpike road, rising up to 12% and getting me breathing hard. Soon after, the track came to the road in Tregarth and a short spell of riding through the village ensued before turning off and riding alongside a playground before being presented with another treat. Tregarth Tunnel, known locally as Tynal Tywyll (Dark Tunnel), is an old tunnel that was closed to the public over 60 years ago but was reopened in May 2018, removing the need for a road diversion to Bethesda. Today it is well lit and well paved, and on exiting the tunnel there is a lovely bridge over the River Ogwen which is fairly wide at this point.
I crossed the bridge and came to a point where my Garmin wanted me to turn right, but there was no signage to indicate which way Lon Las Ogwen went, so I continued straight on, coming to a junction with a road where signs suggested I had been right to proceed. The trail continued across the road where a couple of old people on bikes (older than me!) were scrutinising a notice on the gate. I asked if they were ok, and they said the notice seemed to indicate the trail was closed with no diversion other than the A5. I decided to continue on anyway, and told them if they saw me coming back the other way then it definitely was closed! Passing through a couple more gates I came to another path junction, without any obvious signage, but with an equivalent notice to the one previous. Looking at the diagram in the notice I concluded that I was on Lon Las Ogwen, and had in fact passed what was claimed to have been closed. Still off course (according to my Garmin) I reasoned that the right way was over the bridge in front of me, and up what looked like a really steep gravel track. I set off, stopping on the bridge to take a photo of the River Ogwen and let a group of hikers past.
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| River Ogwen |
On reaching the gravel track it was indeed a case of hike-a-bike for a short while, before I was able to remount and continue to another gate. This led to a tarmac road which in turn led me back to Hen Dumpike, and back on course, with the blue Lon Las Ogwen signs confirming that I had come the right way. A short pedal on the road brought me to a turn off into an industrial estate, the track skirting the edges and passing through to rejoin the gravel track, where within a short distance I came across a huge mound of discarded slate. I was on the outskirts of the Penrhyn Slate Quarry, and the track continued around the edge, passing huge piles of slate, some fairly huge looking pieces amongst them.
A little further on I passed the Ogwen Bank Caravan and Lodge Park on the other side of the river, which had some splendid little waterfalls over the boulders. The track started rearing up here as I dropped into my lowest gears, and I was struggling to maintain momentum. Eventually I crested what seemed to be a summit, and dropped down to come around a corner where a fantastic vista opened out in front of me, the wide Ogwen Valley surrounded by mountains with the gravel track heading ahead straight as an arrow. Sadly, given the time, I realised that I wasn't going to make my intended target of the snack bar at the end of Lon Las Ogwen, and sat on my bike looking longingly and mournfully at the beautiful but untouchable scene.
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| What could have been........ |
After a drink and an energy bar I set off back, retracing my steps back down the trail (much easier this time), hike-a-biking again down the steep gravel track after the bridge. After crossing the bridge I turned right to head into Bethesda where I joined the A5 for a short while, heading back to the gates where I saw the old couple earlier, hearing the woman remarking to her husband "Look, it's the man in the yellow top again". I stayed on the road here, and in a short while turned left uphill towards Rachub. At the top of the hill I spotted a cemetery off the road, which had a tremendous view of the valley and mountains, the tranquility only spoiled by the buzzing of the RAF jets practising overhead.
In Rachub I turned left on Llanllechid Road, a narrow country lane, and soon found myself dropping rapidly down off the hills, with glorious views of the Menai Strait ahead of me. Reaching speeds approaching 30mph I made sure I had my hands near the brakes as the lanes were winding as well as being narrow, with tall hedges either side. Fortunately though, the only vehicle I saw was at the bottom of the descent after I'd turned onto a flatter road. I passed under the A55 again, and turned right to return to St Cross church and down the snowdrop lined road I'd ridden up earlier. Retracing my steps along the cycleway adjacent to the A55 I soon came to Abergwyngregyn, where instead of heading back to the car I turned left for the other important reason for choosing this as my start / end point - the Aber Falls Distillery.
I treated myself to a latte and some bara brith from the cafe, and of course had to get a bottle from the shop! From here it was just a short pedal back to the start to load my bike in the car and drive home.
It had been a frustrating day at times, with various things popping up that I could have done without, but given it was mid February I couldn't argue with the weather and of course the scenery made it all worthwhile. I'll just have to come back and do the full route another time.
