Touring in Wales
The Welsh coast offers fantastic cycling, not to mention tea and cakes
Thinking about visiting the UK? Lisa Dempster takes us for a spin along the Welsh coast.
It had been a hard decision to choose Wales as our cycling holiday destination. Not only does the UK have a wealth of amazing cycle routes to choose from, Wales has a reputation for hilliness and bad weather - not exactly favourable conditions for two kind-of-fit, not-very-experienced-at-touring riders.
But when our train chugged to a stop at Fishguard Harbour on the western-most point of the Welsh coast and mum and I emerged from the station with our bikes, we were rewarded with an amazing vista: a stunningly beautiful, intensely blue harbour glittering in the bright sunlight.
The Celtic Trail
We allowed ourselves a moment of smug congratulations for choosing to cycle the romantically-named Celtic Trail, located the first trail marker, and without further ado, set off. We were lost within minutes. We couldn't find the next trail marker and so out came the map. It appeared to be pointing us in the direction of a rather large hill, of which we arrived at the top huffing and puffing several minutes later. After a few cranky exchanges, the smugness all but gone, we found another marker and set off again - this time downhill and in the right direction.
What followed was one of the most enjoyable days I've ever spent. The route was well-marked, meaning we didn't need to consult our map again, and we spent the afternoon riding up narrow, winding lanes, past old-fashioned stone farmhouses, alongside open, rolling fields and through tiny villages. We were delighted with the quintessential British countryside. In the spirit of the vistas we were riding through, we indulged in a cream tea for lunch - the first in a seemingly never-ending stream of teas and cakes.
There was not a cloud in sight as we cycled through the green lanes, and cars were scarce as well - perfect riding conditions. Well, almost perfect - there were many hills. And what hills! Time after time, upon turning a corner we would find ourselves faced with an almost vertical incline (or so it seemed to us). Luckily, the hills were undulating - freewheeling down the other side always made the struggle up worthwhile.
Pembrokeshire Coastal Path
At the end of our first days riding - 19 miles (30kms) or thereabouts - we cruised into St David's at sunset, and fell instantly in love with the ancient charm of this small city - Britain's smallest city, in fact. After finding a B&B and parking our bikes, we wandered out on foot to explore the church and the ancient ruins of the castle before tucking into fish and chips and a well-earned beer at the village pub.
And so began our Welsh adventure. Our six days of cycling hugged the southern coastline of Wales, taking us past rugged coastal scenery, placid seaside holiday towns, alongside canals, and through back lanes, open fields, national parks, tiny villages and even a farm.
The weather continued to be lovely throughout, with one notable exception: the day we rode through a gale. We were riding along the foreboding, rugged and exceptionally beautiful Pembrokeshire Coastal Path when it began raining.
After several minutes of riding through the strong rain into a gusty head-wind, I gave up trying to appreciate the views and began instead to concentrate on getting myself to shelter, as quickly as possible. It was truly miserable. We were soaked to the bone, cold, tired and grumpy. Matters weren't helped by the sympathetic looks we were receiving from the people zipping past us in their warm, dry, snug-looking cars.
Finally, after more than an hour, we began the sharp descent into the next town - gripping on for dear life on the slippery roads - and rolled into the first tea-house we came across. We were cursing our bikes as we propped them up against a wall and unhooked our panniers. The owner took one look at us, drenched and unsmiling, and pointed us in the direction of the bathroom before bustling off to put the kettle on. Minutes later, in dry clothes and seated in the warm tea-room reading books and eating cake, things didn't look so bad after all. Once the clouds cleared we even began looking forward to getting back on our bikes!
The trail we followed was well sign-posted, although we did need to consult our map often, especially when we were riding through towns. The route rarely ventured onto main roads, so the majority of our time was spent cycling on country lanes, off-road cycle paths, and scenic routes with a dedicated bike lane. This meant we were able to relax, ride without worries and enjoy the marvellous scenery.
The scenery was always changing, but there was one constant - the elevations. Yes, hills - lots of them. Some short and sharp, others long and gradual. Some that seemed like they would never end, that tested the strength of our thighs and that we sighed about later as we indulged yet again in tea and cakes. Our cycling pace was relaxed, as we were trying to see as much as we could rather than zip along the trail as quickly as possible, and due to our inexperience with hills we ended up pushing our bikes up a lot of them. It didn't bother us, though. Nothing could - we were having a blast.
Millennium Coastal Park
We blame the hilly nature of the path for the fact that at the end of our trip we were still a day or two's riding from our intended destination, but that, too, wasn't a problem. The last day we cycled along the impressive cycling path through the Millennium Coastal Park, then simply hopped on a train which took us to our destination of Swansea.
As we ate our last meal in Wales we were so sad to have to stop riding and return home - we'd had a truly amazing journey. We'd found Wales to be challenging, diverse in its beauty, and constantly charming. It proved to us that the weather wasn't always bad, but the hills always were - it didn't matter, though, because at the end of each ride was a hot drink and a well-deserved selection of cakes. We were sure we'd be back - with our bikes, of course.
Lisa Dempster is a communications professional who enjoys getting about town on her mountain bike and dreams of a two-wheeled, around-the-world adventure.