NCR8 - Lon Las Cymru.

Planet X

Wales, top to bottom or other way around. Holyhead to Cardiff basically.
Plenty of short steep hills, pleasant scenery. Anyone here done it?

Ferry from Fishguard to Rosslare and spin back up to the big smoke.

Would like to give it the lash next summer.

lennymc

ive driven it, lovely roads and scenery. would be a nice spin if you paced yourself.

thebouldwhacker

Are you thinking of a one day raid on the shortest route or getting a little more under the skin of the dragon?

The coastal route is stunning in parts but is a busy road and narrow in parts. Wales has the distinguishing property to Ireland that cycling isn't seen as anti social behaviour and the majority of villages are worth a stop as they are welcoming with decent eateries and ale houses. It can be well worth taking a longer route.....
Great camp sites too but your description is slightly off, not all the climbs are short.
'A very badly designed county' as a friend of mine describes it.

buffalo

This isn't an organised event then? Be nice not to get dropped for once.

Think it'd be a great country to meander through over the course of a week or so. From what I've seen, beautiful rolling landscapes, with occasional tough climbs. Fantastic castles, especially up north!

Planet X

thebouldwhacker wrote: »

Are you thinking of a one day raid on the shortest route or getting a little more under the skin of the dragon?

The coastal route is stunning in parts but is a busy road and narrow in parts. Wales has the distinguishing property to Ireland that cycling isn't seen as anti social behaviour and the majority of villages are worth a stop as they are welcoming with decent eateries and ale houses. It can be well worth taking a longer route.....
Great camp sites too but your description is slightly off, not all the climbs are short.
'A very badly designed county' as a friend of mine describes it.

I'd do the "Pie n Pints" route.
Itching.....badly.....to get off the ground next year. Considered doing the West of Ireland, flying to Biarritz and cycling back up or, maybe now, chasing the Dragon..........

Vélo

I've done part of it.

Here's a report on it.

ROK ON

Could be interested if you wanted company.
Pie and pints sound nice.

650Ginge

Planet X wrote: »

Wales, top to bottom or other way around. Holyhead to Cardiff basically.
Plenty of short steep hills, pleasant scenery. Anyone here done it?

Ferry from Fishguard to Rosslare and spin back up to the big smoke.

Would like to give it the lash next summer.

Did it in 2000? Over the paddy weekend. One of our first decent tours. We both enjoyed it. Mostly very quiet roads. But so steep sections. Recommend it.

thebouldwhacker

First time we did it we planned each day according to the good pub guide. For the food recommendations you understand.
Some days were shorter than others........

coastwatch

Hope to do this next year too. Plenty of guides available but for a start, I'd get the Lon Las Cymru pack from Sustrans.

Planet X

Actually, Velo above has decently offered me both maps for the route. Looks like I have to do it now. :-)
It'll be a nice change of scenery.

Gasco

From my (non - boards user) bro in law who tackled this trip last summer:

Did it in summer 2012… S to N. Surprising amount of cumulative climbing. Road narrow for long stretches with A LOT of traffic especially on southern half

To be honest a lot of it I didn’t enjoy coz of the traffic and I did it Fri/Sat.

Stayed in the Corris http://www.braichgoch.co.uk/ – great – bike friendly and on side of road.

Highlights are the barmouth bikepath and railway crossing.

Day 1 http://app.strava.com/activities/20558540
Day 2 http://app.strava.com/activities/20558543

Also they don’t take bikes on the fast ferry which I didn’t know and had to wait till 2.30 am ferry

Lusk Doyle

650Ginge wrote: »

Did it in 2000?

You seem unsure?

wanderer 22

Planet X wrote: »

Actually, Velo above has decently offered me both maps for the route. Looks like I have to do it now. :-)
It'll be a nice change of scenery.

Did you do this in the end Planet X? I'm planning on doing a few days touring next month, and this looks like a nice route.

lennymc

i was only talking about doing something like this with idleater the other day. ferry across to holyhead, cycle to pembroke, ferry to rosslare, cycle home.

wanderer 22

lennymc wrote: »

i was only talking about doing something like this with idleater the other day. ferry across to holyhead, cycle to pembroke, ferry to rosslare, cycle home.

Yep that would be my plan too - probably 2 days cycling in wales. February will be feckin freezing probably but it's a great place to cycle.

poochiem

Resurrection thread. Booking ferries for a trip along this and have a question for anyone who might have done similar trip. I'm looking at:

Monday morning Dublin - Holyhead. Cycle the Lon Las Cymru to Llanidloes then south-west along Sustrans route 81 & 82

Friday afternoon Fishguard - Rosslare.

Is Monday thru Friday enough time for a comfortable tour? Any recommendations for spots along the way, things to see etc?

thebouldwhacker

Get to the Elan Valley. Get to Raydar, from there you can cycle up the track all the way to the top dam and then return (at speed)to Raydar via the road and head off on your merry way.

poochiem

poochiem wrote: »

Resurrection thread. Booking ferries for a trip along this and have a question for anyone who might have done similar trip. I'm looking at:

Monday morning Dublin - Holyhead. Cycle the Lon Las Cymru to Llanidloes then south-west along Sustrans route 81 & 82

Friday afternoon Fishguard - Rosslare.

Is Monday thru Friday enough time for a comfortable tour? Any recommendations for spots along the way, things to see etc?

Well I'll post a summary if I do it next month; I know there's a few tourers on boards so might be interested.

poochiem

Meant to post an update and forgot. So last August I took the bike from Dublin to Holyhead, cycled to Fishguard and then across to Rosslare, watched Bohs beat Wexford youths in the cup and cycled home to Dublin. Left on Sunday and returned on Saturday. I'd packed a two-man tent that has cover for cooking etc as was expecting bad weather and had budgeted an extra day for same. Here's the rough itinerary:

Sun: Holyhead - Gwynedd (Caernarfon) 75km - NCR 8 https://cycle.travel/route/lon_las_cymru/guide
Mon: Caernarfon - Dolgellau 100km
Tue: Dolgellau - Machyulleth turned off NCR 8 and headed to Aberystwyth then NCR 82 to Ystad Meurig 75km
Wed: Ystrad Meurig to Cardigan 90km
Thu: Cardigan - Newport - Fishguard 40km
Fri: Ferry. Rosslare - Wexford
Sat: Wexford - Dublin 135km

A few images here to give you an idea of the surfaces. https://photos.app.goo.gl/UzGoYBu8DmcRQ78D6

A few thoughts...

The NCR routes are well signposted but I was glad to have a garmin etrex and the cycle route maps under plastic with me, you can miss signposts behind hedges or ambiguous ones that signal two roads etc.

I was camping and there wasn't much problem finding places although most are aimed at family holiday types rather than cyclists, I don't think I did any wild camping on this break. I stayed in a pub in Ystrad Meurig after a hard day and the bath and home cooked food and the few pints with the locals were very welcome.

Wales is hilly. I hit a lot of very steep gradients and my CX and gear was heavy and isn't geared for hills. 20% was not unusual.
Mixed surfaces, the roads are good and the cycle lane is generous and well observed. There is a fair bit of boreen and gated roads, grassy double track, there were also some bridle paths, dedicated greenway, and even some mountain bike downhill. So sticking to the cycle route would not be suitable for road bikes, you would have to make diversions. Have a look at the photos anyway.

I can only remember meeting one local cyclist. He went along with me for a partial spin towards a castle after Bangor I think. It's too hilly for locals to cycle to shops I think!

I'd absolutely recommend it, stunning scenery, cycle-friendly routes, friendly people, plenty of villages to stop for lunch and a pint and I think it was €98 return for the stena line ferries.