This was another extraordinary ride. We visited Valentia Island in search of some 385 million year old fossil tracks and found them. What struck me most was that 385 million years ago this creature left it’s footprints leaving water and walking in soft mud, and 385 million years later this creatures footprints are still by the water…..though now in a different part of the world. It was amazing sitting there contemplating that amount of time…..

On our way to see the Tetrapod tracks on Valentia Island

Just above the 385 million year old Tetrapod track on Valentia Island. Not only can you see the footprints but it’s tail drag can also be seen.

This is the oldest in situ fossil record of a Tetrpod, this is an ancestor of all land animals……before this all vertebrates were fish. What an incredible place, and what a wonderful humbling experience to visit this extraordinary place…..

On the way to Cahersiveen we passed through a place called waterville. where Charlie Chaplin used to go on holiday and there is a film festival at Waterville every year……due to continual storms and fierce head winds we missed out on this…..but that is Ok we want to go back. and just before we came into Waterville we passed this ancient site…..we tried to get closer but no matter which way we went there seems to be no public access which was quite disappointing….ah well can’t have everything…..

And at the end of the day a sunset and our camp, by the sea

We spent several days at Caherdaniel enjoying the first really summer like days since crossing the Somerset levels….it made a nice change……then another storm came by and destroyed Aaron’s tent…..

Pausing for a break

Building  Ziggurat

Another day of astonishing cycling. Here are just a few images….

We camped at a really wonderful farm campsite half way up a hill with very friendly people and dogs and were treated to some spectacular sunsets every night…..We stayed three nights here, as we wanted to explore the area without carrying all our stuff in order to find some local ancient stone circles…..cycling through a fab forest to find them……..Here are just a few images of what we found……

The next few days were filled with mist and rain…..and fairly flat rides. Cycling long winding estuaries that were fascinating. The changing light, rolling mist….the green-ness of the estuaries with there wildlife. It was very atmospheric, visually stunning….

These roads like mid Wales were so quiet….hardly any traffic.

Towards the end of the day we started to look for  place to camp finding  a terrific strand of dunes called Long Strand Dunes, and in a sheltered dip between the dunes we made camp, had some food and spent the evening watching the mist roll cross the sea. This was for me unexpected. The sea was fairly active and with sketchbooks I made some attempt to capture the atmosphere of this place…….This huge long beach was really quite something and I expect to create some interesting seascapes from this experience……

The next day dawned misty and damp and it took us a couple of hours to get rid of the condensation from the tents. We had pitched our tents in a dip surrounded by sand dunes to stay out of the wind and of course during the night the wind completely dropped…but by mid morning we had some blue sky and eventually broke camp and  continued our journey to Skibbereen.

On the way we headed for ….. Drombeg Stone Circle…. and what  place it was

Tent life

Breakfast

Some time later…another day another ride…..Camping at Eagle point…….

Eaglepoint Sunset

This was such  spectacular place that we stayed here for  few days…….the days passed in alternating rain and wind and mist….it was challenging cycling but really enjoyable. The time spent here…3 nights in all was a much needed pause. I had come down with some low level bug courtesy of a very ill person in the local supermarket…..It did not affect me in any serious way, and we still did  fair mount of exploring, and well sometimes it is nice to unload the bikes and cycle without panniers….though not without sketchbooks

Kilkeel stone circle

Kilkeel stone circle

After only one wild camp on Angelsey we headed for Holyhead and the ferry crossing to Dublin…..it would be my second ever visit to Eire and long overdue. In 1986 I had been part of a student exchange between Wolverhampton Polytechnic and Limerick School of Art and Design…..31 years ago…where did all that time go….It was the highlight of my degree course, and as an artist it is where everything began as a painter. Something clicked some sense….nothing I could ever put into words. The short time I spent at Limerick and on the field trip to Dun An Oir on the Dingle peninsula set me on a course to becoming a landscape and seascape painter. Finally having wanted to return to this place for many years we were on our way to renew friendships and to do some proper exploring……

The Ferry crossing was rough and fun…at least for me…..We stayed a few days in Dublin staying with my fab friend Tanya who I met 31 years ago on that student exchange to Limerick and visiting some art….

This image is of Tanya who did this fantastic art work of a bronze millennium sundial, Aaron  and me…..

We had such a great time with Tanya and seeing her fabulous artwork was so inspiring and this piece is my favorite

A few days, bottles of wine, late nights, laughter, memories and a wee bit of gardening as a thank you to Tanya for letting us stay we got the coach from Dublin to Cork….bikes and all…but chatting with Tanya and getting lost on the way to the coach pick up point…… plus delays on route left us arriving in Cork after dark and with no where to stay…..so anyway we decided to head to the coast and hopefully find a field to wild camp in, on the way though a car pulled over and this was so typical of the kind and hospitality of the people of Ireland throughout our journey. The driver asked where we were heading and offered to help us find somewhere….made some phone calls and then offered to drive us to a B&B place several miles away and up a long long climb and so panniers off……bikes semi dismantled and in the back of the car Aaron in the front with me squashed in too off we went. Rob who runs cafe Velo in Cork was so helpful a painting will shortly be on it’s way to him in Cork……and the painting arrived safely is now on display at Cafe Velo….and here is an image of the painting which Rob kindly sent to me……

painting in cafe Velo Cork

The adventure continued as once we were settled in the B&B, and this was now about 10.30 pm I realised that after careful and repeatedly recounting the number of panniers potential disaster dawned…… I had left a pannier by the roadside….The worst thing I could have left behind….a pannier that contained my very expensive 2 person Terra Nova Quasar tent…..so back out on the bikes and low and behold we find it. I cannot begin to say what a relief that was as the loss of that tent would have been a complete disaster……and then back we went for some much needed Guinness…..

Leaving Kinsale after the best fish and chips I have ever eaten

We where cycling the beginning of the Wild Atlantic way…..and it was stunningly beautiful and every person we met was so friendly. One lass who I wish I had taken her contact details suggested a part of this route called Sandy Cove……one of the best bike rides ever…..

And this was our first wild camp

On our way to Llanberis……

This was our campsite at Nant Peris, Llanberis…..

This was a terrific campsite – just down to Earth, no fuss, no  frills, inexpensive and so we stayed here for  several nights waiting for the weather to ease and allow us a good day to do some mountaineering. We were both looking forward to scrambling along the Crib Goch ridge…..if the rain stopped and the clouds cleared…..We also desperately needed to purchase new waterproof jackets and we had spotted a camping outlet shop, it became even more necessary as my well worn Keens finally started to fall apart…..

We also found a fab cafe….. Pete’s Eats you can check out their web site here

It’s a great place with great food and lot’s of it – just what you need for long days in the saddle.

When the clouds and rain lifted for the day we had a great day walking up Yr Wyddfa 3,560 ft, Carnedd Ugain sometimes referrred to as Crib-y-Ddysgl 3,494 ft and Grib Goch 3,028 ft….. a long day and our legs felt it. But the views were absolutely stunning……Crib Goch as always was a magnificent scramble

View from Carnedd Ugain

Tent life……

Sheep on Carnedd Ugain

Moody sunset

The following images were taken by me on the Crib Goch ridge…The best part of the scramble….exposed on both sides this is a serious undertaking even in good weather you need a head for heights and a good sense of balance. Far less crowded than Yr Wyddfa we still had to pass 6 or so people heading in the other direction….Just after these shots the weather started to charge….wind started to rise and clouds started to come in – blowing over the ridge faintly bluring the landscape around…..I was relieved that the weather held for Aaron and I, looking back Carnedd Ugain and Yr Wyddfa with it’s over crowded summit had all but disappeared in cloud…..

Looking towards Crib Goch from Carnedd Ugain…..

We took two days to cycle from Llanberis to Angelsey…..wild camping in the sand dunes somewhere on the south coast of Anglesey…..after Wales cycling across Angelsey was a a bit of a change….mostly flat and without the grand scale of North Wales…..But we did take a slight detour to find this…….

Bryn Celli Ddu

An amazing place…..

Bala to Riverside campsite

Aaron: We left Bala on the 5th of August. As we set off, it was warm and sunny: perfect for cycling. toward the end of the day… not so much, with wind and rain. However, we did see the sea for the first time since entering wales (Severn Estuary) and the last time before that was leaving Cornwall, which felt weird. Below are images of the ride (I’d Include an image of the camp if we had one):

Bala Lake

                                 It’s not a great image… looked better in person

Riverside Campsite to Beddgelert

Throughout the following days we had torrential rain, and terrific views through the mountains and forests on the ride to Beddgelert……reminding me constantly of the first cycle tours I did as a young teenager…..cycling through Cheshire, Yorkshire and Cumbria…..in the pouring rain. Good memories. Once we got to Beddgelert we decided to camp at a proper campsite to wash our clothes, ourselves, and dry everything out…..The rivers here were terrific, just sitting drawing and listning to the sounds of water and the forest…..

                                                             River near to the tent

River at bottom of Campsite

                         View from the inside of the tent

We had also run out of gas for our trangia stove and no…we could not find the right gas bottles to fit our trangia gas burner…..but the campsite had microwave meals for £1 in the shop and a microwave cooker for customer use, which solved our problem. They also had a log cabin with a TV…..and so we had our first TV dinner sitting in comfy chairs watching spiderman 2 on the TV……..an enjoyable if slightly odd experience.

On this ride we took a break from carrying the panniers – it’s a good way – setting up camp and then take a couple of days to explore and this day was another fab day…it seemed that every day we thought that’s it that’s the best ride ever and each cycling day surpassed the previous days ride. There and back put another 40.1 miles and a further 4402 feet of ascent…..to our journey

So this day took in a long gradual climb into  Denbighshire this in in itself was fab as my 5x great grandfather John Hankey was born in Marchweil Denbighshire in 1729. Another fab descent and a little further brought us to one of the 7 wonders of Wales….as they have come to be known. This particular wonder being Pistyll Rhaeadr waterfalls. Some of you may remember the Timotei shampoo adverts  in the 1970’s or early 1980’s……can’t quite remember. So this is where they filmed one of their adverts. Well anyway here are some images……

The climb…..

The weather was great, and I think that this was a first really warm and rain free day, though it did rain during the night, since the Somerset levels. A fairly busy road though, but as we were not carrying all our stuff we were flying along hardly noticing the climb, just stopping once in a while for some chocolate and the views. We new about the waterfall but had never seen it so we did take a pannier bag each with waterproofs, camera and sketchbooks, pens, pencils and watercolours etc.

Enjoying the sun…….

The descent…..

…..was great fun… a long long descent, and then another 4 miles brought us to Pistyll Rhaeadr falls…..

Aaron: This place was absolutely stunning. It is easily my second favorite place that we visited along the tour. The sheer scale of it was immense. Right is a Panorama I took and constructed, and below are attempts to show the scale of the falls.

At some point on a tour like this there is always the possibility of, shall we say…. being overcharged for the privilege of camping on a patch of grass…..I am sure it happens lots…..but fortunately only once to us on this trip…..and if we had known and had the energy to cycle just a couple of miles further it would not have happened at all.  Ah well it was only for one night…..but being charged £15 each was just ridiculous….tiredness and the threat of more rain overcame our best judgement on that occasion  and many other inexpensive campsites and wild camps have more than made up for that one poor decision on my part…..

Celyn Brithion on the other hand was a lovely place with many, many friendly chickens…. fantastic sky’s and seriously torrential rain through the night…

Celyn Brithion campsite

After Celyn Brithion and leaving a watercolour for the owners for such a friendly stay…..we had our first really serious climb….

but the bikes and our legs were prepared for it and the climb was exhilarating…. and here we paused to take in the view have a drink and just enjoy the experience. People in cars either waved encouragement, looked surprised or incredulous or even with sympathy……I always wave back and smile…..for me this is the fun part. For whatever reason, I know not why   ,….I love climbing mountains in the rain…

And always the reward is the fantastic views, splendid and unexpected waterfalls or rainbows, or the occasional Red Kite flying overhead.

Another pause to take in this spectacular place

Of course the other reward is cycling down the other side and today it was absolutely a fantastic descent….Quiet road and no cars at all…..

This was the most spectacular ride of the tour so far and to top it all we ended the ride by entering Snowdonia national park…..

Aaron: Chickens!

Another terrific day cycling…..and as a bonus we came across and rode through some historical country. In all we only cycled 13.6 miles with 571 meters of climbing. Mostly on cycle tracks and minor roads so traffic practically non existent……

Here we rode over a bridge built by James Watt…..

we did not realize at the time but there somewhere in the wall is a plaque commemorating this but we did not see it…..

Aaron – But we did manage to see the Gibson Watt mansion (Lower right)

The bikes on a bridge over the River Wye

At this point we were only 4 miles from the Red Kite feeding center at Gigrin farm….. Soon after this we had another stop right by the river where Aaron very excitedly spotted 3 Kingfishers flying low along the river Wye

Aaron – To clarify, 3 separate kingfishers rather than a group of three. Unfortunately neither of us managed to get images of the kingfishers. But no image I have seen does the colour of their feathers.

And this was our first sighting of Red Kites….at first we both thought they were Buzzards but the call was wrong…..as was the tail. It was really quite a special moment……seeing for the first time in my life Kingfishers and Red Kites…Quite wonderful.

And then this……arriving at just the right time to see the Red Kites being fed…….This was towards the end of the feeding……at about 4pm…..but we cold not believe how many Red Kites were in the air…..

Aaron – We arrived just after the feeder had left, but most of the kites were still in the air, circling for the remaining food.

Aaron and I did manage to capture some extraordinary images like this one…….We spent 3 nights here and got to see the feeding on two occasions…..

Aaron – I like this image because it illustrates the skill that such birds have in flight. It was amazing to see the Kites crowding the air but never crashing.