Overcast and with a little rain, but another fab ride and this time doing the tourist thing of visiting  Harlech Castle which was terrific…..

We could see the mountains of North Wales in the distance and were very excited to be arriving in North Wales by the end of the day…..ready to climb all the Welsh 3000ft mountains over the next 2 – 3 weeks….

….and so finally we were back…..

We camped at Nant Gwynant campsite by the lake……

We continued to head West and over another serious climb……at least it was carrying 60 lbs worth of gear. The bikes were handling the terrain and the gear superbly well. We could not ask for better bikes…..and another day of sunshine ……

another wonderful climb

We were heading towards Dolgellau, where we stopped to do our laundry and treated ourselves to fish and chips…..

Heading West

……… Still heading West……..

after Dolgellau and Fish and Chips we continued long the cycle path towards the estuary and Barmouth….it was simply another spectacular days ride and the estuary was wonderful……also as with last year we had not seen the sea for sometime and we were really looking forward to that……

……Our home for the night…….

You can find all kinds of places to wild camp….most of the time it is an out of the way place secluded and away from people……in the many years I have wild camped I have always made a point to engage with people I meet…to be friendly open and welcoming about what I am doing…..tell them the story behind the tour. In this case cycling around the world with my son…..it always engenders interest and respect and suddenly transforms the notion of wild camping in the mindset of the general population from something  negative into an immense positive…..

sometimes the campsites are somewhat less secretive…….

picnic spot wild camp

Sunset, view from the tent

sunset

always take advantage of the local amenities

From Gigrin farm we decided to head West to the coast and again Wales continued to inspire and surprise us with another wonderful climb onto a vast moorland plateau and onto to one of Wales most remote campsites…….

The Climb

The moor

More stone balancing

Our next few days took us through mid Wales where we finally turned into the West and headed for the coast. But for today our ride took us over several mountains, through Bulith Wells and on to Gigrin farm…… we could not resist visiting the Red kite feeding center at Rheader once again.

Interestingly to put it mildly s we were absolutely ecstatic with our find….we stopped by the river Wye just North of Bulith Wells and as we were both aware of the Cambrian shale’s and the geological age of these mountains we had a break to have some food and to do  spot of fossil hunting……

We found a trilobite fossil !!!!!!!!

Just the tail so unfortunately an incomplete fossil, but nevertheless  really really rare find…… The creature would have been bout the 8 to 10 inches long dating  to the Ordovician 460 million years old.

WOW !!!!!!!

Trilobite fossil

Here are some other photo’s from today’s ride from Bulith Wells to Gigrin Farm…….

The Bulith Wells Bull

Stone Balancing

Red Kite mosaic

Red Kite feeding time

Red Kite feeding time

Our journey on this day took us more or less long the same direction as last yer……the big difference was that we took the canal route to stay of the roads….great choice….

The route…..

an assembled panorama of a viaduct we passed over

We had camped here on the first part of this tour last year so we new where we were headed….a  useful and quiet place on the way to mid Wales……

Before and after shots

The pitch

Tent life

The mascot…..

Last year we did this in two days due to bad weather…..this year the weather was kind and we cycled 50 miles to find a terrific wild camp just outside Crickhowell….

Leaving Bristol……

….Cycling along the estuary towards the first Severn bridge crossing, we passed a favorite landmark, I used to cycle past this old knackered pier nearly every day

The route (as will be the case for the next few posts) was mostly the same as last year, sans rain.

….and this was our reward…..

Ready to leave…

 

So we begin again, initially we had thought to travel by train and ferry to pick up from where we left of in 2017 – County Clare Eire. But with other plans coming together we first traveled up to Bristol to visit friends for two nights before retracing our ride through Wales from last year.

Our first ride took us to Penzance train station….and running late we only just make it in time…..and I manage to leave behind two small paintings……ah well…..

Getting off the train at Bristol was a pain….some bright spark had decided in their infinite crapulence to move one of our pannier bags….which took ages to find, but I was not about to loose my sleeping bag so with a some delay we eventually found it and headed to the Arnolfini to chill out for an hour or two before visiting friends.

It was great good food good conversation great music and a visit to the M shed museum where we found some extraordinary bicycles on display…….Today 2nd May it’s been raining it’s 8 54 am but the rain has just stopped so time to get things together. Today we are heading just a bit North of Abergavenny……Catch you later.

Resting at friends….the bikes ….

The following images are of some of the work done that came about through the Gallery Tresco artist in residence…….

Standing Stone Sea and Snow Oil on canvas 30×35 inches

Sea and Snow at Sunset 38×44

Sea and Snow 29×29 inches

Sea and Snow No.1 Oil on canvas 30×60 inches

Sea and Snow No.2. Oil on canvas 30×60 inches

Sea and Snow No.3. Oil on canvas 30×60 inches

Sea and Snow Oil on canvas 32×32 inches

Then we had snow…..lot’s and lot’s of snow for the first time in 8 years I think…..so how could I resit…..

The Bike

Moon and Moor

Sunset

Chun Quoit