What a treat it was to wake up to such a view! In an alpine style, we were forced out of the tent before 8:00am as the heat from the sun was intense inside. Sitting in the warm morning air, looking out to sea, we ate breakfast and speculated how hot it might get.
We took our time over breakfast - it was such an idyllic spot, it seemed a shame to leave too prematurely.
Once fed, we set about packing all our worldly belongings back into our panniers.
And pushed back up to the road head.
Within a few minutes, we were back on the tarmac and speeding back towards Aberdaron. Another fill up of water bottles and we were ready to go. We did pull up at the bakers, which had been recommended to us, but there was already a queue out of the door. Instead, we set off in search of quieter roads.
We took one last look down at (the much quieter this morning!) Aberdaron Beach, then found one almost immediately. There was very little in the way of traffic, but there was much in the way of uphill gradients! Climbing up around Mynydd Rhiw, felt like one of the hill climbs in the Tour de France.
We battled onwards and upwards, churning around the peddles in our lowest gears as the sun beat down on us. It was quite a grind compared to Denmark!
Down at Hell's Mouth beach, we feasted on the remainder of our supplies. After sweating up the hills, our bodies were craving food and water. There was thankfully no surf, seeing as we didn't have boards with us.
The next stop was Abersoch, which was even busier than Aberdaron. Being on bikes had the advantage that we could easily bypass the traffic jams and congested car parks and get straight to the sea. We locked up the bikes and got directly into the water. We were so hot that we needed to cool down urgently. Abersoch beach was much less picturesque. As well as being very busy (in and out of the water!), it was lined with dilapidated beach huts. It didn't matter though, we got a swim, got out and biked down to a cafe for some food and shade, feeling much better.
The final stretch back to the van seemed to have even more hills, but maybe we were just tired by now. It seemed a bit cooler in land, but the van themometer was still reading 29 degrees! Unbelieveable Welsh temperatures - hotter than Sardinia last week!
An hour or so later and we were back relaxing in The Cottage garden, which felt like a peaceful sanctuary after Abersoch! A great tour, with another 40km ride (with 750m of ascent today!).
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