With a couple of free days and some strong westerly winds on the way, we made rapid plans for a winter cycle tour along the North Wales coast. The cycle route from the Cottage goes to Colwyn Bay, but having done this section before, a plan was quickly hatched to load up the van with bikes and supplies and drove out to start on the Promenade, near Rhos on Sea.
There was indeed a very strong wind blowing and travel was only really possible on a bike in one direction - East. So that's exactly which way we headed. At speed!
It was brilliant to be riding along pretty much without effort along a new section of coastline, that we'd traveled so often, but only by car at 70mph. At times we literally didn't need to peddle and the wind kept us moving.
In no time at all, we'd left 'The Bay' behind and were passing by miles and miles of empty beach. There were a surprising amount of dog walkers about and even a few horses on the beach.
Static caravan cluster around this area, between the railway line and sea, in their thousands. I hadn't really ever noticed how many there are here.
Having set off with Rhyl, just visible in the far distance, we were surprised at how quickly we were closing in on the town. The wind was certainly giving us a good average speed on the splendidly flat tarmac trail. We stopped just before the main seafront arcades and shared some food and drink, huddled down by the sand with our back to the wind. There was a halo around the sun. Was a change in the weather afoot?...
At Rhyl, we crossed over a big swing bridge over a small river.
Rhyl gets quite a bad reputation for many things, but at least it can be proud of having the best Loo of 2009.
Towards Prestatyn, the cycle track was really wide and steeply sloping down to the sand, so we had fun dropping down the ramp and back up like in a velodrome. We stopped briefly for a sandwich, but it was a bit nippy for full-on picnicking.
Instead, we sought refuge in a tea shop. We didn't really need the brew, but did enjoy the heat of the cafe. We lucked out by finding one with space for the bikes outside and a seat in the window so we could keep an eye on them. We took our time and thawed out nicely.
Once again we passed by and had time to investigate a few places that we'd seen from so many A55 drive-bys. The cycle path took us through some interesting 'sights' such as a few golf courses a 'Pontins' Holiday Camp, before turning away from the coast.
Franciscan Friary was a real gem. An amazing building, with a lot of history too.
We were in need of some extra energy at this point, so used a church bench for a pit stop.
Time was ticking on. Temperatures were dropping, as was the sun. We pushed on, inland and encountered our first of many uphill sections. The pace slowed dramatically. No eBike assistance this time!
By the time we'd finished, we'd climbed over 600m. We were aiming for the village of Pentre Halkyn and arrived at last light.
Sadly, (or just to add to the drama, depending on how you look at these things), we had a bit of a tech failure and could not quite locate the accommodation we had booked. We knew the postcode, so were in the right area, but only got some advice from a local farmer once we'd unnecessarily peddled to the top of a very steep hill. By now it was fully dark and were told that the house was 'probably' at the bottom of the hill! Thankfully, a cold night out under a hedge was avoided as we found the required turning, and as per the instructions, cycled past a chapel and into a very warm and nice basement apartment. Phew.
Hot showers and fresh clothes got us warmed up, before carefully unpacking our panniers. As we carried no camping kit, there was room for a few well-wrapped treats!
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