Waking early again, I was keen to leave the soulless hotel and get started while it was dry. However I seemed to lose my sense of direction leaving Bangor and inadvertently ended up on the A55 North Wales Expressway, with a tailwind, cycling between the white line and the verge @ 20+ mph. Exiting at the first opportunity, I luckily found myself on Sustrans 5, the main cycle route across north Wales. This ran alongside and went over and under the busy A55 almost to Conwy. Impressive cycling infrastructure.

Being a cycle route, I was surprised to see a 15% gradient sign, but given that my legs had recovered a bit it wasn’t too taxing. I was also surprised when an electric bike caught and overtook me. Apparently, “it’s easier with a bit of electric”, which nearly lit a fuse in me but thinking better of it actually made me question whether easy is actually better – discuss.

Meanwhile there were impressive views of the Great Orme on my way to Conwy which is famous for its castle of course, but also the smallest house in Great Britain. One extreme to another within 100m.

I had planned to stop for breakfast in Llandudno, but not at the Poundbakery with a branding that is very similar to easyJet, but apparently with no connections to it (I would be expecting a call if I was them). From the promotion they were clearly targeting Greggs, comparing pasty sizes on its website, but also making the incredible claim that if people bought 2 pasties / day from PoundBakery they would save £474 / year compared with Greggs. No mention of how many pounds they would gain by eating 2 pasties / day. For the record I bought a coffee, a tuna baguette and 4-pack of mince pies for £5.

I then continued along the broad Llandudno promenade, climbed over Little Orme and then joined the coastal path through Colwyn Bay and Rhyl. The sun was breaking through and the cycling was great.

A common feature of Sustrans routes are rusted steel silhouettes of local heros. On the outskirts of Conwy as well as Rhyl footballer from the 1940s and a climate change expert, this one included Mike Peters from the Alarm who had died recently.

From Rhyl to Prestatyn, there was a lot of activity building new sea defences to protect large areas of low lying land.

Then in Prestatyn the path shifted to the other side of the sea defences and suddenly I was cycling right next to the sea which was both unusual and exhilarating and reminiscent of the Netherlands.

Turning off the promenade at the end of the Prestatyn section, I had a choice to either follow the busy A548 or turn off on Sustrans 5 a rural route which would cut the corner off. In reality there was no choice and I opted for the marked route, which I subsequently found was a long, steep climb; my refreshed cycling legs telling me was probably 1 in 6 in places.

Rejoining the A548 on formal and informal cycleways just before Mostyn, I realised that I hadn’t had any lunch, so was pleased to find a café at a country store. As well as celebrating the significant completion of the ride with a cider, I was also able to negotiate 4 chips in place of the crisps offered with my sandwich in response to a 36-year long New Year’s resolution.

From here the cycling was not great, as had been pointed out to me, but it needed to be done. With about 10 miles to go I was caught by a couple of other bikepackers while waiting at some traffic lights. It turned out they had cycled from Llandrindod Wells to Anglesey and then across to Chester for a train home. I hadn’t seen many other cyclists on the trip and having a wheel to follow and some company into Chester was pleasant through some busy urban areas on poor roads.

After 72 miles I finally arrived in Chester at 4pm, checked into my hotel and met my wife off her delayed train from London. I had completed the cycling section of the trip riding 547 miles in 7 days, at an average of 78 miles per day.

After a night out in Chester, I then completed completed my 50th parkrun location with Cissy at the Countess of Chester Country Park in 26:12, which coincidentally and very irrelevantly is the number of pages I have written in this blog to date. A double half-century celebration. It was also great to meet up with Richard, a friend of mine doing his first parkrun.

Reflecting on the trip, it had been great. This is very easy to say, but the test is could it have been any better and I think that the answer is ‘no’ for the following reasons:

1) I had planned and completed a good cycling challenge (with a bit of running).

2) I saw some parts of the country I had been keen to see.

3) I had very good weather with probably a net gain on tailwinds.

4) I saw some wonderful scenery.

5) I had had a great break.

6) I bookended the trip with my 49th and 50th different parkrun.

7) The only thing that I had lost was weight

8) I met some interesting people.

9) My bike performed well (especially my Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres which have been on since September 2023 and completed nearly 4,000 miles).

10) My new Pinnacle Frame bag and Topeak Saddle bag had been excellent.

For me, these trips are all about the journey, not the destination. There is constantly changing scenery and so much to take in and process. As such, with so many experiences over the last 7 days, it is not possible to sum it up in a word or a sentence which is why I have documented some of it in this blog.

As always the trip has sparked more ideas, so if you have enjoyed this then perhaps subscribe to the site (to receive email alerts for updates), or save the page.

Thanks for reading.