Aberystwyth afternoon · Harlech Castle

140 km from Aberystwyth

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Why this ride

A 140 km round trip from Aberystwyth - roughly 2 h 25 in the saddle. It goes by way of Bryneglwys Slate Quarry, Harlech Castle and back through Bryneglwys Slate Quarry.

Roadbook

1. Aberystwyth start

   Aberystwyth is Welsh to the core and slightly eccentric with it. The town sits where the rivers Rheidol and Ystwyth meet Cardigan Bay, with a sweeping Victorian seafront, a pier, a ruined thirteenth century castle left by Edward I, and a university that was founded in 1872 as the first in Wales. The university's old building on the seafront, a Gothic fantasy that began life as a hotel, tells you something about the ambitions of the founders, who raised the money from small donations from ordinary Welsh people. The National Library of Wales stands on a hill above the town and holds some of the country's greatest manuscripts.

   The town has the energy of students and the pace of a fishing resort. In winter, thousands of starlings swirl and roost under the pier at dusk, a spectacle that draws crowds. Beyond the harbour, Constitution Hill rises at the northern end of the promenade, and an old cliff railway, one of the oldest of its kind, carries visitors up to a camera obscura and a view over the bay. The Vale of Rheidol Railway, a narrow-gauge steam line, still runs up the valley to Devil's Bridge, where three bridges are stacked on top of one another over a waterfall.

   The riding from Aberystwyth heads into the Cambrian Mountains, sometimes called the green desert of Wales for its emptiness. Roads such as the A44 and the minor routes over to Rhayader and the Elan Valley offer long, open climbs across moorland, with sheep, red kites and very little else. Surfaces vary, some of it excellent, some of it patched and potholed, and weather can be harsh, with wind and rain sweeping in from the sea. The red kite, once almost extinct in Britain, has been brought back from a tiny population in mid Wales, and you will see it often.

   Fuel, food and repairs are all available in town, and the chip shops along the front are generous. Summer weekends bring caravans and holiday traffic on the main routes, so a weekday is kinder. Expect a mix of Welsh and English on signs and in conversation. After the day's ride, a walk along the promenade is a good way to finish, particularly when the sunset turns the bay a rich orange.

2. Bryneglwys Slate Quarry sight

   High above the village of Abergynolwyn, in a side valley where the sheep outnumber everyone, the spoil heaps of Bryneglwys tell you that this quiet corner of southern Snowdonia was once an industrial place. Slate was cut here through the second half of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth, and the whole reason the little Talyllyn Railway exists is to carry it down the valley to the coast at Tywyn. The quarry finally closed just after the Second World War, and the railway, which should have died with it, was taken over by volunteers in 1951 and became the first preserved railway in the world. You can still walk up from the old incline at Nant Gwernol into the quarry workings, past roofless barracks and wheel pits, with streams running through all of it.

   The riding around here is gentle in speed and big in scenery. The B4405 from Tywyn follows the Dysynni and then the Fathew valley up to Tal-y-llyn lake, a long ribbon of water under the steep southern face of Cadair Idris. The road is narrow, the stone walls are close and the sheep consider the tarmac theirs, so it rewards a calm pace rather than heroics. Beyond the lake you join the A487 and climb to the junction at Cross Foxes, then drop either to Dolgellau or south towards Machynlleth, and that stretch has real corners and real views. Off the main roads the lanes become single track with passing places and grass up the middle.

   Near the mouth of the valley sit the ruins of Castell y Bere, built by Llywelyn the Great in the thirteenth century to guard this approach, and it is worth the short detour for the setting alone, on a rocky knoll with the Dysynni flats below. Further down, Craig yr Aderyn, Bird Rock, is one of the odd places in Britain where cormorants nest inland, a reminder that the sea once reached much further up this valley.

   There is nothing at the quarry itself, so think ahead. Tywyn and Machynlleth both have fuel and shops, Barmouth too, and Aberystwyth is the nearest proper town if you need more. Abergynolwyn has a café and a pub, and the station at Tywyn has tea rooms for railway people. Pack waterproofs whatever the forecast says: Cadair Idris makes its own weather, and it usually makes rain.

3. Harlech Castle turn

   When Edward I built his castles in Wales, he was not interested in subtlety. Harlech, raised between 1283 and 1289 by the master mason James of St George, sits on a rocky crag above the dunes of Cardigan Bay, with concentric walls, massive gatehouse and round towers that still look ready for a siege. It is one of the castles of Edward I in Gwynedd listed by UNESCO, together with Caernarfon, Conwy and Beaumaris. The sea once came almost to the foot of the rock, and a staircase down the cliff allowed the garrison to be supplied by boat; the coast has since moved, and now there is a broad plain of dunes and a golf course between the castle and the water.

   The castle has seen its share of drama. Owain Glyndŵr captured it in 1404 and held his parliament here, and during the Wars of the Roses it endured a long siege that, according to tradition, inspired the song Men of Harlech. The views are huge: across the bay to the Llŷn peninsula and north to the mountains of Snowdonia, which on a clear evening glow in the setting sun.

   The town of Harlech is small, a few streets of stone houses clinging to the slope, and it claims one of the steepest streets in the world. The riding along this coast is a pleasure: the A496 runs between mountains and sea, with views opening and closing as you climb and descend, and the roads inland into the Rhinogydd and Snowdonia are narrow, twisting and wild. Expect sheep on the road, gusty winds from the sea and rain that comes in suddenly. Summer brings caravans and tourists; spring and autumn are quieter.

   Harlech has a few cafés and shops, but for reliable fuel and a wider choice, Porthmadog, eight kilometres north across the estuary, is the better bet. Welsh food includes excellent lamb, cheese and bara brith, a spiced fruit loaf. Park near the castle, walk the walls and climb a tower for the view. Then imagine the sea at the foot of the rock, the garrison waiting for supplies, and the Welsh hills, full of people who did not want them there.

4. back through Bryneglwys Slate Quarry stop

   back through Bryneglwys Slate Quarry, late in the day.

5. Aberystwyth finish

   Back at Aberystwyth. That is the ride.

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