CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
185 km from Betws-y-Coed to Betws-y-Coed, about 2 h 49 of riding. The stops in between: Penrhyn Slate Quarry and Bethesda, Conwy Castle and Town Walls, The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales and Dinorwig Slate Quarry Mountain Landscape.
For about 25 km this is Snowdonia Llanberis Pass, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it — expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
35 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it. Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
Betws-y-Coed is where Snowdonia gets its coat on. The village sits at the meeting of three valleys, the Conwy, the Llugwy and the Lledr, in a wooded hollow ringed by steep hills, and it has been a base for walkers, painters and tourists since the Victorian era. Stone houses and outdoor shops line the main street, and cafés serve large mugs of tea to damp hikers. The resident population is small, and in summer the village hosts many times that number.
Read the complete Betws-y-Coed write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Betws-y-Coed is where the day begins. Next is Penrhyn Slate Quarry and Bethesda.
The Penrhyn Quarry is a hole you can see from a long way off. For much of the nineteenth century it was the biggest slate quarry in the world, a huge series of grey terraces cut into the mountain above Bethesda, and the roofs of half of Britain and of cities as far away as Hamburg after its great fire came from here. Its owner, Lord Penrhyn, was a rich and stubborn man, and in 1900 his quarrymen began a strike that lasted three years, one of the longest and bitterest labour disputes in British history. The community of Bethesda, named after a chapel, was split by it, and the memories are still sensitive. The whole slate landscape of north-west Wales was listed by UNESCO in 2021.
Read the complete Penrhyn Slate Quarry and Bethesda write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Penrhyn Slate Quarry and Bethesda comes up about 25 km into the recorded legs. Next is Conwy Castle and Town Walls.
Edward I built Conwy Castle in just four years, from 1283 to 1287, as part of his campaign to subdue the Welsh, and the result is one of the most impressive medieval fortresses in Europe. Designed by the master mason James of St George, it stands on a rock above the estuary of the Conwy river, with eight massive towers and high curtain walls, and the town below is still enclosed by its original walls, with twenty-one towers and three gateways. Walking along the walls gives superb views of the town, the castle, the estuary and the mountains of Snowdonia. The castles and town walls of King Edward in Gwynedd were inscribed on the UNESCO list in 1986.
Read the complete Conwy Castle and Town Walls write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 55 km into the recorded legs you reach Conwy Castle and Town Walls. Next is The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales.
Llanberis sits at the foot of Snowdon, Yr Wyddfa in Welsh, beside the lake of Llyn Padarn, and across the water a whole mountainside has been carved into giant terraces. This is the Dinorwic quarry, once one of the largest slate quarries in the world, where thousands of men worked until it closed in 1969, splitting slate for roofs across Britain and beyond. The galleries climb the mountain in steps, with inclines, ruined buildings and waste heaps everywhere, a landscape both scarred and strangely beautiful. In 2021, UNESCO inscribed the Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales, recognising the quarries, villages, railways and harbours that made this region the slate capital of the world.
Read the complete The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales, about halfway. Next is Dinorwig Slate Quarry Mountain Landscape.
Above Llanberis, on the slopes of Elidir Fawr, the mountain has been cut into giant steps. This was Dinorwig, one of the largest slate quarries in the world, which employed thousands of men and closed in 1969, leaving galleries, inclines, barracks and rusting machinery on the hillside. In 2021 the slate landscape of north-west Wales was added to the UNESCO list, and Dinorwig is a central piece, with Penrhyn quarry at Bethesda. Their slates roofed Victorian cities across Britain and beyond, and the Welsh-speaking communities around the quarries built chapels, choirs and a tradition of fierce independence.
Read the complete Dinorwig Slate Quarry Mountain Landscape write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Dinorwig Slate Quarry Mountain Landscape sits at 91 km, about halfway. Next is back through The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales comes up about 94 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Conwy Castle and Town Walls.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Conwy Castle and Town Walls write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 135 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Conwy Castle and Town Walls. Next is back through Penrhyn Slate Quarry and Bethesda.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Penrhyn Slate Quarry and Bethesda write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Penrhyn Slate Quarry and Bethesda, late in the day. Next is Betws-y-Coed.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Betws-y-Coed write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 185 km.
Betws-y-Coed → Penrhyn Slate Quarry and Bethesda is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Penrhyn Slate Quarry and Bethesda → Conwy Castle and Town Walls is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Conwy Castle and Town Walls → The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales → back through Conwy Castle and Town Walls is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Conwy Castle and Town Walls → back through Penrhyn Slate Quarry and Bethesda is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Penrhyn Slate Quarry and Bethesda → Betws-y-Coed is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.