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.
From Deganwy it runs 219 km to Deganwy; allow about 3 h 46 of riding. It goes by way of Penrhyn Slate Quarry and Bethesda, Gorseddau and Prince of Wales Slate Quarri, Caernarfon Castle and Town Walls and back through Gorseddau and Prince of Wales Slate Quarri.
For about 49 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.
26 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.
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.
Conwy Castle and Town Walls 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 27 km into the recorded legs. Next is Gorseddau and Prince of Wales Slate Quarri.
High above Porthmadog, in the empty upland between Cwm Pennant and Cwmystradllyn, two abandoned slate quarries sit like ruined castles on the hillside. Gorseddau and the Prince of Wales quarry are part of the Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales, which UNESCO listed in 2021, and they tell a story of big hopes and quick failure. Gorseddau in particular was developed in the 1850s with money and ambition, a tramway and a grand multi-storey mill at Ynys-y-Pandy whose roofless stone shell still looks like an abbey. The slate turned out to be poor, and within a couple of decades the whole enterprise had wound down.
Read the complete Gorseddau and Prince of Wales Slate Quarri write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 76 km into the recorded legs you reach Gorseddau and Prince of Wales Slate Quarri. Next is Caernarfon Castle and Town Walls.
Long before Edward, Caernarfon was Roman, and before that it was legend. The Roman fort of Segontium stood on a hill above the modern town, a garrison post guarding the Menai Strait and the copper of Anglesey, and its foundations can still be seen, with a small museum beside them. The Mabinogion, the medieval Welsh story collection, tells how the emperor Macsen Wledig, the historical Magnus Maximus, dreamed of a beautiful maiden and a fortress at the mouth of a river, and travelled across the world to find them. The place he found, in the tale, was Caernarfon. Whatever the truth, Welsh tradition ties the town to a sense of ancient dignity.
Read the complete Caernarfon Castle and Town Walls write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Caernarfon Castle and Town Walls, about halfway. Next is back through Gorseddau and Prince of Wales Slate Quarri.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Gorseddau and Prince of Wales Slate Quarri write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Gorseddau and Prince of Wales Slate Quarri sits at 109 km, about halfway. 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 comes up about 189 km into the recorded legs. Next is 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.
Conwy Castle and Town Walls closes the day.
Conwy Castle and Town Walls → Penrhyn Slate Quarry and Bethesda is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Penrhyn Slate Quarry and Bethesda → Gorseddau and Prince of Wales Slate Quarri is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Gorseddau and Prince of Wales Slate Quarri → Caernarfon Castle and Town Walls is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Caernarfon Castle and Town Walls → back through Gorseddau and Prince of Wales Slate Quarri is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Gorseddau and Prince of Wales Slate Quarri → back through Penrhyn Slate Quarry and Bethesda is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through 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.