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.
A 217 km round trip from Harlech - roughly 3 h 30 in the saddle. It goes by way of Ffestiniog: its Slate Mines and Quarries, The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales, Conwy Castle and Town Walls and back through The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales.
25 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.
For about 46 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.
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.
Read the complete Harlech Castle write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Harlech Castle is where the day begins. Next is Ffestiniog: its Slate Mines and Quarries.
Blaenau Ffestiniog is a town built on, among and out of slate. Great grey tips of waste rock tumble down the mountainsides around it, old quarry inclines climb the slopes, and the houses, chapels and walls are all made of the same dark stone. For a century and more this was one of the slate capitals of the world, roofing houses from London to Melbourne, and since 2021 it has been part of the UNESCO-listed Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales. It is not pretty in the conventional sense, but it is magnificent, and on a day of sun breaking through rain clouds it can look like a lunar landscape lit by spotlights.
Read the complete Ffestiniog: its Slate Mines and Quarries write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ffestiniog: its Slate Mines and Quarries comes up about 23 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 69 km into the recorded legs you reach The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales. 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.
Conwy Castle and Town Walls, 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 sits at 114 km, about halfway. Next is back through Ffestiniog: its Slate Mines and Quarries.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ffestiniog: its Slate Mines and Quarries write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Ffestiniog: its Slate Mines and Quarries comes up about 194 km into the recorded legs. Next is Harlech Castle.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Harlech Castle write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Harlech Castle closes the day.
Harlech Castle → Ffestiniog: its Slate Mines and Quarries is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ffestiniog: its Slate Mines and Quarries → The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales → Conwy Castle and Town Walls is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Conwy Castle and Town Walls → back through 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 Ffestiniog: its Slate Mines and Quarries is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ffestiniog: its Slate Mines and Quarries → Harlech Castle is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.