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Glorious Bike Rides
Glorious Bike Rides
Route directions PDF (right click to download)
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Rode this route in the last week of June this year (2016). Highly recommended. The pass is very wet and shows some pretty major damage due to 4×4 I guess – some very deep holes which are hard to avoid. I was thankful that I did on my Fat Bike. Hats off to Wayfarer who did the journey in the Snow and 1919 bikes!!
I rode this on October 5th (a lovely early-autumn day albeit a little bit windy) and logged 71km with 1190m of elevation gain. It was my 28th Lost Lanes Wales. And what a wonderful ride it was, packed full of sumptuous scenery and spectacular views.
I must admit I found the 5k or so of unsurfaced track up to the Wayfarer memorial in poor condition and mostly unrideable but, rest assured, the surface does improve markedly as soon as you reach the top.
“Gair i’r gall” – take a pen with you to record your passing in the diary kept in the box near to the memorial and some lights to help guide your way through the 200m Whitehouse Tunnel on the Llangollen Canal!
I read about this route on the Brooks website and, living in Wrexham, decided to give it a go in the summer of 2015.
I rode from Wrexham to make it a real tough challenge. The Hand in Llanarmon is a lovely pub and welcoming to cyclists. From there the ride gets tough and the climb up to the memorial was unrideable on my gravel bike with 33mm tyres (not sure I would have the skills to make it on my mountain bike either though!)
On descending from the memorial I got a puncture. Then another puncture. And another! I managed to push down to a village called Cynwyd and had to call home for a lift back as I was out of tubes and patches.
Two weeks later I returned for more punishment (and a new tubeless set up) and got around with no problems and really enjoyed the ride. When the route got to Llangollen I turned north and rode over World’s end towards Wrexham, I even rode around Llandegla trail centre and made the ride into a 75 miler!
Since this I have bought the Lost Lanes Wales book and am slowly ticking them off, including the Castles & Cobbles, which passes by my job at the Grosvenor Arms in Aldford where all riders are welcome for some mid-ride refreshments 🙂
Rode this route on a stunning day in May 2024. Welsh Wales at its very best! Free parking in the car park in the centre of Chirk. I assumed the formal rode closure sign at Swch-cae-rhiw only applied to motorised vehicles and continued on my way. As noted above, some very wet sections on the track up to Wayfarer’s memorial, with wet feet unavoidable, and one section of several hundred metres essentially a running river, the full width of the track. Managed to stay on my bike (gravel bike, 37mm tyres) up until the very last steep section, only pushing for the last 5 minutes or so. The section of railway sleepers referenced in the book is scarcely ridable as the sleepers have deteriorated badly – but all in all a very entertaining ascent. The descent is fabulous – as is the rest the route, even if the final pull up to the Panorama Road below Llangollen’s limestone escarpment was a little brutal! This ranks as one of my best outings on 2 wheels – so I look forward to trying out a few of the other routes in the book: I feel another list coming on!
I rode this solo yesterday. What a route! The climb up to Wayfarer’s Monument was epic. Just about managed it on a hardtailed mtb with Landranger tyres, which are road biased, with no knobblies, so I had to let the pressure down to keep grip. Even then, it was very difficult. How Wayfarer used to ride these trails on the sort of bike that he had, is beyond me. He must have been made of stern stuff! Sadly, the metal box at the monument is now gone. However, there is a book, of sorts, under the rocks next to the monument, although the rain has got to it somewhat. The descent from the monument is hair raising and exhilarating. Also gone is The Sun Inn at Rhewl. The place was all locked up, and a local told me they thought it had closed down, but they weren’t absolutely positive. The views over the top of the Berwyns are majestic, and well worth the struggle to get to the top. Likewise the views from the Panorama at World’s End. I’ve ridden that part of the route before, and it’s always impressive.
Most of the route seems to run alongside the River Dee, with it’s gentle murmuring and peaceful atmosphere. It really is one of those routes where you can stop at numerous places, and just think.
I didn’t realise that the route takes you right past the Horeshoe Falls, and as it was on a weekday, outside of school holidays, I could take a few minutes to stop there, in peace and quiet.
The path over the Pontcysyllte aqueduct was a bit windy, blowing from the west, and made that experience a little more interesting than previous visits!
The last few miles along the canal towpath was a welcome rest for tired legs, and then back to the car at Chirk.
Fantastic route, highly recommended, although the climb up the Berwyns to Wayfarer’s Monument really isn’t for the faint of heart. Even pushing a bike up there would take some doing.