Rugeley to Snowdon

 An early start in bright sunshine, my humans eyes were still slumbering when he took this photo.

Today all the training is put to use as support vehicle for Dave who is cycling from Rugeley to the top of Snowdon in less than 24 hours.

Our first meeting point is Bent Lane (dead straight so no idea how it got named). Not a good start as I am 5 minutes late fue to roadworks where the A51 crosses the M6. 

 

Dave is soon off again, the flooded road reflects the heavy rain from the last 24 hours.

The ride was due to be done on the Friday but the bad weather conditions and 50 mph winds on Snowdon pushed it a day forward to the Saturday and so far sunshine.

            

Disaster! I had made good progress and was at Bridgmere when a call came through that a rear spoke had broken on Dave's new bike the might Bish Bash. A quick turn around and speedy retreat found Dave on back lanes off the A51. A lot of time was lost as the spoke was removed and wheel straightened after a fashion. Dave decide to push on and I was tasked in finding a bike shop in Chester for a repair or new wheel.

My human decided to keep stopping and waiting for Dave to check his back wheel was holding up, all seemed fine and Dave was making good time.

Waiting in vain! Near Acton we waited but Dave never arrived. My human was just beginning to worry when Dave called, he had missed this stop and so now a mad dash to reach the next point before he does, I did it with just 4 mins to spare, phew!

       

After a stop at Flint and a wheel holding up Dave decided to miss the next stop and head for Rhyl to a bike shop with cafe and by the sea.

The Bike Hub

So parked up on a windy sea front my humans had lunch and the missing spoke was replaced. Next stop Conway.n

SAT NAV settings? NO M WAYS since when has the A55 been a Motorway? So a huge detour over B roads and mountains to arrive at the next stop. Dave had it no easier as he was faced with winds of 40mph.

 

After Conway my human decided there was time to drop off a bike at Ogwen cottage before meeting Dave a Bangor. This turned out more difficult than it needed to be as the drive to the cottage was steep, rocky and very narrow. My human managed to damage one of my nice black alloys on a rock, can't get the drivers.

     

 And so Llanberis is reached two hours later than planned and a bike with issues so Dave changes to his Mountain Bike for the final leg up Snowdon. No time to rest as it is now 5pm and Snowdon beckons. I wait with my human with the prospect of 3 hours before Dave returns.

 

The odds were stacked against Dave who on this occasion managed to reach the halfway point and not the summit. He made the right decision and turned back, the wind and lost time with the broken spoke and no time for the planned 2 hour rest meant Snowdon Summit was unobtainable.

  

So we loaded up the bikes and headed for the sanctuary of the cottage. We were rewarded with the final light on Tryfan as we parked at the top of the drive, thank goodness no more damage.

A warm meal awaited and a very exhausted Dave tumbled out of my cab ready for a good nights sleep.

Human Wilfrid would have loved this journey. In the 1930's he would regularly cycle to Wales, from Wolverhampton to Barmouth in a day and then spend a week travelling around North Wales. This gave him a love of Wales that I am beginning to appreciate, I know my human already does.