CYCLING: Bodedern-Tregeli-Bodedern

I'm currently working on a 'Cycling Tours' project. I will be listing a few of the rides on here hoping someone out there will kindly try them out for me and let me know if the distances and directions are correct and easily followed etc. Suggestions and feedback will be greatfully received > Manouch@live.co.uk.

BODEDERN -TREGELI-BODEDERN ................ 24.2 miles / 40km ................ Climb: 2000 feet

If like me you thought Anglesea was flat then be prepared for a shock, but don't fear, the stunning sceanary will soon help you forget about those burning thighs.

This ride takes you along the undulating hills of this beautiful island, through small villages, leafy lanes to single track pathways and as always a fine pub half way for rehydrating and carb loading. This trail also takes you past a traditional windmill, some superb lakes, RSPB sites, burial chambers and even a jam factory.

START: Bodedern School Car Park (free parking weekends & during school holidays, on street parking during school hours)

Turn right out of the car park.

0.36m Turn left at the T Junction

0.59m Turn right onto a quiet leafy lane with bustling hedgerows.

3.92m Turn left at the staggered cross roads towards Llanfaethlu.

4.10m Keep a look out for the old bakery memorial on your right.

4.24m Windmill and Iron age huts. Also a lovely little cafe and gift shop.

4.50m Turn right at the T junction towards Llanfaethlu.

5.20m The start of the undulating hills. There's a few 6%'ers to get you warmed up.

6.81m At the T junction turn right then

6.82m Immediately turn left towards Porth Swtan.

7.12m Turn right signposted for Llanfairynghornwy.

7.47m Hills get a little steeper. A few 10%'ers.

8.26m Eglwys Sant Fair (church).

8.34m Turn right. There's no sign but there is a red post box on the corner.

8.94m Sharp turn right, easy to miss. If you pass a 10mph sign you've missed the turning!

9.74m From here you get some amazing views of the coastline and the lagoons.

10.0m Views of the Skerries and the Light House also another hill 12% this time.

10.4m Optional diversion. Turn left down lane to see the amazing Tern Colonies on the pebble beach. (route mileages does not include this diversion).

10.8m Turn left at the T junction.

10.8m Optional diversion, turn right instead to visit the Jam Factory and a little cafe. (route mileages does not include this diversion).

12.3m Douglas Inn, opposite the junction. Refreshment stop. They serve great food and lovely cold beer. Meal for 2 and drinks around £17.00.

12.4m Back at Junction (forgetting you visited the pub). Its a staggered junction, turn right and then immediately left.

12.9m Turn right signposted Llanfechell.

15.3m Turn sharp right almost back onto yourself. Easy turning to miss although it is signposted Cerreglefn.

17.4m Village of Llanbabo with beautiful views of Llyn Alaw (Lake).

18.5m Optional diversion, Llyn Alaw Visitor Centre. (Route mileages does not include this diversion)

19.1m Turn right signposted for Llanddeusant.

20.1m At the T junction turn left for Trefor.

20.9m Llyn Llywelyn (lake).

21.6m Turn left. Signposted Bodedern (sign very overgrown and easy to miss)

23.0m Optional diversion, turn left for Burial Chamber. (Route mileages does not include this diversion)

23.3m Turn right at the T junction towards Bodedern.

24.2m Turn left onto London Road.

FINISH

Climbing X Distance

[TR] Warm Champagne and Flat Beer Touring

Essential Guide To Paddling

Most of us will agree that alcohol whilst paddling is not a good mix mainly because of the danger aspect but also the major spillage factor.
However, after a good day on the water there is nothing better than a nice cold beer or a glass of wine as we relax on the bank reflecting on our day’s endeavours.
So as a journalist I decided to do some in-depth research into the science of alcoholic beverage transportation and consumption within the realms of paddling. It’s been a tough assignment but after weeks of suffering, having to drink lots of beer and spending many evenings on remote beaches, drinking wine and watching beautiful sunsets, these are the results.
I started with White Wine and Champagne. Placing them in a dry bag just wasn’t good enough. Obviously they needed to be kept chilled so towing them along in the water seemed ideal. The difficulty came when I tried to tie a cord around the neck of the bottle. A clove hitch seemed the natural choice but after loosing a bottle to the depths of a lake (a very distressing moment) I learnt, they do have a tendency to slip. So after paddling for miles towing bottles of different shapes and sizes and surfing the net for different types of knot, I discovered the Constriction Knot. It’s one of the strongest and most reliable of the hitch knots and perfect for tying around bottles.

How to tie a Constriction Knot:
Get a piece of cord. Holding each of the standing ends in the fingers of each hand; stick your left index finger up through the loop from below and your right index finger down through the loop from above. Rotate your right hand in the direction you would tighten a screw, allowing the lines to cross between fingers. Bring the ends of your index fingers together and slide the knot off the right finger and onto the left finger and slide over the neck of the bottle and tighten.
I tried this knot using cord, shoe laces and fishing wire and all worked perfectly. My only problem with dragging the wine this way was remembering to pull it back into the boat before I banged it against the rocks as I reached the shore. (This form of transportation is also not suitable in white water situations)
My next round of research was on cans of beer. Again I thought dragging them behind the boat would be great but in practice it didn’t work. Although they were chilled nicely, the momentum of the paddling shook them up too much and they sprayed everywhere when opened. So after having to drink far too many half cans of beer I came to the conclusion the best way to chill them, was to wait until I was on dry land and lay them back in the water for ten minutes, whilst I set up camp. However, if you’re only away for a single night, 2 freezer packs placed in a sealable plastic barrel works well. I managed to fit in 20 large cans/56 stumpies in one barrel alone. The beer stayed lovely and cold for 6 hours. The freezer packs were still half frozen by then so I’m sure the beer would have stayed cool longer if we hadn’t drunk it all.
Finally I tackled the red wine issue. After buying several bottles, putting some in dry bags and others just shoved in the boat, I discovered the best way of carrying red wine is to buy the boxed version. Usually I’d scorn at such a thing but for canoeing its ideal. Firstly ditch the box itself and you’re left with the wine filled silver bag inside. This bag then fits perfectly on top of the front airbag under the lacing where you can leave it to warm nicely during the day. The empty silver bag also turns into a make shift water carrier or even a comfy pillow when inflated. Which is an excellent excuse for having to finish it all off before hitting the sack.

It’s been tough assignment but someone had to do it. No more flat Champagne or half empty luke warm cans of beer need to be endured. Can I relax now my job is done? No, my research goes on. Chocolate, Spirits and ice cream next, I think. Wish me luck

[TR] Loch Shiel

Tent’s, Tipi’s and Tarp’s

Earlier this year the guy’s at Pro Adventure in Llangollen invited me to join them on the first of their new range of Wilderness 5 day expedition courses up in Scotland. As part of my eco-friendly family holiday search this trip sounded perfect and with trains running straight into Glenfinnan, the location was perfect too. The expedition was to take us the entire length of Loch Shiel (better known these days as Hogwarts Lake in the Harry Potter films) and all the way down to the sea at Moidart.
It was early April and bitterly cold and here I was in the Scottish highlands about to go camping again! Is that dedication or what?
I have to admit to being slightly nervous about going on holiday with a group of people I’d never met before and I really didn’t know what to expect. I was about to say ‘not knowing if there was a mad axe man in our midst’ but there were plenty of men and a few axes so that probability seemed quite high! In reality though, everybody seemed lovely and in no time at all we were wheeling our boats down from the Glenfinnan Hotel car park to the waters edge.
Scotty our canoe guru for the 5 days, soon had us on the water to see what skill levels we were all at. There was Helen, a Vicars wife from the West Midlands who had been kayaking before but canoeing on open water was something completely new to her. There was Joel her 14 year her old son. Me, who virtually lives in a canoe but has the laziest style of paddling possible and finally there was Richard, an Ecologist who had never set foot in a boat before.
Even at this level Scotty soon had us prepped up in no time and it wasn’t long before we said goodbye to the shore and headed off on our adventure. As this was day one, we took it easy and our first stop for lunch was only 45 minutes later, less than 2 miles down the Loch. There was a nice pebbly beach, some rocks and bushes and a lovely little island about 50 meters away. From here you would normally be able to see for miles down the loch but all we could see was the weather closing in on us. With this on our minds we didn’t stop long and sure enough within minutes of being back on the water, the snow began to fall. I adore snow flurries so I was in my element paddling through this magical winter scene. As the snow got heavier it formed a thick blanket around us but it was fine as we could still make out each others brightly coloured Buoyancy aids shining through. Then suddenly the wind picked up and we were paddling in serious blizzard conditions. Waves were splashing over the gunnels as the winds swirled around us. I looked over to Helen knowing how she’d feel, her first time in open water with her young son in the boat and being faced with conditions like this. She was amazing though, she kept her calm and held the boat firm until the worst of the winds had abated and then followed us into a sheltered bay to safety. I would have been terrified if that had happened to me on my first outing.
Anyway, after a quick assessment of the conditions it was decided that it was time to find our first nights camp. I’d read about a lovely camping spot about 6 ½ miles from the start, which if we paddled hard enough, would only be an hour away. According to the map there was a river running alongside which when we arrived, made it really easy to find. It was a lovely sheltered spot surrounded by woodland (firewood) and a sandy beach which made landing simple. The snow was still falling heavily which made the tarp building and fire lighting a bit of a challenge, but eventually Tom our bushcraft instructor for the week managed to sort it all out and we all had a relaxing albeit an eye watering evening (from the smoke) around the fire.
The following morning we were all up fairly early and were treated to a tandem paddle stroke session from Scotty. The sun was shining and spirits where high as we packed up camp and headed off to what has to be one of the most picturesque campsites ever. It was just under 5 miles further down the loch and we came across it by accident really. We’d stopped for lunch on a little pebble beach and were having a demonstration by Tom on how to filter water using moss and sand when Scotty appeared from over a hill saying he had found an amazing site. Ok so it was only lunch time and we’d only paddled 4.7 miles but this spot was just too good to leave. It was on a little headland (featured in the Highlander movie), surrounded by trees and even had perfect little spots already laid out to erect our tents, tipi’s and tarps. Helen and I soon commandeered a small hump to be the ladies bathroom, which had stunning views and the guy’s were left to trek over to an old fallen down pine tree on the other side.
We had such fun that day setting up camp and learning loads of new bushcraft skills.
I think the idea was to acquire sufficient skills during the day so that we could all build shelters that evening and sleep out in them. This didn’t go quite according to plan though as we kept getting side tracked and the urge to make fire without the use of matches soon took over as the main objective of the day. By early evening we decided to head out in our boats again and paddled over to the island of Eileen Fhionain. On this sacred isle lays the ruins of St Finan’s church surrounded by some magnificent Celtic Crosses. The views from here alone were well worth the 2.2 mile return paddle. When we arrived back at the camp Pete, who owns ProAdventure had a big roaring fire waiting for us and lots of hot water on the boil for tea. We all set about making our own dinners whilst sat around the fire and watched in awe as the sun set over the loch. It was absolutely fantastic. Well apart from poor young Joel who was sampling his first ever Wayfarer meal. Soon after the words sickly gooe and child abuse were whispered, which made us all laugh.
Later that evening Tom taught us how to make Birch Bark Torches. With only a stick a sharp knife and some carefully folded bark these torches were great and lasted so much longer than I’d ever of imagined. This was followed by some toasting of marshmallows, a few glasses of good wine and a really nice chilled out evening was had by all.
Day three and we woke up to quite a grey day with strong north westerly winds. Today was a canoe skills day and no sooner where we on the water than we were learning all about trim, wind and ferry gliding. We were heading straight across the loch to paddle up the River Polloch. Here we were taught the art of Poling then later had a nice picnic under a tarp followed by an afternoon of Tracking and Lining. I can’t say I’m much of a fan of this and for me its something once learnt you only ever do again when you need it. However, everyone else had a great time and amazingly no one fell in.
Back at camp and it was straight into bushcraft skills again which I love. Joel started to build his own shelter out of branches, moss and rhododendron leaves and within a couple of hours he had a structure that Ray Mears would be proud of. I was quite jealous as I would have loved to have slept out in one myself but I’d been too busy enjoying making pot hangers with Richard that I ran out of time for shelter building. It was another great night around the fire and Joel who slept soundly all night, declared his shelter was warmer and comfier than the tent he’d used the previous evening.
The following morning I was woken up by a text from a friend warning me of a huge storm and gale force winds which was forecast to hit Loch Shiel that evening. It all felt quite dramatic as Pete phoned his office to see if he could find out some more details. And true enough a storm was coming and the effects were set to last a few days. It was a tough decision especially for Pete who had everyone’s safety to consider and also the logistics of how to get us all back to Glenfinnan the following day. So disappointingly but very sensibly it was decided to make the most of the days good weather and paddle the 6.4 miles to the bridge at Acharacle (which had access to the A861 main road). Pete set off early in the opposite direction towards Glenfinnan to pick up the minibus and planned to meet us at the bridge at the end of the day. We were going to be cutting the trip short by 24hours which meant we wouldn’t reach Moidart or get to paddle with the seals but safety had to come first and we were all happy with the decision.
So with the sun still shining and not a breeze in the air we made our way towards the end of the loch. The scenery was stunning as we paddled between the huge snow covered mountains towering above us. We even saw a Golden Eagle which certainly made my day. The conditions were so perfect that we reached Acharacle in just a couple of hours so after 4 days of camp food we decided to treat ourselves and walk into the village to find the chippy we’d heard about. It’s a good 30 minute walk, which was quite uncomfortable in my pink paddling wellies but on tasting those chips, they was worth every one of the blisters. A couple of hours later, Pete arrived with the mini bus and this excellent wilderness trip was over. Pete offered everyone a free day’s activity and tuition back in Llangollen to make up for cutting the week short but everyone had had so much fun they were already booking their next courses.

INFO:
ProAdventure: Tel: 01978 861912 Website: http://www.proadventure.co.uk/
Course dates 8th-12th September - Loch Shiel 17th-21st November - River Spey
Glenfinnan Hotel: Tel:01397 722235 Website: http://www.glenfinnanhouse.com/
Excellent hotel that is happy to let paddlers leave their cars in the car park as long as they have no big functions on. All they ask is for you to fill in a special form at reception before you set off.
Tourist Information: Tel: 0845 2255121 Website: www.visitscotland.com/adventure