Aberdovey 2018

Friday
The journey to Aberdovey started at 10:30am when Eric and Jane came to collect Martha and me after breakfast. I hung my bike on the back of Eric's Mondeo and we sped off up the M42.
By the time we got to Newtown on the River Severn, Martha, Jane and Eric were all hungry. They tucked in to a lunch at Morrisons while I sipped tea.

The view outside Jonnie's house for the holiday.

I took over the driving and brought us in to Dovey at 4pm. We unloaded and then went round to see Uncle Jonnie and his family who had a house about 400 metres away from ours!
This year, 17 of us descended on Aberdovey in Wales. We had hired two large houses, brought 6 cars and 4 dogs! Wherever we went for the next 7 days, we were the biggest, noisiest family of the summer!

In the evening, we met up around at Sally and Jonnie's house and he fed us while we made merry. Back at our place, Jack and I stayed up far too long sipping beers and talking about karate!

Saturday
Getting out of bed was a struggle! The first ride of the holiday was a fairly flat leg-stretcher around the base of Bird Rock, up through Llanegryn and across the Bailey Bridge into Tywyn.

Severely hungover in Wales

I was feeling so rough that I could barely speak. Going through Llanegryn, I almost stopped because I felt so bad! I felt sorry for Jonnie - I wasn't much of a riding buddy today.
In the evening, everyone came over to our place (number 10) for dinner and to watch the golf. Very civilized.

Sunday
I woke up feeling much better!
Jonnie and I headed off to Happy Valley for some serious climbing! It was an overcast day but not cold. We warmed up the muscles on the gradual ascent to the highest point of the ride. Then came the seriously fast and steep descent down to the coast road! I found the rough road and the corners rather hard to deal with and made full use of my brakes. Jonnie waited patiently at the bottom.
Instead of using the busy coast road, we climbed back up to the top, Jonnie setting a new personal record on Strava as we did so! (The segment 'Happy Valley' is a category 4 climb) We were very pleased to make it to the top and we were rewarded with a smooth, fast descent through some beautiful country side. I got the bike up to 35 mph and thoroughly enjoyed myself.
By this time, the day was warming up nicely. We felt it was too early to go home so we cycled up to Tywyn for ice cream. (actually, Jonnie had two ice creams, he hurled his first one to the floor!)

Happy Valley profile.

The weather was warmer than it looked...

In the afternoon, Lucy and I walked on the beach with the dogs.

Aberdovey Beach.

Dog walking with Lucy

Afterwards, the family gathered at Number 10 to be fed by Uncle Jonnie (again!) before some Trivial Pursuit and a few beers.

Note my fantastic headgear - Mouse brought it back from Ecuador for me!

Monday
In the morning, Lucy and I took the girls around the markets in Tywyn before we did some more dog walking along the front.
Today, Jonnie and I cycled off to Talyllyn lake. It was quite lumpy and my legs were still suffering from Happy Valley (as well as last night's beers!) We made it around the lake on an off-road path. The surface was okay but the large number of farm gates we had to open and shut destroyed our average for the day. We stopped at a pub for a local ale and a bag of nuts. I was also glad of the opportunity to rest my lower back which had begun to ache a little after about ten miles.
It was shortly after this that I remembered I'd agreed to be home before 5pm. I wasn't going to make it! I alerted Jonnie to the situation and we put our heads down in to the wind and got the legs pumping! I didn't make it home by 5 but I wasn't too late. I'd managed to get some personal records along the way!

I'm late!

In the evening, six of us went out for a few beers followed by dinner. I had fish and chips which was smashing.

Tuesday
I woke up feeling good. Jonnie and I set off to do a 'make it up as you go along' type of route. We ended up at Llanegryn again and I suggested to Jonnie that he might make an attempt to ride up Nemesis.
There is a very steep and narrow lane in this tiny village where there is nothing but sheep and flies for over a mile.  It's a very challenging climb requiring a good level of fitness and the patience to keep your effort in check or you won't have enough energy to complete it. I failed on my first four attempts when I first discovered it (back when we had a caravan in Tywyn.) I couldn't find the name of the lane so I called it my Nemesis. It's over 500ft of climbing at 8% which makes it a cat 3 climb on Strava. I made a Strava segment of it.

My effort for 2018

Today, Jonnie agreed to have a stab at it. He put in a huge effort, out of the saddle, back in the saddle, gasping and throwing his bike around. His determination carried him through and he made it to the top! We enjoyed the views for a little while and then rolled back down to the bottom (I think I nearly wore through my brake pads!)

Jonnie victorious at the top of Nemesis.

We then took a familiar route past Bird Rock and through Tywyn.
This afternoon, the three families packed a picnic and headed off to the Blue Lake. This involved a half hour drive followed by a half hour walk up a very steep trail. We were a little bit confused about what to do next when we reached a natural plateau - the answer was to walk through a low tunnel! Once through the short tunnel, we found the Blue Lake! The few people there suddenly had their peace and quiet destroyed by lots of excited young people and 4 mad dogs! The kids and Uncle Jonnie went swimming but it was far too cold for me!

The Blue Lake

In the evening, Uncle Carl made four different types of curry and fed 17 people! It was a fantastic dinner with some top class reggae tunes to enjoy too. I headed home for an early night but Lucy and the ladies stayed up late singing and dancing to Abba!

Wednesday
A day of rest. Lucy and I headed into Machllynith to have a look at the local art gallery and some shops. I bought a Pavarotti CD and Lucy bought me some tomato sausage for the barbecue on Thursday night.
After that, we headed into Tywyn for lunch (and a local beer!)
Tonight, 10 of us went along for dinner at the very local pub - The Penhalig is about sixty seconds walk away from where we were staying! I had fish and chips again and it was marvellous. Everyone left happy.

Thursday
My favourite day of the holiday: we walked up Cadair Idris. This is a mountain which I've read people describe as Snowdon's twin or the second most popular mountain in Wales. I've walked up it twice and was eager to go again.
Not everyone was up for it, however. Today's climbers were: Uncle Jonnie, Martha, Harry, Jess, Max, Laura, Lily and Mabel (and me, obviously.)
The weather at the foot of the mountain was lovely. A warm summer day had everyone in T shirts. Back at the house, Jonnie had insisted that Martha and I took hoodies and waterproofs with us. We thought he must be mad but stuffed them into our backpacks anyway...

Warm weather and a glorious forest at the start of the walk.

We climbed steadily, enjoying the views and chatting. Martha complained about her fitness even though she was one of the fittest people on the mountain that day! After the first mile, our first mishap - Laura had turned her ankle which meant we took a rest to decide a course of action. She bravely decided to carry on and she was soon back to her smiling chatty self.

Auntie Laura, above the tree line.

After approximately 1.3 miles, we reached the lake. It was at this point, without the cover of the trees, that the wind started to pick up and then the rain started. Jonnie was right, and we were very grateful for our hoodies and waterproof jackets! 
A lot of the walk turned into a scramble with the use of hands being necessary to haul oneself upwards. Some members of the group were starting to tire - there were calls of, "Are we there yet?" and "How much further?" In total, we had to walk over 3 miles to get to the top. It was so cold by now that several of us had lost the feeling in our fingers! We eventually reached the trig point and, even though the views were shrouded in mist, we celebrated with loads of food and some beer and cider!

Some of the gang a few steps away from the summit - note the mist below them.

 There was some debate about the way down but we eventually decided on the route that Sally and I had sought out 4 years ago. It was nice to get steadily warmer as we got lower down the mountain. The first part of the descent was relatively simple but then it got really technical and steep. Unfortunately, Jonnie twisted his ankle and went down hard, opening a gash on his knee. Because he's so hard and didn't make a fuss, I didn't realise that he'd really damaged himself. (It wasn't until much later that I was sent a photograph of his bruised and swollen ankle and I saw how badly he'd injured himself.)
After tackling this very rocky section, the trail eventually got a little easier and we could pick up the pace. Max, Harry and I literally ran down some of the descent - I sometimes find it easier than going slowly and picking out every flat bit of ground. I'm pleased to report that we all got down reasonably unscathed apart from Jonnie and Laura's ankle injuries. It was nice and hot at the bottom and the warm weather added to our sense of achievement.

The steep and rocky descent where Jonnie had his accident.

The waterfalls near the bottom of the mountain.

Martha and Harry delighted with their achievement.

I made it!

To make things even better, the rest of the family met us at a very local pub (the same one from Monday!) and Jonnie and I each sank a couple of well-deserved pints.

Our route for 2018.

In the evening, we all went down to Aberdovey beach. Jonnie cooked dinner for about 20 people while I held plates and tried to look useful. The young people enjoyed themselves with lots of rugby, swimming and even some beer drinking challenges!
I went to bed early in readiness for the drive home.

Friday
After a walk down to the pier to say goodbye to the others, we clambered into the cars, the kids and dogs fell asleep, and we were home three hours later.

There's talk of going to Spain next year. I'm up for some sunshine and look forward to lounging around by the pool in the hot weather, but I know I'll miss my holidays in Wales. I'm a simple bloke and simple things make me happy - good beer, good food, good people and riding my bike. To experience these things in one of the most beautiful places I've ever been (if not THE most beautiful) is a treat I've looked forward to every year.
If only it didn't rain so much...