To make things easy for participants and their families we have always used trains to get participants to the start of a tour, but this year the task of organising the travel proved quite a challenge. The sixteen participants on this year’s epic tour came from multiple locations in the South, Southwest and Midlands, they all needed to get to North Wales for the start of the tour with their bikes and luggage, North Wales is not easy to reach by train and most trains these days have a limited number of bike spaces which need to be booked in advance. Michael is always up for the challenge, however, and after many long conversations with the booking clerk at Torquay the arrangements were all put in place.

Ben was first off the mark for Group 1, catching the 06:20 train (Train 1) from Plymouth. Michael, Craig, Ryan and Oliver joined this train at Newton Abbot at 07:00 and picked up identical twins Jasper and Casper Oliver from Cheltenham on the way through at 09:13. We amused ourselves on the long train journey with some video interviews and Monopoly. We reached Birmingham New Street at 09:54, changed there to catch Train 2, the 10:04 to Stafford, changed again at Stafford at 10:35 to catch the 10:40 to Crewe and arrived at Crewe at 11:05. Meanwhile Kieron and Alasdair caught the 09:50 from London Euston, Train 4, and the rest of us joined their train at Crewe at 11:47, making nine in total, with nine bikes. Alasdair updated us on camera with his news since we saw him last summer in Scotland, and we recounted the tale of his accelerated boarding of the ferry at Raasay. This brought the whole of Group 1 to Llandudno Junction by 13:03, with no delays, no nasty guards and no damaged bikes. We settled down on the grass outside the station to enjoy our packed lunches.

But this was just half the story. Tao, the co-leader on the tour, had to get Group 2 to Llandudno all by himself. He caught the 08:05 train from Newton Abbot to Crewe along with Luke and Llewellyn. Daniel and Tom caught the 08:12 train from Basingstoke to Birmingham, arriving at 10:43, met up with Fergus and James there, then all four were waiting on the correct platform at Birmingham New Street when Tao’s train stopped there at 11:24. Tao got them all to load their bikes into the train before it left at 11:34 and the seven of them continued together to Crewe, arriving at 12:32. They then caught their final train, the 13:17 from Crewe, ate lunch on the train and arrived at Llandudno Junction by 14:29, where Michael and the rest of Group 1 were waiting for them on the platform.

Now that all sixteen were together we could start the tour, and we couldn’t have wished for better weather. We followed the B5106 south through Gyffin up the Conwy Valley. Soon after riding through Dolgarrog Michael stopped to capture a very tranquil scene, with sheep relaxing in the shade of some trees on a grassy hillock overlooking the Conwy river, with swans searching for food the riverbank.

Soon we reached Betws-y-Coed, which at 15.4 miles from Llandudno meant there were only 5 miles remaining. The weather was superb, everyone was hot and the River Llugwy passing under Pont-y-Pair bridge looking very inviting with its waterfalls and rocks. Luke, Tom and Daniel were very keen to make the most of the water, so while they did some diving and jumping the rest of us looked on with our ice creams. This was indeed a very enjoyable and lazy stop, but there was no rush for time.

Eventually Michael managed to prize everyone away from the scene and we rode the final five miles down the A470 to the quiet and peaceful Lledr Valley, which true to the hostel description was definitely away from the crowds. The hostel, Lledr House at Pont-y-Pant, was a former quarry-manager’s house and quite interesting, but the main feature that interested us was the enormous grassy play area opposite the hostel that went right down to the River Lledr. We showered first of course and enjoyed our provided evening meal at 7pm, then we spent the rest of the evening down by the river in the warm evening sunshine, playing frisbee, wading in the river and taking some great video shots. Tao got a little frustrated that the frisbee kept getting dropped in the river, as he was the one tasked with getting it out! This was the perfect way to get everyone fully integrated and was one of those very memorable, uniquely happy tour events that will never happen again.

(No notes were written for today's ride at the time, so this report was written from memory in 2021. Please let Michael know if you remember any other details from the ride)

After making our own breakfasts in the self-catering kitchen we gathered outside Lledr Valley youth hostel in the morning sunshine knowing we had a really easy ride of just fifteen miles to the next hostel. The only problem was that we needed to complete that by soon after lunch so we would have time to climb Snowdon in the afternoon. Still, it wasn’t too much of a challenge.

We retraced yesterday’s route back to Betws-y-Coed, where we bought a few provisions for lunch, and then continued on the short distance to Swallow Falls where we stopped to take a look. There was a large car park and the Swallow Falls Hotel, but when we followed the paths through to the falls themselves they were just mildly interesting, not really spectacular. Still, it made an interesting excursion.

Continuing on through Capel Curig we were impressed with Llynau Mymbyr, two large lakes which actually started out as a single lake many years ago until a delta built up across the middle. We got our first views of Snowdon in the distance and were looking forward to the climb. First we had to eat lunch however, and the only suitable location was just off the main road on the approach to the Pen-y-Gwryd hotel near Nany Cynnyd.

The last couple of miles involved climbing up to Pen-y-Pass youth hostel. This was a well-equipped hostel and actually allowed daytime access, as Michael’s video shows. We weren’t interested in using the facilities though, so we just locked away our bikes and prepared for our afternoon walk.

Four members (Luke, Llewellyn, Daniel and Tom) decided not to walk up the mountain, which sadly meant that Tao had to stay behind to keep an eye on them. The remaining eleven of us set off up the Pyg Track, one of the easier climbs to the top which happens to start right from the car park opposite the hostel. It was sunny when we started out and we got some fabulous video shots during the climb, including some impressive lakes high up in the mountains. The total climb from the hostel was around 705m, and it was 3.4 miles to the top. We had several breaks along the way however, which gave us time to enjoy the scenery.

When we reached the Llanberis Path near the top, the steam train of the Snowdon Mountain Railway chugged past taking up some tourists who couldn’t manage to walk. It didn’t seem quite right that people could reach Snowdon by train, but anyway, we had climbed it the proper way and felt proud of our achievement.

The cloud was thickening as we climbed the last few metres, and when we finally reached the summit there was thick mist all around, obscuring all the wonderful views that we might otherwise have enjoyed. We all stood on the summit at 1085m above sea level just to say we had, then headed straight for the café that was situated right next to the train station. Again, it didn’t seem right to have a commercial café on Snowdon either, but in view of the unpleasant weather conditions we were actually quite pleased to be in there.

We left the café around 5.30, and the walk down took nearly as along as the walk up. We just about made it back to the hostel in time for the provided evening meal which was at 7pm. We then spent the rest of the evening exploring facilities that we don’t always expect to find at hostels – lounge, TV room, games room, lockers and a drying room.

(No notes were written for today's ride at the time, so this report was written from memory in 2021. Please let Michael know if you remember any other details from the ride)

After breakfast at Pen-y-Pass youth hostel on a sunny morning James was searching high and low for something important but just could not find it. He left his details with the warden in case it turned up.

We had a large mileage to do today, but there was a lot of downhill involved, particularly in the morning, we didn’t leave until 9.50. We then stopped twice on the way down the hill for photos and videos of the fabulous views to Llyn Gwynant, the first allowing us views back up to Pen-y-Pass as well as down to the lake. Luke took photos for the group as Michael only had a camcorder on the tour. There is a hostel by the lake called Bryn Gwynant which Michael would have loved to stay at, but it was just too close to Pen-y-Pass so we sadly couldn’t stay there this year.

Some more downhill and flat riding brought us to Beddgelert, where we quickly found an excellent café, Lyn’s Café, in Church Street. We took it in turns to sit at the sunshade-adorned tables for various refreshments, which for some included tea and scones. It was an interesting village, so Michael wandered around a bit with his camcorder before setting off to give the slower riders a head start.

Next stop was Pont Aberglaslyn, a bridge at Nantmor offering great views up the Pass of Aberglaslyn. We then pressed on at a good speed and didn’t stop until we had covered nearly 20 miles, just under half the day’s total mileage. We found a comfortable grassy verge in the quiet village of Ynys and had a peaceful lunch there, with Michael wandering around with his camcorder. Fergus did his best to avoid being videoed by swearing on camera, which he thought would be enough to ensure his footage was deleted, but sadly he was mistaken!

Continuing onwards we soon reached Harlech, announced by sight of the impressive 13th Century Harlech castle. On the far side of the town we could look back across the enormous Tremadoc Bay, a huge expanse of sand and waves that made an impressive sight.

After a few more miles we reached Barmouth, a good-sized town with lots of shops which was the ideal location to stock up with communal milk for our breakfast tomorrow. Fergus dutifully stowed some of the milk in his capacious panniers, as did several others, and we bought any snacks we needed to keep us going for the last ten mils.

There was a slight chance in Michael’s mind that we might be able to take a shortcut to the hostel over the Barmouth Bridge, an old single track wooden railway viaduct across the estuary that is 820m long. But either it was closed or there was a toll charge to cross, and anyway it didn’t look very safe, so we opted to go the long way around the estuary, crossing at Penmaenpool Bridge. This route took us through Glan-y-Mawddach, where we stopped for some bike adjustments and then watched with amusement while Fergus tried to untangle his bike from Ben’s bike!

At the head of the estuary we had to cross the Penmaenpool Bridge, another wooden contraption that didn’t feel totally safe, but we seemed to arrive safely on the other side and took some video shots of it before continuing the last few miles uphill to the hostel.

Kings youth hostel was indeed a very interesting place, quiet and peaceful in a secluded wooded valley with a large river running through its extensive grounds. After showers and sorting out our dorms we settled down for the evening meal at 7pm, but this was not as impressive as the hostel – most of us didn’t think a lot of it at all actually.

We then had a few hours to enjoy playing frisbee in the grounds, and, in Ryan’s case, having a very short swim in the icy waters of the River Gwynant. When someone threw Michael’s Aerobie high up into a tree by the river, it took a lot of attempts and some ingenuity to finally get it down, by throwing a very large branch at it. A few members - possibly Llewellyn and Oliver - got told off by the warden for doing something during the evening, possibly climbing one of the drainpipes to retrieve the frisbee from one of the hostel rooves? If you remember, please let us know.

It seems that the evening meal was more than just unpleasant. After settling down for a quiet night’s sleep, two people started to feel sick and this kept Michael busy several times during the night. All most unfortunate.

(No notes were written for today's ride at the time, so this report was written from memory in 2021. Please let Michael know if you remember any other details from the ride)

Our light and airy dorm at Kings youth hostel gave us a very comfortable night’s sleep with the windows open, but waking up to the sound of heavy rain outside did not encourage us to get up too quickly. It was still raining when we had finished breakfast and were ready to leave, so our plan to climb Cader Idris didn’t look like being a runner. Our two members who had been ill last night (Casper and one other) were feeling somewhat weak as well, so when Kings youth hostel kindly allowed us daytime access to the Common Room we took advantage of that and stayed there for an hour or two to see what the rain would do. It was funny to see Luke playing a card game that allowed him to inflict damage to poor Llewellyn at various points in the game!

The rain didn’t really stop, so eventually we were forced to set off regardless, but at least our time in the rain had been reduced. We still had to climb a rather nasty hill from Dolgellau, but after covering just over sixteen miles we reached our backup-up attraction, the Centre for Alternative Technology at Machynlleth. I believe Casper felt too unwell to cycle this morning, so he took a taxi.

This gave us an opportunity to spend another couple of hours in relatively dry conditions whilst looking around the interesting site, located in an old slate quarry and set up to show how alternative technology could help save the planet. Everyone took a look around to some extent, although people went around in their own groups. The shop made an interesting finish to the visit, but when we finally left we were all a bit cold and pleased to get cycling again.

After riding another seventeen miles or so, which was mainly downhill or flat, we arrived at Borth youth hostel, back on the coast again. This was an Edwardian house overlooking the sea, with a large, clean and safe beach just across the road, but today it really wasn’t beach weather and we were all very happy to get inside the hostel for hot showers and a hot meal.

Unfortunately the sickness bug that affected two people last night spread to Fergus and one other overnight tonight, meaning we had another disturbed night.

(No notes were written for today's ride at the time, so this report was written from memory in 2021. Please let Michael know if you remember any other details from the ride)

Waking up next to the seaside it was disappointing to see rain outside our dorm window for the second morning in a row. Was this all we could expect when we visit Wales? To make things worse, Casper had the sickness bug last night so he was understandably feeling a bit weaker than usual this morning. We had breakfast and got ready to leave, hoping the rain would stop by then, but of course it didn’t.

To keep things as easy as possible we followed the B4353 out of Borth, and then joined the A487 from Rhydpennau. This took us through Aberystwyth, which would have been interesting to explore if the weather had been better. We offered Casper the opportunity to get a taxi to the hostel today, but he seemed to think he could cope, although later he maintained he just forgot to ring the taxi.

We pressed on to Llanilar for lunch on the verge, where Luke tried to open his tin with Michael’s pocket-knife can opener, found it too complicated and ended up trying to puncture the tin with the pocket knife by brute force. There were lots of questions about tonight’s hostel: people knew it had no mains electricity and were wondering if it had any form of heating! Michael assured them there was an open fire, which encouraged everyone in the miserable weather.

Drier now but still cloudy, we continued along the main road to Lledrod and then on to Tregaron, where we stopped to buy provisions in case the shops at Llandewi Brefi were closed. We would be staying in the most remote hostel in England and Wales tonight, and after the small village of Llandewi-Brefi there would be no more shops until tomorrow afternoon. Michael had a chat with several on video, where James had recovered to about 75% of his usual fitness after his rough day yesterday and Tom provided excuses about why he hadn’t rung his Mum.

We continued on to Llandewi-Brefi, visited the single shop that was open and then headed on up into the hills along a road that got progressively narrower as we climbed. The scenery was great although everyone wondered why there would be a hostel all the way up here. Soon the narrow road ran out of tarmac, turning into a track for the final mile to the hostel. This really was going to be a special night where we could really “get away from it all”.

As there was no electricity, lighting was provided by gas lamps on the walls of the kitchen and the common room. There was an open fire going in the common room which was very inviting and gave us a chance to dry out our wet shoes and warm up.

Incredibly for such a remote hostel, there was actually a shower at the back of the hostel. It was heated by gas on a gravity feed, and in order to get enough water flowing to ignite the burner, a hot tap had to be left on in the washroom at the same time as the shower was running. The consequence of this was that if anyone came along and turned off the hot tap, whoever was in the shower suddenly got doused with very cold water. As it was clearly quite tricky to operate, only a few people used it, the rest managing with the washroom sinks. We then set about the business of cooking our meals.

What followed is another of those magical moments from South Dartmoor CTC’s touring adventures. The kitchen was tiny but everyone was bustling around preparing their various meals. Some managed quite excellent culinary preparations while others contented themselves with pot noodles or rice. Once prepared, we walked across the hall from the kitchen to the common room and settled down to eat our meals either on the large dining table or on the chairs in front of the fire. The atmosphere was just very special, and most people felt this was the best hostel of the tour.

After the meal, some played cards, others sat outside to watch the sheep traversing the hills along their well-defined sheep tracks, some did calligraphy with the pen set purchased at Machynlleth and others just relaxed by the fire, reading books and chatting. Getting away from electricity and modern conveniences like television seems to bring out the best in everyone. Except perhaps Luke, who had somehow broken one of the gaslight mantles and been charged for it by the warden!

At the end of a wonderful evening we used the washroom by candlelight and headed upstairs for Michael’s ghost story – several were asleep long before he finished it. We then had a great night’s sleep where the only sounds were the occasional sheep out on the surrounding hills.

(No notes were written for today's ride at the time, so this report was written from memory in 2021. Please let Michael know if you remember any other details from the ride)

After a very comfortable night’s sleep in the cosy upstairs dormitories of Tyncornel youth hostel we were very happy to see from our windows that there was absolutely no rain this morning, so when Oliver had finally given up stopping Michael’s camcorder using the controls on his watch we had a good breakfast and set everyone on the various chores needed to leave the hostel as spotless as we had found it yesterday evening. Amazingly the hostel drying room had worked wonders on our shoes and cycling clothes overnight.

One of the uncertainties about today’s ride was whether the 2.4 mile track eastwards from the hostel was suitable for cycling with panniers – if it was, we could cut off a 12-mile detour which would make the day one of the easiest of the tour. Well our warden, Roger Kidd, nicknamed "The Shepherd" by our youngsters because of his stick, had walked the track many times and reckoned we could do it without too much difficulty, so after a final farewell to the hostel we set off along the wide track into the remote Elenith Mountains, not quite sure what to expect.

There was one particularly nasty climb from the Doethie Fack river, so nasty in fact that a support team was despatched to help Alasdair up the climb – Fergus carried his bike up, Luke carried his panniers and James carried him! It was a shining example of how teamwork helped us all get through the ride quicker and happier than might otherwise have been the case. While everyone took a rest we were able to admire the raw beauty and isolation of the surrounding hills.

Soon we had reached the steep descent to the road at Soar-y-Mynydd, which required some care as the track was stony with some sharp turns. At the bottom there was a bridge over a river, but of course some riders couldn’t resist the challenge of riding right through the river, and to be fair they did the club credit by getting through with style.

The next part of our ride took us around the enormous reservoir known as Llyn Brianne. From one end to the other was more than seven miles of quiet country roads, and the views were spectacular in the afternoon sunshine. We probably stopped somewhere along the way for lunch. As we approached the Carreg Clochdy viewpoint, some of our Devon youngsters recognised a walker who just happened to be the caretaker from South Dartmoor School in Ashburton!

Next stop was Rhandirmwyn, where the village post office and stores was the first and last shop we saw all day. It provided us with ice creams and other provisions that we would need for another remote hostel this evening, and as we were quite close to the hostel now we were in no hurry to leave.

Michael had found an interesting track short-cut of half a mile on the map that would cut off a 1.5 mile road detour, so we all took it. The climb was only 75m, but the track was rough and not so enjoyable with panniers on the bikes. Most people thought it well worthwhile and relaxed at the top to enjoy the view, but they anticipated that Fergus would not be enjoying it and implored Michael to capture his reaction on video – Fergus did not disappoint.

The final part of the ride involved a short section of road to Hafod-y-Pant farmhouse and then a mile-long track up to the hostel. The warden lived at the farmhouse, so we stopped there to wait for the last members to arrive before ringing his doorbell. While we were waiting there, a woman came out of a nearby house and asked us if we'd all like a cup of tea! Well that sounded like a great offer, so of course we said yes. She eventually brought out trays of tea and biscuits, and when we had started drinking it she said "right, that will be 50p each please".

When the warden came out to take our hostel cards, he saw what had happened and said "yes, well she does do that quite often".

To say the last mile was a track is probably not quite correct, as it looked more like a section of hillside loosely bordered by bracken. There was even a stream to cross at one point. It was indeed tranquil up here in the hills however, and we couldn’t wait to see what kind of youth hostel could possibly exist all the way up here. Several, including Fergus, wondered how many hostellers would be insane enough to walk up here anyway.

When we eventually arrived, we were stunned by the beauty of the place. The hostel had no electricity and was powered entirely by gas cylinders, used for both light and heat. Downstairs was a single large room which served as kitchen, dining room and common room, with an open fire in the hearth. Climbing the very steep staircase took us to the two cosy dormitories that had been booked for our group. There was even a shower out the back, although we had to take it in turns to use it, so some didn’t bother. We had a fine evening cooking our meals and chatting by the fire.

Before dusk a few went out the back and discovered that it was actually quite fun to ride full pelt across the grass and dive head over handlebars into the soft bracken - they coined the phrase "Bracken Jumping" to describe it. Midges were out in abundance however and nobody had brought midge repellent, so we didn't stay outside too long. This really was a very special hostel, located high in the Elenith Mountains, and we were privileged to spend a night here in its final full year before it closed permanently in 1998.

(No notes were written for today's ride at the time, so this report was written from memory in 2021. Please let Michael know if you remember any other details from the ride)

If there was a compensation for waking up to the sound of yet more rain outside, it was to wake up in a small, cosy attic dorm in a tiny hostel set deep in the Elenith Mountains of Wales. For obvious reasons nobody was in any particular hurry to get up, so Alasdair entertained us by showing us how he could reach his top bunk in the absence of a ladder.

We had a leisurely breakfast, took our time to get the bikes loaded and hung around under cover at the back of the hostel for as long as we could, but eventually the time came when we had to leave. Heading back down the hillside path to the Hafod-y-Pant farmhouse to collect our hostel cards was easy enough, and the ride wasn’t especially long or hilly today, but with the bad weather it wasn’t particularly pleasant, which probably explains why Michael didn’t risk getting his camcorder wet for most of the day.

We were mostly riding downhill to Llandovery, and when we passed Llandovery hospital Michael decided to get Ryan checked out as he had some sore patches on his face. Impetigo was diagnosed, so he was prescribed some ointment and some pads to keep it working.

From Llandovery the route was gradually uphill through Trecastle and Sennybridge, and then more seriously uphill as we approached the Devil’s Elbow, a nasty hairpin climb that would take us into the Mellte valley. When we stopped on the first hairpin for a video Michael was impressed by the positivity emanating from the tour members considering the challenging weather conditions. Everyone seemed to have a bright and cheery disposition despite being soaked to the skin and having trainers that were full of water. Everyone in the group deserved credit, especially Luke and Llewellyn how once again stepped in to make things easier for Alasdair by carrying his panniers.

Once we passed the Devil’s Elbow it was all downhill to Ystradfellte hostel, another very simple hostel with the bare minimum of facilities. The woman who ran the hostel didn’t seem to like the fact that we were all dripping wet, but since we were in the annexe across the road she probably thought that would keep most of the water away from her main building. At least there was a drying room!

The very special reason for visiting Ystradfellte youth hostel was not so much the luxurious facilities available at the hostel, but the location. Literally around the corner was a path that led down to the Mellte river where there were some of the finest and largest waterfalls to be found anywhere in the UK, and yet most people in the country don’t even know they exist. Michael was keen to check out the waterfalls as soon as possible while we were wet, as there wouldn’t be time in the morning and he knew people wouldn’t want to go out in the rain again once they had showered. A few decided showering was more important than seeing waterfalls when they were so wet and miserable, but the rest headed off immediately.

We were not disappointed. Following the path we visited three spectacular waterfalls, looking all the more impressive because of the large flow of water in the river. Michael had been to them before, but this was the first time with a video camera, so now we could show the people back home (and the ones who stayed at the hostel) the true wonders of the River Mellte. The camcorder ran out of battery power after the third waterfall, but we had seen enough and decided to head back rather than walk on to the fourth and fifth.

Never had hot showers and hot meals been so welcome as they were this evening.

(No notes were written for today's ride at the time, so this report was written from memory in 2021. Please let Michael know if you remember any other details from the ride)