Posts Tagged Llandegla

Wild Llandegla

Last weekend I managed two days in a row at Llandegla. Friday night was the first round of this year's Dash in the Dark, organised by the Clwydian Range Runners. The four-mile course wasn't too boggy or arduous, but was hard work for someone like me who's used to longer races. I would have taken a photo, but it was a race in a dense forest at night so there wasn't really much to see. I pushed really hard and got below 30 minutes, which I was pleased with (quicker than last year, too). There are two more races this year, so I hope I can along to those as well.

Disappointment in store for some people who'd travelled to Llandegla. © Haydn Williams 2012

Disappointment in store for some people who'd travelled to Llandegla. © Haydn Williams 2012

On Saturday morning I went back up with my bike. The previous evening we'd run past the shed at the entrance where the car park attendant sits – by the morning it had blown away in the increasingly strong winds! Climbing out of the car park I could hear branches snapping, and the horrific gusts continued to blow me literally off the trails, requiring me to pedal to make any progress on downhill sections more than once. By the time I made it back to the car park, all trails had been closed. Hard work, but great fun on the black trails nonetheless.

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New Year's Eve jaunt

A broken boiler meant that I wasn't able to make the trip to Scotland which was scheduled for New Year, so instead I ended up working. It wasn't all bad news, however, as the need to visit my Dad's garage to get an MOT done meant that I had an excuse to nip over to North Wales. Dad kindly leant me a Porsche from the forecourt as a courtesy car, so the logical thing to do seemed to be take it along the back roads and eventually up to the end of a singletrack road into a remote cwm at the back end of the Carneddau.

The road to Cwm Eigiau stretches ahead of my toy for the weekend. © Haydn Williams 2011

The road to Cwm Eigiau stretches ahead of my toy for the weekend. © Haydn Williams 2011

I had a couple of hairy moments on the incredibly steep hairpins coming out of the Conwy valley, but got up and through the gates unscathed. It did indeed seem remote, until I arrived at the jam-packed car park. I managed to fit the car in somewhere, and set off on my run.

Heading up towards Craig y Dulyn. © Haydn Williams 2011

Heading up towards Craig y Dulyn. © Haydn Williams 2011

The ground was really swampy on the way up the valley, and I resorted to walking on the bits where each step caused me to sink up to my ankles! I passed the Dulyn reservoir – a dark and foreboding place – and went along the side of Melynllyn, then onto the broad ridge of Gledrffordd.

View down the valley from the miner's path between Melynllyn and Dulyn. © Haydn Williams 2011

View down the valley from the miner's path between Melynllyn and Dulyn. © Haydn Williams 2011

I'd considered going up onto Carnedd Gwenllian and Foel Grach, but it looked a bit manky up there, and keeping east had saved me getting rained on so far.

Nice on the tops. © Haydn Williams 2011

Nice on the tops. © Haydn Williams 2011

It turned out to be a good choice, because the drop down into Cwm Eigiau and the main path proved to be a really fast run. Soft ground and few rocks meant an all-out speed descent, with some ponies present on the valley floor to applaud my performance (they actually just stared impassively, which I thought was a bit rude).

Wild Carneddau ponies and the bottom of Amphitheatre Buttress. © Haydn Williams 2011

Wild Carneddau ponies and the bottom of Amphitheatre Buttress. © Haydn Williams 2011

From there it was back along the track, past the breached dam which used to hold back Llyn Eigiau, and to the car. From there I went to spend a very enjoyable New Year's Eve with friends, and visited Llandegla the following day. That turned out to involve meeting an old school friend, and going for a ride with a load of people wearing bikinis, but that's another story entirely…

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November update…

Apologies, dear blog readers, for I have been lax in posting updates. Here's the last few weeks in a mostly-pictorial nutshell…

After watching Wales Rally GB on a Thursday, I visited Llandegla the next day to ride the new black and red trails. They're amazing.

I know it's blurry, but the bike is called a Santa Cruz Blur, so that makes it OK. © Haydn Williams 2011

I know it's blurry, but the bike is called a Santa Cruz Blur, so that makes it OK. © Haydn Williams 2011

That evening I went up to Snowdonia to meet MPS and spent the weekend running over mountains.

Looking across at Y Garn from Elidir Fawr. I'm running somewhere just below the cloud base. Image © Robby Pineda 2011

Looking across at Y Garn from Elidir Fawr. I'm running somewhere just below the cloud base. Image © Robby Pineda 2011

The following weekend I managed to catch Against Me! at the Rescue Rooms in Nottingham. I swapped the press pit for the mosh pit, and it was great. I've never known a band with such relentless energy and amazing, thoughtful tunes to match.

Against Me! at the Rescue Rooms. © Haydn Williams 2011

Against Me! at the Rescue Rooms. © Haydn Williams 2011

On the Sunday I met Greg for a morning run around a very foggy Bradgate Park. A nice stretch of the legs, and he promised to visit again when the views across Leicestershire are actually visible rather than obscured by grey fuzziness.

Greg approaching the tower at Bradgate Park. © Haydn Williams 2011

Greg approaching the tower at Bradgate Park. © Haydn Williams 2011

Last weekend we were dog-sitting at my parents' house, so a return to Llandegla was in order. Becs and I ran the 'long walk' route which proved to be 85% fire road and a bit dull, and then I took my bike around the red loop again. It was still brilliant.

Becs enjoying some decent weather at Llandegla. © Haydn Williams 2011

Becs enjoying some decent weather at Llandegla. © Haydn Williams 2011

And that's that; I promise I'll be more timely in the future.

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