Our First Bikepacking Trip - Elan Valley, Wales
Bare Bones Bash | 4 Day bike packing trip
The plan
Distance: 230km loop
Ascent: 4724M
Destination: Elan Valley
Date: 21-24th September 2020
Bikepacking is something both Sophie and I had wanted to try for a while. We are both keen cyclists, I’ve toured across Australia and Sophie used to work as a road guide in the Dolomites. So we went in with quite a bit of confidence that we could just pick a route and go….
I’m cold, wet, broken and just about to find out the chip shop is closed on a Tuesday.
What makes a good adventure? I think it’s those hard times that you remember the longest. This trip was hard. Harder than we both expected it to be. The write up on Bikepacking.com describes this as a 3 - 4 day route. I’m not sure I could ever have been put back together after 3 days of this much riding!
We had both cycle toured before but never bikepacked. After a year of lockdown we were craving a mini adventure so after booking in a week to head off somewhere and writing a shortlist of routes we settled on Mid Wales. Sophie grew up here, and I think she really wanted to go back and explore the hills she grew up on by bike.
As I only had a hybrid touring bike Sophie talked me into getting a new mountain bike. So a week before I brought a bike from Ebay, a couple of bike packing bits from amazon (Sophie does not condone this - Amazon are the worst) some old touring pieces and a new tarp.
We were off for a mini adventure in the Welsh desert / Elan Valley.
The gear
We haven't done much lightweight touring before, we didn’t want to buy a load of new kit so we both just used gear we already had. Most of Sophie’s kit is built for minus 20 so its not the most compact kit…and with a smaller bike/frame we had to share quite a bit of the kit between us so she could fit it. Here is roughly what we both carried:
Sleeping bag & liner
Bivvy bag
Sleeping mat
Tarp
Spare socks, down jacket, rain jacket, gloves
3 freeze dried meals
Spork & cup
Headlight
Battery pack
Basic bike repair kit
Pocket Rocket/ Gas
Tooth brush
Sunglasses
We decided to take our tarp/bivvy over a tent (mainly because it wouldn’t fit on our bike) but also because we kinda wanted to bivvy.
Day One
I met Sophie en-route and we headed to Rhayader where our Cambrian trail would start, four days of camping out and climbing hills in mid Wales.
When we got to Rhayader the weather was better than we could have hoped. Sophie had forgotten her phone charger (which we needed for the route) we are both super sceptical that we will find an iPhone charger in this small town but amazingly we do in a little shop that stocks everything. So after a bit of a delay we hit the road.
We head off in the sunshine, all loaded up and eager to make some head way, it's gone midday now and we want to set up camp in the light.
One thing I never do and always regret not doing is a test run, fully loaded, even for half an hour… and how I wish I had, maybe at the top of our first hill we stop and take photos and notice my wheel is soft. I try to pump it up with the pump the bike was sold, its the wrong one. Now I have a flat tyre and the other pump is in the van, damn it.
One hour later having borrowed Sophie’s bike I'm back and pumping up my tyre and we set off again. We follow a single track road and the riding in the sunshine is amazing, we cut across a field and force ourselves through some high ferns before some steep, sketchy down hill with great views of Caban Coch reservoir.
After our late start we know there is a bothy ahead that we want to see and camp somewhere near, and we decide to take a shorter route to Claerwen reservoir, cutting off 40km of the initial route. The riding has been great, flat, gravel and great views. Weirdly for mid Wales/September it is roasting. We have already run out of water, Sophie was worried that because of the Covid-ness we might struggle to find any. I knock on a farm where they kindly fill up our bottles, and it was a good job I did as it turns out to be the only place that day.
We reach Claerddu bothy and this a treat of a place that creates us a real problem. It’s such a cool bothy, with a big log burner and seating area and plenty of room. It’s clean, dry and would be rude not to make the most of it but, we had planned to bivvy for the night. We know it’s possibly our last chance of a dry night so we are torn.
We met Alan, who seems to live between bothies and was a Covid conspiracy theorist that made our minds up for us when he handed us a beer. He kept us topped up with endless amounts of tea and stories. He was an interesting guy but getting a word in edge ways was unlikely.
Sophie went to a mini ride to enjoy the sunset, It was such a beautiful evening and the sky was on fire.
Day Two
We wake up to a big temperature drop. There is frost on the ground but we are excited to get going early. This day was unbelievably difficult and enjoyable in equal measures, we had bogs, single tracks, forest roads, everything that Wales could throw at us. We rode and rode and rode and couldn't believe what a long day it was. We spent the morning riding through a fine mist, which was so atmospheric but also drenched us.
The riding was awesome, we were both so blown away by how epic the trail and the views were. The route was very committing with no options for short cuts or easy options. Mid-Wales is beautiful and rural - which makes for an amazing ride but not for an empty stomach. We diverted off route to stop at a petrol garage and ate like wolves sat on the floor, in a patch of sun outside the garage pouring grated cheese into a cheese topped bun.
Later in the day it started to rain, the wind picked up and we were cold, well Sophie was cold, she was steaming ahead and I was struggling to keep up which meant she got super cold waiting for me. We hit a section of really deep peaty gullies, where we have to push the bike up and over them. We both find it really hard to gauge our pace because it varied so much throughout the day. We keep checking our progress and it always made our hearts sink at how slow we were.
Day two turns out to be 1337m of climbing and 58.5km. I was not prepared, this was so hard and my pace was slow, the riding was endless and the weather so varied it became a test of willing. I say that but we were in the middle of nowhere with no shortcuts to anywhere. I had no choice but to carry on. The hills were relentless we were either going up or coming down.
Everything about this day was tough, even when the riding was flat and enjoyable the fog closed in so we had to be careful not to get lost.
9.5 hours after leaving the bothy we ride into Machynlleth (pronounced Ma-hunt-lith. I drive Sophie insane pronouncing it wrong all trip) all we could talk about was fish and chips. Sophie’s Nan always used to take her to a chip stop here on their way back from the beach. She had been on about how amazing they were all day. The last few hours the thought of them were all that were pushing me through.
We were supposed to be camping but we were wet through, and it was supposed to be a horrible night of weather and we were beaten so… we booked in to the The White Lion. The guys there were great, they let us clean our bikes and store them in a meeting room. After a super fast shower and a cup of tea we head to the famous chippie.
The closer we get we both look at each other…there’s no queue…the lights look off….CLOSED.
Nooooooooooooooo.
Just our luck it’s the other end of town and closed. Now what? We spend the next twenty minutes circling the town trying to decide between the depressingly empty Italian place, the posh place ( which we are super underdressed for) or the dirty kebab shop.
Well the kebab shop does take away pizza so there it is, takeaway pizza and back to our room via the Co-op for more chocolate treats.
Day three
After an amazing night sleep and a full English we are undecided about what to do next. Part of us is unsure if we can handle another day like that. And the route includes even more hills… we do however just decide to go for it and get back on our bikes.
It was a lovely start to the day, we turn off the main road through a wooded glade, cross a river, get wet feet and then have to get off and push up hill. Just an hour into the ride we work out we are a bit lost, well off route anyway. Sophie is tracking it on her phone and we can’t work out where we should have gone but know we are going the wrong way. As we push our bikes up the steepest grassy hill we know there is no point going back. The pace is unbelievably slow, we are both laughing so much because if we don't we will cry, yesterday ruined us and today is toying with us.
As the hill levels out we realise that we now have to lift our heavenly laden bikes over a load of barb wire fences then navigate through a mega thick forest to get back to the track. Lifting the bikes over turns out to be straight forward, but getting my beaten up body over the fence results in fits of laughter from Sophie as I just cant do it.
We bush back our way through the forest and hit the road. As if on cue the heavens open and it begins to rain so hard we both just look at each other and go ‘ Oh fuck this’.
We have a camp site booked for tonight but we are done in, we are drenched all the way through. We know the route ahead is not getting any easier, so decide to take the road back to Machnylleth and reassess today’s plan of action from a cafe there. It rains the whole way back and I think part of us know we are making the right decision although it feels so pathetic.
In Machynlleth we find a cafe and have a hot drink and a warm up. Our faces are literally dripping and everybody is looking at us is our shorts like we’re crazy. After a warm cup of very bad coffee, with our hands starting to get some feeling back into them we decide to abandon the ride.
The next problem now was how to get back to the van…with our bikes. Public transport is going to take about 4 hours, as there is no route between Machynlleth and Rhayader we would need to go via Aberystwyth and Welshpool and get a mix of buses and trains.
Sophie rings around and we get a taxi to take us and our bikes back to Rhayader for £80. It is definitely the best option but feels even more like a fail. The route back follows the route we would have taken and we are so relieved that we opted for taxi. It looks epic but the endless hills would have finished us off. As the taxi flies around the small country lanes it took all my concentration not to throw up in the back of the taxi. I did ask the driver to pull over at one point but he couldn't have heard me and ploughed on.
Back at the van with the sun shining I was just happy to be heading home. We both agree to come back again and finish the route as it’s a killer route. We just weren’t ready for it. On the drive back Sophie thought she’d re-look at the route and noticed it was given a 7.5/10 fir difficulty. At least we now have a good idea where we are at.