Anglesey Lanes Audax Trip

A perfect weather forecast - sunshine, low humidity & (the best bit) light winds meant I was looking forward to our trip to North Wales a lot!  Plus, I'd managed to talk Stephen into taking the tandem to join me on the 104km ride.

On the drive down, I wasn't feeling too great and afew miles from Conwy, I pulled off the road in agony. We spent saturday afternoon in the hospital in Llandudno - some pain killers later & a recommendation to 'rest on a beech' rather than ride an Audax and we were slowly pottering around Conwy.

We wandered to the harbour to find some food and then slowly made our way back to the hostel via the castle walls enjoying the stunning views over the town and up to the hills.

The morning of the audax arrived. I popped some painkillers for breakfast and we set off. I did have some twinges and some reservations about whether I should ride, but I kept those to myself knowing that Stephen would certainly not let me ride if he knew I wasn't up to it. Being a determined person is certainly a strength & a weakness.

We chatted with the three other tandem couples at the start of the ride, which took my mind off the twinges. There was a speedy looking Co-Motion, a beautiful Longstaff and a practical (S&S couplings and 26inch wheels) looking Orbit.
There was a great turn out for the ride that Holyhead CC had organised.
We started at a great pace matching the carbon fibre roadies until the first set of hills where we slowed down a bit. The views were beautiful and the lanes were very quiet. We managed to keep a great speed with me navigating from the back and we caught up with the roadies at the lunch stop.

The afternoon was a little slower and at 70k in my painkillers had worn off, but I kept going. We made it back in 5 hours 25 (including lunch and controls), so actual riding time was pretty speedy.
I was so glad to have done the ride and Stephen even enjoyed the day. The cycling club members riding made us very welcome. I'd certainly love to do this ride again.


Sunday morning brought more sunshine and we decided to walk to Great Orme along the coastal path (which is also the NCN5 bike route).
The view from the hostel breakfast room overlooked the opposite side of the estuary where we would be heading for.

A leisurely few hours of strolling along warm sands with beautiful views before the steep ascent up Great Orme.

Great Orme overlooks Llandudno (there's also Little Orme, but we didnt have chance to visit there this time).
In the sunshine it felt like being in an old fashioned / countrysidey version of San Francsico with the sea, hills and tramway.

There's a visitors centre, an expensive pub & cafe and even cable cars (the hanging variety) up here.

The weekend had been so nice weather-wise, I felt like I'd been on a proper holiday and I wished that we'd been staying for longer than just a long weekend.