Day 4. The weather looked so much better! It was not perfect at all!
It was raining and hailing ass but ah well, my guide promised that no matter what the weather, we'd do snowdon today as i came all the way for some crazy good downhill! And so we did, we rode up the mountain. Fine, it wasn't exactly a ride. It was more of a push. The uphills were crazy steep in the first bit.
The tarmac was really really steep up the hill, but a quick struggle and we started riding on the offroad track up the mountain. now, it wasn't TOO steep, but it was CRAZY rocky. As i looked up the track, it suddenly dawned onto me. Not just is this one high mountain, It was a crazy rocky one. Its literally a rock garden the whole way down. My arms are going to be pumped (cramped) and it sure says one thing. Have a mistake here, and you're not really going to have a chance to walk out of it.
I nodded my head just thinking about that line and told myself this is either going to be fun or a disaster. I looked at my guide, and he knows what im thinking. Its a crazyyyyyy track!! The weather wasn't too bad, but the WIND. WAS INSANE. It was really really windy, the kind of wind you get and you know that riding downhill isn't going to be the most fun experience.
We continued up and before long, we reached 3/4 of the way up Llanberis path. We've decided that because the wind is too strong and we could HARDLY SEE ANYTHING at the point at we were ( the clouds were that low) it would have been suicidal going any higher.
I looked down the track, and man was i scared. I was literally on a rock garden that lasted 400m. It was crazy. it wasn't THAT technical, it was more of the fact that a silly mistake here, would send me down a gulley at least 10 000ft deep to my left or a broken face with the amount of rocks near me. It was crazy. My guide said. " THIS IS GOING TO BE CRAZZZZZZY FUN!!" And dashed down the rock garden with confidence and insane speed.
I told myself. im not sure how this is gona turn out, but im here for it so LETS GO! And i pedalled off and immediately the speed grew onto me. I was riding off all the rocks with confidence but of course some hairy moments. It was windy. did i say its windy?
The ride went on and on and it was downhill all the way on some crazy downhill.
It was a fast fast ride and before i knew it, it was the end and i just sighed. aw man. It ended so quickly.
My guide brought me along to a castle to have a look and also to decide for us where our next destination is going to be. I must say i was slightly dissappointed in the fact that the itinerary wasn't closely followed, the fact that we missed out some good rides due to the weather and stuff. And also the fact that although today's my last day in North wales, the day seemed gloomy in terms of amount of riding i had. It was just Snowdon and literally, that was about it.
In the car, i offered to pay abit more for me to get to another destination to ride. I told myself, i came all the way here, i'd rather pay slightly more to get the riding i want, although it was a heart breaker as the weather was the cause of me losing out my rides.
Bryan told me that he'd bring me there no charge, but just an extra tenner for the fuel costs.
And that was it, we were heading to the one place i wanted to ride but was unable to ride on day 1 as bryan said it'd have been too boggy.
The moment we reached and i saw the scenery. I knew this was going to be a good ride.
This ride was literally the highlight of the north wales epic. crazy long singletrack (28km, nearly all singletrack) and an insane wilderness feel. We were transversing across the contours of the mountain in singletrack which has rock gardens that are not difficult but instead confidence inspiring which gives to a crazy fun ride!!
We reached several waterfalls, had a many amazingly fun sections and before long, i could feel my energy levels dipping. I was cold, freezing, hungry and really really tired. This was dangerous, and i knew it. We were doing technical and long distance riding and i could hardly feel + focus. It soon hit me, and i had a crash. a pretty bad crash with a tree stump smashing my shin. I was so tired, i could hardly brake on a downhill and almost rode off the cliff. It was a close call!!
I really started to sleep on my bike but thankfully, we quickly reached the end...
The riding of the day finished, i bid my goodbye to Bryan and was received by Gareth, who took me to the train station and talked up with a cuppa before i left on train.
North wales done.
Scotland; Fort william -> Here i come!!
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