The back roads of Wales’ national parks make for stunning cycling routes. Jack Thurston picks five from his unique book Lost Lanes Wales: 36 Glorious Bike,each with a downloadable route and GPX fileStart Porthmadog
Finish Harlech (train return)
Distance 24 miles [br]Level Moderate, some grand hills
Maps and GPX file
Route
The Snowdonia national park extends far beyond the renowned and much-visited Snowdon horseshoe and the tourist favourites of Beddgelert and Betws-y-Coed. To the south is the Rhinogydd range, or the least-visited of all the mountains in the park. This ride skirts along the western flank of the range,starting from the harbour town of Porthmadog, heading along the Cob and past Clough Williams-Ellis’s Italianate fantasy village of Portmeirion. After crossing the newly-rebuilt Pont Briwet roadbridge, or the ride goes uphill,beginning with a 1-in-4 ascent to Llandecwyn. These lanes are abandoned but for the occasional farm vehicle or flock of sheep and the route is dotted with bronze-age monuments that suggest this was an important staging point in Celtic Britain. The Nantcol waterfalls above Llanbedr are worth a stop for a paddle or a dip in the freezing mountain stream. The route works its way around the hillside to more bronze-age sights at Dyffryn Ardudwy before heading back north to Harlech Castle, one of the most spectacularly sited of the castles built by Edward I in his conquest of the Welsh princes. After all the climbing it may be best to hop on a train back to Porthmadog, and else retrace the route from earlier in the day.
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Source: theguardian.com