Overnighter in the Clwydian hills

The Fatty all loaded up

So last weekend I made the most of the warming nights with a trip in to the Clwydian hills. Joining me was a guy I’d not ridden before, but had spoken to a few times on the Bearbones forum… See, the whole “be more sociable” thing is working! We met up in the small village of Cilcain, exchanged pleasantries, packed our stuff and set off. We rode through a couple of small villages and hamlets then made our way up towards our bivvy spot.

The evening was quite windy, so not really conducive to sitting around in the evening, so Mark and I quickly gabbed some food, hiding our stoves behind the trees available. My meal of Super Noodles with various “bits” thrown in, seemed a bit lack luster in comparison to Mark’s curry, with rice and naan! That said, I inhaled it in record time, followed by a cheese string for desert… yum. At that point it was darkening, cooling down and the wind was picking up. As such I headed to my sleeping bag, which was now perched on my new-to-me Exped Winter Synmat. This thing is super warm, which was handy, because it was rather parky that night. Saying that, my Lamina sleeping bag, combined with my Montane Antifreeze jacket chucked over the top kept me warm enough.

Our bivvy spot amongst the trees.

In the morning we scoffed breakfast, mine was a typical porridge pot but combined with an Espresso from my new Wacaco mini-espresso pump, sooooooo much better than the rubbish little pouches or the even worse coffee bags. The breeze was still blowing, but the sun was up (somewhere behind the clouds) and it wasn’t long before we were warmed up and riding again.

Packed up on the Sunday morning.

I love that view over the Clwydian hills.

This second half of the ride was basically the return journey, but taking a very scenic and much longer, way round. We headed through the forests on the Eastern side of Moel Famau, which wasn’t busy, but there were people and riders about, we stopped for a good few chats, especially on the climbs. Taking the Fatty on the wet and gloopy single track is fun, but when the bike is fully loaded it becomes fun and challenging. My legs were burning but my grin didn’t shift. We eventually cruised in to Cilcain and made use of the community run cafe and shop, before stripping the bikes down and setting off home.

It was warmer than it looked.

Bikepacking with the bin lids

What’s more fun than bikepacking? Taking your son and nephew bikepacking, that’s what!

Given that George is only seven years old, I figured we’d start small and ease him in to the world of bikepacking. Strictly speaking this isn’t his first adventure. The astute amongst you may remember we took him on the Mawddach trail family bikepacking trip a while back, but he was in a Weehoo trailer then, and that’s cheating. So, where to go? Well I figured our best bet was the Lon Las Cefni, a mainly flat route from the village of Llangefni on Anglesey to the beautiful Newborough pine forest and beach. Link : https://www.sustrans.org.uk/find-a-route-on-the-national-cycle-network/lon-las-cefni-anglesey/

George and Will at the start of the ride

So technically camping in Newborough Forest is not permitted, however I was relatively relaxed about it given we were going to have a very low impact on the area, leave no trace and we planned to arrive late and leave early. No bother!

Id decided to use the “new to me” fat bike, not because the terrain warranted it, but just because it was new. I pumped the tyres up higher than normal as the majority of the route would be paved, gravel at best, and to be fair the fatty really can fly along! All this talk of sluggish, self-steering beasts is nonsense if you just pay attention to the tyre pressure.

The OnOne Fatty loaded up

George was riding his Hoy Bonally 20, it’s a great little bike but the frame size does mean strapping bags on isn’t easy. I could have put everything in a rucksack and thrown it all on my bike, but I know George would have felt a bit left out. So, I bodged together a seat pack using a small dry bag and a voile strap and stuffed this with pyjamas and wooly stuff, I strapped my 3l Lomo bar bag to his bars to carry waterproofs and used my top tube bag, fitted against his seat post for inner tubes and snacks. His little legs did a great job propelling his bike the nine miles or so to the forest. My nephew Will joined and proved himself an absolute star on his Specialized Crosstrail loaded up with panniers.

I promise we left no trace

The boys were kipping in my, not so bikepacking friendly Vango Ark 200, while I pitched alongside in my SMD Skyscape Scout. Still love this tent! I had picked up some freeze dried meals from GoOutdoors, I forget the brand but they were absolutely minging. Next time we’ll take the half mile detour to the Newborough chippy. After dinner we all went for a wander in the forest for the obligatory game of soldiers with sticks for guns and George showing us how far he can throw things… Then we retired to the tents for a few games of top trumps, before going to sleep.

George playing (cheating) at Top Trumps

The next day we headed through the forest to the, already busy car park to brush our teeth, refill water and grab some food. After which we headed back the way we came to meet up with family. The boys loved the trip and so did I. Here’s to the next one.

A very happy bikepacker

Getting Fatter!

Not really a bikepacking post, but I had to let you all know that I’ve bought another bike. This time it’s fat! And will therefore, definitely be used for bikepacking in the future.

I was looking around at the stock, or lack thereof, of fat bikes in the UK, and was close to pulling the trigger on a Trek Farley 5. Thing is, the Trek was on the other side of the country and coming in at £1,700. Which is a lot of money to drop on a bike just to see if I like it. Fate would have it that a 5 year old OnOne Fatty was about to pop up for sale just down the road, in excellent condition and only a couple of hundred quid. Sold!

I’ve not been out on it too much yet, but it is huge fun!!! Watch this space for more fat adventures.

OnOne Fatty