Singletrack/MTB
Gravel/All-road
Dirt-road Touring
Fat-bike
Designed as a training ride for the Highland Trail 550, the North Wales 400 is a challenging singletrack-heavy bikepacking event that starts and finishes in Flintshire, United Kingdom. Rob Waller, a veteran bikepacker and six-time finisher of the Highland Trail 550, finished third at this year’s event with a time of 71 hours and 34 minutes. Find his reflection and a mix of photos from other riders here…
Words by Rob Waller, photos by various participants
Before embarking on any route, try to understand the route’s “reason for being” and who designed it. It is the artistry and motivation of the planner that make each route, even in a known area, unique. Tom Bruce is a round-the-world rider, a devoted father, an inspirational teacher, and a lover of all things bike and adventure. Although it’s flagged as a training ride for Highland Trail, look at this route as its own very special journey. Do not be put off!
Designed to be ridden anti-clockwise, starting in Mold, there are two choices of length and an optional short-cut to avoid Snowdon’s Summit. With an arbitrary cut-off time to finish within 72 hours and a planned “mass finish,” I rolled out at around 3:00 pm.
What an absolutely stunning start: a crescendo of climbs, summits, and scenery in the first 80 kilometres to Penmacho (pub, formal camping, not far to Betws-y-coed and its cafes and shops). The early narrow lanes and steeps flowed into fire trails and singletracks traversing Mother Mountain’s ridge before entering forest, reservoir, and sheep country. No cars. No main roads. No white lines on roads. Remote. Expansive views. Beauty all around. I camped with a friend at around 10 p.m. on the hill.
Day two started with the next signature dish from Tom: trail centre trails. If you are not keen on riding trail centre singletrack, this might not be the route for you. Tom is considering deviations accordingly but, to me (I raced XC), the ribbons of trail were an engaging novelty in a bikepacking trip.
B-y-c is an excellent refuelling point before the next change in terrain, heralded by the best road climb in the UK that nobody knows about. No name, discover its beauty and solitude yourself! Cresting the summit transitions the rider into the wilder mountains of Snowdonia and new conditions under wheel, including hike-a-bike. The brevity of the push, the stunning reservoir and mountain scenery and the flowing trail’s reward at the hike’s summit soon removed early anxiety of hours pushing a bike!
Descending towards Llyn Ogwen with views of the mighty Tryfan was soul-affirming. Avoiding the A-road, the route snicked left, and so began a wonderful snake of trail and narrow road through Snowdonia’s slate heritage to Llanberis, with the juxtaposition of geology in its natural form and its human extraction all too apparent and mesmerising.
There is a voluntary MTB code of access up the bridleway by the railway line to Snowdon’s summit (adhered to by this route). Access for bikes is after 5 p.m. and before 10 a.m. A small group had gathered for the roll-out. Tom had started early in the morning and was in Llanberis 11 hours later; I and others had probably ridden +/- the same time but slept. Your choice!
Ascending Snowdon is either “burn matches” riding, or settling into a (not that much slower) push and carry. The reward on a good weather day is an empty (around 8 p.m.) summit view and a descent that is mostly rideable and extremely enjoyable. Simply stunning!
Riding briefly into the night after a welcome pub stop, some camped in a disused shell of a slate mine building, others closer to the pub. The day dawned with more than 36 hours and 175 kilometres on the clock; over half the time gone and more than half the distance to go. I fretted the time limit was not doable, not helped by a leisurely café breakfast in beautiful coastal Criccieth. So began a different phase of the ride, solo and riding with the aim of making the cut. That said, the engaging beauty of the route, the mixed terrain, and the ever changing landscape easily dominated any clockwatching.
Criccieth to Dolgellau is world-class riding, including a beach, the slate port of Portmadog, its railway river barrage (Portmadog shipped out millions of slates, now seen on much of UK’s industrial era terraced housing), steep and rolling hills on lanes, doubletrack, and singletrack. Dolgellau is the last reliable refuel before Llangollen. The route then climbs two wonderful tarmac threads (hardly roads, no traffic) into forest and more slate heritage. This is very remote country, its industrial population long since migrated. The route passes through Aberllefenni, all of which was recently for sale (look it up).
The next abrupt transition is a brief steep hike a bike ramp, which gained access to remote sinews of technical singletrack, popping out near the foot of the Bwlch Groes road climb, moody and impressively steep at 8 p.m. Lights on at the top, I regret not being able to see the beauty of Lake Vyrnwy but the glow of habitation and welcome of a warm shower and hotel bed, if only for a few hours, were atmospheric enough.
I moved on by 3 a.m., the route rising to over 700 metres in the Berwyns, followed by sawtoothing ridges to Llangollen and its gorge setting. It’s probably a good job it was in the dark, as I trudged up a pathless slope with arms out straight and bike steeply above head height, wind howling, rain confusing the head torch’s glare but the eTrex GPX line locked on. An unplanned reward, dawn broke at the summit and the engaging “sawtooth” ride to 9 a.m. breakfast café was just enough to justify the night-time push.
How far to the finish? I was doubting the mission ahead. However, after one big climb, the summit gave way to plateau, trail centre, and last knockings of narrow lanes and rolling hills into the finish. I loved this route, how varied the terrain was, the mix of trail under wheel, the jeopardy of certain moments, how rideable it felt, and how logically it flowed. This deserves to be a classic!
Further Reading
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