A big bike ride

Dada had warned us about imminent doom, with roads being closed; however, Rosemary and I had decided to do the Slateman bike course, that was unless the the road through Llanberis and over Pen-y-Pass were closed.
 
I had forgotten to bring a Buff and the ventilation holes on my helmet were doing too good a job as we descended the hill, through Diniolen. It was still un-seasonally  warm, and although I considered buying one from the outdoor shop in Llanberis, I knew we’d warm up ascending the pass.
 
The water levels in Llyn Padarn were clearly high, with the rocks we had to clamber over in the summer after swimming the length of the lake clearly submerged. Although sandbags were out in force and the fire brigade had been pumping water the previous day, town didn’t look too bad. Just a few submerged play parks and benches, with debris lines marking high water.
 
I quite enjoyed riding Pen-y-Pass, but Rosemary was less pleased that we had pedalled into a cloud and were now being rained on. Roads were busier than expected, with an A road being closed in the vicinity and all traffic being diverted onto our route. It was ok in the main, but a few idiot people making selfish passing manoeuvres made it less pleasant than it could have been.
 
Reaching Ogwen, I suggested to Rosemary that we take the little back road and she happily agreed. It’s a beautiful road, albeit with a few steep slippery bits. Passing a farm, we were accosted by 3 man eating collie dogs……a chap popped his head out the door, called one into the house and left the other two to try and eat us! Tosser!!
 
Rosemary, was in front and managed to get away, as one dog treated me like a herd of sheep, ready to attack from behind. I slowly mounted my bike and then pedalled like fury to catch up with my beloved. We were safe.
 
The next challenge came at Bethesda. There were ‘Road Closed’ signs up at a wee bridge. A very large tree had floated down the river, almost clearing the central arch only for its humungous root ball to become trapped. That will be a fun job to dislodge. We thought that this was the reason for the road being closed but it wasn’t. A little way down the road, we were informed by a dog walking couple, was a 50m impassable flood. Fortunately, there was a close-by cycle path that we could use to circumnavigate this section of road.
 

We were soon on the final draggy climb up to Dinorwig and on our way to  Lodge Dinorwig, the new café in the village. We ended the bike ride with coffee and cake!