Sore Legs

There will be a few blips to come but I've lost my Ipad camera reader so only phone photos available. We're in Dinorwig in Snowdonia for our holidays. Rosemary would much prefer Italy but I love the simplicity of stuff here. This morning we had a bramble compote on top of our cereal, with the berries picked from close by bushes. I love seeing the cloud inversions blanket Snowdonia and the mushrooms growing in the woods.

Of course, there are limitations too. We had run out of milk for breakfast so I had to walk to Deiniolen and the round trip took over an hour. Admittedly, I didn't listen to John, Rosemary's dad, who suggested the quick route. I chose the one I was confident in not getting lost on. It must have been over a mile longer than the short cut. After breakfast, R and I headed out on the bikes, through Llanberis and over Pen-y-pass, with Snowdon to our right. The 360m climb was sweaty work as it was unseasonally warm. Rosemary's legs were understandably tired after her tough race on Sunday and I had DOMS from a hilly road run yesterday so pace was more sedentary than normal, with me leading over the climbs for a change.

I'm fed up looking for Welsh place names, so will miss out details of the route we followed, but we headed through flatter land to Conwy. We stuck to a back road and it soon ramped up and we found ourselves on a substantial climb and found ourselves at the top of Sychnant Pass. I'm seen looking out to sea from the point we stopped for a bit of flapjack and a wee drink.

After the descent, we hugged the coast for a bit, over the cycle path bridge in Conwy and then on to a narrow road that rarely was visited by cars. The road steepened back into Snowdonia National Park, finding me walking on the steep poorly surfaced sections. Rosemary, being 20kg lighter, having easier gears and quite frankly being a damn good climber made all of them.

We were then accosted by a spritely old boy in the middle of the road. He was a delightful chap, being a legendary Cycle Touring Club campaigner who intimated that he knew every cyclist that had ever ventured into North Wales. He took our picture, we exchanged gentle ribbing as I work for the CTC's competition and then he waved us off on our way. I hope I'm as fit and happy as he is when I'm 79.

Shortly after we had a wee play on a sharp climb, with me pretending I was Fabian Cancellara, trying to rip Rosemary's legs off. Unfortunately, we were faced with a much steeper climb immediately afterwards and I was forced to walk again. Then a sign saying "Deiniolen 2.5 miles" came into view and as the road wasn't too bad, I pushed on to the point of nearly being sick.

We were glad to get home after a fun but tough 90km ride, especially with tea and Rosemary's amazing home made lemon and marzipan buns waiting for us!