Friday, January 22, 2021

Hope Mountain deluxe

 Another vague idea I had stored away for years but never bothered to do. Lockdown offered an opportunity, so at the crack of dawn I took the mountain bike to Hope and then executed the plan: a quadruple ascent, with different ascent/descent routes throughout. The first course was around the shoulder to Tir y fron, the northern ascent, which then takes a very steep lane to the bridleway north of Waun y Llyn: a tough start. Down towards Coed Talon, then I cut left to gain climb number two: up to Horeb from the Llanfynydd road: just as steep as the TyF climb. From the Waun y Llyn trig, straight down the Mountain Road and back to the starting point! Climb number three takes Porch Lane from Caergwrle, arguably the toughest of them all. Some snow and ice on this made life tricky, but I emerged unscathed on the bottom road. This was even icier, but the conditions were a help for the connecting path over the fields which leads to the 'top road'. I went straight across, below the crags, on the paths to descend the tunnel of pain to Llanfynydd. Through the village, then up climb number four to Pen Rhiw. This completed the set, and the full tour, particularly as I then descended via Bryn Yorkin back to Caergwrle and then the Mold road to my bike.

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