Maelor ride

A little longer than recent rides, which have all been aimed at recovering from long runs, this took me out to the English Maelor via Holt and Farndon. After crossing the Dee, I joined some of the lanes taken by January's 'Borders 50' (which was actually longer than this ride!), all very pleasant, and took a short break at Worthenbury (probably the low point of the Borders 50, furthest away from home). Through Bangor and the racecourse, then along undulating lines to Overton where I stopped for a snack opposite the church. The return leg took me through the middle of Wrexham and Caia Park - home via Cefn y Bedd.

The Big Link

This more or less exhausts the most ambitious (and feasible) lockdown options from the front door. After the big Borders 50 miler in January, earlier marathon distance lockdown runs to the top of Moel Famau and back, and the compass point 20 milers, a plan to formulate a giant link-up of the hills of north-east Wales from my front door began to hatch. It was a beautiful morning, but unfortunately I felt a bit tired on the plod up the lanes towards Hope. I took a series of paths over the top of Hope Mountain then dropped down to Llanfynydd through the woods. Lovely warm sunshine, despite the early hour, as I crested Pen Llan y Gwr, continuing along the Wales Link Path (finding the right way this time) down to Four Crosses. From here, a path leads to the Nant y ffrith reservoir, after which I took a wrong turn, ending up in hellish bog and tussocks on the far side of the lake. Eventually, I gained the main Wrexham road, and turned off into the Llandegla forest to join the 10k route. This gave a perfect contouring line with more climbing until I dropped down back to the main road and turned into the village. As with the Borders 50, I was entirely dependent on particular village shops being open, and fortunately the Llandegla community shop was! After a cheese pastie and tunnocks tea cake, I was ready to go back to the fray for the lovely section of OD that follows the stream valley before climbing steeply up to Moel y Plas. This entire section is always good, my favourite part of the Clwydians, but was particularly special today - coming as it did in the middle of this giant loop, beautiful 'spring' weather, and very few people around because of lockdown. I skirted Moel Llanfair and Moel Gyw via the standard OD path, crossed the road at Clwyd Gate, and began to slow a little on the long drag up Fenlli. It was all really enjoyable, despite the increasing fatigue, and I took a little break on top of Famau. From here, the relatively simple matter of 13-14 mainly downhill miles back home remained. I descended down to the leat, then up to Pantymwyn and tiringly down weary willy to Mold, where I took a Boots sarnie and a coke! Thus fortified, the final climb up to Buckley (an urban mountain!) went surprisingly well, although the subsequent descent to HK was a tad uncomfortable: 58.2k/1771m in exactly 7 hours.

North Wales virtual 10m champs

'Race': North Wales Virtual 10m

Time/Position: 1.01.20 (12th from 35 [2nd V50])

I was reasonably optimistic for this, having had a few good recent tempo runs over the distance on hilly terrain. In the event, however, my pace was actually slower than the virtual half I ran in December. I probably should have waited until Sunday, as it was windy and wet this morning. Under full lockdown, I had to go from my front door so opted for the familiar loop down to Burton, then across to Lavister and back via Pulford and Dodleston. A cross-headwind made life hard initially, but this turned into something of a tailwind for the long haul between Pulford and Gorstella. Morgan accompanied me on the bike again, which was a great help, but much to my disappointment I just couldn't sustain sub-6 pace and slipped well outside my target time (and even further behind my PB set 10 years ago). Lost out on the V50 title by 12 seconds. 

Tal y Fan variants

Peaks: Tal y Fan

Area: Carneddau, Eryri

Tal y Fan from Conwy has long been a favourite run of mine. This morning, I varied the usual ascent via Hendre by taking the steep road past the Berthlwyd caravan site, which leads to a lovely steep twisting path right to the top of Maen Esgob. This is an obscure locale but a nice mini-peak with excellent views. From here, I followed familiar tracks past the stone circle to turn off for the quarry. Above, very steep slopes lead to the top of Tal y Fan and superb views across to the central Carneddau in constantly changing atmospheric conditions. It was great to be back in the midst of this longest of all lockdowns. I varied the descent from Sychnant to take in the wooded bridleway that leads up the side of Conwy Mountain. 

Wales Link Path loop

I've been looking at the Link Path signs for a while now. Launched in 2017, it links the Welsh coast path at Saltney with Offa's Dyke at Llandegla. As such, it goes through many fields near home. A frosty day seemed essential, so it was that Jez and I set off in the early morning for Honkley. The fields were indeed frozen solid, and it felt like running across tundra (I imagine) all day. The plan was to follow the link path religiously (it weaves round a lot in its attempt to avoid tarmac). Much of it was familiar, but some surprisingly was not. From Caer Estyn, it heads up towards Bryn Yorkin high above Hope and then joins familiar paths through the woods to Ffrith and beyond. The terrain higher up is excellent, with view over Cyrn y Brain and a real upland feel. We doubled back at this point, heading for home on small lanes through Llanfynydd, over Waun y Llyn, and home via the lake: 32k/850m or so.