Lon Las Cymru - The Welsh National Cycle Route

Getting our bikes to Cardiff - Easter Monday, April 13th 1998

We set off for Bangor railway station just as the snowstorm was tailing off! Initially our bikes felt strange with fully-laden front and rear panniers. We arrived just before the next blizzard and waited for the 11:16 to Crewe. Normally this train goes to Birmingham but today it was curtailed by engineering works so we had to wait for the Virgin HST to take us to Birmingham. We knew coach A carried the bikes and asked the Virgin employee on the platform which end of the train it would be. He phoned someone on his mobile, relayed the answer to us and we stood poised to load our bikes. In fact coach A was at the opposite end so we had to race down the platform to load them! There were two bikes already on board and our three filled the remainder of the available space. Bikes are locked in on a HST so you can't afford to be last off at your destination!

Setting off from home

Preparing to board the 11:16

We had an hour to wait at Birmingham before the Cardiff train pulled in - a 158! The guard was obliged to let us board since we had cycle reservations but wasn't too happy about it and turned away a French cyclist who was without this vital document. We only just managed to squeeze two bikes in the designated space, the other was wedged by the door and we had to move it every time someone wanted to get on or off. Not very good. At Cardiff we made for Austin's Guest House, close to the station, right on the cycle route and facing the river so free from traffic noise. After a shower we refuelled at Pizza Express, had a quick look round the pleasant city centre (it was very cold) and went to bed.