Heading off on to Wales and the first time I’ve taken my bike. Although we’ve had nice spells of sunny weather I had a very overcast cycle ride to Chorley Railway Station. I’d booked my bike onto the 06:16am train to Manchester Piccadilly and there were already a lot of people on the platform when I arrived. Surprisingly the train was on time. We trundled to Manchester calling at every station on the way and arrived at platform 14 which meant I had to get my bike up the lift over to the main platforms. The timetable said my next train to Wolverhampton left from platform 3 at 07:07am. The time was tight but I got there with a few minutes to spare only to find the train I wanted wasn’t on platform 3. It was leaving from 7. So I had to rush back and found the bike carriage with only a couple of minutes left.

The bike on Cross Country train

I was travelling Cross County Trains and found yet another system for storing bikes. The carriage only seemed to have space for 2 bikes to be hung from the roof of a small compartment by a hook. I had to take all my panniers off to get it in. Once on we set off on time for Bristol but I was only on as far as Wolverhampton. With a connection time of about half an hour there shouldn’t be a problem. We arrived on time and I wandered round to wait for by final train to Aberystwyth at 08:42. The departure board soon had it down as running 2 minutes late which had expanded to 10 minutes late when it arrived. The 4 carriage train would split at Shrewsbury and The rear two carriages would continue to Aberystwyth. Fortunately the bike carriage was in one of the rear two.

Not enough room

It was an Ariva carriage and I didn’t have to hang my bike on a hook but the area for it to be parked was too short, like the Chichester train, and no adequate securing strap. We trundled on to Shrewsbury where the train split and we had to reverse out of the station only to take a wrong turn thanks to an error by the signal operator.

arriving at Aberystwyth

When I booked my bike on there was also a seat reservation for me in carriage A. That was one of the two carriages not going to Aberystwyth. We eventually got on the right track and set off. I sat back to enjoy the two and three quarter hour train ride. We arrived in Aberystwyth, the end of the line, about 11:35, 10 mins late. I was hoping to take a few photos of interesting building and scenes before leaving the town, but I couldn’t see any.

Aberystwyth Rail Station

Even the bland railway station building didn’t have a railway sign on it, just Weatherspoons. There had been low cloud most of the morning and it was still hanging around as I set off south along the A485. I soon had a steep climb away from the town and a busy ‘A’ road to follow to Llanilar where I left it for the B4575. When I reached a minor road through pine forests I saw hardly any traffic and the only noise was a single sawmill. At Pontrhydygroes I stopped at the site of the Lisburne Mine and a magnificent and working waterwheel.

Lisburne Mine waterwheel

I continued and came to a fairly long and steep climb before descending for a while. I came to the junction where the Devil’s Bridge road joins. An old fashioned road sign pointed to the ‘Mountian Road’ which is where I was heading. I managed the climb for a while but it soon became far too steep to ride with a touring bike. I pushed the bike up for a while then rode the undulating road to Cwmystwyth. I now left the houses behind and headed up a picturesque valley with high sides and large areas of abandoned lead mines along the bottom. Up to the left I could see old track routes up to the mines. It was enjoyable cycling as the climb wasn’t too steep. I stopped to investigate a small pottery with an ‘open’ sign by the building. The door was open but nobody there. The pots on display looked like something that children had made.

Old mine workings

There was nothing that I found of interest so I continued. Higher up the Powis boundary had a small lay-bye adjacent and information board about the Queen opening a dam as one her first duties as the new Monarch. I was nearing my planned camp and rode to the pass summit before descending to a branch track to Glanhirin. I pushed my bike up a track opposite but couldn’t find any level ground. On the opposite bank of the river I found some flat grassy ground so pitched my tent there.