The FAVOURITE UK bikepacking ride & swim | PLUS Gravel Gearing for bikepacking

The final one from bikepacking Traws Eryri, the off-road route from Machyllneth to Conwy. This was by absolute favourite day – the views and trails were second to none and we had a lush swim in the lake at Coed-y-Brenin.

I also talk gearing for your gravel bike and the adjustments I made specifically for riding this trail.

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morning from a lovely sunny Betsy covid so we’re on our last day of TR Ari the trail from Mah hunleth up to Conway and last night well I realized I just I just kind of stopped recording what happened was we decided to stay in a bunk house here in Betsy covid can’t remember what it’s called do you know what it’s called Glen ABA Glen ABA that’s it so for the py sum of uh £21 each we got a private room with two bunk beds in it well a set of bunk beds well two beds that are bunks get what I’m saying it’s so small it’s almost like a little cupboard but it’s a private bunk room so really not unhappy about that at all it was great and we got to spend a night here in Betsy C eating pizza having a beer and it it was just really really really nice so we’re going to grab a bit more food from this lovely Bakery in the spa I went there yesterday and immediately scoffed a big piece of tofe cake I’ve got a uh flat track from there in my bar bag but I’m just thinking I need more food I was quite hungry yesterday so I thought you might be interested to know a little bit about the bike and the gearing before I set off I’ve actually recently changed my rear cassette from the one that it came with so um supposedly you can only run an 11 to 40 cassette up to 40 um on this Shimano di2 electronic group set that I’ve got um but lots of people say that you can actually put a bigger large sprocket than that it’s not recommended by Shimano but I decided to give it a try anyway and I got a hold of a wolf tooth Missing Link which is a sort of derailer extender I haven’t actually needed that the only drawback that I found is there’s this rather large jump between the second to last and the last gear so it’s quite hard to get precisely the right Cadence when you’re going up a hill like this one you’re proper plotting you’re quite slow which is nice on this trip because um we are just chilling but then that one is a little bit too hard I kind of want something in between so I’ll be looking to replace this before my next trip just briefly showing you the rest of the setup I’ve also got 44c WTB Radler tires on here and they’ve been absolutely great um I’m not unhappy about riding a gravel bike at all even though this route is recommended for a mountain bike there has been the odd section that was a bit tricky in terms of loose Rock steep that kind of thing um and some of those Laura struggled to get up on her hard tail as well they were just hard so for 30 seconds or a minute and a half you might have to push your bike no matter what bike you’re on so you might as well ride the gravel bike if you want to be comfy on all the road sections because this whole route is about it’s about 100 km of Road over 200 km of the entire route so fair bit of road if you’re happier on a road style setup on all those Road sections then ride your gravel bike otherwise stick with a mountain bike anyway that’s just my two cents I suppose it also depends on your um confidence on all the off-road sections I’m pretty confident on a gravel bike anyhow I think I’ve uh wited on enough so much that Laura’s disappeared oh no she hasn’t here she is don’t show my butt we’re both actually a bit stiff and sore from not doing any stretching so I’ll take care of that get the food sorted and then off we [Music] go can you see why I wanted to come but really I shouldn’t be eating too much sweet stuff so let’s see if they have a sandwich I can take and then I had to of course take my rubbish with me now my whole bar bag is so stinky it’s really disgusting sardines are nice when you eat them not when you smell them [Music] oh look at that jacket keep pedaling I know this climb oh we did it on the gravel rally uh it goes on a bit this Forest is so beautiful massive trees oh fail we left our towels and bikinis in the drawing room turn around and start again let’s try that again take two looks like today there’s two main climbs although it’s actually not as bad as it sounds it’s not just purely up for half of the kilometers The Climb is broken up with other little flat bits and descents it’s just mainly up for a long time then down and then mainly up and then down hello hello hi we have picked up another Rider it’s been really fun so last night we met up with Laura’s friend Kath and had pizza and today we’ve got hither yay [Music] wo oh my goodness that was one of the loveliest swims I have ever had today is so so good so far [Music] this is so beautiful possibly my favorite day so [Music] far today is going too too quickly I think we’re almost halfway I want to so hard even more where are we we are at ogwin Cottage ogwin Cottage apparently and Heather sadly is leaving us cuz she’s got work to do this afternoon so we’re having a quick pit stop and then we got a big descent to Bethesda and then bit more climbing and we’ll be catching the train back to [Music] Mac Wow hi [Music] such a good day Oho just had our first sighting of the sea oh wow oh gosh you’re so [Music] nice today is absolutely the best day of the trip doesn’t do it justice it never does never does that’s what’s coming up we go 6.33 km and 424 M of climbing so let’s settle in and I’ve got a sandwich to look forward to at the top it’s quite nice so far just chilling on these country lanes I guess there’s a steep of bit to come so far so nice nice view ah uh I actually read about this on the trouser Facebook group that there’s these steps in the trail and no one really knows why they’re in there it must be a mistake because you don’t want to go down those it’s better to go around which is what I’m going to do this is a real Punchy little climb I’m glad it’s dry oh nice I’m nearly at the top and it’s been a tough one but the view views I mean well the views are behind me but every time I look around wow just going to pedal to the top top and then oh my God there’s horses God you’re beautiful this is such a treat after a long climb rooted by ponies in their FS this is so nice oh my goodness I think there’s Stone circles up there up on the hill so wonder if I’ve got time to pop up there and have a look this is amazing [Music] hello shame some sorts a little fire in the [Music] middle H uh River bit doing it I’m not convinced I can hike my bike over those rocks and not fall in so I’m just going to walk through the Middle with no socks on the difference is Laura’s got flat shoes but I got to call my feet down and it’s lovely I wonder if this is the bog of Doom oh I think this is the bog of Doom we were given a route to go around it but we somehow cocked that up so through we go um yeah didn’t quite go to FL look at that yeah I thought i’ beaten it but it beat me higher higher come from all the way over there and then next bit is a wee bit [Applause] Rocky and that’s it we’re just about in Conway or however you pronounce it still don’t know I’ve been riding here for 4 days con con con we’re there with a twinge of sadness and disappointment that it’s over but the good thing is I can I finally eat the sandwich I’ve been carryed [Music] around Are We There is that the here we’re there this is the end yeah a so I hope you enjoyed coming along with us we’re going to head off and get the train say bye bye oh and don’t forget to watch Laura’s Channel see you later bye