egg and milk and seasoned with salt and pepper.
Crempog is a pancake made with flour, buttermilk, eggs, vinegar and salted butter traditionally served on Shrove Tuesday and other days of celebration, such as birthdays.
By the time you finish the ride you will have seen thousands on the hillsides, so why not try Welsh lamb close to where it is reared.
Look out for the oggie – a D-shaped pasty made with lamb and leeks.
Welsh cakes are baked circular delights spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg and dusted in caster sugar.
Laverbread (bara lawr) is an edible seaweed usually served with toast or alongside bacon and eggs for breakfast.
Some quality craft beers are produced on or near the route: Brains, Bullmastiff and Crafty Devil (Cardiff); Vale of Glamorgan Brewery I (Barry); Tomos & Lilford Brewery (Llantwit Major); Borough Brewery and Neath Ales (Neath); Boss Brewing, Tomos Watkins and Mumbles Brewery (Swansea); Preseli Brewery (Tenby); Bluestone Brewing (Cilgwyn, Pembrokeshire); Penlon Cottage Brewery (New Quay); Purple Moose (Porthmadog); Great Orme Brewery and Wild Horse Brewing (Llandudno); Monty’s Brewery (Montgomery) and Tiny Rebel (Newport).
A road cyclist climbing the Nant Ffrancon Pass with Tryfan on the skyline (Cross route 1)
Phones and Wi-Fi
Although mobile coverage is generally good, phone users in Wales have the least access to 4G networks in the UK, so you may not be able to post your photos straight to social media when riding through the Cambrian Mountains in Mid Wales. However, many cafés and pubs provide free Wi-Fi access so you should not be offline for too long.
Emergencies
You may encounter few fellow cyclists along some of the more remote stages in Mid Wales, so it pays to be prepared for problems or emergencies. Should you have a good mobile phone signal, you can telephone the emergency services by dialling 999 or 112. However, it is always wise to let someone know your plans, particularly across the more remote hills between Machynlleth and Dolgellau on Cross route 3.
Waymarking
Where NCN routes are followed, they are generally well signed with fingerposts at major junctions and small blue repeater signs along the way. It can occasionally become confusing when signage for local routes takes precedent, when another NCN route briefly follows the same course or when signs are hidden behind undergrowth or temporarily misplaced. So it pays to be attentive at junctions, checking as you approach a junction and as you ride away from it to see if there is signage for riders going in the opposite direction.
Having the route downloaded on to a GPS, so that you get a reassuring beep at every junction, is also reassuring but not a necessity. However, GPS devices also have a nasty habit of losing satellite connection along the extensive tree-lined sections of the route, and you may need to carry a power pack to top up the battery while riding.
Maps
This book is designed to be small enough to carry with you and includes linear maps that are entirely adequate for following the route. However, they do not show much on either side of the route, such as where your overnight accommodation is located, so it is advisable to carry separate maps, such as those in the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger Series for such purposes.
Using this guide
Although the circumnavigation is organised into 12 stages, it is most likely you will choose to use one of the suggested alternative schedules or work out your own itinerary. Each stage starts and finishes at a location where there is a selection of different types of accommodation and good local facilities. At the beginning of each stage, an information box summarises the practical details associated with the stage, including the start and finish points (with grid references), distance, total ascent and numbers of the relevant Ordnance Survey map sheets should you wish to explore. An estimation of the time required to complete the stage is provided, although this will of course vary considerably according to fitness and the prevailing weather. Details of attractions and services along the stage are also provided.
The route shown on the accompanying 1:200,000 maps is then described in detail with features that appear on the maps highlighted in bold in the text. Detailed maps show the route where it is sometimes difficult to find the way back to the route after taking a break to explore. Distances shown in brackets in the route description are the cumulative distance from the start of the stage and the distance still to ride to the end of the stage.
Sunset at the Parrog Estuary at Newport (Stage 4)
Estimating times in hilly terrain
Estimating how long a ride will take when it involves a significant amount of climbing is notoriously difficult. Hillwalkers use Naismith’s Rule, which allows 1 hour for every 3 miles (5km) covered in distance plus 1 hour for every 2000ft (600m) of ascent. Because there is considerable variation between the speed and climbing abilities of a committed club cyclist and a leisure cyclist, there is no comparable benchmark in cycling. However, the basic principle still applies.
Total time = time to cover the distance + time spent ascending
The Italian physician and cycling coach Michele Ferrari developed the term velocità ascensionale media (VAM) to refer to the average speed of ascent. VAM is usually expressed as metres per hour (m/h) and winners of mountain stages in grand tours typically climb at more than 1500m/h, while most club cyclists are capable of climbing somewhere in the range of 700 and 900m/h.
In this book much more modest values have been used for VAM, with estimated times based on 10mph (16kph) plus 400m/h. So a stage of 50 miles that involves 800m of ascent is estimated to take roughly 7 hours.
To get an estimate of your own VAM, first assess your average speed on the flat and then record your times for a number of measured climbs and see what number best fits. But if all of this is too much for you, just use the rule of thumb that 5 miles in the hills takes about as long as 8 miles on the flat.
GPX tracks
GPX tracks for the routes in this guidebook are available to download free at www.cicerone.co.uk/988/GPX. A GPS device is an excellent aid to navigation, but you should also carry a map and, essentially, know how to use it. GPX files are provided in good faith, but neither the author nor the publisher accepts responsibility for their accuracy.
A CIRCUIT OF WALES
Cyclists enjoying the cool shade along the track of an old railway between Neyland and Haverfordwest on Stage 3
STAGE 1
Cardiff to Mumbles
| Start | Cardiff Central Railway Station (ST 184 759) |
| Finish | Below Oystermouth Castle, Mumbles (SS 616 885) |
| Distance | 67 miles (107km) |
| Ascent | 800m |
