Like most trips or adventures this one started with a plan! It was pretty simple; ride our bikes to a bothy, stay over night and come home. I was joined by two close friends, George and Carl, who I have rode/raced with for the last 15 years so riding 10 miles or so wasn’t going to be an issue for any of us. I had been watching the weather very closley in the week leading up to the trip, with it having rained for what seemed likes months we were keen to do this ride with out getting soaked to the bone. Luckily we had the perfect window of clear/dry weather for a few days which got us pretty excited!
A short drive to The Elan Valley with a compulsory snack stop in Rhayader. We parked at the bottom of the Clearwen reservoir and made our way up the public road until we joined an unpaved track that skirted the reservoir. The Elan valley is a place I spend a huge amount of time exploring and taking photos, yet never get bored of the area and I still find it a hugely inspiring place to be.
Admiring the Claerwen Dam.
Eachof us was carrying the food, drink and equipment needed for 1 night. I always find carrying a backpack pretty comfortable whist walking in the mountains but riding a bike with a large bag is a new one for me. After about a mile we all pulled over and made some much needed adjustments to our bags……Only another 9 miles to go! We spent lots of time studying the route and maps and are fortunate that there aren’t too many climbs. We pass a man on a gravel bike with fancy bags built into the frame saying he’d done 80km that day! Im pretty sure we all thought “Nobody likes a bragger” as he went on his way. Still having the reservoir to our left, we all commented on the sheer size of it and how remote we felt.
Slowly meandering into the Cambrian Mountains.
Finally leaving behind the reservoir we made our way up a small climb to a farm miles from anywhere. I always wonder what it would be like to live somewhere so remote? Would you go mad? Would you revel in the solitude? In the distance we see snow on a few of the higher peaks, definitely a sign it’s going to be a chilly night. Nearing the 9 mile mark there’s a small river crossing and a short steep climb before we reached the last stretch of the ride. As we got our first view of our digs for the night a small puff of white smoke from the bothy chimney indicated that we wouldn’t be having the place to ourselves, but it was also a welcome sight to the boys and myself (I was beginning to wonder if the bothy actually existed!). We arrived just as the sun was setting over Tregaron, after a quick chat with the couple who were sharing the bothy and we claimed a room before finally getting the bags off our tired, sore shoulders.
Made it!
Wasting no time, we got back outside and scrambled up the hill behind the bothy with a well earned beer! The sky was forecast to be clear for most of the night but not before it turned into the most vibrant display of colour we’ve seen in a long time. As the sun sets we all noticed the temperature drop very quickly. Our beers were quickly drank and we went back into the bothy with the Jetboil to brew up some tea and coffee for the long night ahead. We lit some candles to save torch batteries and made our beds up on the ply board platform in our room. Being in the middle of nowhere, mobile phone signal was non existent and instead of being annoying it was refreshing to not reach for the phone and aimlessly browse social media pages.
Does it taste any better?!
At around 6:30 we decided that it was time to eat and give us something to do to pass the time, all of us took it in turns to cook or pour boiling water over what ever what hand managed to fit in our bags, more tea was drunk as the temperature was still dropping and I think secretly we all started to feel the cold. Having known the skies were going to be clear as the night went on, I took a wander outside and was pretty excited to see a perfectly cloud free sky, no matter how many times I see the night sky it still fascinates me. I grabbed a few images of the bothy and headed back in to get some gloves and get the boys who were keen to go for a short walk to warm up and admire the stars.
The Claerddu bothy under the milky way.
Ursa Major high above the bothy.
After 20 minutes outside wandering around in the dark our head torches slowly started to fade on all of us so we retire back to the bothy. We finally got a chance to sit downstairs by the log fire that had been lit earlier by the other couple, we put some damp riding kit on the washing line in a vain attempt to dry it for the early ride in the morning. Not long after that we all decided to finally get into our sleeping bags and try to make it through the night with out freezing to death. After about half an hour I managed to get myself comfy and drop off to sleep.
Candle lit bullshit.
Waking up to the words “i’m fucking freezing” was something I found quite funny after having a very warm comfortable nights sleep. None of us wasted any time lying around and we were all up and packing up our bags after a cup of tea. Funnily enough none of our clothes had dried next to the fire. I was quite keen to get outside and catch some predawn light so the boys loaded up their bikes and sorted out a few mechanical problems before we finally left the other couple in peace. I’m sure they were pretty gutted to see us tuning up the night before, brakes squealing and marching up and down the stairs in the night.
Chilly start like!
The thought of a 10 mile ride back to the van wasn’t one of much inspiration, but we had beautiful clear skies and the sun was just beginning to show its head above the hills in front of us. It definitely made thing much easier. We had a few compulsory photo stops and a very, very precarious river crossing that we had all rode through the day before. This time we chose wisely and carried our bikes across some conveniently placed boulders. I dont think any of us realised how cold it was until all of or brakes had frozen up after the river crossing. Definitely making the first descent a proper wake up! Having had rain for what felt like months before this weekend, the sun in our eyes as we dodged frozen puddles was a something that non of us complained about.
10 miles of this…bliss.
We now had the reservoir on our right side as we joined familiar surroundings of the Elan Valley, not a single breath of wind made for mirror like reflections on the water. I’ve visited the area a lot, but have never seen it this still. The temptation to wasting a few hours taking photos was very high but our stomachs were beginning to get louder and Ty Morgans in Rhayader had already been mentioned. I managed to quickly fly the drone but freezing temperatures over night had drained the battery so had to make it very brief.
The upper Claerwen.
With the drone packed away and onto the last few miles, the ride home absolutely flew by. The sun had now finally risen above the hills and was starting to melt the frost. When we got back to The Clearwen dam I had one more quick chance to fly my drone as we rode over it. We finally made it back to the van, mission accomplished! A brilliant night out all round, we’re all pretty enthusiastic about doing it again and maybe taking tents and wild camping. Cheers to Carl and George for average company.
Done!
