Just got back from a road trip around Wales in the Z4, it was my first "big" trip since getting the car 2 months ago. Thought I'd try a bit of a write up rather than just posting lots of photos. it might be useful for people who ware wanting to do something similar. I did it over 4 days - Doncaster > Caernarfon > Aberystwyth > Rhayader > Mold and back to Doncaster.
Day 1: Doncaster to Caernarfon
It was finally here. The road trip I'd been planning for months. 750 miles with a large chunk of it made up of the finest Welsh driving roads. I set off, excited as to what was ahead, hoping that the many late nights looking at Google Maps would pay off as I had lots of particular roads I wanted to drive. I picked up a mate en-route before the first stop of the day, the local Shell petrol station for a fresh tank of V-Power goodness.
I had originally planned to go north on the A1 before joining the M62 but at the last minute I decided against it. Instead I headed over to Sheffield and took the Snake Pass to help break the journey up.
From here it was on to the M62, then the M56 and eventually the A494 to Mold. A quick stop for a Subway and we were back on the road, excitement rising as we neared closer to the Evo Triangle. The first section of the triangle was the B4501 past Llyn Brenig down to Cerrigydrudion - a road that would become one of the favourite roads of the trip. It's hard to take photos that do this road justice - you just have to drive it. It's not particularly scenic compared to some other roads on the trip but the fast sweeping bends more than make up for it.
At the end of the B4501 I turned right on the A5. I wasn't expecting this to be up to much driving wise, with it being a main road but I was surprised. A long 6 mile straight meant I could maintain pace before turning right on to the third section of the triangle, the A543. It started off fairly narrow but after a while opened up allowing much better visibility.
Another great road, I followed this to back up to where it meets the B4501 and turned right for another run, this time stopping off at Llyn Brenig. I was really impressed by the triangle - I've seen it mentioned on lots of forums with some describing it as Welsh heaven and others rubbishing it in favour of other roads but I enjoyed it and I'd definitely include it my next trip. There are plenty of great surrounding roads too so you could make a day or even weekend out of it.
From here it was back up the A5 to Capel Curig where I turned off on to the A4086 to Llanberis. This was another stretch of road I'd read lots about.
We continued along the A4086 as it turned into the Llanberis Pass. Traffic began to increase which brought speeds down but this was the type of road where it was just as rewarding to relax and enjoy the scenery as it was to press on.
This was the last leg of our journey with us ending up in Caernarfon. After checking in to the Travelodge and a quick break we decided to go and check out Anglesey as it wasn't far away. We picked a place at random on the map, Rhosneigr, and drove up the A487 before crossing the Brittania bridge and on to the A55.
Rhosneigr was a nice little seaside village. It was too late for a swim but we grabbed some fishand chips and took a couple of photos.
The drive back to Caernarfon was amazing and sticks out as a highlight of trip. Rather than go back on the boring A55 we took the A4080 which turned out to be an excellent choice. 20 miles of pretty much all NSL road, only passing 2 cars the entire way. A quick stop at Shell for another tank of V-Power ready for the morning and it was off to bed for a well deserved sleep. Overall a really good day - a combination of good roads, minimum traffic and the roof off all the way.
Day 2 to come once I've sorted the photos.
Day 1: Doncaster to Caernarfon
It was finally here. The road trip I'd been planning for months. 750 miles with a large chunk of it made up of the finest Welsh driving roads. I set off, excited as to what was ahead, hoping that the many late nights looking at Google Maps would pay off as I had lots of particular roads I wanted to drive. I picked up a mate en-route before the first stop of the day, the local Shell petrol station for a fresh tank of V-Power goodness.
I had originally planned to go north on the A1 before joining the M62 but at the last minute I decided against it. Instead I headed over to Sheffield and took the Snake Pass to help break the journey up.
From here it was on to the M62, then the M56 and eventually the A494 to Mold. A quick stop for a Subway and we were back on the road, excitement rising as we neared closer to the Evo Triangle. The first section of the triangle was the B4501 past Llyn Brenig down to Cerrigydrudion - a road that would become one of the favourite roads of the trip. It's hard to take photos that do this road justice - you just have to drive it. It's not particularly scenic compared to some other roads on the trip but the fast sweeping bends more than make up for it.
At the end of the B4501 I turned right on the A5. I wasn't expecting this to be up to much driving wise, with it being a main road but I was surprised. A long 6 mile straight meant I could maintain pace before turning right on to the third section of the triangle, the A543. It started off fairly narrow but after a while opened up allowing much better visibility.
Another great road, I followed this to back up to where it meets the B4501 and turned right for another run, this time stopping off at Llyn Brenig. I was really impressed by the triangle - I've seen it mentioned on lots of forums with some describing it as Welsh heaven and others rubbishing it in favour of other roads but I enjoyed it and I'd definitely include it my next trip. There are plenty of great surrounding roads too so you could make a day or even weekend out of it.
From here it was back up the A5 to Capel Curig where I turned off on to the A4086 to Llanberis. This was another stretch of road I'd read lots about.
We continued along the A4086 as it turned into the Llanberis Pass. Traffic began to increase which brought speeds down but this was the type of road where it was just as rewarding to relax and enjoy the scenery as it was to press on.
This was the last leg of our journey with us ending up in Caernarfon. After checking in to the Travelodge and a quick break we decided to go and check out Anglesey as it wasn't far away. We picked a place at random on the map, Rhosneigr, and drove up the A487 before crossing the Brittania bridge and on to the A55.
Rhosneigr was a nice little seaside village. It was too late for a swim but we grabbed some fishand chips and took a couple of photos.
The drive back to Caernarfon was amazing and sticks out as a highlight of trip. Rather than go back on the boring A55 we took the A4080 which turned out to be an excellent choice. 20 miles of pretty much all NSL road, only passing 2 cars the entire way. A quick stop at Shell for another tank of V-Power ready for the morning and it was off to bed for a well deserved sleep. Overall a really good day - a combination of good roads, minimum traffic and the roof off all the way.
Day 2 to come once I've sorted the photos.
south yorkshire
From here it was a few miles to Llanuwchllyn then a drive over what is the, or one of the highest roads in Wales, Bwlch y Groes aka Hellfire Pass. It was a good road although it didn't seem spectacular high, not sure if that was because I was expecting to be looking down to a hugh drop (like Buttertubs for example), or whether the roads so far had me overwhelmed already. Again the road was quiet, we passed more cyclists and sheep in the road than drivers.
