Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll to Holyhead to Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll

Tuesday September 21, 2010

My campsite for the night at Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll

My campsite for the night at Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll

I'd heard that the island of Anglesey had some nice coastlines so I decided to do a round trip out to Holyhead and back. It was easy riding, mostly undulating, and I was feeling really strong on the bike today. The scenery was pleasant enough, but it was all the same, not really interesting or exciting or extreme. Nothing to write home about, just roads and fields that are all the same.

A bike path in Anglesey

A bridge in Holyhead with unusual architecture.

Near Holyhead.

 I got out to Holyhead, had a bit of a look around. I checked out the go with catching the ferry, Holyhead is where the ferry goes from to Dubin. I could have bought a ticket right there and then for 33 pounds and been in Ireland that day. But I didn't, I rode back to Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll.

I got sick of going through these things, they seem to have them along all the bike paths, and they're really inconvenient on a laden touring bike.

This is where I stopped for lunch, a wind mill which was one of the most interesting things I saw that day.

A Dutch-style windmill in Anglesey.

It was a waste of strong legs and a day, I should have just continued on my way towards Scotland. The ride ended up being over 100 kilometres; I didn't think it was going to be that far! My average speed was pretty high, because there was no point taking it slow to look at scenery.

The sun setting in Anglesey.

The sun setting in Anglesey.

I got back just as it was getting dark, and went past the second bridge which is when I found the camping spot the bloke in Caernarfon was talking about. I dropped into the supermarket, while I was in there I asked an employee where the canned fish was. It turned out he was also a keen bicycle tourer to, so I had a bit of a chat to him about it, he was quite interested. Then I found a table and used the Trangia to cook some cous cous.

Trangia-cooked cous cous for tea at Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll.

It's really quite a hassle cooking on the Trangia, having to unpack the panniers and the Trangia, find enough water to cook with, and then enough water to wash up with afterwards. It's still so difficult to find a water tap anywhere over here. I guess I'm used to using the Trangia in Australia, where you are likely to be further from a town, so you can't just go in and have a pub meal or buy take-away. But considering the proximity of a town wherever you go in the UK, and the hassle of using the Trangia, I'm tempted to just go and eat at a pub. I haven't been to the pubs much, it's logistically difficult while camping because I have all my gear with me on the bike, and I can't really leave it all unattended, especially when I don't know what the areas I'm in are like, whether there's a high crime rate or not. And the other problem with eating at the pub is, again, I'm too tight with money. And I'm not sure how much I can afford to spend because my funds have to last me for the rest of my travels around Europe. If I find I have money left over at the end then I can lash out, because there's no point having any money left when I start full time work, that's when I'll be earning too much money and have too little time to spend it.
I do miss proper cooking facilities though; you can only cook fairly basic meals with the Trangia.
Speaking of things I miss, there are a few of them at the moment. I do miss Australia, the landscapes, the dryness, the beaches, the bush and the Eucalyptus trees, the familiarity of it all. And being able to light a camp fire wherever you camp. It's pretty difficult to do that here, firstly because everything's always wet and doesn't burn, secondly because there aren't actually many forests around. There are trees and bushes surrounding the paddocks, but mostly it's just paddocks, even through National Parks like the Brecon Beacons, mostly just paddocks. Snowdonia, again, lots of paddocks. It did have some forests in there, but like I mentioned, it was all wet and raining, no chance of lighting a camp fire.
Because I've been on my own a lot, both on the bike and camping each night, it has been a bit lonely and I miss having company, friends and family, going to parties.
I also miss playing guitar (my callouses have worn off my fingers from no guitar playing for a month. I miss typing on a real keyboard, and playing squash (as much as I like cycling, you can get a little tired of it doing it all day, every day).
I've gotten into quite a routine actually, even though I'm in a different place every day, the things I do are the same: wake up, pack up the tent and pack the bike, buy milk, cereal and food for lunch, find a seat/table to eat breakfast, ride for about six hours with breaks for photos, snacks, and to admire scenery or look at the map when I get lost (otherwise I just look at the map while I'm riding). Then at the end of the day I have to find a camp site, and it's usually dark by that stage, then unpack the bike, set up the tent, it's all a bit of a drag. It's hard work camping every night, especially when you're on your own, and I'm not a big fan of routine either.
I also really need a shower and to wash my clothes. It's not very nice going to sleep when you're all sticky from dirty and sweat. This post has turned into a complain session, so while I'm on that topic, my speedo keeps playing up and it's really frustrating. I'll be riding along and it will either drop down to a speed below what I'm doing, or say that I'm traveling at 0 km/h. I'm not sure what the problem with it is, it's a new wireless speedo. I will try replacing the battery in the sensor, and if that doesn't work then I'll just have to buy a new speedo.
After I finished tea at about 11 pm, I rode back to the same camping spot as I had stayed the previous night. I was in the same area, so it saved having to search out another camping spot.

Ride stats:
Distance: 105.93 km
Average: 18.5 km/h
Maximum: 61.7 km/h
Time: 5:41:50