"PRINCE OF WALES"
A bike trip to England and Wales July 2002 
- Now also including Hanstholm and London

Day 9 Sunday 21st July 2002
Rhyl  - Near Llanberris - 82 km. Total: 1066 km

I had a very windy night. In the middle of the night I had to get up and fasten a tent peg. I woke a little after 6 a.m. The night before I had spotted a café near by, which opened at 7 o’clock, so my temporarily plan was to consume the breakfast there. 

I am now in the café. I had exactly 440 meters to ride to get here, so it was not the biggest problem in the world. It´s still cold and there is a nasty wind. But it is dry. However, the sky is covered with clouds in numerous shapes and colours, which probably is a sign of unstable weather. 
The breakfast was like this: 1 egg, 2 pieces of bacon, beans and 2 pieces of toast. And coffee. I had to pay £3,30 for the lot.

The bacon they serve here is not like the bacon one gets in Denmark. Here the slices are thick and greasy, where the slices in Denmark would be thin as paper. I am sure the Welsh bacon is extremely unhealthy. The coffee is served with hot milk, which is heated in a small special pot. I could very quickly learn to love that.

This very minute a family enters the café. Among other things they bring a baby with them - with sound!
I am history.

12.26. 
Shit.
A spoke broke in the bad side of the rear wheel. (It´s always the same) My distinguished-looking BH-bike has special wheels with very special spokes. They have no bendings like spokes normally have and generally spokes break in that bending. However, these spokes have a life of their own, and it is very important for them, that they break, when thy are on a long bicycle trip, but the problem for this spoke was that there was no bending.
Of course it could not live with that, so it broke in the middle of the thread. I am just as smart as a human being, so I had made my home work. I know how spokes like to react, so in advance I had bought a number of spare spokes. I did not want them to get me.

Fortunately this took place where there was very nice green grass next to the road, and they had even put a bench there. There I was able to sit for a while and  ponder on the meaning of life and other interesting matters. And the sun was shining all the time. It was the first time I had ever tried to replace one of these special spokes, so it took me about an hour before I was able to continue the expedition. Breaking a spoke is extremely annoying. Once you have had a broken spok you keep waiting for the next to break. You focus on these stupid spokes constantly. How weak are they now? Is another spoke preparing an attack on your invulnerability. It´s not because you may spend an hour or so to fix the problem. On a bicycle ride you want to spend the time on riding and nothing else.

I did not have any other problem the rest of the day. The wheel is not perfect, but it´s ok. I have decided to trust in it.

Apart from the spoke-song it turned out to be a very eventful day. The first part of the day I rode along the coast, and it was the most scenic road I have ridden on for a very long time. So beautiful. Should I bring up a single unpleasant thing it would be the neighbouring motorway. From time to time it was hard to avoid, but I also had a lot of very nice bicycle paths. I met quite a few interesting people on my way. Along the coast I talked to a runner, who was very interested in my trailer. Now I am more or less an expert on that trailer, so he had chosen the right man to ask.

On a narrow road in a forest I met "Harry the bike". He was an elderly gentleman, who had a very old bike. He told me, it was more that 40 years old. He was so proud. One gear only, he told me. He also told me about the thousands and thousands of miles, he had ridden on that bike. He was a very nice man. He had dropped his wife somewhere in the forest, but she turned up a little later and joined the chat.  

It was my plan to visit Mount Snowdon Monday, but when I got closer to the mountain, it was obvious to me that the weather would be perfect for a visit to the mountain, You never know about mountains. The weather situation is unpredictable, and it can change very quickly. Therefore I rode to the station and asked the people in the ticket office if they had a safe place for my bike and trailer, while I was on the mountain. They were not friendly at all, and had absolutely nothing to offer me.
I rode around in the area, when I spotted some young people next to a sign with the text "3 peak event". They told me that a group of people should "climb" the 3 highest mountains in Great Britain in 24 hours. They had already visited Ben Nevis in Scotland  and Scafell Pike  in England and now they were about to attack Mount Snowdon.  
They would be in the area for several hours, because they had to wait for the people to go up and down the mountain. And some of the them were very tired. They told me they would keep an eye on my stuff.  

The Mountains of England and Wales

It's a bit expensive to go up the mountain by train. It´s possible to walk both ways, but since I am not at all a wanderer I was not interested, so I paid £ 18.And to be honest with you I did not for one second think of walking. The trip to the top of the mountain lasted 1 hour, and it was spectacular. The weather was clear and the view magnificent. We stayed at the top for 30 minutes, which was ok, because it was cold up there. I swapped cameras with other people who travelled alone. I also took some photos of some of the people from the 3 peak event. The trip down lasted only 50 minutes, because we did not have to give way from trains going up. In the train I sat next to a young girl, who had planned on walking both up and down. But the walk up the mountain was more than enough for her, she told me. Before she entered the train she said good bye to her boy friend, who wanted to walk both up and down.  

It looked like a migration. There was a swarm of people going up and down, and to my surprise I saw some smaller children as well.
- Children have a lot of energy, my new friend said. I believe she is right.

I found my bike and trailer, and headed for a nearby super market where I bought some supper. Party food I tell you. Chicken and chocolate dessert. Wonderful.
Then I headed for the camp site, which was 4-5 kilometres from the station. The camp site turned out to be one of the alternative ones. A pub with a field with grass behind it. But the price was only £ 3.50. I wonder what made them choose that price? Why £ 3.50? Why not £ 3 or maybe even $ £4? 
At the "camp site" there were 4-5 people. One of them told me that I should not put up my tent close to a nearby enclosure, because a white pony was going to stay for the night there. It was not a mean or unfriendly pony, he told me. He just wanted me to know about it.
On the way to the toilet and shower one has to pass an enclose with a lot of ducks. This is really  the country side. It´s hard for me to imagine a camp site in Denmark, where people have to have such close contact with poultry to get a shower.

It might be a good idea to enjoy a single pint of lager before closing time? It´s very important to socialise with the locals, when you are on a bicycle trip. I do not like it too much, but I think I am going to do it all the same. After all this is my summer holiday.

It´s now 8.33 p.m. and apart from the incident with the broken spoke, this has been a wonderful and exciting day. And the weather has been very nice.
And I did actually get a pint in the bar with the locals. I would never dream of accusing these people of putting on their very best party clothes before they go to the pub in the evening. It´s possible to see some very characteristic articles of clothing here.

I was very disappointed because the white pony never turned up. I had actually been looking forward to that. Probably it had other guests to take care of.

Denne ekspedition blev kørt med cykel og trailer fra  Winther Cykler.

H. C. Andersens eventyr gennemføres i samarbejde med

Læs H. C. Andersens eventyr på cykel i Cykel-Motion Danmark

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