23 October 2017
Motorbike tour - Snowdonia and the Peak District
Jonny Lowther
So between the 7th and 9th of July, me and my dad decided to take our motorbikes out for a tour around Snowdonia and the Peak district, and some places in between.
My dad rode up from Cambridge on the 6th of July, and we went out that night for a walk around some of the local area. We ended up at the theatre to have dinner and a few drinks before heading back to my apartment to get some sleep before starting our trip the next morning.
The first day
We started at my apartment in Manchester on the morning of the 7th, the weather couldn't have been any better. A nice 20 degrees and sunny - a great start. We loaded up the bikes and set off. The route on day 1 took us from Manchester, routing South of Chester, parallel to the North coast of Wales, through Snowdonia and then down the West coast to stay the night in Aberystwyth. We had a few troubles with the sat nav on the BMW along the way but nothing that delayed us for too long. It took us around 7 or 8 hours to reach Aberystwyth having stopped a few times along the way for drinks and a break. Once we got to the hotel we unpacked and went out to find somwhere to eat, weirdly everywhere was shut after 9pm so we ended up just having dinner in the hotel.
The second day
Having woken up early on the second day, we had some breakfast at the hotel and once again set off for another day of riding. First stop was only a few hundred metres down the road where we found a medieval castle sat on a hill overlooking the sea.
Having looked around for an hour or so, we set back off. We rode all the way back across Wales, once getting back into England we passed through the Shropshire hills, and stopped off at a quaint little village to have lunch outside of a cafe. Again, the weather couldn't have been any better. We walked around a little before getting back on the bikes and completing the final leg of the journey - to the Peak District. The roads here were excellent, very twisty with great views - the highlight of the trip. Just a shame about all of the average speed cameras!
