With it being a long weekend, as there is a bank holiday on Monday, we decided to get away for the weekend. With finances being tight, we opted to go camping and cycling in North Wales. Close enough to drive to after work on the Friday and yet far enough from home to be different. We settled on Peniarth Bach Farm near Betws-yn-Rhos, near Abergele.

Saturday morning we got up early to join the SCCC Chester Zoo club ride which was to start from Mollington Village Hall. Having realised it was too far to cycle to the start of the ride without having to get up ridiculously early, we picked Ruthin as a suitable starting point. We got up at 6:30 (which was plenty early enough for a Saturday!) and after breakfast we drove to Ruthin (which took about 45 minutes). We parked up near the hospital and set off on our journey of exploration. Which just happened to involve climbing  a monster hill! It was so steep in places that we ended up having to walk bits of it.

We went through Moel Famau, which was a lovely forest park area.

We cycled over the river on the bridge at Connah’s  Quay.

From there we cycled as quickly as we could to get to the start point for the club ride. It was about 22.5 miles from Ruthin.

There were so many people turned up for the club ride, that we had to split into two groups.

The club ride took us along the side of the canal down to join the National Cycle Network route 5 (along what used to be an old railway line) to Connah’s Quay. From there we followed the River Dee to Queensferry, where we had lunch in a cafe.

After lunch we went back down to the River Dee and continued  along it to the edge of Chester.

Cutting through a park then along a canal for a while.

Then cutting through a housing estate before following a cycle path through the centre of Chester Zoo. To be honest you don”t get to see too many animals that way but we did spot some Antelope and Camels!

The route then took us back along the canal to the start. The club ride was about 22 miles.

Despite the weather forecast being rain all day, we hadn’t see any!

After a short break, we headed back to Ruthin but a different route than we had come. The route back went to Connah’s Quay then continued along  NCN 5 through Flint before we climbed up to Holywell.

Just after we left Flint, it started to rain and kept going on and off in varying degrees until we got back to Ruthin.

There had been some massively steep hills (one of which was called Pen-y-Ball hill), which were so bad that we both ended up walking. The fact that it was also raining made it rather more miserable!

As we arrived back at the edge of Ruthin the heavens opened and the rain really bounced down. So much so that we stopped for a few minutes to shelter under a tree.

By the time we got back to the car it was 20:15 almost exactly 12 hours from when we had left it that morning. The final total for the day was 80 miles and we were both very tired at the end!

To view the map and associated statistics, see the following link: Chester Zoo Ride at Garmin Connect