Following on from a lumpy Day 1, the route for the second day of our Mid Wales tour, from Machynlleth to Dolgellau, promised to be a challenging day of Mid Wales hills.

It also promised to be wet at some point.

Picking up NCN Route 82 (we would follow this all day) we took the road out of Machynlleth.

Crossing Afon Dyfi.

This followed the A493 for a little while.

Before turning off the main road for a few miles.

Then returning back to the main road at the village of Pennal.

After leaving the main road again, we headed up our first hill of the day.

Over the other side of the hill we continued towards Tywyn.

In Tywyn, we stopped for a brew at the first cafe we came across.

Then came the first signs of rain.

For awhile it was a case of ‘jackets on, jackets off, jackets on …’

With hills all around us the views were excellent.

Then came the major climb  of the day. We made our way up and around Foel Tyr-gawen.

At the top, the tarmac path now turned to shale and rocks.

The views were fantastic. The descent wasn’t.

It was a tricky and horrible path to cycle down on our touring bikes. This was supposedly an official national cycle network route. Yet,  while Sustrans talk about ensuring cycle routes should ‘be accessible for all’ this certainly wasn’t.

Neil and I, in particular struggled, and my confidence took a battering.

Thankfully, the tarmac returned.

We then cycled through National Trust’s Cregennan Estate.

The weather made for an eerie atmosphere as we cycled passed by the slopes of Cadair Idris.

We didn’t get close enough to the Cregennan lakes, but instead passed Llyn Gwernan instead.

Finally, there was a sharp drop into Dolgellau. This was a town we had passed through on our Lon Las Cymru cycle tour.

As soon as we arrived in Dolgellau the rain came down hard again. So, we went and found somewhere for a late lunch.

We were staying at Ivy House B&B.

We had cycled nearly 34 miles today. You can view our Mid Wales Day 2 route from Machynlleth to Dolgellau below:

Later, after an evening meal at a nearby pub we headed over to the Torrent Walk Hotel and watched the European Championship football final at outside. Thankfully, the rain abated.