Description: (From their site) Three stars family hotel – restaurant Trogirski Dvori is one of those hotels in Trogir with the longest tradition. Hotel is situated at about one kilometer form the center of Trogir and three kilometers from the Airport Split. Hotel is ideal for business people who need to stay overnight, and for families with children. Four hundred meters long pebbly and sandy Pantana Beach is a hundred meters away from the Hotel, on the estuary of small Pantan River.
Site visited: 15th of September 2009.
Yes it is easy to become blinded by the simplest things after have been camping for a week. But this hotel is great, the welcome, the service and the size of the room we got says it all.
After a quick search on in internet for a hotel near Split airport we found hotel Trogirski Dvori. We then emailed them to find out if they had a way of getting two bike boxes to the airport early in the morning, they promptly replied we have a mini bus so no problem.
We arrived a day before our booking to check if it was possible to “use” their mini bus for picking up our bicycles …

Hello Granny (gear).
We got up nice an early to a damp morning and cooked up some tea and porridge. We took our time but 1.5 hours later we were ready to hit the road, as we where heading out I over heard a little girl talking to her dad.
The dad was calling the child down from the sculpture garden where she was playing. The whole campsite is covered in sculpture of horses, deer and bulls, for the kids to play on. She came running down and grabbed his hand and said that she had just been up milking the cow. To which the dad said “I hope you didn’t milk the bull!” :)
The route took us south from Devils Bridge to Tregaron and then up and over couple chevrons to Beulah, one of them was 25%, fecking eh. Peli managed to do the climb with one stop, I stopped to have a rest and let a car go by. I started again but soon gave up and walked the last bit, which is quite hard with a fully loaded bike. On one of the other steep bits I was plodding away in my granny and was not looking where I …

Save your energy.
Traveling in true Peli and woolly style we hunted for maps on the day of departure. And while doing so I had a wee bit of panic since the maps didn’t show a road where google maps told me there was. So I spend an hour in Borders book store with 3-4 maps spread out on the floor comparing scale and routes. But after seeing the mountain roads in Wales and a look at very detailed map, I got a funny feeling that the road which wasn’t there would have been there and fine to ride along. If that makes sense.
With some train changes we arrived in Machynlleth in the dark, but we found the campsite, Llwyngwern Farm, very easily. Hunted around in the muddy field and found the least wet pitch we could find and made for bed. Only to be woken up a few times during the night by the owls twitting away ;) I wonder if they were following Stephen Fry?
We got up at around 8am and cooked up a storm on our newly acquired Jetboil. The menu was two teas, porridge with raisins and some quick noodles. Nom.
After packing up we headed to the …

Description: (From their site) Fforest Fields is a secluded seven acre rural caravan campsite a few miles from the market town of Builth Wells in central Wales. It is well drained and almost level with generous grass and hardstand pitches served by a circuit road. It is landscaped with lots of trees to provide shelter and screening. There is a central looblock with free power showers, which is always kept pristine.
Site visited: 30th of August 2009, 9th of April 2010.
As seen on the blog: Here be Dragons, Chapter II : Hello Granny (gear), The roads have gone pots.
We arrived around 1700 after a long day cycling in the wet, wet as a wet thing, to find this beautiful site. The reception empty and we were not sure what to do. A fellow camper told us to look out for a white 4×4 or just do as they did put the money in the honesty box. We filled in our details and left an envelope with our money in the box and went out searching for a pitch.
We were in the showers 20 min later, the joy of a tent with colour coded poles etc ;). The shower and toilet were …

Description: (From their site) Riverside camping site with loos, showers, hot & cold water. 3 miles North of Machynlleth. Next to the Centre for Alternative Technology. On Sustrans route No8. Great mountain biking nearby, Cli-machx trail, Mach 1, 2 & 3. Aberdovey and seaside 9 miles. Cader Idris 6 miles. Open Mid-April to Mid-October
Site visited: 28th of August 2009.

As seen on the blog: Here be Dragons, Chapter I : Saving your energy.
After booking via email and was told that it was ok to arrive late on a bank holiday weekend. We were met with a grumpy reception, moaning that it was a bank holiday.
We managed to find a spot without ankle deep mud in the dark and pitched our tent.
The facilities were basic and a bit run down. There was a wc and a shower in the mens and ladies. And two sinks outside for washing your dishes with running hot water. Just what you needed. We didn’t try out the showers but looked like they would do the job.

We woke up to find a nice view over the river, which we had heard in the dark. The site was a bit of mud field, but when dry this place …

Description: The Woodlands is a well established, family run caravan park set amidst some of the most beautiful scenery Mid Wales has to offer. It is situated in Devils Bridge, a small village nestling at the top of the Rheidol Valley, 12 miles inland from the coastal town of Aberystwyth. It is an ideal base for touring Mid Wales, walking, cycling, mountain biking, birdwatching, fishing or just relaxing and taking in the fresh air.
Site visited: 28th of August 2009.

As seen on the blog: Here be Dragons, Chapter II : Hello Granny (gear).
Arrived to a manicured place that looked more than a static mobile home place than a campsite. Big scupltures of horses, deer and bulls were scattered all over and even a bicycle in the tree.
The site also has a little shop for your basics. The shop is also a cafe which on Fridays, and other days during the season, serves a take away menu.
The very friendly staff recommended the cheesy lasagne at the Hadfod Hotel just over the Devils Bridge. Which was very yumyum and worth the one hour wait, since we arrived an hour before the kitchen opened. Peli had veggie Bangers and mash which was also good.

It …

.. the sun.
We got up early and went down to Les Sorbiers, for us to help out with the cleaning up. Only to find Rob in full control. So I ended up watching a DVD about Paris – Roubaix cycle race with Dave, well Rob made us, e.g he put it on the player.
While Peli was running around reminiscing about her days working at Les Sorbiers, so well that she ended up smashing a pot of yogurt on the floor.
 
We could only get to rent some MTB’s in the afternoon, so the big day out MTB’ing didn’t happen. Though we did have a couple of hours of fun in the hills behind Bareges.
 
 
I have never ridden off road with any kind of suspension and both of us didn’t have our clip less pedals on and Peli couldn’t get a bike that fitted her. So riding was well hard, our feet kept coming off the pedals. Peli couldn’t reach the floor when she was on the MTB, so she didn’t have as much fun as us others but still had a go at it.
 
I kept expecting that big hit and only to find the suspension to take the rock …

… me, to call someone something not nice.
We got up with sore legs but very keen on getting going. Peli’s really wanted to go take me over to see the Col de Spandelles and the Col de Soulor. We met up with Dave and Rob from Les Sorbiers, and headed down the Tourmalet to Luz.
The local supermarche did not have any energy bars we wanted, so we stopped in Luz. I spend 10 or so minutes walking up the aisles ummng and arring. Because they didn’t have what we wanted and they for some reason had the bars in different 2 places. Peli came in and told me to get a move on, I showed her the best one I could find, and we agreed that we will be alright with what we had. Only for Peli to find a 3rd place where they keep their energy/snack bars and we got some fuel.
Out of Luz down the gorge we went, my legs felt just fine on the flat and down hilly bits. Just before the gorge starts for good there is a little hill and I decided that I would stay in the higher gear and push on through up …

… shit in the forest, like the bears?

We loaded up Rob’s (from Les Sorbiers) mini bus, with our bikes plus Richard (a guest at Les Sorbiers), Pingu, Mrs Pingu, Dave, Peli and me, hmm this rings a bell, like I typed this before.

We then drove over the Tourmalet down to St Marie de Campan, where we parked the mini bus. Rob then led us up along the road to the Col D’Aspin, then turned off to do the lesser known (but very worthwhile) Horquette D’Arcizans, the first col of the day.

The ride was beautiful, rolling green pastures, lovely views of huge peaks, and not too hot. The route was littered with left overs from the cows. Why on the road and not in the trees, like the bears manage to? Is it a form of demonstration, I wonder. Hmmm, are they trying to tell us something?

We passed a group of kids hooked up to husky dogs! We’ve no idea why, but it made an interesting photo.

We all posed for the obligatory group photo at the top, with the Pic D’Arbizon (>3,000m) in the background.
Pingu, Mrs Pingu, Peli, me, Richard, Dave.
Click on image to see …

… and back from Hautacam.
We set off at 9:30 with Rob (from Les Sorbiers), Richard (a guest at Les Sorbiers), Pingu, Mrs Pingu, Dave, Peli and me.
 
We had a great ride down the gorge into the head wind which were nice to know since we would be heading backup the gorge again later. We joined the Voie Verte which pretty much took us to the start of Hautacam.
 
We had a little crash, Dave not seeing Peli where she was standing, then a ginger moment. Since Peli wasn’t feeling all ok and we have a massive ride booking in for tomorrow. Peli and me headed back. The others headed back up the Hautacam, will report back about how far they managed.
UPDATE: They all managed it all the way up and the cafe was open so they all got fed up there.
 
We then went up the gorge, with the tail wind :) and did a little detour to the Chateau de Luz. Which was a bit interesting for Peli to walk up to in her cleats, though not such a big problem with me and my very warm Lakes.
 
After a little rest where we enjoyed the view both up the Tourmalet and …