There was a triathlon in Snowdonia National Park today so we decided not to go around the Snowdon area
So todays short route was http://goo.gl/maps/v0vS1
We went to investigate a track I'd found on Google maps, today, it was lovely but full of gates so had to dismount every few hundred yards to open and close gates
The views on the tops were stunning, but sadly I forgot to take pictures.
However, the track dropped us on the road to Lake Vyrnwy reservoir which was looking very low due to the recent lack of rainfall
.... seeing as we were at Vyrnwy we popped up to the Lake Vyrnwy Hotel for lunch
http://www.lakevyrnwy.com/
They have a lovely little bar at the rear of the hotel called "The Tower Tavern"
Ordered a lovely fish finger and salad sandwich on granary bread with fresh tartar sauce and chips
The view from the hotels veranda is stunning
After lunch we continued our ride around the reservoir stopping for this quick pic of the dam
and of course the bikes
after riding along the top of the dam to the other side we continued on to the north end of the lake to the road to the "Pass of the Cross" (the old mediaeval pilgrims route) and stopped for one quick shot through the trees with the hotel far off in the distance
and the bikes again
the road winds up a small river valley with the river tumbling over some lovely naturally stepped rocks to open out to
You can see the road winding off into the distance if you look carefully
The view from the Pass of the Cross never fails to impress
From there we went down the pass to Dinas Mawddwy and then onto the A470 to Trawsfynydd Nuclear Power Station, it's de commissioned now but is setup as a tourist attraction
I was reading that the lake provided 70 Olympic sized swimming pools of water per hour to cool the reactors when the station was live!
They have a café there we pulled to for a coffee and cake ..
..before making our way to Bala and home.
Another great day out.
