Shrewsbury Bala Loop
Awesome 'lost' ride through mid-Wales with the Horseshoe Pass, Lake Vyrnwy, Guilsfield Twisties - needs good weather.
Ride Info
- Start
- Shrewsbury
- Finish
- Shrewsbury
- Distance
- 118.0 miles
- Directions
- Leave Shrewsbury on the A528 headed for Ellesmere. At Ellesmere, there's fuel - make sure you have a full tank as no more until Corwen or Bala. Take a right at the roundabout, still on the A528, headed for Wrexham. At Overton-on-Dee, turn left. About 400m past the Cross Foxes pub on the River Dee, turn left onto the A539 headed for Ruabon. As you drop down the gentle hill into Ruabon, fork left - do NOT go into the town - and straight across the roundabout under the A483 but immediately get in the right hand lane for Llangollen. Straight through Llangollen, keep going, it gets wild... this is the Horseshoe Pass. Stop at the layby to admire the view. The Ponderosa cafe is only half a mile on, on the right. Stop for a brew. Then go on to the roundabout, take a left - lovely ride this - down to Corwen. Turn right onto the A5, then left A494 for Bala. Through the town, Welsh-speaking, maybe stop for a brew, I love hearing locals yapping in Welsh but throwing in some English words. Please refuel in Bala if you're low as it would be miserable to run out of juice on the next bit - fuel is at the end of the main street, on the right (or - go back a bit, A4212, just along there a bit). Go to the end of the lake, take a left for Llanuwchllyn, and follow the very pretty road round the lake, it's quite narrow in places. At the end, turn right, and then right again for Lake Vyrnwy (pronounced 'Vern-wee'). No you're not lost, this is the middle of nowhere, and this is so remote that in rain and hill fog it's easy to get lost. It really is spectacularly remote, no mobile phone signal here!!! Lovely valley and then climbs right up to the moor, just awesomely remote. After a while on a goat track (it's perfectly OK for road bikes! - but it is very narrow) it starts dropping steeply downhill towards Lake Vyrnwy. At the lake you can take a left or a right, it makes no difference, I prefer the left. Then take a right across the dam at the end, stop half way across and look at the view up the lake, it's stunning. Stay on the B4393 to Llanfylin, turn right onto the A490. Lovely open bends, but the best is yet to come. At the end, turn right onto the A490, then first left onto the A495. Are you ready for these next bends, the Guilsfield Twisties, my favourites in Wales... gently downhill, over the bridge and immediately there is one of the best right handers known to man, followed by an even better left :) Then a right, then a left, then a right, going uphill... over the top, as you drop down the hill look for the turn for Guilsfied, it's a few miles down so no need to roll off, it's opposite the fuel station. Through Guilsfield, turn left for Arddleen. Left onto the A483, after a few hundred metres take a right onto the B4393 (is signed), nice ride back through Ford - at the end, turn left, stay on this road across the A5 to get back into Shrewsbury.