Trans Snowdonia with E-bike
Riding the Monks Trod (soon)

Riding across Snowdonia from Llandudno to Machynlleth, lined me right up for the 160-km Trans-Cambrian Way which runs from Knighton to nearby Dovey Junction. For some reason they pitched the TCW into the prevailing winds then ended at Dovey, a forlorn rail stop marooned on the Afon Dyfi’s tidal marshes. Far better to head for Machynlleth, a couple of miles upstream, where you can hop off a train, bridge the Dyfi river from Snowdonia, or tuck into a quinoa & tofu salad before making a run for the English border along the TCW.

Mach
Arrive in Machynlleth or ‘Mach’ on market day and you’ll notice a distinctly hippy vibe. This isn’t just another faded Victorian-era Welsh farming town like nearby Llanidloes. It is to Wales as Taos is to New Mexico or the remote Cevennes in southern France. Since the 1970s the surrounding hills have attracted lotus eating soixante-huiteurs in search of alternative lifestyles. In west Wales it’s said this free-thinking exodus was partly attributed to the far-sighted establishment of the Centre for Alternative Technology in 1972 and a couple of miles north of town. 

I walked, biked then e-biked around here in 2022, doing a guide for the Glyndwrs Way National Trail, also from Knighton to Mach (then back east to Welshpool). The TCW often tracks the Glyndwrs which only skimmed the Cambrians in half a day. The Trans Cambrian loops right through the heart of it. Unfortunately the weather I’d had over the last few days remained stuck in a pattern of showers and strong westerlies.

My mate Barry (who is online shy) had trained in, and was sheltering from the rain under Mach’s Victorian clocktower alongside his rented Cube BogMuncher (above right). After a herbal cuppa with carrot cake we set off the 24km to Staylittle. I knew well that from Mach the TCW took a tough approach onto the Cambrian plateau, tracking up and down the Glyndwrs, including the very steep ascent on loose shale (below) to Foel Fidian which even with Assist would be hard work.

But I also recalled that once up there, it’s a great stage along the tops to Staylittle which I didn’t want to miss. So we bombed out of Mach up deserted back roads in the showers for the 500-m climb to the gate leading to Glaslyn lake below 564-m Foel Fadian.

Having gained elevation from near sea level and keeping much of it for the next couple of days, I was looking forward to this familiar stage. Past Glaslyn (above) to the old lead mines by Nant Goch stream which I knew would be a loose ride down (below) and, once over the bridge, would need Assist to get back out (below below).

From here we passed Penycrocbren, an old Roman hill fort and medieval gallows site above Dylife which I’d walked one time with Barry while researching the guide book.

From there we dropped down, left the Glyndwrs and got caught up by a pair of locked farm gates across a yard (below), something that would only bother an e-biker. We learned later the farmer was agitated over a wind farm issue, but this is a permissive stage after all, not a right of way.

Back on the road, we wheeled up to the idyllic Hafren Forest Hideaway bunkhouse on the edge of the forest (below). Mid Wales needs more places like this offering full board and rooms for pairs and couples, like a hostel, not exclusively booking right out for groups, all or nothing.
It has been an easy but wet day and while the chargers hummed in the shed, we spent the evening chatting with the host and a couple of fit young American gravellers riding Wales top to bottom.

Across the Cambrians to Rhayader
Next day was to be a meaty 80-clicker through the Cambrians to Rhayader where we had a whole bungalow booked, but which would push us and our batteries to the limit. We set off in the rain through the dripping Hafren forest, fording the infant Severn (‘Hafren’; below) and later the Wye rivers whose sources are just a few miles apart but diverge widely across Wales to meet in Chepstow.

We splattered our way along shaley forestry tracks, then back-tracked onto a missed single track, trying to keep the bikes in Eco on the climbs to save the batts. Back on roads, near Llangurig we flipped west, ditching a forestry loop and sticking to the long road climb to gain some range. After being hammered by another downpour, a steep ascent (below) led around Yr Allt hill to rejoin a road at Esgair Wen.

Tucking into lunch by 12.30 after having covered only 24km following a few missed turns, we realised neither our bikes nor probably we had enough range to cover the remaining 56km to Rhayader, if the TCW carried on like this. This was compounded by the fact that my battery was suddenly 10% down on Barry’s, where they’d been pretty matched so far. I realised later it must have been the Assist on the broken tarmac up Yr Allt hill where Barry has just pushed normally. This has affected how I now view Walk Assist – good for short, unrideable climbs or station steps, not good for minutes at a time when it’s effectively a battery-sapping throttle. So we looked at the map and decided to turn southeast for Rhayader, 30km away, passing along the amazing Elan Valley (below), a mini Glencoe which I’d heard of but never seen.

Caught in a sunny spell at Pont Elan near the notorious Monks Trod byway, Barry confessed he’d once got bogged up there with his family in a Landrover and had to be tractored out by a farmer. But even before his anecdote was spent, the sun fell behind thick clouds like the climax of The Perfect Storm before the final killer wave. The next hosing laid into us and more came as we neared Rhayader along lush backroads or roadside bike trails. At one gate the wind blew my bike over and the flipping bars snapped off the headlamp. Read more about that saga here.

By now needing a proper sit down, we shook ourselves off and walked into the Elan Visitors’ Centre for a welcome cuppa and a cake, followed by another to charge us up for the last few miles to our cozy bungalow. As I neared the Rhayader town clock I noticed my display reset itself, and then the Down button started playing up. Read more about that saga here.

Lights out at Knighton
It had been all of a day and a half but we’d had enough of the rain. But it hadn’t had enough of us, so next day, with just 45km to my car at Knighton, we decided to set off early, skip most trails and instead keep to the gate-free C-roads. My bike was now unable to switch down to Eco – a wet short I presumed, but I had enough range in Trail and the luxury of excess power. Then, barely an hour in and just before the hilltop hamlet of Bwlch Sarnau, Barry’s BogMuncher threw a crank after the locking nut fell out. A quick search failed to find the nut, so that was it for him: call in the Mrs for a priority evac.

With a strong wind blowing I sailed west along the hilly backroads before my electrics packed up altogether. One memorably airey stage led across Rhosfallog hill (above) before more backroads took me through familiar Llangunllo on the Glyndwrs and over Bailey Hill. By 11.30 I was back at Knighton town clock where I’d set off on my Glyndwrs adventure in March 2022 (below) and along the way discovered e-MTBs.

All up, we skipped about 40km of the Trans Cambrian Way including some good off roading, but I at least had a better understanding of what it was to e-bike around here. Some other lessons learned riding a week from Llandudno to Knighton include:

• Lodgings can be few and trains full but book way ahead at your peril
• More bunkhouses needed
• A parked car is probably more useful and less stress than a train. Knighton was £20 for 6 days
• Quiet unclassified C-roads are easily as enjoyable as trails
• It can be tricky to evaluate daily distances when you don’t know the trail conditions
• Wales may not be the Karakoram but is hillier than you think
• Point to point over days is proper travelling, but unloaded clover leafing out of a bsae camp can be more productive and fun
• Rough tracks eat into the range, not just climbs and headwinds
• You really notice the 25kph limit on busy roads – avoid where possible
• Though at times I was down to 1st in Trail (middle mode), I never needed Turbo
• There is loads of great riding in mid-Wales

Gear-wise, here’s what I found

• Elastothene is the new Gore tex
• You drink very little in the rain
• As long as you’re warm with the right base layer, being damp is unnoticible
• Glasses in the rain are a pain
• Long socks protect shins from pedal bashes
• The Ortliebs shrugged it all off, as expected
• So did the Quad Lock rain cover (though I didn’t charge off the bike during rain)
• The OS App is great, provided you’ve downloaded the tracks and maps you need
• The Tero’s rear shock loosened up over the ride
• Long live mudguards and droppers!