Cayman Roadtrip 2017 - Simply Porsche to North Wales

[s3 akr]

Here's a small overview of the recent Wales roadtrip with HighwayStar (Steve). 1208 miles in 4 days, taking in Simply Porsche, Swansea, Black Mountain Pass, Evo Triangle, Llanberis Pass, the epic B4391 (Ffestiniog to Bala.....and back......and then forth again......and so on). The primary routes we followed are listed and linked via the underlined headings below, but we did deviate a little here and there. We used Google Maps via our phones throughout and only had 1 unplanned episode of being lost and driving along roads barely fit for a tractor, but we soon got off that! 

 

IMPORTANT - Google Maps will replot the routes when you click the link. Just ensure that your options within Google Maps are set to "Avoid Tolls" and to "Avoid Highways" and you will get the routes we followed.

 

Sunday Morning - Colchester to Simply Porsche at Beaulieu - the route was pretty dull and was a motorway schlep. We also went to the wrong meeting point for the CaymanOC convoy to the event so missed out, but did meet up with Keith and his brother who also went to the wrong services!!!

 

Sunday Afternoon - SImply Porsche at Beaulieu to Swansea - no motorways allowed!!!  We went a long way around and mostly avoided motorway and dual carriageway. We got to take ion the Black Mountain Pass southbound and some of the great roads Wales had to offer in the South!

 

Monday - Swansea to North Wales via Black Mountain, A44 and other epic roads - and so it really begins!!!  We hit up the Black Mountain Pass again, but this time in Northbound and in torrential rain. Not for the lighthearted, but still a road worth traveling even if it was wetter than a ducks arse! We did pay a little visit to the Evo Triangle on arrival - well....it'd be rude not to.

 

Tuesday Morning - Llanberis Pass and on to Ffestiniog - wet again, but took in some great roads. A few twisties, a lot of hilly routes and plenty of caution needed in places, but also a good dollop of more open and challenging roads. Llanberis Pass itself was absolutely sodden - rivers of water running off the hills and across the roads made it something of a slow affair needing us to tread a little careful. A great road, but full of slow and dithering tourists unaware of our need to enjoy the roads!!

 

Tuesday Afternoon - Ffestiniog to Bala via B4391 - if you do nothing else in Wales, at least do the B4391. Totally epic. The weather had finally dried up, and with the breezy conditions, the roads were drying out too. Still some water running across the roads from the hills, but nothing compared to the morning routes. Some brave/stupid/depressed sheep kept us on our toes in places as they decided to stand in the road!! However, the B4391 - seek it out, do a quick reccy, then go play. It was truly amazing - so much so that I didn't even take photo's!

 

Wednesday Morning - Final Triangle Runs, then Home - we decided to use the dry weather and have some more fun on the Triangle. Did a few laps around and followed a Civic Type R for a bit (too slow) and then came across a Fezza 458 and a Lotus Exige S, both of which were new to their owners so being a little tentative. Nice chatting with them but again, failed on the photo front!! We headed of towards home and decided to take in the B4391 again only to find it closed!!!!  Gutted. So we headed off South on the A4212, A494 and A470 to pick up the A5 across to Shrewsbury. Great roads - fast, flowing, sweeping. Brilliant route home - fast enough to enjoy, sweeping enough to be calmer and to wind down from the past few days!!

 

Wednesday Afternoon - The Last Leg - back to English congestion and reality!!

 

Edited June 18, 2017 by s3 akr

[Woodhouse]

Huge thanks for posting this!  Just got back tonight after taking in a fair chunk of your route.  We started and finished near Bristol and after crossing to Wales on the old Severn Bridge, we picked up your route at Upper Brynamman to head north over the Black Mountain Pass.  We spent the night near Caernarfon.  I have to agree with you about the B4391.  Unfortunately we only had the chance to do it once, from Bala to Ffestiniog, but it really is epic, easily the best road of the whole weekend. 

 

A weekend in the school holidays is not the best time to do this and traffic did spoil a number of sections including the Black Mountain Pass and Llanberris Pass.  We picked up an unmarked police car tail at the start of the Evo Triangle and a cycle race around the Triangle also didn't help but we could see the potential.  Even without traffic and other hazards, I'm still not sure any of them would have been better than the B4391.

 

Another stretch I'd recommend is the B4391 from Bala heading south east to Llanfyllin then continue on the  A490 to Welshpool.  

 

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to write this up and post the maps, very helpful and gave us lots of inspiration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[s3 akr]

Glad it helped!!  You were unlucky with the unmarked police and the weekend traffic, but you can still see the potential of the roads and that it's worthy of a return trip some other, less busy time - especially as you are so close compared to where I am! I've only been there during the weekdays and outside of the school holidays, so have been much more fortunate with traffic and police.