Bicycle to Porthmadog

I got a phone call this afternoon from Garrie Tufford (who lurks on NGDF), and he asked me to relay his opinion that the best way to tour North Wales is by bicycle. (This assumes a certain level of physical fitness, of course.) He said that on a visit to the UK in the 1980s he rode his bike all the way from London to Porthmadog via Birmingham (following old canal towpaths much of the way across the Midlands), with a stopover in Shropshire to visit Coalbrookdale and the Ironbridge Gorge. The WHR hadn't yet been rebuilt at that point, but he was able to explore some of the ROW between Caenarfon and Porthmadog by bike, and when he got to Porthmadog he got permission to stow his bike in the guard's van on the FR and even got a cab ride on their Alco 2-6-2T trench engine 'Mountaineer'. Then he continued on to Tywyn and the Tallylyn Railway. It all sounds lovely.

-Philip Marshall