Col and I don't live that far from the Peak district to our North. It's the kind of distance you could do easily in 1 day, but the journey to get there is kind of boring. Its either through the built up areas or along the Motorway and its a few hours before you get there.
The Peak district does however have the Cat and Fiddle road or as its correctly know the A537. We have often heard of this road mentioned in pubs and magazines so decided it should be on our places to visit list.
This was the first ride for my new bike, the Triumph Trident 660, I had only picked it up 2 days before. (there will be a review on that soon)
Day 1, Our first night was booked at Buxton in the Premier Inn. On the way we tried to avoid the motorways as I was running the bike in and we just didn't want to go via them, so picked a route around Wolverhampton and Stafford, through Uttoxeter, Ashbourne and on to Matlock Bath for some dinner. We found a chip shop with parking in front and sat in the street eating our chips. Col spotted 5 other chip shops from where we sat, they must eat a lot of chips up there!
After dinner we headed north west towards Lady Bower, the reservoir is there so we stopped to take a rest and watch the world go by for a while. There is a road called Snake Road (A57) to the north of the reservoir I had spotted this when looking for places to stay, its twisty so I thought perfect for us. It didn't disappoint and was the best road of the day. Eventually we found our destination which was perfect, the bikes were hidden and were undercover which was good as it rained through the night. While having a pint in the bar we commented about the amount of our route that had 50mph limits, nearly all of them North of Wolverhampton, which was handy as 50mph was about as fast as I could go before the rev counter flashed in annoyance for over revving during the 1st 250 miles of the bikes existence.
Day 2, we planned to go to North Wales to spend 2 nights in the Premier Inn at Llandudno Junction. We loaded the bikes up with our luggage and head of to the A537 and the Cat and Fiddle for a coffee. It was only about 10 minutes from the hotel, the road was fun but has a 50mph limit on it and average speed check cameras.
We picked our way West on lots of roads with 50mph speed limits, via Macclesfield then Crewe, eventually finding our way to the Ponderosa café on the horseshoe pass near Llangollen. From there its West along the A5 and the A470. This was another fun road, which again, over a pint we decided was the best road of the day.
The hotel was fine for what we wanted it for, comfy room and the bikes hidden from the road. As the weather had been very good when we got to Wales we decided to get some chips in town, then take a ride to the top of the Great Orm and then follow the coastal road down around the back of the hill which was very picturesque.
Day 3, The route we took started by going back up the A470 until it meets the A5, then along the A5 to Capel Curig, staying on the A5 until it meets the A4244 following the signs for Llanberis, where we stopped for dinner, then continue along until it meets the A4086 and eventually meeting the A5 again. Then its back to the hotel. We fell lucky not getting caught in any rain, but missing it by minutes by the look of the wet roads.
Day 4, The long ride home. We came home via Bala, where there is another of our favourite places to get a coffee. By now Col was beginning to feel the problems that touring on a Supersports bike delivers. Stiffness in his legs and hands and an uncomfortable seat. Although Bala is only 90 minutes from home he needed a few stops to stretch his legs. I on the other hand was very comfortable on the Trident.
All in all we had a great time, we commented that we need not travel hundreds of miles to find some great rides, when just 2 hours away is the Snowdonia National Park with its beautiful scenery and look forward to heading this way again.
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