B4391 north wales: Glorious ride

Another British motorcycle riding gem for these staycation times

There are loads of reasons to visit north Wales – it’s got the snow-capped mountain scenery of Snowdonia, swooping valleys (with low-flying fighter jets), fantastic A and B-roads with more grip in the wet than most English roads have in the dry and the full Welsh breakfast (think full English plus laverbread, a fried seaweed and oat patty).

There are also plenty of good routes into the National Park. A-road arteries include the A5, A494 and A458 – all good riding in themselves, and they get better as you get closer – but to avoid the motorhome/caravan procession try the varied and entertaining B4391 from Penybontfawr to Ffestiniog.

Coming into Penybontfawr from the east, the road passes through classic rolling Welsh farmland, all high hedges, green fields all year round. But between Penybontfawr and Llangynog the landscape shifts into gear; heather-clad mountains build in the distance and the B4391 changes to a grippier, blacker Tarmac. Out of Llangynog the road climbs up the right-hand side of the Tanat Valley, clinging to the hillside and tracing its contours with the river dropping far below. This is the Milltir Cerrig mountain pass where the road narrows before bursting out over the summit, so take care with oncoming traffic, local and holiday. After a couple of miles crossing high moorland, the B4391 drops down into a crafty long left with a sharp right hairpin at the end of it, before riding back up onto moorland again – it’s a bit of a shock and catches me out every time I pass through – I should remember what ARAF means. Then, as the road approaches Bala it drops back into rolling farmland again with another hairpin and a sudden view across the Dee valley. A few more miles and you’re into Bala, a good place to stop for a brew and a bite – and refuel at the old-fashioned pumps at the end of the high street. Out of Bala, the B4391 becomes the A4212 for a few miles. Wider and more flowing, it arcs around the tip of Llyn Celyn, a reservoir dammed in 1965 and which drown the village of Capel Celyn. The B4391 then reappears as a left turn, sign posted for Ffestiniog. The run down into the village is another fantastic twisting ride across moorland, with the occasional conifer plantation popping up to break the view. Just up the road from Ffestiniog is the larger Blaenau Ffestiniog – an old mining town with piles of glittering slate hills on the way out along the A470, and a good place for another coffee stop. Welcome to Snowdonia.

‘Swooping valleys (with low-flying fighter jets) and B-roads with more grip in the wet than most English roads have in the dry’