North Wales

» WHY GO? Snowdonia has some of the UK’S most eye-straining landscapes, its towering mountains and wide-open expanses linked by amazing roads. Squirming ribbons cling to sheer faces, connecting to wide, grippy, fast tarmac with tight lanes wandering into the emptiness. Try well-known routes – they’re well-known for a reason and you only need to ride the Llanberis Pass to see why – but taste less-travelled tarmac. Take the A4212 from Bala, onto the B4391, then head north-east on the ever-narrowing B4407. » WHEN AND HOW? The tourist traps get busy in July and August. Sunny spring is ace, but we love the golden light and quiet roads of an autumn evening. » GETTING THERE Get to Oswestry or Wrexham, and the A5 is direct (for Wales) and has good tarmac (you get to eat at The Toll Gate café, too). But there are oodles of quieter roads crying out to be tried – the B4391 from Shrewsbury to Bala is our favourite.