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Hi Guys

Need some help here as we are trying to plan a few days away (Thursday returning on Monday).

Starting point is Newcastle Upon Tyne area and thought about a none motorway drive to Anglesey on the first day with a night on Anglesey. Next day, a visit to the race circuit and a drive back onto the mainland to somewhere in Wales.

We like to get some miles under our belt and enjoy the country roads and basically have Friday, Saturday and Sunday to enjoy returning on the Monday so any help with routes and places to stay would be most welcome and appreciated. I guess the routes are the most important as booking.com will help with places to stay once the route is sorted

Did the NC500 last year and whilst I have done that on a bike a couple of times doing it in the Z4 is a bit special and hopefully Wales will be the same.

Many thanks in advance

To get on the island of Anglesey the A55 is quite scenic.For a run on the mainland on leaving Anglesey these are good driving roads with some interest.o Caernarfon,A4086 to Capel Curig,A5 to Pentrefoelas then onto part of the evo triangle A543,B4501 to Cerrig y Drydion A5 for about a mile then 4501 onto A4712 to Trawsfynydd ,A470 to Dolgellau next A494 to Bala .On leaving Bala take the B4403 look for the Hirnant Pass or Lake Vyrnwy signs on your right about half mile outside Bala.This road is single track,but well worth doing .
From Lake Vyrnwy head for Oswestry then Llangollen and over thr Horseshoe pass,a short run to the A483 then home.

Maxman given you plenty there but after roadtripping Snowdonia last Autumn my favourite stretch of road links Llanberis pass with Beddgelert alongside Snowdon & takes you passed the lake Nant Gwynant ? The A498 i think ? Did it 3 times in 24 hrs
Evo triangle is "ok" & one to tick off but can't say id rush back to repeat , too busy & policed heavily at weekends

There are three roads you really should do and they all feed into each other

The first part is the A5 Bethesda to Capel Curig road, then you can go onto Betws-y-Coed

Crawl through Betws-y-Coed (Summer Hols) and then take the A470 to Blaenau Ffestiniog Road if you can get it while its quiet. Both the views and the tarmac are superb

Then once at Blaenau take the A4391 towards Bala - That is a quiet back road and for us was the find of the weekend - Absolutely superb road. Approx 10-15 miles of twists, hills, straights, hump backs & beautiful scenery if you can take your eyes off the road at all !

If you can then work back to include Mr Wilks suggestion of Bedgelert (A498) to Capel Curig (A4086) , you will finish on a high.

Hi Chaps

Many thanks for the info and suggestions - route now planned and as follows;

Day 1 - Newcastle to Anglesey via Stanhope, Middleton In Teasdale, Kirby Stephen, Sedburgh, Preston, Colwin Bay and onto Anglesey to Cemaes Bay where we will be staying at the Harbour Hotel for the night.
Day 2 - Around Anglesey to see the race circuit and then on to the mainland down to Uwchmynydd, Porthmadog, Bala and then a round trip from and back to Bala following the A5 to Llangollen and around to Oswestry and Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant back to Bala to stay the night in the White Lion Royal Hotel.
Day 3 - Bala down to Dolgellau, Aberdyfi, Aberystwyth to Abercych and a night at the Nags Head Inn.
Day 4 - Abercych to Fishguard, Saint Davids, Haverfordwest, St Clears, Carmathen and down to Rhossilli to visit the beach there and then back up to Llanelli for a night at the Thomas Arms Hotel.
Day 5 - Some work on this day so a quick visit to Swansea and Cardiff and then up to Merthyr Tydfil through the Brecon Beacons and up the A49 onto the A5 via Morda and to Oswestry for a night at Ye Lode Boote Inn.
Day 6 - Basically back to Newcastle via Preston and the reverse of day one.

Think this will include some decent roads and will be a trip of about 1100 miles give or take a few - would welcome any comments as I guess you chaps that live closer will know the roads we will be travelling

Apology's if I have misspelled and of the names of the towns etc, just a thick Geordie

Day 1 & Day 6 you are missing a good opportunity ( unless you've done the roads before )
Heading south you can go through the heart of the Yorkshire Dales after Barnard Castle .
Go via Tan Hill ( highest pub in UK ) Thwaite , Hawes & onto Ingleton via Ribblehead viaduct then join the M6 near Carnforth / Lancaster great roads that route
On your return leg you can leave M6 at Preston to cut across the Trough of Bowland & go up again through the Dales only this time via Long Preston , Gargrave , Grassington & Pateley Bridge which are all on route to Newcastle

The road from Aberystwyth to Fishguard is a right pain as the traffic is slow moving with few chances to pass.
We were staying in Fishguard a month ago ,the place has little going for it and that's being as polite as I can be.
St Davids is very touristy,nice but not worth a long drive,ok if your staying in the area.
Looking at your route you are missing out on some great roads in N Wales.

mr wilks wrote: ↑Tue Aug 01, 2017 5:50 pm Day 1 & Day 6 you are missing a good opportunity ( unless you've done the roads before )
Heading south you can go through the heart of the Yorkshire Dales after Barnard Castle .
Go via Tan Hill ( highest pub in UK ) Thwaite , Hawes & onto Ingleton via Ribblehead viaduct then join the M6 near Carnforth / Lancaster great roads that route
On your return leg you can leave M6 at Preston to cut across the Trough of Bowland & go up again through the Dales only this time via Long Preston , Gargrave , Grassington & Pateley Bridge which are all on route to Newcastle

Many thanks for the input and I fully agree with what you have said here, but being local we tend to drive these roads quite often and need to get some miles under our belts as we are trying to get to the farthest tip of Anglesey without going on a motorway or dual carriageway and its about 270 miles

The route I mentioned was just off the top of my head so may well change

maxman wrote: ↑Tue Aug 01, 2017 8:55 pm The road from Aberystwyth to Fishguard is a right pain as the traffic is slow moving with few chances to pass.
We were staying in Fishguard a month ago ,the place has little going for it and that's being as polite as I can be.
St Davids is very touristy,nice but not worth a long drive,ok if your staying in the area.
Looking at your route you are missing out on some great roads in N Wales.

Thanks for this, the routes are changeable but the hotels are not. I was following the coast with some excursions onto roads that have been mentioned earlier in this thread - kinda trying to make a Welsh equivalent of the NC500

Please keep the suggestions coming

Only a couple of weeks until we set off - I will be in a red E89 and my friend in his blue E85 so please waive if you see us